Hill Walking
Queen’s Drive footpath Loch Tay
walking
A rainy afternoon at Loch Tay – Kenmore
I did get out for a walk following the banks of the loch, but the rain just got worse. So I headed back to the timeshare, for coffee, a movie on the iPad and watching the rain in the loch through the double glazed patio windows.
A rainy afternoon at Loch Tay – Kenmore Read More »
Testing the Alpkit Kraku stove with the Alpkit MytiMug 400 @Alpkit @OctagonT
Alpkit MytiMug 400
Before another busy week at Octagon Technology I thought I would get out and try out my new Alpkit MitiMug 400 mug with my trusty Alpkit Kraku stove.
The wind shield, in the photo, is homemade from heavy duty aluminium foil cut from a serving tray bought “two for a pound” from a pound shop. The wind shield is really practical as I can bend it to give maximum protection from the drafts and wind and it weighs only a few grams.
This new Alpkit MitiMug 400 mug/pot fits really well on the Alpkit Kraku burner and is very stable when in use – the stability is essential if I am going to safely use this combination in the porch of my lightweight tent. The lid is a good fit – it is much improved over the lid supplied on the original MitiMug – purchased before there were 400 or 650 models. I am really pleased the lid has changed.
Another change, for the better, with this Alpkit MitiMug 400 is that it has a flat bottom – the original MitiMug had a ridge in the base, which when I cooked in the mug always allowed food to burnt there and that also made it difficult to clean. I cooked (well reheated) baked beans in this new Alpkit MitiMug 400 and the beans did not burn. You do however have to take care when using any titanium or thin walled cooking pot on a stove like the Alpkit Kraku stove which concentrates its heat in a small spot on the pot base:
- Do not turn the stove up to “flame thrower mode” keep the flame very low and heat the food slowly
- Stir continuously and thoroughly, getting right into the corners
- Hang onto the handles or the pot can skip off the burner
- I also, continuously, gently move the pot over the flame so the heat moves around smoothing out the hot spots
Afterwards it was easy to wash up the pot – this base design is another well thought out improvement.
My thoughts:
- Overall this mug/cooking pot is a great piece of gear for the solo traveller, camper or backpacker who just needs to cook for themselves.
- The size saves space in anyone’s pack. Titanium saves weight.
- Even if you do not plan to use the mug for cooking the lid makes the mug a useful storage container and keeps the flies out of your drinks when outdoors.
- Alpkit is a great UK company producing excellent gear – we should support them.
I think the next thing to add to this mug/pot, stove set is an Alpkit SnapWire Spoon. The folding spoon, stove, tea bags and milk powder will all then pack neatly inside the Alpkit MitiMug 400, inside the supplied netting draw string bag for easy packing when travelling. I am going to add this to my Christmas list.
Testing the Alpkit Kraku stove with the Alpkit MytiMug 400 @Alpkit @OctagonT Read More »
Coast Walking near Dunbar and another great sunset
Having dropped Jeremy off in Edinburgh this morning, I came back to the campsite at Dunbar and spent the afternoon walking the some of the John Muir Way.
White Sands
Barns Ness lighthouse
Forth of Firth, Bass Rock
Sunset, this evening, from the Dunbar Camping and Caravan Club Site
As I said yesterday, this is a great site for sunsets.
The clouds as the light faded.
Coast Walking near Dunbar and another great sunset Read More »
Beachcombing – Dornoch Beach
We spent the morning in Dingwall doing university stuff for Jeremy and visiting the Highflight Second Hand Book Shop.
The bookshop sells all sorts of books and is well worth a visit. It has a large collection of books about flight – I bought he one above. It was published in 1976 so the final famous plane is Concorde – no stealth planes in this book.
Then we headed north.
Our first stop was Tain, because the sky was getting dark and it looked like rain (by now we had pulled over and put the top up on the MX-5). We parked down by the coast, found somewhere to sit for lunch but not long after finishing the rain started.
With the roof still up we headed for Dornoch where we experience the phenomena that is Scottish weather, we had a beautiful sunny afternoon walking across the dunes and along the beach.
Dornoch “airport”
The route we used took us out through the local airstrip.
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Walk around Branston
I was out walking today and along one length of the path these bushes were hanging over, almost blocking the way.
No stopping for tea and a snack today – the walk was to walk off last night’s three course dinner the boys cooked me!
Walk around Branston Read More »