I am off to Scotland next weekend for two weeks and today I have been filling my Nalgene bottles and pots with spices, herbs, ground coffee, milk powder, corn flour, instant chai tea, olive oil, soy sauce and whisky – enough for one. Doing this saves weight and space in my packing. It is too easy to just fill the boot of my car when going off on my own to time share.
Nalgene containers – Camping and Backpacking Read More »
I bought this Light My Fire spice box in the summer in Scotland, but I only found it again this morning when I went to sort out my camping food tin.
The spice pot was in in a sale box for a pound as the packaging had been lost. There are markings on two of the sections – “S” and “P” but as I use salt and pepper packets from cafes I have put sumac, in the “S”, smoked paprika in the “P” and garam masala in the third. All of these spices are very useful when I am camping or backpacking as they are “shake over” rather than “cook in” spices so I can easily jazz up my food.
Spice box for camping Read More »
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 »
It was raining a little when I finally found somewhere suitable to stop out of the wind.
that is Aviemore under the rainbow
Craigellachie – lunchtime Read More »
Having set the alarm early enough today to go out and photograph a sunrise, it was overcast.
I found a good place to stop for breakfast by the River Witham.
When looking online to see what other people do for backpacking gear and food, I see many US backpackers eating “Pop Tarts” for breakfast – when I was in Tesco on Friday they had them for sale in their “American section”, so I ought I would try them out.
First thing to get over was the price – £3.50 for eight Pop Tarts. They are invidually packed in twos which makes them ideal for portion control. On the packaging it says they should be cooked in a toaster or microwave, I am sure none of the lightweight backpacker I have seen using them, carries either of these items so I assumed they could be eaten cold – however I ate one at home yesterday to check.
Pop Tarts are a soft pastry with a soft sweet filling.
I had the other this morning with some tea and it was fine, more filling than the breakfast biscuits I have been recently using when backpacking. They are however very sweet and probably not nutritionally great, but I am not planning to eat them continuously – some dried or fresh fruit would help with this. Another issue for some people is that ithey may contain genetically engineered soya.
The packaging makes this a good backpacking food for me, two pastries in a a sealed plastic wrapper, but because Pop Tarts are soft I will have to take care not to crush them in my backpack. Even though they are relatively expensive compared to breakfast biscuits I think I will be using them for variety in my menus.
BBC News – Scott’s Antarctic diet: Stewed penguin and champagne.
The BBC have an interesting article about Scott’s expedition to the South Pole examining the food they ate.
I do not walk in such extreme conditions as they did – but getting the menu right on even a short trip will add to the enjoyment of the walk. One thing my son and I have been discussing for our planned Southern Upland Way walk is carrying/buying on route some fresh fruit – so we are now exploring other people’s blogs for their experiences on the walk, to see what they did.
BBC News – Scott’s Antarctic diet: Stewed penguin and champagne Read More »
Whilst Christmas shopping in Aldi, I picked up a few things for my walking trip to Aviemore in mid-January.
The microwave rice (just heat it in a pot with a couple of spoons of water – you do not need a microwave) looked more interesting than the last varieties I bought and the same for the flavours of the instant noodles.
The Racer bar is like a Snickers bar but with more peanuts and a better size for snacking on when walking.
I also bought some coffee creamer powder and made up a creamer/freeze-dried coffee mix in a small nalgene bottle (2 spoons of creamer to 1 spoon of coffee) as the only pre-mixed sachets I could find in the shop were the sweetened variety.