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.