All posts by Darren

False Dawn

#backtothehills, hiking/backpacking/camping, outdoors

Well that’s the shortest return ever!

I was minutes from my destination. The phone signal had almost disappeared. So I decided to call Mum to let her know I was virtually there.

That’s when things changed.

I was going to have to turn back.

But before I did I stopped at a parking spot I had spotted on the drive in for a break and something to eat.

After having driven for so long I needed this before repeating the journey.

After a coffee, and a rehydrated 6 Bean chilli I made my way back home.

Yes I’m very disappointed that the plans did not go as intended. But as Jack Reacher says “Plans go to hell as soon as the first shot is fired.”

At least I knew that the food side was working.

Boiling water, rehydrating my home made dehydrated chilli in the Ziplock Aluminium Foil Bag, and using the pot cozy worked well. I liked using the UCO Collapsible Cup. Using my old sea to summit folding bowl to eat the chilli from. Ok I used the bowl because I had some tortillas chips, grated cheese and squeezy sour cream on top. Not easy to do if eating from the bag.

I also started the over night oats. Which by this morning were “perfect”. I might add a little bit more milk powder in future.

I had intelligence about where I had planned to leave the car. It’s a totally viable spot. It’s hard to judge the suitability of a spot when all the map shows is the letter P. So it’s good to know that this is a great spot to leave the car.

My adjusted plans for my week off will see me spend time playing with kit whilst doing this son carer thing.

Back to the hills – last minute stuff

#backtothehills, hiking/backpacking/camping

Back in the day I had a weakness when it came to stoves. Hence the stove talk videos and ending up with over thirty stoves of one type or other.

Well whatever the exact number is it’s now increased by one.

After watching an Eric Hanson YouTube video about the Jetboil and cheaper alternatives that would meet most folks needs. I caved and bought what apparently is the darling of the lightweight backers a BRS Stove 3000T.

The BRS is a gas stove made from titanium alloy, copper, and stainless steel. It weighs in at 25g apparently. So uber light.

One thing that allows the stove to be so light say compared to the Peak Ignition is that there is no piezo ignition. So an alternate means of ignition is needed such as a lighter or matches.

The BRS comes with a small storage bag, and an o ring that I’m not sure yet if it is a spare or something I need to fit. I’m sure a quick Google will provide me with an answer.

I don’t know why but I decided to give the Peak Ignition another go to see if its piezo ignition would work. When I had used it at the Travelodge during the UKGE I found that the piezo ignition didn’t work. I had to resort to using a lighter.

But this time as I pushed the button to try and make a spark, it did indeed spark. I was more than pleasantly surprised. I pressed again a couple of more times. Creating more little blue arcs. I grabbed a gas canister. Clumsily I attached the Peak Ignition to it. Turned its regulator to hear the hiss of gas escaping. And then pressed the button on the piezo ignition. It clicked, sparked, and the stove roared into life. It’s alive!

I hadn’t decided what stove I’d take with me tomorrow. But now I’m decided I’m going with the Peak Ignition. I’ll play with the BRS on a day hike over the Summer.

I did buy a vacuum sealer and I need to get to grips with that today as I bag my overnight oats, and powdered egg.

Anyway as you read this I’m most likely on route to North Wales. I still have last minute things to do. So I better cut this short. Catch you after the return.

I played some games and liked it!

bgstat, by the numbers, stats

This month has been weird.

I knew it was going to be lacking on the gaming front.

Work was giving me shifts that really weren’t conducive to playing games with others.

However gaming finds a way, and I managed to play some games. More than I expected.

There was even a last day of the month game session with Diego and Marcin. Which seemed to mirror the last day of May at UKGE and playing games with Ben and Harrison. These two last minute flurry of gaming pushed up the stats for both months making them look less sad than they were.

My 3×3 for June 2024

Luckily after this weeks holiday and four shifts of lates I make the jump back to early shifts. Which means a return to club night and being able to start back up the mid week lcg/ccg night. So there is a silver lining to gaming.

The stats for June 2024

Back to the hills – the big destination reveal

#backtothehills, hiking/backpacking/camping

After a lot of procrastinating I could no longer put off the decision any longer. I needed to decide where I would be going for my return to the hills.

I’m going to South Snowdonia. Narrowing it down a bit more. I’m going to be wandering around Rhinog Fawr.

I’ve never been to this bit of North Wales. Although I have done Cadair Idris with Kate, Nathan, and the wolf pack if memory doesn’t fail me.

The inspiration for this decision was this YouTube video by Claire aka Wild Beare.

This screen shot from the video shows the route that Claire took for this trip.

Wild Beare’s Route

I’m not planning to do massive mileage for this first excursion. My fitness levels aren’t what they used to be. I’ve had 14 years or so of “good living” since my last hike.

What I like about this area Claire chose is the options available to me on the day. If I’m feeling it I can take in a peak, camp near lakes, pitch up in some woods.

I’m going to be using the Snowdonia South (British Mountain Map) from the BMC. These are 1:40k scale maps that is “printed on polyethylene this map is durable, tearproof and 100% waterproof”.

I do like this map series a lot. It saves me having to carry a map case for starters. I like the scale and seems a good compromise between using a 1:25k and 1:50k map.

So there we have it destination Rhinogs.

Back to the hills – some more prep

#backtothehills, hiking/backpacking/camping

One thing I discovered on a camping/walking trip to Snowdonia with Kate back in the day was how my body doesn’t react well to midge bites.

As Kate and I were setting up our tent, I got bitten to death by swarms of them at the campsite. Every exposed inch of flesh was bitten and covered in itchy red blobs where they had fed on me.

Sprays sold by the campsite shop to ease the itching just did not provide any relief at all. The fact I had been bitten so many times all over meant just to cover the bites I needed multiple sprays! They weren’t cheap.

We eventually cut our weekend short with a visit to a local welsh doctors surgery where I was put on a course of steroids.

So you can imagine I started putting in measures to avoid this happening again. Such as getting a headnet, or buying clothes with built in insect repellent.

Now as I get ready to return to the hills I’ve been using Lifesystems Ex4 Anti Mosquito Clothing, Footwear And Outdoor Gear Treatment Spray to treat my clothing, shemagh, polar buffs, regular buffs, groundsheet, and tarp.

This has worked for me in the past and proved effective.

Whilst on the TGOC even with a tarp I wasn’t bothered by ticks. I put that down to my clothing, groundsheet, etc being treated with a fabric friendly bug treatment. Along with the use of bug spray/wipes.

The DD Hammocks DD Superlight tarp I have comes with four pegs, and some thin guy ropes. The guy ropes are perfect for me to make some loops with. That that can on the day when needed be used to make a prusik knot.

I’ve also made some smaller bungee cord loops to use on the attachment points of the tarp. I’ll attach these when needed using a larks head knot to give me a little give and take a bit of pressure of the attachment points in high winds.

The last thing I want to be thinking off in bad weather conditions is having to create these loops first. I want to be able to grab one and use it, getting the tarp up as quick as possible.

After watching one of the yank outdoors YouTubers I ordered an UCO Collapsible Cup for Hiking. I don’t know why? I liked the look of it. It does not collapse nearly as flat as the sea to summit collapsible mug I have (and can’t find at the current time). Mainly due to the hard plastic ring which is about half the height of the mug uncollapsed. How ever it’s more sturdy which I like.

I’m starting to feel more prepared for next weeks adventure.

Fighting illness

life, the universe, and everything, still alive

The cold I had a few weeks ago never really went away and has flared up as a chest infection. Which has really taken it out of me.

I was kinda glad that on my day off on Saturday that no-one was free to play games. I was really feeling bad. There was also plans to try out a recipe or two for the impending return to the hills. But that day was just bed rest.

Somehow I made it through a 10 hour shift last night. With two 9 hour shifts ahead of me today and tomorrow. Wednesday is a day off but I’ll need that as recovery time.

Work and illness is so draining.

Luckily the last three shifts before a week off are normal ones. Which I’m thankful for. Changes at work haven’t been finalised so that’s still an unknown hanging around like a bad smell.

But the holiday should be starting off in a good way with some gaming with Diego. Which I’m really looking forward to.

That’s where things are at the moment. Hope that this chest infection clears up in time for the holiday and the hills.

Back to the hills – some things are in the post

#backtothehills, outdoors

With little gaming going on at the moment and the impending holiday and return to the hills. It does seem like this blog has shifted focus for the time being as I prepare for said return.

I do have some more bits on the way for the trip or future plans!

Having inspected my 15 year old plus Leki trekking poles that had been living against the front door of Nans for most of that time. The tips of the poles were not in good condition, one was missing and the other very loose (unable to be tightened, they had seen better times) I decided to get new poles.

I settled on the Alpkit Carbon long Backpacker Twins XL Trekking Poles. These extend to a length of 150cm. Which when using with a tarp that extra 15cm or so gives important extra headroom. Yes you can buy dedicated tarp poles that are longer. However that’s extra weight. I use trekking poles so they are the natural things to use with a tarp.

I like Alpkit. I remember when they first hit the outdoors scene in the UK (they are a British company). They were very popular and whatever they produced sold out very quickly. Which wasn’t surprising because they offered great products that were affordable. Yes often they weren’t the lightest but the price more than made up for that.

Obviously since then they have grown, expanded their range. It’s good to see them still around and being successful. A real success story.

There are a couple of items coming for my “outdoors” kitchen. The first is the MSR Dish Scraper. All these titanium pots, and the odd non-stick frying pan need cleaning, sometimes you need to scrape off bits. And I don’t want to damage these not cheap items.

Next I have the MSR Alpine Spatula and Joseph Duo Locking Kitchen Food Tongs on the way. These join my Tala Silicone Mini Spatula to complete my cooking implements. There will be no whisk. These will be great with the frying pan or if I use one of the wood burners as a mini bbq!

Which reminds me all these outdoor YouTubers whether they are hikers or bush crafters. Who the feck carries raw meet in their rucksack all day to cook in the evening? I do think they are being a bit disingenuous with their videos and hiding a cool bag.

I have midge head nets (two I think). But I wanted an option to work with the tarp that I could sleep in more easily. After a bit of research I ended up tracking down a US Military mosquito bug net that was designed to be used with a pup tent (an old US army tent). What sold me on this was the shape. It would work better with an A-frame tarp setup. Which is probably the tarp configuration I’d be using the most in good weather and also the most likely time insects would be an issue. So one of these is on its way.

Finally I have a British Mountain map on its way too. Yes I have finally decided on an area to go to. But this will be the subject of another post. The only drawback is this is not an official OS map so no free download of the map data.

Laters.

Back to the hills – destination unknown!

#backtothehills, outdoors

My return to the hills is fastly approaching and I have no idea where I’m going!

I just can’t make my mind up.

One thing I am certain of is going north of the border is out of the question.

With the time I have for doing this the amount of travel required to get there and back rules it out.

Which is a shame I love Scotland. It is such a a beautiful place to visit and explore on foot.

The same distance travel time handicap rules out Dartmoor as well.

Areas pushing the limits of this self imposed restriction such as the New Forest or Brecon Beacons are tempting. Especially the later which has a lot of fond memories.

I’m left with North Wales, Peak District, Lake District, and Yorkshire Moors. Although my gut is telling me the Lakes might also be stretching it.

One benefit for me no matter which area I finally end up exploring is I will be going midweek. So hopefully I will be avoiding those weekend crowds.

My current thoughts or I should say where my heart is being pulled is North Wales. But which part?

I need to look at maps and see what grabs me. The usual honey spots don’t grab me. I can do them some other time.

I need to think more on this.

Back to the hills – ‘water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink’

#backtothehills, outdoors

This posts title is a famous quote from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’.

Let’s face it when we are backpacking we tend to carry the bare minimum water because the plan is to fill up along the way as and when we need it.

The problem is how safe is our water to drink?

Definitely the water quality in the UK has gotten worse over the last decade or so, especially in the low lands. Our water companies can it seems pump literal shit into our rivers with impunity. Farmers being allowed to spray ever more toxic chemicals on crops, micro plastic pellets. The list of possible contaminants goes on. Even the fastest flowing stream far from the polluting grasp of our water companies might be contaminated.

Like my sleeping system I’ve refreshed my options for clean water whilst out on the hill. Besides can I really trust a filter that has remained unused for over a decade?

First up I have a 500ml Pure Clear Collapsible Filter bottle. This will be used throughout the day to stay hydrated by drinking from convient water sources on route.

The next addition is the Sawyer Squeeze SP129 Waterfilter. This will be my main filter for filtering in the evening at camp.

I’m not going to use the bags that come with the Sawyer Squeeze. They don’t have a great reputation online, from ease of filling to how sturdy they are. It would appear that a popular replacement for them is a CNOC Vecto water container of some capacity. I went with the one litre version.

The washer in the Squeeze where it attaches to the water container apparently can fall out when back washing the filter if not careful. So I have some replacement ones in a general mini repair kit.

I also have a SP150 Coupling that allows you to attach bottles etc to the Squeeze.

I’ve also hacked my Squeeze by replacing the sports lid with one from a water bottle. I’m not a fan of the sports lid and its pull to drink. I am much more comfortable and find them easier to use with the flip cover to drink lid.

Another hack I’ve adopted is one to protect the filter end when stowed away.

Now to extend the life of the Squeeze, and increase the time between having to back wash the filter (ie clean it) I intend to pre-filter the water to remove large particles from the water. This should stop the filter becoming clogged as much.

To do this pre-filter I’ve borrowed from the military once more by adding a Millbank bag water filtration bag to the kit. If I’m using this then the water must really be bad.

A hack to the Squeeze itself is to replace the washer I mentioned above with a Danco 80070 Hose Washer with Screen. So I’ve done that too. Yes there is a spare in the repair kit.

This last hack may make the Millbank bag redundant with the Squeeze.

Well that’s my clean water taken care of. But where am I going to be using this setup? I’ll cover that in the next post.

Gears of Corruption

Game day

Saturday afternoon I got some gaming in with Charlene and her daughter Annabelle.

We started off with playing Expeditions with the newly released expansion Gears of Corruption.

Neither Charlene or Annabelle had played before.

We used the new leaders from the expansion. I was going to use one of the new mechs, which was a choice Charlene also made. Annabelle went with a mech she thought looked cool. Which is as good a way as any when you have never played before.

Below are our choices.

  • Freya/Mole – me
  • Zehra/Scarecrow – Charlene
  • Bjorn/Lumberjack – Annabelle

Without using the corrupted mech rules there is nothing else within the expansion that can’t be used with new players.

The expansion comes with two new mechs, four new leaders and their companions, pieces for a sixth player, seven mech cards (used to help select mechs, starting resources, and reminder of mech ability), cards for corrupt mech mode, automa cards, replacement tile and card, seven hero worker meeples, new map tokens, and a handful of new cards.

I liked the new hero worker. It does get round an issue some players had for the start of the game. Having a worker that acts as a wild does take the pressure off getting a specific worker early on to be able to trigger a cards ability.

In fact the new hero worker probably makes the game for a new player a better experience.

I also liked the new map tokens. They are larger and have an icon on one side. This icon is a bonus you get when you explore a tile with a map token on. But be warned if you go to collect the bonus and there are none available then you don’t get that bonus.

The two new mechs really push the use of map tokens. Which in turn encourages you explore tiles to collect them.

In this game I didn’t take a single refresh action. Whilst naturally Charlene did a few.

Although I dashed the hopes of Annabelle and Charlene by grabbing the 20 corruption token. Annabelle was particularly thrown by it as she was working towards it and using her mech ability to make it cheaper.

Two more turns was all I needed to place my last glory token but alas Charlene triggered the end of the game. Getting revenge for the 20 corruption token.

Charlene easily won this game.

Our second game was a learning game of Pioneer Rails.

This was a read the rules as we learned to play the game. None of us had played it before.

The rules as you read them make the game seem more complicated than it is. But in reality it’s a light ish flip and write.

I like the poker element and as a three player game having the dealer take the card only they could use. You could really screw up another players poker hand this way, turning a potential four of a kind or straight into a lower scoring hand.

I wasn’t wow’d by the game. But it was fun.

We finished off with a game of Marvel: Remix.

I’ve explained why I bought this game previously. It’s quick it’s fun and a great game to finish an evening or afternoon of gaming off with.

A great afternoon of gaming. A big thanks to Charlene and Annabelle for joining me.