Merrell Jam

I had to nip into my local town so paid a visit to TK Maxx and found a pair of Merrell Jam trainers. They're a sort of rock shoe/trainer cross with a nice sticky Vibram sole. I got them for £29, have to be worth that, I think the rrp is around £60

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Trip to the Mournes

I'd never been to the Mournes until recently which is quite strange as I live in Northern Ireland. I always stayed around the Antrim hills or went over to Scotland, usually Fort William or Glenmore. I went do the Mournes a few weeks back and I'll definitely return. It's nice to see something different, I felt like a child on Christmas morning. I don't want to spoil it by going back every other weekend though, the area's too small and I want to savour it. I only stayed one day and opted to try Slieve Binnian (keeping the big one (Slieve Donard) until last. Thankfully I was blessed with good weather.

This shot was taken from the North summit Tor on Slieve Binnian. The distant top is Slieve Commedagh, 765m (2nd Highest after Slieve Donard, 853m) the near mountain is Slievelamagan, 704m and the blue lough is in fact the 'Blue Lough'

Looking North from Slieve Binnian over the Ben Crom resorvoir, the slopes of Ben Crom just creeping in from the left followed by Slieve Bearnagh

Backpacking Stove/Cookset pt 2

I finally sorted out the Swedish set but I've come up with 2 problems that have made me look to something else. The first problem is the weight, the 2nd is the fact that it doesn't split down well if I want to leave most of it at camp and take a basic set on the hill. One thing I'll miss about it though is the shape, oval seems to fit in a rucksac better than round so why doesn't anyone make lightweight oval cooksets? if they do I've never seen them

The gas cartridge, Tibetan Ti Spork, Tibetan Ti knife and teaspoon all fit into a 450ml Tibetan Ti mug

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The mug fits nicely into the main pot together with a Trangia pot lifter, the Outdoor Design stove, Primus gas cartridge tripod base, hanging wires, a small sponge in a sealeable bag and a small lighter

With the lid fitted the set fits into the windshield.

As I wanted to use the lid as a pan I made a lid from aluminium sheet

All in all I liked the way it all worked out but my next set is going to be based around an Alpkit Mitymug