Category Archives: hiking/backpacking/camping

Back to the hills – new kit

#backtothehills, hiking/backpacking/camping, outdoors

Ok second time writing this post, because the Jetpack app that I use to write my posts decided instead of publishing my words it’d just throw them away into the ether and lose 40 minutes of work!

With my planned return to the wilds of the UK after such a long hiatus from them. I’m using this time to reassess my “philosophy” or approach to the outdoors.

Part of this reassessment has involved my thinking on kit. And naturally new bits have been arriving. How I’ve missed this.

So this post is a catch up on some of the stuff that has dropped through my letter box recently. It’s not all of it. But I’m sure I’ll talk about the stuff not mentioned in other posts.

First up is the SOTO Thermolite cook set. Unusual for me this is not titanium, it aluminium! I know a major shock. It’s not like I needed a new cook set. But I did like the look of this when I saw it on a YouTube video. I like it comes with a pot cozy. It is a 750ml handless pot that comes with a small pot gripper that I might also use with other pots. It’s definitely smaller than the Trangia pot gripper I have. The lid is multi use and can be used to drink from the pot, and strain liquids. I like this set a lot.

Next is the 18cm diameter iBasingo Titanium Non-Stick Frying Pan. Can you believe I didn’t have a specific frying pan in all the pots etc I have? You could get the Trangia. You could buy/add the Trangia Multi Disc for 27 Series Cookers to this. That is 18cm diameter as well. Something I might do in the future. I believe this frying pan has a capacity of about 900ml. It should be able to fit the small tortilla wraps UK supermarkets sell. And looks ideal for one person. To go along with this I got a Tala Silicone Mini Spatula so I don’t ruin the non-stick surface. It’s about 6 or 7 inches long, light. Perfect for my needs.

SOTO Thermolite
iBasingo Titanium Non-Stick Frying Pan & Tala Silicone Mini Spatula
Vargo Alcohol Fuel Bottles
Goshawk OP-100
Pure Clear Collapsible Filter Water Bottle

Ok did I need another stove? Technically the answer would be no. But this Goshawk OP-100 looks pretty cool. It’s a bit of an alternative to the Trangia as far as I see it. It has this swirling flame (yes I’ll be doing a video) that looks cool. It comes with a sealing cap. So fuel can be left in it. It did come with a handy little stuff sack.

I got two Vargo Alcohol Fuel Bottles. They are expensive for what they are. Pretty sure paying for the Vargo name. But I do like the fuel measurement marks on the bottles.

Finally in this post is the Pure Clear Collapsible Filter Water Bottle. I have water filters that are over a decade old. I’m not sure how effective they would be now. So I decided to play it safe and get a new one. A bit of research and taking into account budget and planned usage ended up on the Pure Clear.

I have a shit load to do before I get back into the hills later this year. Kit to test in over night trips. Yes I have one or two over nights planned, along with day hikes.

In another post I’ll talk about the food/ingredient bits I’ve got in. But I’ll be testing recipes and sharing them on here.

stoves and some recipe plans

hiking/backpacking/camping, outdoors

Obviously a lot of my outdoor kit is now well over a decade old.

After a little hunting around where all my outdoor gear is stored. I eventually found my Bushbuddy wood burning stove.

Naturally I had to fire it up, which I did yesterday.

The Bushbuddy is a rather cool stove. It’s double walled, and creates this secondary combustion that makes it really efficient. I’m not sure about the lack of soot though from the flame. As my old pot I used with it will show otherwise.

Another cool feature of the Bushbuddy design is it has a heat shield in the base stopping it from scorching the ground. Very important when you practice leave no trace.

I have two new meth stoves! Yeah just what I needed (having 30 odd already). The first arrival was a Trangia burner (which I may of mentioned already). Which I can’t believe I never had. The second being a Goshawk Swirling Flame OP-100. That has a sealing cap. Which means like the Trangia it can still have fuel left in it after us.

In my setup or planned setup. I see the Trangia or Goshawk as back up stoves to a wood burning stove such as the Bushbuddy or Kelly Kettle.

I’ve also been thinking about food/menus for trips.

Obviously this thinking has involved looking at one or two YouTube videos. Some have been specific hiking channels, others bushcraft related. But it does get me how impractical some of these are on their suggestions. Cooking a full English fry up, or a beef stew and dumplings on a Trangia (2 hour cook time!)

My plan is to try and use my jazz style of cooking in the outdoors.

So using templates/formulas/ratios create food that cooks in under 30 minutes. In combo with once again making my own dehydrated meals.

I think one thing that is ideal for hiking is over night oats. The only tweak to my current recipe is to add powdered milk so that all you add is water and leave.

I’m not going to carry raw meat out to the middle of nowhere. My thinking is to go the vegan route and use dried soya mince (it does make a good spagbol) and slightly larger soya chunks.

It should be more than possible to make a really nice chili, curry, stew, and spagbol using dried ingredients from scratch that cook in less than the 30 mins time limit I want to aim for.

Now to develop those recipes!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

gaming on the trail, gaming outdoors, hiking/backpacking/camping, life, the universe, and everything, outdoors, still alive

In a recent post I’ve said plans are forming to get back outdoors this year.

Wow how the online scene has changed since my days as one of the early UK “pioneer” bloggers on the trail.

Back then in 2008 the technology was very restrictive and it was just about possible to live blog as you hiked through the wilds of Scotland. Blogs were a lot more popular back then. YouTube was a thing, just not the monster it is now. Heck I even did stove reviews on YouTube.

Now there are so many YouTube channels for the outdoors covering bushcraft and backpacking.

There is some crossover between the two skills and equipment wise. But one thing that winds me up is the bushcraft tarp videos. And to be fair there are some outdoors videos that have the same fault. The bug bear is the pitching of the tarp. A good 90% of them are in woods/forests and use trees, and a ridge line. Something that being in remote locations you won’t have.

I also query just how far they hike with all the gear they have for a camp. Sometimes I suspect it’s not more than a few feet from the car. It’s obvious they have not hiked several hours with the kit, or done a multi day hike carrying it.

Oh and the formulaic videos, starting with the hiking montage. All meant to establish that they are in the outdoors, far from the beaten path. So staged. I almost want to say these montages are a cliche now.

Having said that there are bits of useful information I can use from these new sources. And I’ll discuss those bits in future posts.

Obviously there will be a gaming element to my return. Whether that involves just a pack of cards and some d6 dice, or maybe Pocket Hive for those social moments on the trail. But gaming options too are subject of a future post.