Walking
Sunday Walk
Clocked up 10 miles or so today in a circular walk out towards Heighington, which included a length of the Water Rail Way. The weather was cold (but not as cold as last Saturday) and bright good for photographs.
I tested the “Clik Clak” stove in the wind today. There was a strong wind and it proved difficult to light the meths but once it was going, the stove heated the water for two cups of tea, using the half sized wind shield. So as a spare burner I think it is a success.
I have two of these tins, one I will pack in with my Crusader kit and the second will go in with my hiking brew kit.
“Clik Clak” Stove
I tested the “Clik Clak” stove with my Vargo Ti stove and Ti mug. It worked very well, boiling the water and keeping a rolling boil for about 1.5 minutes.
Saturday Morning
As it is forecast to be poor weather tomorrow I went for a walk this morning. The temperature was showing -6c, sunny with no wind and dry powder snow it was a great photo opportunity.
I found a suitable tree stump and made made some hot chocolate. Following my experience in the Lake District a couple of weeks ago, when the meths were too cold to light, I had carried the fuel bottle in an inside jacket pocket – this fixed the problem.
I am trying out another wind shield for my light weight stove – this one is made of thick aluminium foil and wraps closely around the mug and stove. In some very windy conditions I have found that the rigid wind shield, I usually use, lets too much wind through and I am concerned that when I head off to the Lake District in a couple months to wild camp that it will not provide enough protection. However there was no breeze today so it was no test for new wind shield – but I am sure it will be windy on my next walk!
“Clik Clak” Stove
I have been using the meths burner from my Vargo Triad stove with my Crusader stove. They work well in this combination and it allows me to use cleaner meths fuel with the Crusader unit. I’d like to have a meths burner permanently stored in the Crusader case and was planning to make a drink can stove – but whilst walking last week I had an idea for an alternative meths burner.
A while back we had been given a small tin of mints as a business freebie and I thought it might make a good burner.
The lid design gives holes for the meths vapour to get out of the tin.
Time to experiment.
I filled the Clik Clak tin to just under the rolled lip – the tin is not as big as the Triad burner so I wanted to maximise the burn time – and then carefully clicked the lid on.
I put the tin and the primer meths (about 3mm deep) into the Crusader Stove fuel bowl, lit it, and put 250ml of water on to heat in the Crusader Mug with my metal lid.
It did work, the water just reached the rolling boil before the fuel ran out. The next test is to try it outdoors, rather than in the still air conditions indoors.
For my latest lightweight cooking gear set up – click here.
Sunday Walk
With plans in the future to walk the Southern Upland Way and the Speyside Way, I am planning to try and get a walk in every Sunday to keep my fitness levels up for the long distance walks. Most weeks it will simply be walking across the fields locally – as it is today.
Craigellachie Summit
Here is a mono image from my walk to Craigellachie – post processed with iPhotogene2.
When I get some time I will post some extra images from my trip last week, that did not get included in the daily blogs.
Craigellachie Summit Read More »