walking – Page 95 – Clive's Blog

Pennine Way Route – .gpx

7 January 2012 / Backpacking, Outdoor Gear, Technology, Walking / backpacking, Edale, GPS, IT Support for Lincolnshire, Kirk Yetholm, lightweight backpacking, lightweight walking, Memory-Map, navigation, Octagon Technology, Pennine Way, technology, walking

Pennine Way Route

Pennine Way Route gpx file is available on the Downloads page. This route was created using Memory Map on my laptop and then used in the field on my smartphone – read more about my backpacking tech here.

This English National Trail connects Edale to Kirk Yetholm crossing the backbone of the country, passing through a number of National Parks. Near Keld it also crosses Wainwright’s Coast to Coast path.

Fifty Years of the Pennine Way

Free Downloads

I have a selection routes, in GPX format and a lightweight backpacking gear list spread sheet available for free download – see here.

Loading gpx Files into Memory Map on the iPhone

Read my article – here – on how I keep my Memory Map files in Microsoft OneDrive so they are available on my iPhone.

This article is sponsored by Octagon Technology – suppliers of hosted secure email compatible with CJSM Secure eMail – Criminal Justice Secure eMail

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Southern Upland Way- .gpx file

5 December 2011 / Outdoor Gear, Technology, Walking / Memory-Map, Southern Upland Way, technology, walking

I have added a plot of the Southern Upland Way to my Download page – the file is the standard .gpx format so it is useable in a wide range of GPS units and applications. I am usiing it in Memory Map and on my iPhone.

There were some problems plotting the route on my 50k OS map – at the following locations – the route was not clear on the map.

Caldons Wood
Sanquhar
Wanlockhead
Sweetshaw Brae
Beatnock
Galashiels
Abbey St Bathans

If you use this route you will have to take care over those sections.

I plotted the route to skirt Glengaber Hill.

This is a walk I am planning to undertake in the summer of 2013. The plan at this time is to take fourteen days, carry lightweight camping gear and to stay in a mixture of campsites, wild camping and bed and breakfasts. Carrying food as required and resupplying along the route.

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Photogene2

24 November 2011 / Lincolnshire, Photography, Technology, Travel, Walking / iPhone, iPhone camera apps, iPhone photography, walking

I used to take a lot of black and white photos, on film, using a manual camera (a Nikon FM2) which I then processed and printed myself. It was great fun and I could produce some interesting and satisfying results. I thought it might be interesting to produce some mono images on my iPhone. I have tried the B&W effects available in the Camera+ app but thought it could be better and then I came across Photogene² as a featured app on the iTunes store and decided to try it out.

Photogene² is primarily an image processing app for the iPhone with many options including a fully featured black and white section. The interface is exceptionally good with controls that expand, become semi-transparent or disappear as you edit your image making it very easy to manipulate the effect you want. I particularly liked the contrast and exposure effect on the mono image to make the photo look like it had been printed on hard, high contrast, grade 5 paper – a result I was keen to produce.

Below is the first image I have made using the app (if I forget about the others I just experimented with).

The original image was made using Pro HDR – below is the starting image, with the colour saturation tweaked up a bit in the app, before saving.

Another feature of Photogene² is that it has a Black and White camera function, which displays in black and white as you frame the shot, to which you can add filters in real-time – I am looking forward to trying that out on some landscapes next time I go walking.

It looks like this is a good addition to my growing collections of camera and imaging apps on my iPhone digital camera.

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West Highland Way – The Train Back to Glasgow

15 October 2011 / Photography, Travel, Walking / coffee, Fort William, Glasgow, hiking, iPhone, iPhone camera apps, iPhone photography, Scotland, tea, walking, West Highland Way

Due to the Nevis Range being in the way the way back to Glasgow, by train, from Fort William requires us to go north to Spean Bridge and Tulloch first – a big detour. Hopefully the rain will clear from the windows so we can see the views.

in the station

More wet blurry photos to come!

the stations are quite high on this line

lunch – venison pie and tea

the West Highland Way from the moving train – near Tyndrum

We are now in a coffee bar, in Glasgow. Richard is hallucinating that the waitress looks like “Penny”. Time to go home.

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West Highland Way Day 8 – Fort William

15 October 2011 / Photography, Travel, Walking / Golite Jam 2, hiking, iPhone, iPhone camera apps, iPhone photography, Scotland, walking, West Highland Way

Time to cross the finish line. The rain this morning is the worst we have seen all week. But we braved it and walked the last mile to the new official (commercial) finish of the West Highland Way.

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West Highland Way Day 7 – Kinlochlen to Fort William

14 October 2011 / Photography, Technology, Travel, Walking / Golite Jam 2, hiking, iPhone, iPhone camera apps, iPhone photography, Scotland, walking, West Highland Way

The day started with what is probably the best breakfast of the trip, it included fresh bread, scones, smoked salmon and a large selection of berries and fresh fruit. Richard’s West Highland cooked breakfast could barely fit on the plate.

Having dropped down into Kinlochleven yesterday we had to climb back out this morning through the forest to the old military road.

above and below the Ben Nevis range

We were slower today than we had planned – so we got to Fort William too late to pass the “official finish line” and take photos. So we will finish this walk tomorrow.

But we did pass the “old finish line”!

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West Highland Way Day 6 – Bridge of Orchy to Kinlochlen

13 October 2011 / Photography, Travel, Walking / Golite Jam 2, hiking, iPhone, iPhone camera apps, iPhone photography, Scotland, tea, walking, West Highland Way

Twenty-one miles today – Rannock Moor and Glen Coe. The weather forecast is fair for the day so I have unloaded the gaiters and over trousers.

I got to the B&B in Kinlochleven at 5pm which meant eight hours and twenty minutes on the track. I had a couple of ten minute breaks and tea on the summit above the Devil’s Staircase. The drop down from there to Kinlochleven was very steep and longer than I expected.