Walking

Wet and Windy on the Water Rail Way

Walked from Washingborough to Woodhall Spa today as the real start of the practice to tackle the West Highland Way in October. It has been a while since I have walked seriously for a length of time – there is always something else to do – and it really showed when I was keeping up a good pace! So more practice needed.

It was a wet and windy day and it got very dark from time to time. I took my gas mask case with a flask of hot water, a brew kit and stove. Two stops for coffee from the flask and I heated water for a cup-a-soup during the hardest rain of the day. There is a lot of public art along the path and many “interesting” seats so I found a good place to sit for the brew up with a little shelter from the wind.

The Water Rail Way is a good walk and I would recommend it anyone – it is not tough but it has some good scenery and sights, including information boards to add historic and natural history notes to the walk.

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Pine Lake Resort Internet – Final Word

I went to the reception this morning to ask what was going to happen. To be fair the receptionist did not know, I didn’t think she would, but I needed her to pass my problem on. Helpfully she said she would pass my problem on to her manager, unhelpfully she informed me that Pine Lake could not authorise a refund!

So after a day walking along the coast – see photo below taken from the promenade at Morecambe – I went back to reception where there was some news. The site maintenance could not fix the issue, neither can Swisscom, so no Internet. I did however get my money back.

Moral – I am sure the high speed internet works here, but think twice before buying it could use up some of your holiday sorting it out.

It is a shame I did not pack one of my engineers and his laptop, spares and toolbox – I just have the feeling we could have sorted at least a patch to get the customer online.

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Lunch Break

I went for a walk in the outlying limestone area south of the Lake District today. The outcrop of limestone the path followed was an impressive bit of geology, worth seeing.

I came across a hollow just off the path which was a good place to stop for lunch – the stepped rock made for somewhere to put my sitmat.

Although it was a grey day it is interesting country to walk though – when I get back I will try and upload my Memory-map route.

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Titaniun Mug Lid

Once upon a time I didn’t worry how much weight I carried when out in the hills, now every gram counts. However I also enjoy a stop and a fresh hot drink and may be some hot food when walking and so I bought a Crusader brew kit – an excellent bit of kit, but heavy and lacking a proper lid (you cannot count the plastic drinking lid as it cannot reliably be used for cooking). A friend of mine who runs an engineering and maintenance company (The Little Frog Group) made me an aluminium lid for the Crusader mug. Two things the lid helps with, it shortens boiling times and it stops debris falling into the pot – a hazard when trying to shelter the mug and stove from the wind.

This got me thinking to make an even lighter brew kit. I have a Titanium stove and an MSR titanium mug which could be used as cooking pot. So once again The Little Frog Group made another lid, this time for the Ti mug.

One of the great things about the Vargo Triad XE Titanium Stove i that it can be used with meths or solid fuel tablets – but the problem with the solid fuel is that it leaves a residue on the outside of the pot. So if I used my mug as the kettle with solid fuel then it is probable that the smoke would taint the mug making it unpleasant to drink from. In my camp kit I had a beaker with a lid which fits nearly exactly into the mug and makes a reasonable cup for this brew kit.

Add to this my brew kit pouch (an mp3 case from a pound shop contains tea bags, milk powder etc), a small Light My Fire spork, a couple of 2 in 1 coffees, a lighter, four solid fuel tablets inside the stove, 2 50ml bottles of meths and some paper towels all in a “Brew Kit” stuff sack (bought many years ago from Footloose magazine) and I have a pocket sized (it has to be a big pocket) brewkit.

I dropped this kit into a WWII gas mask case – I have had since I was at school when it was not collectable but surplus, so mine is worn and stained – with a 600ml Sigg bottle of water, some biscuits and tinned fish. I have a 40cm by 60cm sheet of heavy duty plastic sheet, folds up small and gives me somewhere dry to sit. I also pack a very lightweight emergency kit which went in the haversack. Memory-Map on my iPhone, in an Aquapac took care of the navigation (an it is my camera) and an 8GB 3rd generation iPod Nano, full of podcasts and audio books, completes a very light walking kit.

Had a very good walk along the Speyside Way on Sunday, headed north out of Aviemore, did about 12 miles and had hot tea with my luch and more tea later in the day as the light was fading. It was windy and the foil wind shield was essential and raining – you can see the rain on the sit mat and on the bag.

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Photos at last – Coast to Coast Walk

I finally got around to sorting out my photographs I took whilst walking from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire. See our blog here http://www.octagontech.com/category/coast-to-coast/. I didn’t carry my Canon Powershot S2 IS with me every day – I heeded the warning we were given on Day 2 when we were soaked through walking from and the camera case had let water through and although the camera was damp it suffered no damage after carefully drying it. On bad weather days I used the perfectly functional camera on my Blackberry Curve for snapping the journey. However if you carry your camera with you in the bad weather see what happens here http://www.rkwinternet.com/category/coast-to-coast-walk/ – however the insurancecovered the loss and Richard now has a new camera. Richard has also posted an epilogue to the walk – I have also written about the experience and plan to post it in sections whilst I am away on my next holiday, when I have time to proof read the entries.

Here is a picture of my new boots in the sea at St Bees – taken on my Blackberry – http://www.flickr.com/photos/clivecphotos/2586254243/. As a camera phone this is the first one I have been satisfied with.

For Coast to Coast photos look here at my Flickr set

For more photos www.clivecatton.co.uk

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Journey’s End




Journey’s End

Originally uploaded by Lincoln Imp

And then it was all over. 192 miles in 12 days and despite all that nature put in our way, which included Fylingdales moor and the in destinct path which we never found (even when the gps said we had!) we made it. The photo was taken on the shoreline just before completing my task to mystify geologists.

For those who haven’t do a long distance walk before or even if you plan to do the c2c. My advice as a novice walker is simple. Preparation is everything, walk to your known limits and have a back up plan. Don’t rely on using a mobile phone because neither t-mobile or orange faired well in the lakes It was 4 degrees on Hellvelyn with 30mph wind and people we in tee shirts! Even worse we saw people on boggy moors in trainers, so expect the worst and prepare for it. I also found that whild the hare may be quicker a tortoise will always get there. For food I can not fault crab and oatcakes followed by an vegetable oxo cube in hot water and a couple of granola bars. 125 grammes and good for 23 miles. Don’t expect to loose much weight 2kgs is all I managed. Would I do it again, yes. What would I change, my ruck sack. Do use regatta, mine broke with 84 miles to go. Thanks must go to both Clive & Richard their company, advice, as well as the light hearted banter made the trip all the more memorable.

It’s taken nearly a month for me to write this last entry and not for the first time have I struggled to put down my thoughts. What I think I’m trying to say is this. It’s good, every once in a while to challenge yourself with something new, something which is different, something that makes you feel you’re alive, something that surprises other, but above all. Do it!

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