Walking – Page 66 – Clive's Blog

Be Prepared!

27 April 2012 / Backpacking, Camping, Outdoor Gear, Photography, Walking / backpacking food, coffee, lightweight backpacking, lightweight backpacking food, lightweight camping, outdoor gear, Photos 2012, tea

I want to get plenty of overnight backpacking trips in the year, as practice for some future longer trips – The Speyside Way this summer and the Southern Upland Way summer 2013.

So whilst I have been sorting out the food this week for a trip with Jeremy next weekend I have put together a pack of food for a short solo overnighter, so if I decide to go at the last minute the food will be ready.

As I think the food pack will spend several weeks on the shelf the food had to have a good storage life – so no sausage or salami and the crackers have been double wrapped in cling film.

Menu

Trail Food
Spice and fruit oat cakes, white coffee and dried fruit and nuts

Dinner
Tuna in tomato and onion sauce, crackers, packet of noodles, tomato soup, sesame dessert, apple flakes, tea.

Supper
Hot Chocolate and biscuits

Breakfast
Tea and biscuits
Breakfast biscuits and portion of jam, 2x cereal bars, tea

Trail Food
Honey Chrysanthemum Tea and oat cakes and jam

Extra
Bag of Aldi chocolate buttons

The individual meals are packed in small ziplock bags and then these are packed in a larger ziplock bag.

The only things I need to add to this will be the tea bags and dried milk in my small brewkit – and it is ready to go.

1x Indian spiced tea bag
5x tea bags
3x sugar
salt and pepper
20ml dried milk
1x 500mg paracetamol tablet
1x indigestion tablet
small refillable gas lighter – it gives a stronger flame compared to a disposable lighter

The case is an mp3 case bought at a pound shop.

Update
I have added an “army style” can opener to this pouch – as I have removed the Bantam SAK from my backpacking kitchen, so there is no longer a tin opener in the stuff sack.

I have been finishing this post, whilst waiting to go to a supplier to look at their Cloud Computing solutions, and looking out of the window here the weather is grey, wet and overcast so the above image may well be today’s “Photo of the Day”!

Be Prepared! Read More »

MSR PocketRocket Stove – Test

23 April 2012 / Backpacking, Camping, Outdoor Gear, Photography, Walking / iPhone photography, lightweight backpacking, outdoor gear, Photos 2012

Today’s “photo of the day” is testing the MSR stove.

When Jeremy and I got in we decided to test the MSR Pocket Rocket stove in the backgarden.

The assembly of the stove was very easy, the large knurled bottom of the stove helped with this and assisted with keeping the stove straight on the canister as it was screwed in. Then we tried out the stability of our MSR titanium mug and Titan kettle which we found very good, due to the angled pot stand arms.

As per the instructions we did not use a windshield and depended on the “Wind Clip™ wind shield”, these are the three small metal fins on the burner.

The stove was set up in an exposed position and there was a strong breeze. The burner lit easily even in the breeze – and we put 300ml of water on to boil, in the MSR titanium mug with lid. The Wind Clip worked as from time to time as the breeze picked up we could hear the flame stutter but it did not go out.

In this exposed position it took 2mins 30secs to bring the water to a rolling boil. When camping it would be possible to give the stove some shelter behind the tent so decreasing this boil time.

Following this test it only took a couple of minutes for the stove to cool sufficiently for it to be handled and packed away.

This was a garden test, which showed this is a good stove – we’ll test it some more when we go backpacking next.

MSR PocketRocket Stove – Test Read More »

MSR Pocket Rocket Stove

23 April 2012 / Backpacking, Camping, Outdoor Gear, Walking / backpacking, lightweight backpacking, outdoor gear

Diana has bought me an MSR Pocket Rocket stove to supplement my Ti meths stove when backpacking in bad weather.

I could not buy a 100g gas bottle, in Lincoln this morning, so I got a 220g one so I can use/test the stove today. For my lightweight trips I’d prefer the smaller/lighter gas canister – but as the canisters are removable, I can have both styles on the go at the same time.

My MSR Titanium mug sits securely on the pot stand as does my MSR Titan kettle.

The red plastic carry box is useful to protect the stove and to protect my other kit from it’s sharp points when the stove is packed in my rucksack.

Jeremy and I are planing an overnight trip in two weeks time and we will try this stove out then – he is going to carry it!

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A walk between the showers

22 April 2012 / Lincolnshire, Outdoor Gear, Photography, Walking / Lincolnshire, Photos 2012, walking

A short walk across the fields today – between the showers. There were some very impressive clouds covering Lincolnshire today.

I put a small brewkit in my pocket – titanium mug with lid, a beaker, spork, a solid fuel stove and some aluminium foil for a wind break.

A walk between the showers Read More »

Misterton Ladies Group

21 April 2012 / General, Walking / tea, walking

Earlier this week Richard and I gave an illustrated talk to the Misterton Ladies Group about our walk along the West Highland Way. This was the second time we had given a presentation to them, last year we talked about our experiences on Wainwright’s Coast to Coast.

We were made very welcome, which included tea and cakes – and we must have entertained them as we have been invited back next year to talk about backpacking.

Misterton Ladies Group Read More »

Trying new backpacking food

15 April 2012 / Backpacking, Camping, Outdoor Gear, Walking / backpacking food, outdoor gear, tea

Richard bought some different backpacking food to try out – we did not take it with us this weekend, just in case we didn’t like it. So I tried it for tea this evening.

The food comes in a sturdy pouch, that will stand up and has notches for easy opening. You can cook it in a pot or in the bag and, if you pack a microwave you could use that.

I cooked mine in the microwave. Both Jeremy and I liked it. It was a good taste without being spicy.

There was a good balance of lentils and beans to sauce. The 300g portion is a good size serving after a day’s walking, some crackers would soak up the sauce, or depending on your appetite noodles or rice.

Following this test we are planing to use these in future.