We had a plan today to walk a couple of miles along the Viking Way and take some photographs. However the weather fixed those plans.
So as with other walking trips it included coffee and cakes.
We did get out and walk a little around the start of the Viking Way.
…and a wet group shot!
I didn’t take a backpack on my walk this morning, I wore my winter walking coat and carried just enough equipment for a coffee break on the walk back – well actually it was hot chocolate.
I used a stile as a convenient seat and got my meths stove out of the wind behind the fence post.
I use a strip of heavy duty aluminium foil, cut from a tray an oven joint was cooked in. The foil is shaped into a “coil” so it fits snuggly around the titanium mug with lid, making an effective wind shield.
The plastic mug fits over the Sigg bottle and the folded up stove is stored under the bottle, the titanium mug slides onto the bottom of the bottle.
The other sundries fit into the front pocket: spork, fire steel, mug lid, meths bottle, some paper towel in a small ziplock bag for cleaning up and the rubbish.
I carried my sitmat in a jacket pocket.
Another night of rain but again it stopped in time for me to have my breakfast outside in the sunshine.
With the showers there was a rainbow over the tents whilst I was having coffee.
And here are the raindrops on my MSR Hubba tent.
Veryan Campsite pt5 Read More »
Morning coffee before Jeremy gets up -boiled up in my Crusader Cookset but using my Vargo Ti meths burner as it is cleaner than solid fuel tablets. Even though we have an MSR Pocket Rocket gas stove with us the meths burner still gets a lot of use, especially when we need to boil water for both of us – and we are not in a hurry. It also is a good second burner when cooking – again best for boiling water. The down side is it takes a bit longer to boil the water compared to the MSR stove.
Veryan Campsite pt4 Read More »
This building has not always been a pub.
click on the above image for a larger version
We went for a coffee and cakes – this is what Jeremy had, a hot chocolate.
We then went for a walk along the coast at Gerrans Bay, to find somewhere to have lunch.
I set my alarm for the sunrise – but when I looked out it was cloudy and misty – so I went back to bed and brewed some coffee.
The way back
Finished
Check this link for Richard’s words and photos from the trip.
Old Man of Coniston pt3 – Sunday Read More »
I put the Hubba tent up again last night – and slept in it to try it out. That left Jeremy on his own in the other tent, which he thought was alright, and as I could hear him texting with Sakira late into the night, he must have been pleased to get rid of me.
The above shot shows the profile of the tent, with the back pulled out, the large porch and the sleeping area. I added the high visibility guy at the back so I will have somewhere to hang my tea towel etc to dry. It is attached using a lightweight plastic carabiner, so it can be removed.
The inner tent is made of netting so you get a good view of the inside of the flysheet. The rear of the flysheet is lifted higher than you would expect to aid with ventilation. To keep the weather out the ground sheet comes up much higher at the back.
looking out the rear of the tent – the ground sheet edge is higher than my three season sleeping bag
As with nearly all one man tents the condensation overnight is quite high. The the inside of the flysheet was very wet when I got up but the inner tent was dry.
There is a two-way zip on the flysheet door to help with ventilation – and I left the top unzipped by about 20 cm, but the gap this left was small, so I am not sure if it helped much,
Inside, for a small tent, there is plenty of room for one person and some equipment – on a backpacking trip the main pack will have to stay in the porch. I could comfortably sit up and move around inside the tent, easily reaching my kit stored at either end. When backpacking I carry a small tarp (1m square) this will be useful to have in the porch to extend the living space. I will probably cut the tarp to fit the porch space.
my 22l daypack at the foot of my bed – the full length sleeping mat is well clear of the end of the tent giving plenty of room for tall people or equipment
The above shot may give the impression there is room for two people in the Hubba – there is not, it is one person wide.
The porch is very deep making it a long reach to close the door zip right to the bottom, but giving plenty of useable storage and living room. I brewed my early morning coffee in the tent, taking care to light the stove on its lowest gas setting and with the mug already on the stove.
These shots show the amount of headroom in the porch, allowing for cooking inside, if the right equipment and care is used. I fitted my MSR Pocket Rocket stove to a 100g gas bottle to lower the height and set it back into the highest part of the tent without getting too near to the inner tent. The inner tent door was securely fastened back whilst using the stove and the area around the stove kept clear.
the above shots show the room in the porch and my MSR stove set up using my MSR titanium mug with kid
I would not use my meths stove inside the closed porch
It had been raining for most of the night and was still raining whilst I made the coffee and the Hubba kept me and everything inside dry. I was unable to conveniently use a stove in my old backpacking tent due to its wedge shape – the domed, high headroom of this tent addresses that problem for when I am backpacking in bad weather.
I unzipped the double door zip to give extra ventilation whist making the coffee.
The tent is made to the highest standards, I could not find any seam stitching faults. All the strain points are well reinforced without adding to the weight too much.
The light green colour is discreet for wild camping but still allows for plenty of natural light to get in.
you cannot miss that this is an MSR product
So after one night (in the rain) I am very pleased with the MSR Hubba, I had a comfortable dry night in it – and it addresses the issues with my old backpacking tent:
The down side with all small tents is the condensation – I will have to see how this works out when I am backpacking and having to pack the flysheet away wet in by rucksack for the day.
MSR Hubba Tent – test Read More »