Category Archives: outdoors

outdoors

Hello is there anybody out there?

#backtothehills, hiking/backpacking/camping, life, the universe, and everything, outdoors, still alive

Wow I can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted last.

I have been rather tired and dozing off in the afternoon once home from work, and then getting to sleep early. But that’s just getting older.

There has been some gaming but not much. I got to spend a rather pleasant afternoon Saturday gaming with Ben and his family.

We played the newly arrived expansion for Tokyo Highway, Rainbow City.

We jumped in with using the additional rules for missions. Which makes the game a bit more gamery!

It was a big hit with Ben and his family.

We also played Tonga Bonga. Which was great fun. I did like the mechanic of placing money on your ships to tempt people to place their die on your spaces over others. That and placing your dice gets very very tactical.

The afternoons gaming was finished with a very cut throat game of Big Shot. That I really liked. I do like the auction mechanic it uses.

I liked both the (to me) new games. They weren’t heavy by any means. But still very fun.

Tying myself in…

A few weeks back I asked Dave if he’d use his wood crafting skills to make me a practice board for tying knots.

In one of the posts was a 5mm hole that allowed me to thread through some 5mm bungee cord to create a loop to simulate a tent/tarp tie off point.

The idea is that whilst I’m chilling at home whilst I have something on tv playing I can have this out and practice my knots. Practice makes perfect they say.

Knot practice board

Back in a previous post I wrote that I personally only needed to know and practice five knots.

This board allows me to practice those five knots.

Bowline
Clove hitch
Bowline
Truckers hitch
Prusic knot

I’m tempted to ask Dave to add a horizontal bar connecting the two vertical ones maybe 2 or 3 inches from the base.

But I do love what he has made for me.

Coffee camping/hiking/backpacking

#backtothehills, hiking/backpacking/camping, outdoors

Yesterday morning the latest YouTube video by Chef Corso on his outdoors eats channel dropped. It was about a subject very close to my heart and I take very seriously. Coffee.

I’ve been on a very long coffee journey.

I grew up drinking instant coffee, Camp coffee. I even remember vaguely that my folks had a coffee percolator. They were a thing at one time in the seventies.

But let’s jump forward a few decades to the noughties, and married life. That’s when I started to take coffee seriously. I made a pretty mean latte.

When I was able to get out I tried lots of different solutions for coffee whilst out on the trail. Instant, liquid coffee, coffee grinds in a MSR Mugmate coffee filter (which is still an option).

In the years since moving back to my home town, caring duties, my coffee knowledge widened. I really like getting my coffee from small coffee roasters. Beans are described liked fine wines. Being single source and a higher grade they taste amazing usually. I find that these better quality beans I can also drink black.

I love my Aeropress. But now days my preferred method of making a coffee is using a Hario V60 pour over. It produces great consistent cups of coffee. I also make my own cold brew. Which I tend to make during the Summer. It’s so refreshing on a hot day.

Now the options for a really amazing coffee whilst out are numerous. Below is a brief summary of the ones I currently have and used.

Obviously no matter what way you decide to make your coffee you need to start with a quality bean. You will taste the difference. So splash out and treat yourself.

I prefer taking beans (less messy if the bag bursts) and grinding the beans myself. For this task I have a Hario Mini Mill Plus.

As a camping option for making large quantities of coffee I have a Hellery Camping Coffee Percolator Pot. It makes a reasonable coffee. I get that nostalgic glow when using it.

I also have a mocha pot for possible camp use. They are fine. There is definitely an art to getting a great cup of coffee out of them.

You can take your Aeropress (if you have one). It makes great coffee and is easy to clean.

Along similar lines you could take a cafetiere. Or like I have for the Jetboil (and a rival) the coffee press accessory. It makes fine coffee as long as you use the correct grind and seep it correctly. Pain to clean.

My preference at the moment is the MERMOO YILAN Collapsible Pour Over Coffee Dripper Cone. It comes with a storage bag that you can fit some filters in to. There are other brands that do their version of a pour over cone. You could even use a V60.

You can make cold brew coffee whilst camping or on the trail. I have a 32oz wide neck Nalgene water bottle for this and cold brew filter bags that hold the coffee grinds.

At a push and in a hurry I’ll use coffee bags. They are better than instant.

If you take your coffee seriously one of the above options that I have briefly mentioned should get you a great coffee fix away from civilisation and out in nature.

Planning a walk with Nath

#backtothehills, father son walks, hiking/backpacking/camping, outdoors

With the impending visit to Nath I have warned him that we will be going for a walk whilst I’m there.

I have an idea of where we will be walking after getting a 1:50k os map of the area and finding a woods not far from Nath’s.

The plan is that we’ll stop brew up, even have something to eat.

With that in mind

New gear arrivals in last six weeks or so (not everything I’m sure):

  • 32 OZ, Wide Mouth, Nalgene bottle
  • 50PCS Cold Brew Coffee Filter Bags
  • Snow Peak Folding Nylon Cooking Ladle
  • Toaks titanium 1350ml pot
  • CAMPINGMOON Compact Foldable Stove
  • Hellery Camping Coffee Percolator Pot
  • 1:50k os maps for eTrex 32x gps
  • Belgian military hooped bivy
  • DD Hammocks lightweight hammock and under quilt (not sure if mentioned before)

I’m taking the BRS 3000T stove for this trip. I’ve not used it and it needs an outing.

The Nalgene bottle is for making cold brew whilst at Nath’s and when I go away whether camping or in hotels. Hence the filter bags.

For me to turn my dried bean and veg bags into a soup or stew for me and Nath my current pots just weren’t large enough. I think the largest was 900ml. So I got the larger 1350ml Toaks pot. That should be big enough cooking for two. Hence why I got the Snow Peak ladle. The percolator is for camping trips.

I’m hoping that the woodland walk and a bit of chill time will help Nath with all life has thrown at him recently.

Obviously a lot of this stuff will be used when camping or even backpacking. But with me using a campsite for next years UKGE, getting bits in that will make that trip as “glamorous” as possible. Or my take on it using a mixture of backpacking gear and camping gear.

Knots for tarps and other bits!

#backtothehills, hiking/backpacking/camping, outdoors

I think one of the things I miss about living in Farnborough and thinking about it Crook, is being close to land you can wild camp in, practice setting up hammocks etc.

Back in Farnborough I could be walking the wolf pack, stopping for a brew in a quiet spot within 10 minutes of leaving the house. 30 minutes or more and I could be at Frensham Little Pond doing the same.

My old stove talk videos were filmed in the woods around Farnborough. And I often just chilled out in a quiet corner with the wolf pack and a brew.

In fact back in 2008 when I was told I was at risk of being made redundant, and because of this shocking bit of news given the option to take the rest of the day off. I didn’t even think twice I took them up on the “kind” offer.

Within an hour and half I had taken the train home, thrown a brew kit in the car, found a quiet spot at Fleet Pond with the wolf pack and was contemplating life, the universe, and the days events over a hot brew.

In fact apart from one other occasion during the redundancy process for signing some papers I never returned to the office. I wasn’t required to. That bit was a blessing because it was at this time Kate decided she no longer wanted to be married to me. It would have been hard to go into the office each day, concentrate on work, and pretend life was good. When it obviously wasn’t. The redundancy process spared me from all that.

But here in Wisbech I’m not so lucky on that front. I’ve yet to find those spots of refuge.

Up to an hour away is Sandringham which I think if I wild camped there might see my sleep interrupted by armed officers. My other option is around a similar traveling time, possibly a bit longer Thetford.

I do plan to explore Thetford a bit more in the future. It does seem to be a popular spot for some YouTubers to show off their bushcraft skills whilst wild camping.

There are some interesting wooded areas nearer (but still not local) that need to be investigated for suitability.

But it’s only when you no longer have it that you truly miss what you once took for granted.

In the meantime as I try and find spots that I can do a quick on the spur of the moment wild camp I’m practicing my knots.

When it comes to using a tarp and hammock I don’t like using cord with plastic (or metal) tensioning bits on them. They break, limit what the cord can be used for, etc, etc. I’m of the school that prefers to tie knots.

For me the knots I need to know when using a tarp or plan to use with my hammock are the following:

  • Bowline
  • Clove hitch
  • Prusik knot
  • Trucker’s Hitch
  • Tautline hitch

So how would I be using these knots when setting up my tarp?

The bowline I’m using to attach the paracord to a tie on point of the tarp. Or giving me a loop to use for tying one end of the paracord round a tree for creating a ridge line between two trees.

The clove hitch I use to secure the paracord to my trekking poles.

Whilst I use a truckers or tautline hitch to go round the tent peg (or tree) and tension the line.

Where does the prusik knot come in? That’s for when I’m using a ridge line I can use this knot to attach a tarp or bug netting to it. I do carry a couple of pre-made prusik loops for quick and easy use. I know these prusik loops are not intended for mountaineering and climbing ropes. So the knot I’ve used for them is the common overhand knot instead of the more appropriate double fisherman’s knot for joining two ends together.

For me those 5 knots allow me to do everything I need to do with a tarp or hammock.

I’m also in this downtime prepping meal ideas.

My current experiment/idea involves soaked, then cooked, and then dehydrated beans! Which I will added freeze dried garden peas, dried carrot, dried sweet corn, dried shiitake mushrooms, and/or sliced dried mushrooms (that I dried in the dehydrator).

The idea is that these packets can be added to vegetable stock and some herbs/seasoning to make either a bean soup or stew that requires minimal cooking.

Too hot to handle

#backtothehills, cooking/recipes!, outdoors

Last Thursday was a day off.

So I took the opportunity to go out and play with my Goshawk OP-100, with an Alcohol Stove Cross Stand, a generic clone Ultralight Titanium Windscreen. And using the SOTO Thermolite cook set to make my noodles.

It was also an excuse to play with my drone too.

Naturally seeing as the plan was to cook lunch, and fly the drone I chose an old wolf pack walking spot that I thought would be suitable.

It was hot last Thursday, so like all mad dogs and Englishmen I was out in the midday sun. Wisely I did not take the two attack chihuahuas Nico and Loki with me. Being out in such heat would not have been fair on them. Guess who forgot suntan lotion?

After I parked the car I walked the half kilometre or so to my lunch spot.

It was an emotional walk because this was the first time I’d been to this spot since Strider joined Bud and Barney. I’ve avoided the old haunts since their passing.

I loved those dogs so much. I still miss them, and it does still get emotional when I talk about them passing away. But I have nothing but great memories of them and the places we shared together.

It’s time to remember them as I return to old haunts, and not avoid the pain and loss (yes even after all this time it still feels fresh). I hope Nathan will join me on some of these future walks, and share our memories of them.

After spreading out ready to do some cooking, I had to move everything to one side as a couple of horse riders wanted to pass. Yeah the drawbacks of being on a bridle way. I had hoped being a work day that I’d avoid something like this. But considering these were the only people and animals I saw whilst there. The plan was nearly perfect.

I’d only just started cooking my lunch when they returned. Which meant once again clearing a path for them and apologising for not having enough to share.

Before getting some more flying practice in I cooked lunch (as you might have gathered from above.

Home made pot noodle?

Lunch was a pack of three minute noodles. I was using the cheapest ones Tesco sold. There’s really no difference between the cheap ones and the expensive ones. So I see no point in spending extra on them.

So as the water started to heat up I added the following ingredients to the water:

  • Freeze dried garden peas
  • Dried shiitake mushrooms
  • Chopped up Sun dried tomatoes

These ingredients needed a little extra time to rehydrate.

I then added the noodles along with its chicken flavour packet.

Next some rehydrated soy sauce powder was added, along with a chopped up polish pork stick (can’t remember the brand but it was one that didn’t needed storing in a fridge). I finally seasoned with salt and pepper.

Even if I say so myself this was very tasty. And washing it down with a can of Coke Zero finished off the experience.

After lunch it was time for flight school!

I’ve included short highlights below. Sadly I forgot to record the tracking/follow me stuff I did. Next time.

The bright sun of mid day did make it difficult seeing the RC controllers screen.

I kept my flight short when it became obvious that I had upset/disturbed a pair of swifts (I think they were). I want to be a responsible drone pilot. So grounding my drone was the right thing to do.

It felt weird doing this Thursday. This sort of thing is something I did all the time with the wolf pack. Finding that quiet spot. Getting the stove out. Brewing up (or cooking the odd time). And just chillin.

I had a great couple of hours, even if my arch enemy the sun was doing its best to cook me. It was very relaxing. I did catch the sun on my arms but luckily not badly.

Now to find a spot with trees to play with the hammock.

My Take On Overnight Oats

hiking/backpacking/camping, outdoors, recipe!

My old camp routine when I was doing something like the TGO Challenge, out in the Lakes, or Brecon Beacons, used to see me brave the elements to answer the call of nature. Followed by breaking camp and going on my way. So I could easily be hiking by 6am or 6:30am. Rarely would I go back to sleep or have a leisurely breakfast and brew before breaking camp.

Often all I’d have as I set off would be some Jolt gum to give me a caffeine hit.

I wouldn’t stop for breakfast and brew until around maybe 8:30 or even 9am. I’d find a spot to rest, breakout the cooking kit and get a brew made. Breakfast would be maybe a cold pop tart, or muesli bar of some kind.

Back then I’d never even heard of overnight oats. It was working at Huntingdon Regional College (now no longer as it swallowed up in a merger of colleges) when I first come across overnight oats. My then line manager Venessa used to bring them in for her breakfast.

Thinking about it, with a vegan colleague/friend I got exposed to one or two new food experiences whilst there.

But it wasn’t until I left that I first made my version of over night oats.

Just after adding water but before stirring

This is what I put in my overnight oats. You will notice I don’t list quantities. Everything is based around how much oats I am using. Then I judge the rest by eye.

  • Oats
  • Raisins
  • Sultanas
  • Chai seeds
  • Dried cranberries
  • Diced Dehydrated Dried Apple Flakes
  • Dried Goji Berries
  • Dried Sweetened Blueberries
  • Sun Dried Sour Cherries
  • Sweetener of some kind, ones I’ve used in past sugar, agave nectar, and honey
  • Pinch of salt
  • Sweet cinnamon

To make this into a recipe that can be used out on the trail (that sounds so pretentious) instead of adding regular milk and letting it soak overnight in the fridge. I use powdered milk, and add water.

When making this for the next morning I usually add roughly the same amount of water/milk (maybe a little bit more) as I have dried ingredients. Give it a good stir, and put the lid on. After a couple of hours I might add a little bit more liquid or check in the morning adding more liquid to get a consistency I like.

Vacuum packed ready to go

As you can see from the list of ingredients I like my over night oats to be fruity and a mixture. I love the texture that the chai seeds add.

The container I’m using is a Vadasz garlic & dill sauerkraut container that holds 400g of said product. My overnight oat portions fill approximately half of the container.

The nice thing is about repurposing this container is I get to eat the original contents first. So well worth the nearly £4 I paid for it.

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 – 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.