The Cairngorm Mountains from Craigellachie
The Cairngorm Mountains from Craigellachie Read More »
Craigellachie National Nature Reserve
Walking and Geocaching
I headed out for a couple of miles walking today. The Craigellachie National Nature Reserve is a few minutes away from the timeshare so it is a regular destination when I do not want to get the car out. The plan was to walk a bit then find somewhere to make a brew, eat my lunch and read.
A few years back the boys and I used to go geocaching a lot. Then we stopped – the boys grew up and I started walking more on my own again and did not need the incentive of looking for a cache to get out and about. Now with both of them off looking for Pokemon – did I mention that they had grown up – I thought I would go and start searching for caches again.
Found it!
Gear
Lunch using my Alpkit minimalist lightweight cookset
Lightweight Sea to Summit pack
Map and compass
Rain jacket and bush hat
Lunch
Backpacking cooking set
1l water
Sit mat – pads the back of the pack
Swiss Army Knife
Long sleeved lightweight shirt
Crag Hopper long trousers
Karrimor hiking shoes with Bridgedale hiking socks
Pocket first aid kit, pack of tissues, whistle, space blanket, length of cord, four large safety pins, glucose tablets
Head lamp
Emergency power pack for my smartphone
Lightweight roll up jumper, fleece hat and gloves
Walking and Geocaching Read More »
Today’s photo and some extra Scotland photos
Something from the garden today – I have gear and equipment to clean and sort today, it is too wet and gray to get the MX-5 out and I have Octagon work to organise for the coming week.
Here are a few extra photos from the Scotland trip I have did not post.
The Standing Order – Edinburgh, a pub in a converted bank
Aviemore
Cairngorm National Park
Coffee in the snow
Craigellachie National Nature Reserve
Craigellachie National Nature Reserve
Today’s photo and some extra Scotland photos Read More »
Walking in Craigellachie National Nature Reserve
Craigellachie National Nature Reserve
The weather this morning was bright and clear – excellent for walking in the snow, as long as you take gloves, hat, warm jacket, decent boots, thick socks, etc, etc.
The snow in most places was a couple of inches deep although from time to time it was much deeper.
My boot sunk in more than a foot of snow
Craigellachie National Nature Reserve is a short walk from Scandinavian Village and is very close to Aviemore – it is a great place to explore and take photos.
The lake was frozen and had this mysterious “Superman” logo on the ice.
I cleared the snow from the end of a bench and had a brew up, using my MSR Titanium mug and Alpkit Kraku stove, a great lightweight and efficient combination in the cold weather. Hot tea and cake, sitting in the winter sun shine.
I forgot to pack my sit mat so I had to sit on my gloves and hat as the icy bench was far to cold to sit on without insulation.
Walking in Craigellachie National Nature Reserve Read More »
Alpkit Kraku Backpacking Gas Stove
First use of the Alpkit Kraku Backpacking Gas Stove
It was my first opportunity today to use the new Alpkit Kraku gas stove. It is very small and I carried a small gas canister to make it a very portable unit. The small size of the burner unit does mean that some care must be taken when fixing it to the gas canister, it can cross thread very easily and if over tightened the shoulder of the valve can jamb on the lip of the gas canister. Once together and the pot supports are set up it does make a very stable stove. I used my MSR titanium mug with lid on it and it sat very well. Once lit, it only took a couple of minutes for the water to come to a rolling boil – I had the stove set up in a very sheltered spot and I was using a wind shield. In the photos you can see the pot support glowing cherry red.
The actual flame head is also quite small, especially compared with my previous MSR Pocket Rocket, it worked well under my mug and I am sure it will work under my Alpkit MiTiMug but I expect it will struggle with a larger pot. It probably will not deliver enough heat for group cooking. When I go camping later in the year I will try it out with the small frying pan I use when static camping. However I bought this as a personal backpacking stove where weight is everything and it is considerably lighter than the MSR stove and when camping on my own it should still be sufficient.
Overall (so far) I am very pleased with the Alpkit Kraku stove – it is very small and light. Well made and efficient – boiling a mug of water significantly quicker then if I had used my meths stove. Because it is so light I may be changing my backpacking habits and using a gas stove more than the ultralight Vargo titanium meth stove I currently use.
Here are some more detailed photos of the stove – More is less.
Here is the post about the walk where I used this stove.
Alpkit Kraku Backpacking Gas Stove Read More »
Walking today – Craigellachie National Nature Reserve Aviemore
With the weather forecast for the day being reasonably good, I decided not to waste any time driving but set off to Craigellachie National Nature Reserve – with a plan to go up onto the ridge and walk along the top.
The weather was great and relatively warm (for January in the Cairngorms), I did not need my gloves, hat or jumper nor did I need to zip my coat up until I got out into the wind on the exposed ridge and summits. One thing I did have on though was the new Helly Hansen Lifa Dry base layer Diana bought me – and it was excellent, it kept me warm, was comfortable to wear and did not absorb any sweat when I was warm so when I did need the insulation on the top, it worked.
Have you ever wondered who puts the rock steps in the footpaths? Well I met two of them today.
Rather than get my stove out to make a coffee, I took hot water in a thermal mug, for the first stop. I had a number Octagon Technology emails and texts to deal with – if there is one problem with the titanium mug I normally use is that on a longer break, like this one, the drink would get cold too quickly. But not when using a thermal mug. I had packed it for this trip having recently read a blog of a backpacker who used one to keep water hot for his late night hot chocolate. He boiled the water when he made his evening meal so it meant he could pack his stove and pots away for the night and still have a hot drink later. I bought my thermal mug a number of years ago but it has had little use but I am going to try it out on this trip and if it works out I may pack it for subsequent trips.
Lunch
Lunch was soup and crackers. I really like the “Squeeze and Stir” tomato soup but I have found it difficult to stir in and dissolve all the paste when I have been making it for lunch when walking and backpacking. I tend to use cup-a-soups which are really easy to make on the trail. But today I had a thermal mug. I put the paste in the mug and half filled it with boiling water. Then making sure the lid was on firmly I vigorously shook it. After about a minute I topped the mug up with more boiling water and I had perfect tomato soup – and once I was finished no messy mug to clean up, I just put the lid back on and packed it away.
click on the above image for a larger version
Walking today – Craigellachie National Nature Reserve Aviemore Read More »