Sunday, 27 July 2008

North to the Cape

I've been listening to The Outdoors Station podcast about the trip from Ullapool to Cape Wrath based on the route in the book "North to the Cape". Inspiring stuff, I had to order the book.

The
Cape Wrath Trail - Pt 1





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MP3 File


The
Cape Wrath Trail - Pt 2





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The
Cape Wrath Trail - Pt 3





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The
Cape Wrath Trail - Pt 4





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The
Cape Wrath Trail - Pt 5





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The Ben via Carn Mor Dearg



Just back from a 3 day trip to Scotland with a mate and his son. We went to do the CMD Arete and were lucky with no cloud on the summit. Nice and sunny all day but it was pretty windy on the top. It's a pity that the summit of the Ben is a bit of an anti-climax. Thats my 4th time, twice cloudy and twice clear. Went up on the train and I'm thinking it would be nice to get off at Rannoch or Courror do a 3 day walk and wild camp.

I used a pair of Hi-Tec V-lite boots, worked well, much lighter than my normal Meindl Borneo, also got to use my Montane Lite-Speed that I got off Backpacking Light.co.uk.


















Monday, 23 June 2008

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
.

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