Ultra-lightweight hiking and backpacking

Backpackers Peak District weekend

2012-01-24T23:26:00.000Z

What a change from the same location the last time I was here. Then, there was much snow and I had to dig away six inches before I could pitch my tarp. I can't resist uploading the photo of it again. It was so cold but I was able to prove that, in some conditions, a tarp can be a four season shelter.

This time the forecast for the weekend was wet and windy and so it proved to be. Actually, it was more windy than wet. The wind never dropped although I was in a tent this time - see the review below. We met at Wetton and spent the evening in the Royal Oak. There were probably around fifteen of us although a few others appeared the next day. A group of five of us walked over to Hartington to consume coffee and (for me) an egg and bacon bap at the tearooms, following which we visited the Cheese Shop where one of us (not me) bought some Sticky Toffee Cheddar. Having said that, I detoured back there before returning home to buy some. Let's just say that it's "interesting". The shop describes it as "a very sweet tasting cheddar mixed with dates, raisins and toffee, almost like fudge!"

From Hartington, we went via Brund to join the Manifold Trail up to Longnor where we stopped a while at the The Horseshoe before walking to our pitch for the night behind Ye Olde Butchers Arms at Reapsmoor. An excellent meal was had there in the evening. After a very windy night, we headed back to Wetton via Warslow and the Wetton Mill cafe.

Review - Wild Country Zephyros 1 backpacking tent

2012-01-24T22:52:00.002Z

This tent is made by Terra Nova and is virtually identical in looks and design to the Terra Nova Laser Competition. I approached them asking if I might borrow a Zephyros 1 for review and they were happy to oblige. According to the Terra Nova web site, the Laser Competition weighs 930 grams; the Zephyros weighs 1,570 grams. The difference is in the materials. The Zephyros fly is made of Pu Polyester which is light but not as light as the Laser's silnylon. There is also a price difference. The Zephyros is £149 compared to the Laser which retails at £320.

The tent comes in a bag with a measured length of 52cm x 14cm. On unpacking it and thinking it might be rolled up to a shorter length, my immediate thought was that this might not be possible because of the two struts at either end of the fly (but see later).

The single shock-corded pole and pegs are in separate bags. There is also a pole sleeve, a short length of tube for carrying out temporary repairs to the pole. The brief instructions are on a flap stitched inside the tent bag. The inner comes ready attached to the fly with toggles.

Now my impressions on setting it up for the first time. It is actually very easy. The fly and inner are laid down flat. The instructions don't actually say so, but it makes sense to lay them down with the fly uppermost. The pole is then assembled and passed through the sleeve on the fly and the ends of the pole placed in the brass rings on either side. There are two rings on each side and I suppose it is optional which rings to use depending on how easy it is to insert the pole ends but I found the outer rings easier.

The tapes either end of the inner are then pegged down, followed by the guys at either end of the fly. The instructions then say to peg down the remaining loops attached to the inner and fly. I proceeded to do so but then found that I seemed to have insufficient pegs until I realised that at each point the inner and fly share a peg.

The side guys are then pegged out. I dismantled it and started again. This time around it was up in seconds. Very good indeed.

The floor attached to the inner is very thin. Wild Country will supply a footprint as an optional extra. I certainly think something is needed to protect the floor.

I could sit up in it quite comfortably, the highest point being in the middle under the hoop. However, I'm only 5ft 6in. Perhaps taller people are used to restricted headroom but it depends very much on the length of the individual's trunk.

The pegs are adequate but tended to have sharp edges which would be unpleasant particularly when being taken out of the ground on cold mornings. They are not very comfortable to use. They are V sectioned and I think would be effective in most conditions.

The tent was tested over a weekend in the Peak District in wet and very windy conditions. It performed very well and felt secure. There is ample room for one person. I found that I was able to store most of my gear inside with me quite comfortably with cooking equipment and boots in the porch. The porch size is quite adequate for cooking using extreme care although Wild Country do not recommend it. An inside pocket for spectacles, valuables, etc. would be a useful addition with no weight penalty.

On packing it away, I found that the two end struts were better stored in the pole bag. This meant that the tent packed to a smaller size. I have a gripe about the plastic boots on each end of the struts. They would benefit from being bonded to the struts. They tended to be left in the little pockets attached to the inner. At worst, they could easily be lost.

For - price, comparatively light weight, space, easy to put up.
Against - pegs.

All in all, a superb tent for anyone on a limited budget. I liked it very much.

Review - The Backpacker's Handbook (4th edition) by Chris Townsend

2012-01-24T22:42:00.001Z

I was offered this book for review. I used the 3rd edition a lot but inevitably much of the content has become out of date. I had read it avidly and found it to contain much sound and practical advice and so was interested to read and compare this latest edition. One of the first things I did was to try and catch the author out and find something he hadn't covered. I chose hammock camping, prompted to do so by having received one as a Christmas present from my daughter. In fact, he covers them in half a page, both in this book and in the earlier edition with only a couple of sentences added in the present edition. However, he still hasn't tried hammock camping.

The new book comes with brand new information on hiking gear and techniques. It is full of sound practical knowledge, which comes from an experienced backpacker who will be well known to many through his other books and, in the UK, TGO magazine. It is crammed with a depth of information on anything related to hiking, backpacking and even winter hiking. Whilst it is called a "handbook", it is so much more than that; a whole library of knowledge distilled from the author's years of practical, first-hand experience. If you are looking for theory then look elsewhere. This is essentially a practical book.

Since the 3rd edition appeared, there have been great technological advances in GPS devices, personal locator beacons, smartphones, digital mapping and digital cameras while "lightweight" has evolved from something considered a bit odd to a mainstream philosophy.

The book is broken down into nine primary chapters:

Preparing for the Trail

The Load on Your Back

Footwear and Wilderness Travel

Carrying the Load: The Pack

Keeping Warm and Dry: Dressing for the Wilderness

Shelter: Camping in the Wilderness

The Wilderness Kitchen

Comfort and Safety in Camp

On the Move: Skills and Hazards

Each chapter combines detailed and essential knowledge with the author's personal experience. While much of the content is relevant to conditions in the UK, it is aimed also at the American market and worldwide. Each chapter contains many photographs, diagrams and drawings which help clarify and highlight both the techniques and the author's experiences. There is also a comprehensive set of appendices covering everything from a useful equipment checklist to an exhaustive reading list and internet resources.

For anyone with an earlier edition it's worth the investment to upgrade to the 4th edition for the new content covering technological changes whilst for anyone who hasn't previously purchased it your bookshelf simply isn't complete without it. Having said that, although it can be read from cover to cover, this isn't really the point of the book and nor is it a book to carry in a backpack (certainly not for the lightweight backpacker) as it weighs in at 765g. No, it is a book to read and refer to at home and it is excellent for that. It is well written, up to date, and covers every aspect of backpacking and hiking. Get this book...it's money well spent.

We're in!!

2012-01-18T20:57:00.000Z

From having been nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8 on the reserve list, at last we've been notified that we have been moved up to among the chosen 300. At last planning a route can proceed, knowing that it won't be a complete waste of time. More posts to follow.

Hammock camping

2012-01-07T17:58:00.000Z

This is something I've never tried before but, having been given a DD Camping Hammock for Christmas, I'm keen to give it a try. I felt that a trial run was called for so this afternoon I took a walk to just outside town where I found a suitable place with some trees. The trees have to be between nine and eighteen feet apart but twelve is recommended. I found two that were just right and attached the hammock at each end as instructed. My first attempt sent my rear end straight to the ground as I clearly hadn't got the webbing tight enough. My second attempt was spot on.

It held my weight quite nicely and was very comfortable. I could imagine spending a good night in it. It is in two layers. Here, I'm lying on both. However, along the length of one side is a zip to enable me to get in and then zip up. As long as I'm not unduly claustrophobic this will keep any midges at bay. As the material isn't waterproof, the idea is that I'll use the hammock in conjunction with my tarp. Here it is with the tarp set up over it, with the cords either end of the tarp attached to the trees above the hammock webbing.

One of the trees was at least six inches in diameter but the other was only about three inches. I found that when I got into the hammock the tarp slackened a bit, caused by my weight pulling the smaller tree inwards. It will be necessary to have both trees at least six inches thick.

This looks like an excellent piece of kit; not for every trip but probably for weekends where I expect there to be woodland to camp in. It weighs 650g and is carried in a stuffsack. I think I love it already.

I will generally need either a Thermarest or foam mat in the hammock underneath me for insulation in colder weather. All my gear will go on the ground underneath the hammock and tarp to keep dry. A likely modification I'll make is to insert small caribiners just inside of the ends of the tarp on each length of webbing to prevent wet being soaked up and making the hammock wet.

REVIEWS

2011-12-06T14:04:00.000Z

Out of the blue, I was approached to review the fourth edition of Chris Townsend's Backpacker's Handbook. More on this once I've ploughed through it. It's certainly very comprehensive.

Towards the end of January, I'll be reviewing Wild Country's new Zephyros 1 solo backpacking tent. I'm really looking forward to seeing what it's like. Basically a Terra Nova Laser but rather more robust (and heavier, of course) but for £150 it seems remarkably good value.

TGO Challenge

2011-11-26T10:11:00.000Z

The applications went in a while ago. This would be my third Challenge. I'm in a team of four this time, me, Frank, Gill & Bert. Frank, Gill and I were a team of three in 2010; I've never met Bert but Frank says he's "all right" so that's good enough for me. The bad news is that we weren't selected and are on the reserve list. The GOOD NEWS is that we're numbers 5, 6, 7 and 8 on the reserve list so we're as good as in. A route plan is now beginning to take shape. Watch this space. I really must get round to uploading all the photos from this year's Challenge.

Backpackers Cambridgeshire weekend 17 September

2011-09-17T21:42:00.000+01:00

I met with the others this morning at Fenstanton. Not too many hills around here! We followed the River Great Ouse to Swavesey (which used to be an inland port) and then to Over where we stopped for a pint. Heading back to the river, we went on to Earith and back down the other side of the river on the Ouse Valley Way to a hotel at the marina near Needingworth where we are camped in the grounds.
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Cambridgeshire - Thursday 15 September

2011-09-17T19:46:00.002+01:00

Arrived here early for a Backpackers Club weekend so have some time to kill. A circular walk is called for with about three hours to spare. From Comberton, I joined the Harcamlow Way although the only waymark signs were for the Wimpole Way which uses the same route for some of the distance. The Wimpole Way is only 14 miles long, from Wimpole Hall into Cambridge (I think). Through a few villages, all very pleasant and undemanding.

On the map nearby was a Travelling Telescope. I've come across it before and looked it up but for the moment I've forgotten what it is.
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TGO Challenge - Day 13 Wednesday 25 May

2011-05-25T22:41:00.003+01:00

Raring to go on the last day but it was going to be short. Over the A90, it was a minor road walk all the way to the coast but quite pleasant with very little traffic. Other Challengers were going the same way but peeled off, going to different finishing places.

I made a really last minute change. We were to finish in Tangleha'. This would normally involve going straight there by road. Instead, we went through the coastal village of St. Cyrus (the finishing point for some) and along the cliff path to Tangleha'. There, we were met by Ian's wife, Lilian, who transported us to the Park Hotel in Montrose where we checked in at Challenge Control and were given certificates and T-shirts.

I had decided on Tangleha' as our finishing point as I was intrigued to see a place which ended with an apostrophe and to find out why. Just before we reached it on the cliff path, we saw what was left of a former castle. Very little was left of it, it having been taken by the sea. I ruminated that this might explain the name but that would make it Tangleca' (some having dropped off). In fact, we were told that the full name is or was Tanglehaven.

So, that's it for another year. We were a team of two which, from day 2, became three, with Ian joining us. He was able to identify birds for us sometimes and was always a ready source of dry Yorkshire wit.
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TGO Challenge - Day 12 Tuesday 24 May

2011-05-24T21:06:00.001+01:00

What a change in the weather from yesterday. We left the hostel under a blue sky and set off along the road, calling in at The Retreat (a folk museum, visitor centre and café) for tea (others had breakfast). I was interested in their free wifi but it didn't seem to work.

We continued along the road to cross the bridge over the River North Esk just before Fernybank and followed a clear track south of the river, past the beautifully named Rocks of Solitude. Ian and I had to wait here as Sean had disappeared into yet another wood with his trowel and seemed to be taking rather a long time about it. We speculated that, given his age, he might have nodded off with his trousers round his ankles, having forgotten why he was there. We were about to go to look for him when he appeared with a smile on his face.

We walked on to the village of Edzell and joined other Challengers at the excellent Tuck In café for lunch. Afterwards, we walked a few miles down the long straight road to the campsite at North Water Bridge. Not a drop of rain today. Last day tomorrow.
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TGO Challenge - Day 11 Monday 23 May

2011-05-24T12:51:00.000+01:00

It was raining when we woke and that was the theme for the day except it got much worse.

We made our way down to Spittal of Glenmuick and called in at the visitor centre for a drink at the machine there. We then battled our way through the wind and rain up beside the torrent of a burn (name unknown), aiming for the bothy at Shielin of Mark. It was so wet underfoot but we splashed our way up and across to the burn leading to the bothy where we had elevenses. The burn outside was more of a fast flowing torrent but it had to be crossed. It was tricky but only knee high. We were well on our way away from there when there was a shout from the other side. It was Mervyn, a fellow BPC member, so we went back to where we had crossed the torrent to make sure he got over safely.

We then floundered 1.5km through heather and bog and a couple of smaller burns over Muckle Cairn. There was then a steep descent to the track leading down to Stables of Lee but we first had to negotiate a fast flowing torrent across the track. This was above knee level so we got a production line going. Numerous photos were taken but there were no mishaps. All this time and for the rest of the day the hurricane wind rarely let up. At one point I found myself taking some steps but not actually moving. Many times we were completely blown off course. For once the forecasters got it right.

There was a long trek down to and alongside Loch Lee. We were glad to reach Tarfside where the lady volunteers at St. Drostan's Hostel did an amazing job of providing hot meals and drinks, despite there being a power cut! The rest of the day and evening were spent at the hostel. There are lots of Challengers here. Beds have been provided for the night, even floor space. An amazing time and quite memorable.
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TGO Challenge - Day 10 Sunday 22 May

2011-05-24T12:49:00.000+01:00

The talk amongst Challengers this morning was of Monday's weather - winds of up to 130mph on the tops. Our route today would have been through Glen Callater, Jock's Road to Acharn and tomorrow would be from Acharn down to Clova and then up to Loch Brandy over to Tarfside, heights of 800-900m. It was thought inadvisable so we switched to our planned foul weather alternative route.

So, today our route took us to Invercauld Bridge, through Ballochbuie Forest, being part of the Balmoral Estate, and out on a track south of Ripe Hill. We lunched outside Gelder Shiel bothy just as some rain swept across in front of us. Frank, Lawrence and Lesley caught up with us here but the three of us, me, Sean and Ian left first to go up a generally indistinct path through heather alongside Gelder Burn for 1.5km to meet the track at Little Conachcraig. It was quite hard going.

The track ascended with fine views of Lochnagar. The wind began to pick up and stayed with us as we descended towards Spittal of Glenmuick. We had been intending to pitch at Shielin of Mark about 5km further on but reckoned that the wind would make it a very rough night. Therefore, we stopped early and are camped in woodland next to a burn at Allt-na-giubhsaich. There are probably around ten tents scattered about amongst the trees and we seem to be below wind level. Quite idyllic.
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TGO Challenge - Day 9 Saturday 21 May

2011-05-22T07:02:00.001+01:00

Well, that was another wet and windy night. We called into Mar Lodge for tea and biscuits, meeting a fair number of Challengers there. Many had stayed overnight in the Lodge itself and eaten there. It was then just a 6km road walk (but a lovely one) into Braemar. We missed the path to go there through woodland as we were too busy talking.

We went straight to the campsite to pitch and then went back into the village. A café was doing a special lunch menu at a special price for Challengers which we went for. We then had a drink at the Fife Arms. A visit to Braemar Mountain Sports for a couple of essentials.

Challengers everywhere, of course. Braemar acts as a funnel for many routes so we met a number of others. Alan Sloman was here, so were Gayle and Mick, fresh from their Lowestoft to Ardnamurchan walk.

An early start tomorrow. Horrendous weather is forecast for Monday so we are likely to switch to our foul weather alternative route.
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TGO Challenge - Day 8 Friday 20 May

2011-05-21T09:52:00.001+01:00

It rained all night and as we were getting up it turned to sleet and snow for a while. However, it had stopped by the time we packed up and very soon the sun came out. There were stunning views of the snow-dusted hills.

We followed alongside and above the River Feshie until late morning when it turned south and we continued east. There was a difficult section where there had been a landslide and we had to negotiate some scree. Sean didn't like it one bit. The river crossings were fun. The best way across was to go as quickly as possible to avoid teetering on rocks mid stream.

The path was clear all the way although there were some boggy stretches.

We had planned to wild camp at White Bridge, 22km away but agreed before setting out to head for Mar Lodge, a further 8km, so here we are. It's very open and windy so not the best situation although very level. It shouldn't be more than 6km into Braemar in the morning.
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TGO Challenge - Day 7 Thursday 19 May

2011-05-21T09:52:00.000+01:00

We woke to passing showers but they stopped shortly after we set off just after 8.30 and we only had one or two showers later in the day. It was good walking weather.

After crossing the A9, we took the track to Phones Lodge to follow once again General Wade's Military Road in the direction of Kingussie. The General was a busy man during the Jacobite Rebellion. We crossed and then went back under the A9 and passed by Ruthven Barracks, also built by General Wade.

Our route then followed the B970 to Drumguish and then into forest, across upper Coire Fhearnasdail and then into more forest to Glen Feshie where there was a single track tarmac road above the river. We crossed the river at 850965, the other bridge at 846938 having come down some months ago.

There was then an easy path through heather and woodland to our pitch outside Ruighaiteachain bothy. We've walked about 27km today.
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TGO Challenge - Day 6 Wednesday 18 May

2011-05-18T20:13:00.000+01:00

Yesterday evening by the river was quite calm but the rain and wind really got up in the early hours of this morning. So much so that, at 4.30am, I was out repitching the tarp into it's wild weather mode.

Today was easy walking. Just 20.5km and all road walking but enjoyable nonetheless. Our route all day followed the River Spey, sometimes close, sometimes not. There was barely any traffic. We stopped at Laggan Stores and then in for a lunchtime pint at the Monadhliath Hotel. All of our walking was in the Spey valley so we had really good views. We arrived around 4pm at the Invernahavon Caravan Club site so another chance of a hot shower. We haven't seen any other Challengers since this morning and there aren't any on the site so far. Maybe they're being more adventurous.
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TGO Challenge - Day 5 Tuesday 17 May

2011-05-18T11:21:00.001+01:00

No sign of rain this morning. We stowed away our first resupply parcels and bought more food and other essentials from McVeans supermarket in Fort Augustus. It was only when I found they didn't sell gas that I discovered the Londis attached to the garage. It sells gas and meths and is much better stocked.

We left Fort Augustus by the lane past the burial ground opposite the golf course and followed signs for the Corrieyairack Pass. It was a long but gradual ascent of about 11km, all along a rough track but with good views all the way. It rained a bit and got quite blustery as we neared the summit.

Then it was a long descent of about another 11km down the other side to our wild camp by the River Spey at Garva Bridge. There are about fifteen Challengers camped here. It's now raining and seems set for the night.
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TGO Challenge - Day 4 Monday 16 May

2011-05-16T22:54:00.000+01:00

Today was a day of patchy light rain until about 4.30 when it cleared up. There's not a lot to be said about the walk into Invergarry. It was about 9.5km along a forest road although most of the forest had been felled. The last 2km or so into what there is of the village was on a riverside path which was very pleasant.

In the village we came across Bob and Rose of Backpackinglight going in the opposite direction. We called in for a pint at the Invergarry Hotel. At this point, I mentioned a tearoom by the Caledonian Canal at Bridge of Oich which I'd visited on my LEJOG in 2009. Therefore, we changed our route to make that easier, going along the path just above and parallel to the road and, thankfully, the Bridge Tea Garden was still there and open.

Suitably refreshed, we decided against the five mile walk along the canal towpath to Fort Augustus and, instead, crossed the swing bridge to take a track the other side of the canal and river. After 2.5km, we located where a bridge should have been to cross the Invervigar Burn at GR 336056 but it appeared to have gone some time ago and was impassable. It was all very overgrown around it and no sign of a path the other side. After much hunting around for another bridge and alternative ways round, we decided to go back to Bridge of Oich and bash the five miles into Fort Augustus. So, a long day. We finished walking at 7.15 but we're on a good site and have had our first shower since leaving home.
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TGO Challenge - Day 3 Sunday 15 May

2011-05-15T21:34:00.000+01:00

We woke in the bothy to driving wind and rain. The first challenge of the day was to cross the River Kingie. It was perhaps 30 feet across. Ian went first. He's over six feet and the water came just above his knee level. Not wishing to get unduly wet, my trousers came off. There was a video camera running. They shouldn't allow this sort of thing on Youtube!

After that, it was a wet yomp up to meet a track which we followed for 3km to the forest of Glen Kingie. The path for the first 3km was wet underfoot in places and muddy but easy to follow. We then joined a better track east for 6.5km to a new bridge at GR129000, then taking an indistinct path NE back down towards the river - very wet underfoot and at first we thought it was going nowhere but after a few hundred yards a path appeared at the point where there were the remains of an old footbridge.

We emerged from woodland on to a wide area of marsh and bog with the River Garry beyond. The path here was non-existent but was on the map. We followed it for 3.5km to Garrygualach. It was all as wet as could be but the rain, which came and went, was light.

On then to Greenfield, consisting of about four houses. I'd intended that we'd camp here but there was nothing. About 2.5km further, in the forest, we (the three of us, as Ian is still with us) came across a wooden hut. Two other Challengers, Jane and Terry, were in occupation. We are camped behind. It's a bit rough but quite acceptable and very peaceful. I've been to a party at the hut! We were joined by Nicole (German but resident in Inverness). We feasted on olives and single malt.
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TGO Challenge - Day 2 Saturday 14 May

2011-05-15T18:10:00.001+01:00

It rained all through last night but my trusty tarp kept me well dry. It eased off sufficiently to strike camp comfortably and there was a good breeze to ensure that the tarp was packed dry.

Our route for the first 1km was a level walk always within sight of the Finiskaig River. It then climbed quite steeply. My Goretex socks keep me dry up to six inches above ankle level. A river crossing here prompted me to take them off and wear shoes barefoot. We then climbed more, eventually reaching Lochan a' Mhaim. Around here we met with Ian from Gayle in North Yorkshire and he stayed with us for the rest of the day.

The rain set in and remained with is for much of the day. Our route took us on a good track through the forest of Glen Desserarry down to Strathan.

In Glendessarry

From here, we took a path signposted Tomdoun, which was some way past our stop tonight. It was mainly a vehicle track but very indistinct at times and very wet underfoot all the way. The rain came and went as we climbed up the Dearg Allt. After about 4km, we eventually arrived at Kinbreack Bothy but to get to it involved another socks off river crossing. We are overnighting, with about six others, in the bothy. At last count, there were two tents outside but it is raining heavily now and shows little sign of stopping.

Ian on his way to Kinbreack Bothy

Kinbreack Bothy

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TGO Challenge - Day 1 Friday 13 May

2011-05-15T16:38:00.001+01:00

We woke to passing showers. We were down at the harbour by 9am to secure our tickets for the ferry crossing to Inverie. It was mainly Challengers on board but also a few cyclists with their bikes. The ferry is also used for transporting supplies to the few residents and, presumably, the pub.

It was a smooth crossing, lasting 45 minutes. We called in at the Old Forge for a pint, if only to be able to say that we've been in the most remote pub on the British mainland.

Sean waiting to go in to help the local economy

There was only one track east out of Inverie and we took it.

The view west just outside Inverie

After rising a bit, we followed a track along the foot of Sgurr Coire Choinnichean, taking a track off to the right a little way past a monument up to our right. We passed a bothy (marked as a ruin on the map) and followed an easy track along Gleann Meadail which eventually started to climb up to the col at the foot of Sgurr Sgeithe. The mountain views ahead of us were impressive, looking across to Ben Aden.

Crossing the bridge over Inverie River

Looking back to Inverie

It was then a long zigzag descent down to Carnoch, a large ruin, possibly an old farmstead. Then over the River Carnach on a very bouncy bridge which a notice told us we crossed at our own risk.

Carnoch

Once over the bridge, we had to make our way across a wet and boggy delta until we reached Sourlies Bothy at the edge of Loch Nevis. We are camped with others. All is quiet, apart from the now steady rain. Apart from the early showers, it hasn't rained today until now so it's been a good walking day. We've walked about 13km I think.

At Sourlies Bothy

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TGO Challenge - Thursday 12th May - Journey to Mallaig

2011-05-13T09:55:00.002+01:00

Today started inauspiciously. Sean and I were to get up at 4.45 to leave for Northampton station at 5.30. For some reason, I set my alarm for 5.30! Oh well, I woke naturally at 4.45 and we were in good time for the train, thanks to Sean's wife, Jude.

We were in Glasgow by 10.30 and now, at 3pm, we are well up into West Highland Way country. Having suffered from a blocked ear this past week and even bought more Otex on Glasgow station, it seems to have improved due to the pressure change from the rising gradient of the line.
Now in Mallaig, ready for the 10.15 ferry crossing to Inverie in the morning. Most of the people we've seen around the village are fellow Challengers.

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Cotswold weekend - Saturday

2011-04-16T21:02:00.005+01:00

Distance walked - 24 miles.

I had a good night but the wildlife was so LOUD at times. Owls woke me twice during the night and as I struck camp at six o'clock this morning a barking fox must have been only a few yards away. No-one passed by last evening - a perfect pitch. I was away by half past six and went through a very quiet Blockley, a lovely village in the early morning sun.

Blockley from the Heart of England Way

From Blockley, my route took me through Broad Campden, Chipping Campden, joining the Cotswold Way up to Dover's Hill. Then on to Broadway Tower where I called in at the tearoom there and was pleased to see my friend Kim who I'd last seen for tea when on my LEJOG in 2009. From there, I walked on to Snowshill, a chocolate box village like many of the others this weekend.

Snowshill

The sun continued to shine as I passed through Taddington, Cutsdean, Ford, Temple Guiting, Kineton, Guiting Power, Naunton and then Bourton-on-the-Water where this weekend's trip ended.

View from Dover's Hill, Chipping Campden

2011-04-16T09:59:00.000+01:00

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Cotswold weekend - Friday

2011-04-16T06:43:00.003+01:00

Distance walked - 12 miles.

With the Challenge only four weeks away I thought I'd better make sure that the body and the kit still work.

I decided to do a repeat of a weekend I did in August 2009, a circuit of the northern Cotswolds. I set out at 2pm and headed west through Little Compton, Barton-on-the-Heath and Moreton-in-Marsh. I'm now under the tarp, as before, in Park Plantation, about a mile short of Blockley.

On the way, I had to do something I never like doing. Going into a field of very inquisitive young heifers, my exit lay through a gate downhill at the far corner. I don't like being downhill of them, because although the nearest ones might stop, the ones behind don't know they've stopped and the whole herd might come hurtling towards me. In the event, when I heard their thudding footfalls getting close, I'd turn round and glare at them which brought them to a halt. Eventually they turned away and went off in another direction.

Approaching Century Plantation

In Park Plantation

Waterproof socks

2011-03-22T13:40:00.000Z

For some years, I've thought the concept of waterproof socks a good idea. Obviously, with boots with a waterproof membrane, they aren't necessary. However, I'm not now particularly keen on boots, apart from in winter when, for me, boots are really the only option. I have found that, however well the boots have been fitted for me, I still get blisters, usually on my heels.

I've come to love wearing trail shoes. Over the years, I got through about six pairs of Merrell Exotechs and then the updated Motovator. They were supremely comfortable with a good Vibram sole. They weren't waterproof but with SealSkinz socks they were very good and I walked 500 miles of the South West Coast Path with them. I knew my size and periodically I'd just order another pair online. However, the Motovator was discontinued a few years ago and nothing replaced it with a decent sole tread. My SealSkinz then failed. The inner membrane then seemed to come adrift between the inner and outer layers. I sent them back to SealSkinz and they replaced them with another pair but after a few outings, they let water in. Waterproof socks that weren't waterproof. Not good. Since then I've sent two more pairs back for the same reason. This week, I've received a third pair and we'll see how they perform. Full marks to SealSkinz (the company) for not quibbling but surely I can't be alone in finding the socks unsatisfactory.

Whilst on the internet this week, I found that Trekmates do a waterproof sock, the Amphibian, selling for £29.99. It's somewhat different from the SealSkinz product. The latter can be worn in place of a normal sock but the former is intended to be worn over a normal sock. Anyway, it seems that the Amphibian is being discontinued and Trekmates are getting rid of their remaining stock. All they have is size Small for shoe size 6-7. This should do me and, at a sale price of £9.99 plus p&p they seemed worth trying. I'll post my findings in due course. If they are good, I wonder why they are being discontinued.

On my Exmoor outing last week, I wore Inov-8 Roclites with ordinary socks. My feet got wet a few times but dried out. I don't have a problem with blisters caused by wet feet. I just don't like the initial sensation of my feet suddenly getting wet but, after a while, most of the water goes out and my feet warm up. I think, on balance, I'm prepared to put up with this rather than suffer blisters in boots. At the moment, I'm planning to wear shoes on the TGO Challenge in May. They were superb on the last section from Braemar to the end last year.

Exmoor

2011-03-17T19:36:00.001Z

An opportunity for a couple of days backpacking on Exmoor. Started with a lovely walk the seaward side of The Valley of Rocks, observed by the resident mountain goats. Along the harbourside of Lynmouth and then along Lyn Cleave and then Myrtleberry Cleave, following the Two Moors Way to Watersmeet. Continued alongside East Lyn River to Rockford, Brendon and Malmsmead. Had to make way here for three Exmoor ponies which hurtled past me to rejoin others that I'd passed by minutes earlier.

Then headed south past Cloud Farm and into Doone Country. I saw smoke and flames ahead and was quite concerned until I realised it was controlled burning of bracken and heather. The flames were impressive.

Oare Common looked good for a wild camp but it was too early. Later found a very nice pitch at 794445. No-one passed by to disturb me. Was away by 7.15 and followed a path on the west side of Badgworthy Water and crossed the bridge at 796437 to follow a track which took me by the ruin of Larkbarrow, after which there was a vehicle track south to a road. Here I rejoined the Two Moors Way, passing by Warren Farm. The path just past the farm to Prayway Head started well but involved a stream crossing followed by a long steep climb which was tussocky, wet and muddy. Not good. Having done that, it was easy going by Ravens Nest to the road at Prayway Head.

The track then went by Exe Head and then above a stream in a valley to Hoar Oak Tree. I wanted to head for Cheriton but somehow went in the wrong direction and found myself on the wrong side of Hoaroak Water. Still, it wasn't too bad and I found a bridleway to Stock Common, then Radsbury, East and West Ilkerton, collecting water from a stream for tonight's camp at Caffyn's Cross. It's raining a bit and I can hear a fox barking some distance away.
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TGO Challenge

2011-03-01T20:55:00.000Z

Well, the route is in, modified as suggested by our vetter. Our train tickets for the journey to Mallaig have been bought. We have to wait a few days before being able to book the journey home. I have a printout of our route on A4 sheets pinned to a wall upstairs. Much easier than a screen to get an overall view of it. The main modification to our original route was making the stretch from Inverie to Fort Augustus four days instead of three. It was thought that we would possibly spend more time than was wise at The Old Forge at Inverie which is right next to where we shall disembark from the Mallaig ferry. I've never been to Knoydart so our first few days are going to be magnificent. Hope the weather is good.

Backpackers Oxfordshire weekend

2011-03-01T20:43:00.002Z

We spent Friday night at Manor Farm, Barford St. Michael. About twenty of us so a good turn out. Saturday saw about eight of us heading for Whichford, others taking different routes. It rained much of the day and it was so wet and muddy underfoot.

©Grant Currin

We didn't actually have to go through this water. It was deeper than it looked and was very soft underneath. We managed to make our way around the side of it. Went through Milcombe and Lower Tadmarton. Stopped for a pint at the Chandlers Arms at Epwell - an excellent pub, especially as we escaped a really heavy downpour while we were there.

This seemed the only way to get rid of all the mud

We then followed the Macmillan Way to Whichford. The Norman Knight there was good. The church clock rang out the time every quarter of an hour but it didn't seem to bother anyone.

Sunday's weather started well but it later came on to rain.

©Grant Currin

We were joined for the day by Sue, who wanted to find out what life with the Backpackers is all about. It was a baptism of fire as far as the weather was concerned. There seemed to be even more mud and rain than the day before. She wisely brought overtrousers and gaiters.

A lack of fear of horses and bravado helped her get through the ankle deep mud without mishap. Will she be back or have we put her off?

Our route took us through Hook Norton by the brewery, to Wigginton and on to South Newington for a pint at the Duck on the Pond and then back to Barford.

Scanning

2011-02-22T23:16:00.001Z

I posted last November about using a digital scanner, particularly to save to a hard drive magazine articles, mainly from TGO and Trail. I have since discovered something light years better. The Fujitsu ScanSnap 1500 is simply amazing. I bought it for use at work where it will easily repay its cost of about £340. I am sneaking in some stuff from home to scan. It works as quickly as a photocopier and will take about twenty five or so A4 sheets at a time. It will copy one-sided (simplex) or both sides (duplex) and then save as a pdf. It takes no more than a minute or two. It's so compact. I have rarely been so impressed with a gadget.

Here's a link to the Oxfordshire Trek which was in an old issue of Trailwalker (the original name of Trail magazine) https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B-WOz-XmGFRdNjcxN2RjMDgtYmU4OC00NmZhLTg4MDYtOWZlZGY3ZmQwYjg1&hl=en_GB&authkey=CICU_sgJ

Backpackers Winster weekend

2011-02-22T22:47:00.000Z

The weather forecast wasn't good. Arriving at Winster I pitched the tarp with other tents behind the pub, the Miner's Standard A round of four pints of a real ale called "...... Revolution" was £8.80 which was amazingly cheap.

I had pitched the tarp quite low, expecting some windy weather during the night. However, when I awoke, the ridge of the tarp was touching my nose, caused by the weight of snow on it. Three inches or so had fallen in the early hours.

Punching it off from below improved matters and when I emerged I repitched to provide more height.

After breakfast, a group of us followed the Limestone Trail across to Youlgrave.

The George Hotel in Youlgrave beckoned and we went in for coffee and I had an excellent egg and bacon roll. We then left the Limestone Way and headed north to drop down into Lathkill Dale, following the river and then by a quarry up to Monyash. On the way, in Lathkill Dale, I was accosted and asked the way to Over Haddon (where we had just come from). One of our group, Andris, being a few years younger than me, recognised our acquaintance as no less than Jarvis Cocker, who admitted that it was he.

After a quick one at The Bull in Monyash, we pressed on to our intended halt behind the Royal Oak at Sparklow. Next day, we headed back to Winster down the High Peak Trail, down Long Dale, Gratton Dale into Elton and then back on the Limestone Way into Winster.

Backpackers Grand Union Canal, Rickmansworth weekend

2011-02-22T22:14:00.000Z

I can't believe that I haven't posted since the end of November.

A select group of four of us assembled at Denham at the end of January. It was an easy weekend, going through Denham village (where the actor, John Mills used to live) and ambling up the canal to Stockers Farm where we camped a few feet away from the water's edge. Arriving early, we paired off and Colin and I went for a brisk walk the other side of the M25 to Heronsgate. He had a competition going with his son, visiting as many pubs in the CAMRA guide as possible. Our first stop was at a pub with the interesting name The Land of Liberty, Peace and Plenty. After an excellent pint, we went on, crossing Chorleywood Common and following the River Chess into Rickmansworth where The Sportsman was visited. From there we went into Wetherspoons in Rickmansworth for an evening meal and back to the farm in the dark. Sunday was a walk east of the canal via South Harefield back to Denham.

Scanning

2010-11-28T11:47:00.001Z

For some time now, I've been going through old issues of Trail and TGO with a view to scanning pages I want to keep and throwing the rest out as they take up much needed space. Using a flatbed scanner for lots of pages is quite time consuming so the project was put to one side. Maybe I've come to this late, but I've "discovered" a much quicker way and that's to photograph magazine pages and then save them as jpegs into a directory for sorting at a later date. I've also started photographing other documents, letters received, etc. and then throwing the originals away. This method of "scanning" is fine where a true scanned image isn't essential or desirable and it's so much quicker. Here's an example.

Shoe Goo

2010-11-28T11:33:00.000Z

I've just renewed an acquaintance with a product I used many years ago. As I walk to work every day and walk to most local places, my shoes tend to wear most on the heels and I end up throwing them away when only the heels are badly worn. I've just received, via an Amazon seller, Skate Slime, a tube of Shoe Goo.

This is amazing stuff. I just apply it to a worn heel and, within a few hours, I've got a few more millimetres of wearable surface. I shall reapply whenever needed and will also use it on the soles from time to time. It will also come in handy on trail shoes as it's always the heels that wear out first. Shoe Goo can also be used to repair many other things. Brilliant stuff.

Backpackers Rhayader/Elan Valley weekend

2010-11-11T23:24:00.003Z

It was good to be out again. Some new faces, some not so new. The drive there was quite long. theaa.com reckoned 2½ hours but it was actually three, all of it on the A4. Quite a good turnout, maybe about a dozen or fifteen of us. It was dark when I arrived at Gigrin Farm, Rhayader and I pitched the tarp in rain so it was good to get under cover and a meal on the go. Then off into town to, I think, The Crown.
Five of us walked together the next morning, Saturday. The rain had stopped. We followed the Wye Valley Walk, leading out of the south side of Rhayader to the River Wye or Afon Gwy, crossing the river by a swaying wire bridge.

Bridge across Afon Elan at SN965656

Cottage at SN959649


Looking across to Cefn Rhydoldog

Quarry at Cerrig Gwynion

From there we climbed up on to moorland and headed south west towards Caban-coch Reservoir, going into woodland above and to the far end of the reservoir. The views up there were wide ranging.

Bridge between Caban-coch and Garreg-ddu Reservoirs

Crossing the bridge at the end, we followed the minor road and, a little way past the farm at Ciloerwynt, we took the bridleway which doubled back at the rear of the farm, thinking we might find somewhere to pitch for the night. We found a reasonable place at SN882663 with a fast flowing stream a little way below. It was dark by 5pm so it was a long evening and night under cover.

Continuing on next morning, we climbed up towards the mast at Cwm Coel and then into woodland, eventually dropping down to the stunning road bridge dividing Caban-coch and Garreg-ddu Reservoirs. The autumn colours were superb. Over the bridge, we followed a cycle trail to the visitor centre at Elan Village. The café there was open for its last day of the season and served welcome cafetieres of coffee and bacon sandwiches. From there, we walked along a track alongside the B4518 back into Rhayader.

Garreg-ddu Reservoir

TGO Challenge

2010-11-08T14:23:00.000Z

Last year I was a Challenge virgin. This year, having been selected again, I'm going with a Challenge virgin, Sean Putnam. I wonder if the guaranteed way to be selected each year is to include someone who's never done the Challenge before?

So much planning to do now. Last year I took my tarp and, the weather being extremely kind, it coped very well. However, having seen the photo of Martin Banfield's 2009 Challenge with full snow conditions I may opt for a tent although, having said that, I used my tarp all through last winter, snow and all.

A route must now be carefully planned and submitted to the Challenge vetters for approval and comment. Planning is almost as much fun as doing. More postings to follow.

Backpackers Hertfordshire weekend

2010-10-05T22:27:00.002+01:00

A rotten drive to Standon. The M25 at its worst - Friday afternoon, lane narrowings and poor visibility due to spray. We pitched in a paddock behind The Star, which was excellent and very convenient for a very good pint or two of Greene King IPA. We were able to leave cars there till the next day.

Behind The Star

The Star, Standon

Our chosen route took us out of Standon north along the Harcamlow Way. We went by Patmore Heath. I was interested to see this as I hadn't been there since the early 1960s. Having grown up in Hertfordshire, we sometimes went as a family for a Sunday afternoon drive and I have faint memories of playing ball games on Patmore Heath and having things like coconut ice bought for us, made by a lady in her house overlooking the heath. It was another age.

Patmore Heath

We walked on then to Stocking Pelham and then to Furneux Pelham, where we camped in a garden area by The Brewery Tap. The landlady kindly came out with a spade and some earth and dealt with the little mounds of dog poo scattered around. Greene King IPA here too. The weather today was perfect walking weather.

It was the weekend of Furneux Festival. Plenty of village celebrations of all kinds. In the church was a Country Shop selling local produce, mainly preserves of one kind or another. I bought a jar of medlar jelly.

Furneux Pelham is really quite lovely, with a good number of quality village houses as seen below.

A new house being built

Who allowed planning consent for this?

Rain was forecast for Sunday but the first two hours were really quite nice and sunny. Torrential rain was falling further west but, although it rained on us later in the morning walking back to Standon, it wasn't that bad. Braughing was very pleasant with a couple of good pubs and a picturesque ford.

I hadn't realised that the practice of pargeting extended into Hertfordshire. This was a fine example.

Shortly before crossing back over the A10 into Standon, we passed through the village of Nasty. Not far over the border into Essex, there's a village called Ugley.

If proliferation of hedgerow fruit is a sign of a hard winter to come, we are in for a bad one! I've never seen so many blackberries, elderberries, sloe, hawthorn and rosehips.

Apples

2010-09-30T20:47:00.000+01:00

I've enjoyed my Bramley apple tree this year. Quite a good crop, despite having pruned it ruthlessly some months ago. I've made chutney, eaten stewed apple and made an apple crumble this evening. What I've never seen before, though, is conjoined apples as in the photo below. Does anybody know if they are a rarity?

Backpackers Dorset Weekend

2010-09-26T22:36:00.002+01:00

I left around 9.30 this morning and went off to do a little exploring. I drove a few miles up the road towards Salisbury and stopped off at Martin Down Nature Reserve There is a sizeable car park and the area is criss-crossed by well defined tracks and grassy paths. I found plenty of blackberries to eat along the way and walked maybe three to four miles. There weren't many people around.

Backpackers Dorset weekend

2010-09-25T22:12:00.001+01:00

We are camped for two nights on the same site - what they term a "static" weekend - at a village called Sixpenny Handley. It's a very nice spacious site with good facilities and a restaurant with bar and a very good local beer.

We've walked eleven miles today. Plenty of wildlife. This morning, we were crossing a field, heading for a wood and no fewer than twelve fallow deer burst out of the wood not far from where we were. This afternoon, I was the only one to see a magnificent red deer stag, antlers and all, only about fifty yards away. He stayed no more than a couple of seconds. No chance to photograph him.

Quite a lot of our walking was in woodland which suits me very well. In one place there was a party shooting partridges. We were offered some but they wouldn't have been dressed and my skills don't extend that far.
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Dartmoor - Sunday and The Curious Incident of the Fox in the Night-time

2010-08-30T17:01:00.000+01:00

When you go to bed under a tarp you do not want, or expect, the night to be eventful. Last night was certainly eventful. At 2.15am, I was awoken by a loud noise. It was then repeated a few times but less loud. After a moment's thought, I knew what it was. When I sat up and looked around, my suspicions were confirmed. A sunflower spread box that had contained my last two slices of porridge cake was missing and it was being bounced along the ground. Shining my torch around outside, I saw two eyes looking at me from a short distance. I put my shoes on and went to investigate. In the light of the torch beam, I saw the box with its lid off, a fox's mouth shaped piece taken out of the box and, a few feet away, a fox staring back at me. It then disappeared and I went back to bed, wishing I'd thought to have my camera with me.

Thinking the fox might come back to raid the two bags I had with some food in, I stuffed them under my backpack which I was using as a pillow, and went back to sleep. A while later, I was rudely awoken by a tugging beneath my head. Turning my torch on, I saw the fox running away and a piece taken out of my polycryo groundsheet. What to do then? I had thoughts of keeping guard and not sleeping for the rest of the night. In the end, I decided to stuff the food bags inside my sleeping bag, hoping that my scent would mask that of the food. Either that or I might find the fox trying to share my sleeping bag with me! I was actually asleep again in no time and the fox didn't return. I think he was used to finding bits of food left by picnickers as this is the first time such a thing has happened in the nine years I've been using a tarp.

Our first stop after walking for about half an hour was at the excellent village shop at Postbridge where we had hot drinks and bought pasties for lunch. Our route then took us north by Roundy Park and Hartland Tor up to the Grey Wethers Stone Circle, where we had a brief snack stop, each of us sheltering from the wind behind a standing stone. Then on via Sittaford Tor, Little Varracombe, Whitehorse Hill and then Hangingstone Hill, where we stopped for lunch in an army shelter. It was raining by now so the cover was welcome. After that, it was more moorland walking, passing by Oke Tor and then back to East Okement Farm.

Clapper Bridge at Postbridge

Road bridge at Postbridge

Dartmoor - Saturday

2010-08-29T13:51:00.003+01:00

Last night's pitch was quite idyllic. We weren't disturbed at all by the six D of E girls camped just a hundred or so yards away and out of sight.

We were away at 9.30, retracing our route of yesterday for the first half mile before bearing east and then south east down to Fernworthy Reservoir. From here, we went directly south to stop at the Warren House Inn for lunchtime refreshments.

Long Stone

Across the road we joined the Two Moors Way for a short distance, then taking a path through a wood called Soussons Warren, then a bridleway across pasture land by Cator Common. A lane then access land brought us through gorse down to our wild pitch by the East Dart River by Bellever Bridge. A lovely day for walking, not too hot. The other side of the river is popular with locals for a day out but they've gone home now.

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Dartmoor - Friday

2010-08-28T10:14:00.004+01:00

A little rain overnight and woke to a misty morning. It soon cleared, however, and we were ready to start walking at 9.30. We went north from East Okement Farm for maybe half a mile with Harter Hill on our right before heading east on a good track down to Cullever Steps, where we turned north to make a wide sweep around Belstone Common rising up to our right. We crossed the remains of Irishman's Wall.

After all the rain of the last few days, we had to expect wet paths and boggy bits and, in this, we weren't disappointed. All three of us were wearing trail shoes - very comfy but the wet went straight in and, fortunately, straight out again. This was repeated a number of times during the day. Nice not to have blisters though.

We saw what to us was a strikingly unusual and beautiful bird which co-operated while we took photos. I think it may be a wheatear but I'm not sure. The photos don't actually do it justice.

Wheatear

Scorhill stone circle

Teign-e-ver clapper bridge

Dartmoor - Thursday evening

2010-08-27T08:54:00.000+01:00

Pitched on a farm just south of Okehampton with a couple of Backpackers Club friends. I was originally planning to come yesterday but the weather has been so atrocious down here so we delayed the trip for a day. The mist has come down over the moor, it's rained a bit but now quite calm.

The plan is that we'll have a couple of days walking before meeting some other Club members at Bellever who will be walking south to north over Dartmoor over the weekend. The weather is set to improve (hopefully).

It's good to be out camping again.
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Glyme Valley Way

2010-08-07T18:59:00.003+01:00

I felt the need to get out for the day so headed for Woodstock, the start of the Glyme Valley Way, a sixteen mile walk to Chipping Norton - http://portal.oxfordshire.gov.uk/content/publicnet/council_services/environment_planning/countryside/walks_rides/DraftwalkguideA4v8.pdf The weather forecast was for rain but, apart from a couple of brief, heavy showers which I sheltered from under trees, it was a fine day. I last walked the Way a year ago and was able not to repeat a couple of minor navigational errors from last year. It really is a lovely walk, not demanding from an ascent point of view but the countryside is superb with lovely villages and an excellent pub in The Crown at Church Enstone.

Pocketmail RIP

2010-07-22T19:53:00.002+01:00

I thought I'd just check out the Pocketmail website and see if anything had changed in the last few months. It wasn't available so I googled Pocketmail only to discover that POCKETMAIL IS NO MORE - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PocketMail Seems it's gone down the pan and I'm not really surprised. I really lost patience with mine on my LEJOG in 2009. I would type in a day's posting, locate a payphone and generally find

the phone didn't work
there was no phone in the phone box
the phone was working but I couldn't upload the email

Sometimes, I would be surprised but, in the end, I just lost patience. Fortunately, I had bought a pay-as-you-go Blackberry Pearl a couple of days before the start of my walk and I tended to use that and the Pocketmail was sent home. The joy of the Pocketmail was that I wasn't reliant on either a phone signal or the device being charged as the it ran on AA batteries which lasted a long time. However, it was very old technology and it was surely only a matter of time before it became totally obsolete.

I clearly wasn't the only one who found the Pocketmail annoying - see Pocketmail has ruined my life

Near Bala

2010-07-06T12:19:00.000+01:00

Enjoying a tour of North Wales. Overnighted (in fact, spending four nights) at a site close to the crossroads at Cefn-ddwysarn. A before breakfast walk up in the hills in an area marked on the map as Rhos Dawel. The marked path was quite hard to follow and I lost it up behind a farm called Ty'n-y-bryn (although I later realised I'd gone uphill sooner than I should have done on going between the farm buildings). I'd intended taking a path going west into some woods but instead took the path north. It wasn't a problem - instead, I followed a path to Llwyniolyn and back down the lane to the site.

In the afternoon, I headed off again, going up a parallel lane and taking a path west to some derelict buildings called Cwm-onen and into woodland. The path went through the overgrown garden of a cottage, Creigiau-uchaf (possibly still occupied) and then back into woodland. After passing through the corners of two fields, there was a stile into some very overgrown and uneven land. I fought my way through for maybe two hundred yards. The vegetation was often up to chest level with brambles and unexpected ridges and furrows, all unseen below. My legs (I was wearing shorts) were lacerated and, although I knew exactly where I wanted to go, I couldn't get through, what with a fence with a drop the other side possibly into a ditch and thickening undergrowth. I turned back and found a much easier way round. On reaching a track, I followed it for a bit before taking a path into woodland and making a bee line east to Ty'n-y-bryn.

Doing the two walks in the same location was worthwhile, criss-crossing the area in two directions and so getting a feel for it.
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Freeloader Pico solar charger

2010-06-22T21:33:00.001+01:00

I forgot to do a review of this bit of kit on my TGO Challenge. It can be charged by connecting it to a USB socket on a PC. When fully charged in that way, it will give a half charge (two bars out of four) to my Blackberry Pearl when that is registering low charge. It was a different matter charging it via its little solar panel. Obviously, the more direct sunlight there is, the better. Whenever I could, I would attach it to the outside of my pack. I left it to charge for about three days. There was a fair amount of sun but, even then, it only gave the Blackberry one bar of charge - enough to keep posting to this blog and maybe a couple of brief phone calls. So, is it worth having and worth the £16.00 or so that it cost? Well, for the price and considering the small size of the solar panel, it's probably not bad and you get what you pay for. I shall stick with it. After all, it weighs very little and takes up no space but I'm not over impressed. I might invest in a spare battery for the Blackberry as well.

TGO Challenge - kit review

2010-06-03T19:36:00.001+01:00

Tarp

My Golite Cave performed brilliantly, as usual. I've had it nine years now. Plenty of space, light to carry. Fortunately, there were no midges, otherwise I'd have need the bug nest to go in it. If this bit of kit ever needs replacing, I'll buy one in kit from from http://www.rayjardine.com/ray-way/Tarp-Kit/index.htm I also fancy making a backpack from the same source some time.

Pack

Although I have other packs, my trusty Golite Breeze was fine. I really don't like hip belts and, using the Breeze encourages me to keep the weight down. It's meant for loads not exceeding 20lb. At its heaviest it was probably 25lb but this reduced each day with food consumption.

Boots

My Alt-Bergs were not a success on this trip. I realised that I hadn't resolved the heel rubbing problem and the resulting blisters spoiled the enjoyment of the walk. The Inov-8 Roclites that I bought at Braemar were superb. The twenty mile day that followed was very easy. My resolution now is to wear trail shoes whenever possible, certainly through the spring, summer and autumn.

Stove

This was my first multi-day hike using a gas stove for many years. I liked it very much. The stove is a GoSystem Trail Classic and it only cost £16.00 or so. It's not the lightest but it was efficient and much faster to bring things to heat. I shan't abandon my meths stove though as I have over two litres of meths to use up.

Gaiters

These were Peter Storm ankle gaiters from Millets – cost £9.99. They were excellent. Unlike the Outdoor Designs ones that I replaced them with, they fitted snugly round my boots and were very effective in stopping water and general crud from getting into the boots.

Travel Tap

This was great. I would fill it from any water source I passed and was able to drink immediately. If and when it wears out, I shall replace it with a new, full price one.

TGO Challenge Day 13 Wednesday 26 May - Brechin to Lunan Bay

2010-05-26T17:10:00.000+01:00

Walking 8.50-12.30
Miles walked today - 8
Total miles walked - 175
Distance left - 0

Thought we were going to find it difficult getting a decent pint last evening. The Bridge Inn was closed for the day, the Victoria Inn didn't seem safe or desirable and the Red Lion was closed for good. Then we happened upon the Caledonia Hotel and all was well. The beer was excellent and we were engaged in conversation by a local hill walker who recognised us from having passed us on the road earlier.

All road walking today. We had hoped to walk through Kinnaird Park but couldn't find a "side gate" we'd been told to look out for. However, the road wasn't bad and the sun was more out than in. There was a slight blip just past Fithie Wood at a farm called Renmure. The map showed a white track going by it but we found that it wasn't a through route - there was a house and garden in the way. However, we were given permission to pass through to pick up a track on the other side. After battling an unclear path at the end of the track, it was then plain sailing to the beach at Lunan Bay where we wetted our shoes/boots in the water and took photos.

Then, after a hot drink at the Lunar Life Farm Shop and lunch, we walked back up to the main road and flagged a bus down to take us into Montrose where checked out at Challenge Control at the Park Hotel. Here, we were given our Challenge T-shirts, badge and a miniature of Bowmore Islay Single Malt.
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TGO Challenge Day 12 Tuesday 25 May - Tarfside to Brechin

2010-05-25T19:30:00.001+01:00

Walking 8.10-6.00
Miles walked today - 20
Total miles walked - 167
Distance left - 8

Another lovely morning. I'm told Challenge weather isn't always like this!

We started with a delightful road walk, missed the turn off for a bridge across the River North Esk so carried on along the road to just before Millden Lodge where a narrow lane took us to another bridge. We walked roughly parallel to the river for five miles, really nice, easy walking. The new shoes, the weather, etc. really put a spring in my step. The end of our crossing is beginning to be in sight.

Our next path was through woodland high above the Esk for a couple of miles into Edzell where we found a café with a heap of backpacks outside. A bacon and egg roll later, we steamed through the final eight miles into Brechin. It was easy. We are now well out of the hills. The countryside is not at all unlike England, even down to the fields of oil seed rape.
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TGO Challenge Day 11 - Shielin of Mark to Tarfside

2010-05-25T11:31:00.001+01:00

Walking 9.00-3.00
Miles walked today - 11
Total miles walked - 147
Distance left - 28

The day started with an energetic bash across heather and bog for a mile up to Muckle Cairn - no path at all but we picked up some marker posts to the south side of the top and then a path of sorts. From then there was a clear track down to Glen Lee.

We followed the track for nearly three miles. There was a little rain but it soon passed. After a further mile along a track in a valley bottom, we reached Loch Lee and followed the road along the north side - very pleasant walking with nice views.

The final three miles into Tarfside were along a clear track and we went straight to St. Drostan's Hall where facilities for Challengers were laid on. One bacon butty later, we headed for the recreation ground which is available for camping.
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TGO Challenge Day 10 Sunday 23 May - Braemar to Shielin of Mark

2010-05-25T11:31:00.000+01:00

Walking 8.00-6.30
Miles walked today - 18
Total miles walked - 136
Distance left - 43

Most of today's walking was easy enough. We began by retracing the last three miles of yesterday's route, past a rock called the Lion's Face, followed by a lovely distant view of Invercauld House. Then along the A93, turning right just after the bridge over the River Dee to go over the old Invercauld Bridge and into Ballochbuie Forest. It was easy walking along clear tracks with light rain showers.

After eight miles, we came to Balmoral Castle and headed straight for the tearoom for refreshments. We saw a red squirrel just outside.

Passing by the Royal Lochnagar Distillery (we didn't have time for the tour), we climbed gradually up a clear unmade road on to heather moor with good views opening up all around.

At Spittal of Glenmuick, we picked our way along a narrow path alongside a burn, climbing gradually up for a couple of miles until, by a rather circuitous route (as it's easy to miss), we arrived at the bothy at Shielin of Mark. Gill is in the bothy; Frank and I are camped by the burn with a number of other Challengers.

With my new shoes, I've hardly been aware of the blisters.

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TGO Challenge Day 9 Saturday 22 May - Hut at NJ180980 to Braemar

2010-05-22T17:37:00.000+01:00

Walking 8.00-11.30
Miles walked today - 6
Total miles walked - 118
Distance left - 61

It rained most of last evening and there was a torrential hail storm which hammered loudly on the metal roof of our hut. Nevertheless, we spent a peaceful night and were up and about earlier than usual.

It was an easy and clear walk into Braemar, much of it downhill. We took a wrong turn along an estate road and found ourselves on tracks that weren't shown on the OS map but they were going in the right direction so we weren't too bothered. We skirted by Invercauld House, home of the Farquhar family since the 1700s. Somehow they've managed to keep hold of their money all that time. A lovely house.

A woodland path took us through the outskirts of Balmoral Castle (we have to go back that way tomorrow) to The Invercauld Caravan Club site - excellent facilities and a shower and shave made a lot of difference, although it wasn't until I was stepping into the shower that I realised I didn't have my towel with me and my T-shirt had to suffice.

The heel blisters continue to be my constant companions so I've bought a pair of Inov8 Rocklite trail shoes and the shop will post my boots home at no charge to me. Let's hope the feet are more comfortable from now on.

The weather is quite got now and I'm enjoying what's left of a lazy day with today's paper.
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TGO Challenge Day 8 Friday 21 May - Faindouran Bothy to bothy above Braemar NJ180980

2010-05-21T20:05:00.000+01:00

Walking 9.15-5.30
Miles walked today - 11
Total miles walked - 112

Because of the necessary extra day's walking (see yesterday's posting), I'm not sure of the miles remaining.

We had lovely weather to pack away in and start today's walking. It was easy, just following an unmade track generally alongside and above the River Avon. After six miles, we reached Linn of Avon, a point where the river comes down a rocky incline and is then channelled through a small gorge. The colour of the water here was beautiful [photos to follow].

A right turn here brought us into Glen Builg, with Builg Burn alongside. After lunch, the heavens opened and this formed the pattern for the rest of the day. We had to wade the burn (maybe twenty feet and up to nine inches deep) and then Bill, our navigator at that point, took us back across it two hundred yards down before realising we shouldn't have done it so we had to go back! The others changed into sandals for this. I only had boots, but with my new ankle gaiters (thank you, Sue) and overtrousers, I managed to keep dry feet. It was on the fourth burn crossing, where the water was a little deeper that water came in but it could have been worse.

A little further on, we parted company with Bill (again).

We are overnighting in a bothy and tomorrow we have about five or six miles to reach the fleshpots of Braemar. The place will be teeming with Challengers.
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TGO Challenge Day 7 Thursday 19 May - Glenmore Campsite, Loch Morlich to wild camp at Faindouran Bothy NJ082061

2010-05-21T20:04:00.000+01:00

Walking 9.15-7.00
Miles walked - 13
Total miles walked - 101
Distance left - 74

The prospect of another nice weather day. We are so lucky (now it will rain all day tomorrow).

Our route took us east, past Glenmore Lodge, a national outdoor training centre. It was then a rough surfaced trail past An Lochan Uaine, a delightful lochan ideal for a quick dip (we didn't).

We then took a right fork and then, after a mile, a right into Strath Nethy, where the Garbh Allt, a clear, fast-flowing burn was our companion all day. We lunched by it and drank from it more than once. Higher up, we trudged through more snow. In one or two places, the snow completely covered the burn, forming a tunnel of maybe 100 feet.

Eventually, after something over seven miles we reached The Saddle, a magnificent viewpoint overlooking Loch Avon (A'an) and mountains to the immediate south and far reaching views eastwards.

Our aim then was to walk the 1.5 miles to the Fords of Avon (A'an) and cross the river there. After much debate, however, we decided not to ("bottled out" is the term) - the river was a little too wide and fast-flowing and we didn't want those at home to be reporting a claim on life policies. This was unfortunate as we had to switch to our FWA (foul weather alternative) route which means an extra day's walking, although we are a day ahead of ourselves so it's not a great problem, just a little annoying. Better to be alive though.

We walked on some four miles to Faindouran Bothy, where we are camped outside, apart from Gill, who opted to sleep in the bothy, never having slept in one before. We haven't told her of the possibility of mice. Here also, we found Bill again, having parted company with him yesterday in Aviemore.
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TGO Challenge Day 6 Wednesday 18 May - Wild camp to Loch Morlich campsite

2010-05-19T21:30:00.001+01:00

Miles walked today - 14
Total miles walked - 88
Distance left - 87

A little rain fell around 7am but soon cleared up and we were able to pack away everything dry.

We started with a short level walk to the bridge over the River Dulnain and then followed a long, laborious ascent of about three miles up the Burma Road. This was an estate track, not difficult but all the time we could see it snaking before us with featureless heather all around.

At the pass at the top, we were met by a flock of ewes and lambs being herded to their summer grazing.

We then had a gentle descent of some two miles to the A9 which we crossed to follow the B road into Aviemore, we headed straight to the Cairngorm Hotel and ordered the venison casserole in a Yorkshire Pudding on Frank's recommendation - he'd had it last year. Excellent it was too.

A walk then of six miles, much of it on an off road forest track, brought us to Loch Morlich Campsite, quite large but very nice, overlooked by the snow capped Cairngorm mountains. We head that way tomorrow.
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TGO Challenge Day 5 Tuesday - R. Findhorn to wild camp at NH805163

2010-05-19T14:52:00.004+01:00

Walking 9.10-4.00
Miles walked today - 11
Total miles walked - 74
Distance left - 101

Woke up to a perfect sunny morning. If this is Challenge weather then I like it! The long trail through the River Findhorn glen was quite lovely. From here, we ascended the track above Allt a Mhuillin, a really pretty walk. We lunched by a burn.

Then followed a heather and bog yomp of two to three miles, quite hard work. This then brought us to a track near the River Dulnain. We are camped close by a wooden hut with a red roof. Bill is still with us but I think we part company tomorrow.

Today's weather has been perfect. We were joined by six Air Force officer trainees and their instructor, mountain biking & camping as a training/bonding exercise towing little trailers behind their bikes. However, they are overnighting in the hut.

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TGO Challenge Day 4 - Monday 17 May Drumnadrochit to wild camp near River Findhorn NH674170

2010-05-19T14:52:00.003+01:00

Walking 7.00-8.00 & 8.50-6.00
Miles walked today - 15
Total miles walked - 63
Distance left - 112

An early start at seven was necessary to walk for an hour to catch the ferry for the forty minute trip across Loch Ness to Inverfarigaig. The jetty there was little more than a rocky outcrop so we had to scramble up on to it. A bit precarious!

We breakfasted at a picnic area not far from the jetty. A road walk of about two miles then brought us to Errogie and then around the northern end of Loch Mhor to Farraline. The wife of a Challenger couple who had been on the ferry turned back around this time, suffering from bad blisters. I've got blisters on both heels but am dealing with them.

We also met Bill, who was also on the ferry. He's the treasurer of the Munro Society, membership being open to those who have climbed all of Scotland's Munros.

It was a long ascent out of Farraline, much of it over pathless heather, very uneven and often difficult to walk on with unexpected holes and bog to stumble into. We went through the grounds of Dunmaglass Lodge, a lovely, large Victorian house.

After this, there was a seemingly endless uphill grind of four miles or so l some on tracks, some across more heather and bog. We came across patches of drifted snow.

We were glad to finish and we have a good pitch next to a burn. Bill is camping with us tonight. He's good company.

Apart from a few passing showers, today's weather has been dry and sunny.
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TGO Challenge - Day 3 Sunday 16 May - Cannich to Drumnadrochit

2010-05-16T21:21:00.002+01:00

Walking 11.00-7.00
Miles walked today - 14
Total miles walked - 48
Distance left - 127

I wasn't alone in my sleeping bag last night. When I got into it, something stung or nipped my foot. I kicked around a bit and scratched. Things seemed then to settle down. This morning I aired the bag and found an ant, still very much alive.

Got off to a late start as the village shop didn't open till 10am. A lovely sunny day. We started with a climb up east of Cannich above Kerrow Wood and emerged near to Loch Riabhachain. There then followed a cross country bash for nearly a mile to meet a track entering woodland, at the end of which, was the hamlet of Corrimony. At a chambered cairn there we met some other Challengers, having a siesta.

We then had a long forest walk via Shenval, following mainly wide forest roads all the way to Drumnadrochit, where we are camped at Borlum Farm.

Apart from a little light rain this afternoon, it was a warm, sunny day. We picked up our resupply parcels at the Cannich site so our packs have been heavy with nearly a week's worth of food. Still, they should get a bit lighter each day.
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TGO Challenge - Day 2 Saturday 15 May

2010-05-16T00:00:00.001+01:00

Walking 8.15-6.15

Miles walked today - 18

Total miles walked - 32

Distance left - 141

Quite a lot of rain in the night. A very good and long night's sleep.

First night's camp

After a mile, we joined the northern side of Loch Mullardoch and followed this for nine miles. We had been led to believe this would be very hard work and the path often non-existent. So much so that our original plan to do the nineteen miles to Cannich was split in two to satisfy our route vetters. In the event, it wasn't too difficult and we were able to cut a mile off as a torrent of water crossing proved to be possible (photo to follow) and we reckoned that, with a bit of effort, we could get to Cannich. Frank only slipped over three times and Gill only filled her boots with water once.

The weather today was mixed - some showers but lots of sunshine. The last nine miles into Cannich was along a very quiet minor road and, for road walking, as good as it gets. Much of it (from Liatrie Bridge to Cannich) was a stretch of my LEJOG last year and so was familiar, even down to the herd of deer at Liatrie Bridge.
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TGO Challenge - Day 1 Friday 14th

2010-05-15T09:22:00.003+01:00

Walking 9.15 - 4.30

Miles walked today - 14

Total miles walked - 14

Distance left - 159

A little rain around 7am but it turned into a glorious morning and just right for striking camp. The view from the campsite over the loch with mountains behind was quite stunning.

The campsite

Cottages overlooking Loch Long

Eilean Donan Castle

We made our way into Dornie and signed out, as required, at the Dornie Hotel.

Me, Gill & Frank

After a visit to the village shop for some essential supplies we were off, at first alongside Loch Duich to Bundalloch, and then east for just over three miles following the valley and River Glennan to Camas-luinie, a little settlement of just a few houses. We met four other Challengers along this stretch. There was a little rain but not too bad. Continuing east, we followed the metalled track alongside and above the River Elchaig for several miles, hilly in parts but not too demanding. There were fine and clear valley views all the time.

At Iron Lodge we took a steep winding track south east for three miles to our pitch for the night, beside a gurgling burn called Allt na Criche, just before Loch Mullardoch, which we shall follow all day tomorrow. A good first day. A bit tiring but we're off to a good start.

Loch Mullardoch

Unfortunately, I've managed to pitch with a lump in the ground underneath my torso. The advantage of a tarp is that I can just shift to one side and a couple of feet down and use it as a pillow!

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TGO Challenge Thursday 13th

2010-05-14T10:26:00.002+01:00

A lovely day (so far) for travelling to the start of the Challenge. I believe we may head into rain later. We (that's me, Frank and Gill) are cheerful and full of optimism. Two other Challengers joined the train with us at Rugby. There will be many more as we converge on Glasgow and then Fort William.

Our day started early, boarding the 6.17 train at Northampton, changing at Rugby for the very fast service to Glasgow. We were at Carlisle by 9.15.

I was very impressed with what I've seen of the centre of Glasgow although maybe the weather helped. A long weekend here would be nice.

An early lunch (chicken tikka masala) was had at Bonapartes on Glasgow Queen Street Station before the train to Fort William. Lots of Challengers were gathered here and it was good to see some familiar faces, including some other bloggers. For anyone who wants a change from this blog, try http://phreerunner.blogspot.com/ or http://alansloman.blogspot.com/
They'll both be blogging the Challenge.

The final train of the day to Fort William was packed with Challengers, full of cameraderie. The weather became quite overcast and it started to rain as we travelled northwards but the scenery more than made up for it. It was a long, quite slow journey, the train seeming to struggle at times as it wended its way around the desolate wild country. Rannoch Moor was particularly forbidding. It was a four hour journey, about the same as Rugby to Glasgow!

We had a couple hours to kick our heels in Fort William before our last transport link, the Glasgow-Portree coach which took us to Dornie where we are now pitched on a very nice site overlooking Loch Long with mountains behind - perfect.
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TGO Challenge final details

2010-05-09T13:49:00.000+01:00

OK, final preparations made and decisions taken. I'll be wearing boots (Alt-Berg Fremington), not trail shoes. Having tried out my three backpacks fully loaded, I'll be taking a Golite Breeze (weight when empty 13 ounces) - despite it having no hipbelt, when loaded, it's more comfortable than the Kimmlite Mountain Mover and the Osprey Ariel. I don't really find hipbelts comfortable. They tend to rub raw my bony hips. It's capacity is 50 litres (with a further 20 litres in an extension collar at the top, but this shouldn't be used for heavy stuff). In fact, I shouldn't need to use the extension collar. The complete pack weight will be 17lbs, with food and water in addition. I'm also taking a bumbag for camera, snacks, etc.

The Anquet map sheets are printed out, the route and intended camping spots marked on them. They'll be carried in an Ortlieb map case. Why is it that the Ortlieb isn't wide enough (by about 3/4 inch) to take the A4 size map sheets? I've had to cut a strip off each sheet.

TGO Challenge update

2010-05-08T10:01:00.001+01:00

Only a few days to go. I'm trying to avoid last minute gear freakery and purchase thereof (see Alan Sloman's blog and Peewiglet's for sad cases of this). I'd thought a bit about the risk of contaminated water on the Challenge and had toyed with the idea of a Travel Tap available from the excellent Backpackinglight but had been put off by the cost of £34.99. However, at the recent Backpackers Club AGM, where there is always a car boot sale at the end, I was fortunate enough to buy an early version of the Travel Tap (the filter is fixed so, when it becomes clogged and unusable, the whole device is thrown away) for only £3.00. It's owner assured me that a fair amount of the 100 gallon filtering life should be left so I went for it. On the way home from the AGM, I filled the bottle from a stream which would probably have had some farm run-off pesticide in it and that tasted fine. Last weekend, on a visit to my brother, to his disgust, I sampled the dregs of his water butt and suffered no ill effects and it tasted fine. So, I reckon I got a bargain and am sure that at some time I shall invest in the full price up to date model.

I'm having my usual problem with rechargeable AA batteries for my camera. I have two sets. I've charged one set and, as usual, can't find the other. Why does this always happen? I come across them from time to time, put them in a safe place and then can never locate them. I may have to buy some more (again).

Pack weight is another of my obsessions. I've done a dummy run and, including my heaviest resupply food parcel, I'm up to 22 lbs, including fuel (but not water). Without that resupply parcel, it would be 17 lbs. I can't really see any ways to bring it down without compromising safety so will have to live with it.

Now for a walk up to town to post parcels to Cannich and Braemar.

TGO Challenge

2010-04-18T10:52:00.002+01:00

Not that long to go to the 13 May when we travel up to Scotland. I have five dehydrated meals in hand from LEJOG last year. I'm now starting to get a bit of cooking done in readiness. It's the usual home food (more or less) with a few extra portions which are then put in the dehydrator. So, in the machine now, two portions of boef bourguignonne (a la Delia) and three of bolognese sauce.

Chlorine tablets

2010-04-14T21:51:00.000+01:00

Backpackers use various means to avoid gippy tummy. For years, I've used chlorine tablets and have never had any problems. One tablet per litre of water, followed by a neutralising tablet to take away the chlorine taste. I have to say, though that during my LEJOG in 2009, towards the end in Scotland, I wasn't bothering with the neutralising tablets and didn't really notice any particular taste of chlorine. A problem that I've found with the tablets, though, is that they deteriorate in the container they come in after a few months. I don't know if this affects their effectiveness but I then tend to throw them away which is a bit of a waste. However, on buying a new supply, the brand being Life Systems, I found that the pack of 72 tablets came in sealed packets containing eight each. This will hopefully mean that unused tablets will stay usable until needed. Although the price was higher than when I last bought them, it includes a fabric water filter, which may come in useful. The neutralsing tablets don't tend to deteriorate in the same way.

A weekend in Chester

2010-04-14T21:42:00.001+01:00

Not a walking or camping weekend, but very enjoyable nonetheless. Our accommodation for two nights was at The Albion In n.

This is a quite amazing pub with just two letting rooms. Ours was very comfortable and we were looked after very well by Christine, the wife of the landlord, Mike. It's a traditional, if slightly quirky, pub with excellent beers, good down to earth food (nothing fancy here). I had haggis, mash and two veg, washed down with a pint of Youngs Gold. A place to be highly recommended, The Albion is situated adjacent to the Roman Wall which surrounds the city.

North Oxfordshire

2010-04-14T21:34:00.000+01:00

A day's walk starting not far from home. The car was taken to just outside town and parked. This saves about three miles in all. Walked across fields to Swerford

and Hook Norton, skirting the eastern edge of the village (and going nowhere near the brewery or any pubs) and then heading east to Wigginton. Here, I'd planned to stop for a pint at the White Horse, a Hook Norton pub, but there was a notice up saying it was closed until further notice. That was a bit of a blow but I walked on to South Newington and called in at the Duck on the Pond, a pub I'd only driven by before. A look inside South Newington church was rewarding. There were some magnificent wall paintings.

Just out of South Newington was a workshop with some unroadworthy cars parked or dumped outside. This was one that caught my eye.

My way then took me south to Great Tew (through the Great Tew Estate). I know the village quite well but can never resist taking photographs here. It's a very photogenic village. I didn't have time for a pint at the Falkland Arms, unfortunately.

I then went on through Little Tew, being slightly taken aback by a field of grazing alpacas.

It was then back to the car. The weather was good all day and not at all a bad walk virtually on my doorstep.

Freeloader Pico solar charger

2010-04-01T14:11:00.004+01:00

A new bit of kit was delivered today.

It will either work or end up in the bin. It is marketed by http://www.solartechnology.co.uk/shop/freeloader-pico.htm and looks quite neat and only weighs 49g. As instructed, I'm giving it an initial charge via a PC before charging a gadget. I'm hoping it will charge my Blackberry Pearl and a Sony mp3 player when I'm on multi-day hikes. It doesn't come with a suitable tip to fit the Sony but the instructions say that I can use the lead that came with the Sony. The Pico has a USB and a mini USB socket. If it works, it should be quite useful. However, it's only got a small solar panel so I don't expect miracles.

I searched for a review of the Pico and found a rather good one. I thought it was worth including it below. It came from http://www.daniweb.com/reviews/review262294.html:

"Portable gizmos that claim to charge your cellphone or iPod on the move are two a penny these days. Solar powered portable charging gizmos are not such a common sight, it has to be said, especially if we are talking about ones that actually work. Which is why I was excited at the prospect of having a real world out in the field play with the Freeloader Pico, but at the same time bracing myself for disappointment.

It's not that I am not a fan of the solar power concept for mobility, just the opposite in fact. Over the years I've had every type of solar power charging product imaginable from cumbersome fanned panel devices through to the first ever commercially available backpack with integrated solar panels. The problem being that although they worked, after a fashion (and I use that word loosely as the man about town would not wish to be seen with either truth be told), they were just not practical for day to day use. The fan-like device feature a whole bunch of panels which unfolded to reveal half a dozen panels was not exactly what I'd call truly portable as it defies the object to carry around something bigger than the device it is meant to be providing power for. The backpack was, oddly enough, more practical as you could wear it but only if you didn't mind feeling like you were taking part in some kind of military marching exercise - and that was before you put any of your kit in it.

The portability argument still stands with regards to the Freeloader Pico, after all a spare cellphone battery is a lot smaller and easier to carry. Not that the Pico is huge, far from it, the thing measures up at just 105 x 45 x 11.5mm and weighs a meagre 49g. Trouble is, that's still bigger than many cellphones and MP3 players these days. So why am I even bothering reviewing it then? Simples: you can't just buy a spare battery for your iPhone or iPod can you? Yes, you can buy cases with power built in but they are bulky and hardly aesthetically pleasing. I don't want my svelte and sexy iPhone suddenly tripling in thickness and doubling in weight just to squeeze an extra few hours out of the beast on the odd occasion I need it. The Freeloader Pico, on the other hand, is small enough, light enough and goddamn it sexy enough to be practical for your average iPhone user.

It comes in a glossy iPod white colour by default, but if you like you can accessorise the thing with purpose built and rather funky gel skin cases in black, blue, green, orange, pink and red,. There's also a clear option if you just want to protect your Pico from knocks and scratches to the solar panel as the gel is impact resistant.

But does it work? Good question, and happily I'm able to report that yes it does. And rather well in fact. In my real world testing during a particularly cold and snowy British winter, it took around an hour to soak up enough light to start charging my iPhone which is actually not too bad. Given a nice bit of sunshine you should be able to cut that time in half. To fully charge it will take around 10 hours of sunshine, or you can cheat and plug it into a USB socket for three hours before you leave home instead. Once fully charged, expect to get around 30 hours of cellphone standby time, 14 hours for the iPod and around an hour or so for a GPS device.

I managed to use my '10% battery flashing' iPhone 3GS browsing the web, playing music and playing with those all important apps for more than 2 hours straight from a solar powered gizmo and that pleased me no end.

Oh, it comes complete with four connection adaptors that allow you to solar charge Nokia phones, Sony Ericsson phones, BlackBerry and other mini-USB devices and also G-series Samsung phones. Not forgetting that you can connect an iPhone or other gadgets that charge via USB using the USB socket on the Pico and your own sync/power cable. If that's still not good enough, the manufacturers have a further 25 tips available for a veritable plethora of other gadgets. You can even buy an optional charger unit for rechargeable AA/AAA batteries if you really want to push the envelope when it comes to this solar powered widget. Of course, there are plenty of things you can't charge with this thing, notably your netbook or laptop. But, hey folks, that would be expecting an awful lot from something so small now wouldn't it?

My verdict on what is the smallest and most compact solar powered gadget charger from the Freeloader stable is that it deliver on the promises made and remains practical and affordable at £16.99 plus you are helping do your bit to save the planet. Nice. So nice, in fact, that I'll give it a DaniWeb review rating of 8/10."

Backpackers Oxfordshire weekend

2010-03-22T22:29:00.001Z

Not too far to travel to Barford St. Michael, the Friday night camp for this trip - only about nine miles from home. It was raining by the time I arrived to set up. No problem though and, after a meal (cooked twelve months ago and dehydrated, rehydrated now and very good), we headed to the pub just down the road. Saturday was wet, as forecast, for much of the day and very muddy as we headed east of Banbury to Great Bourton. Sunday's weather was a complete contrast. It was possible the warmest day of the year so far and the sun shone all day. Thje return route was west of Banbury.

I had to take this photo. This Jack Russell shared her master's tent. As he packed up in the morning, she lay on his sleeping bag; when this was put away, she moved on to the next thing. When all the gear was put in the backpack, she sat on that until even that disappeared.

Backpackers Beds/Northants weekend

2010-02-21T22:49:00.002Z

Drove to Grendon, just outside Northampton. The tarp was set up in no time at all and a meal on the go. Then over to the pub for the evening. A pretty cold night, just a touch below freezing. Saturday we walked to Yelden in Bedfordshire, about seventeen miles. There was a fair amount of snow around the further east we went. There were twelve of us. Stopped at the Green Dragon in Higham Ferrers - Greene King IPA at £1.95 a pint! We pitched in the snow behind The Chequers at Yelden where it was quite cold. They couldn't provide food for us as they were catering for a village function so we went down the road a mile to The Swan at Newton Bromswold where, by arrangement, the landlord had laid on a special for us - steak or gammon with chips & peas. I had an excellent medium rare rump steak and only £6.00. The temperature had dropped to a few degrees below freezing during the evening. However, when I woke at around 7.30, my nose told me it was not quite so cold and, when my eyes focused, I saw that the sides of the tarp had caved in with the weight of snow on them and it was snowing hard. We had an excellent full English at The Chequers with plenty of good coffee. Snow had settled but it left off after a while and we made our way back to Grendon via Wymington and Podington, where we stopped off for refreshments at the garden centre tearoom at Podington. Walking was quite hard work, either through snow or, where that had gone, through much mud. Once again, the tarp proved itself as a suitable winter shelter. Some of those with tents had problems with condensation and wet sleeping bags.

Snow

2010-02-03T09:59:00.002Z

This must surely be the last of the snow around here. It seems reluctant to go.

TGO Challenge

2010-02-01T09:59:00.001Z

Well, our route has been submitted for vetting. I don't think there should be any problem with it. As first time Challengers (well, two of us, anyway), the route seems pretty straightforward to me, apart from two stretches where there doesn't appear to be any path on the ground so good navigation skills will be needed. We start at Dornie and finish at Luna Bay. Once the route is approved, I'll post some more details.

Sunday

2010-01-17T20:45:00.001Z

A quite windy night and a chill wind this morning made it seem quite raw. We walked back to Wetton via Warslow and the Manifold Way, calling in at the tearoom at Wettonmill. There was a lot of snow in the higher areas we walked through and plenty of ice, making the walking quite treacherous.

My Tyvek groundsheet performed well, basically doing its intended job of keeping me apart from the wet ground. The advantages it has over my usual space blanket or polycryo sheet are that it is much more robust and folds up easily after use; also, I don't snag my boots on it causing it to tear. The drawbacks are weight (when totally dry, it weighs eight ounces) and it takes up more space in my pack. I'll get some more polycryo for ultra-lightweight trips. It only weighs about one ounce.

Peak District - Wetton

2010-01-16T17:08:00.002Z

The paddock where we pitched last night had been under several inches of snow but after a wet and windy night, most of the snow had gone by this morning, but it was still pretty cold.

We headed to Hartington across mainly snowy fields and plenty of slush and ice. Beresford Lane, where it meets the River Dove at Beresford Dale, was awash.

An egg and bacon bap with coffee at the tearooms at Hartington was very welcome.

From there we went to Sheen. Snow had tended to drift in the corners of fields, just where our squeezer stiles and gates were. There was a lot of very wet mud about as well. A memorable moment was when I put my foot through snow and my leg went down through mud up to my knee and no sooner had I extricated it than the other leg went in.

On then by the hamlet of Brund and here we are, pitched in a field behind The Butchers Arms at Reaps Moor. The weather forecast for today was for much rain but we had very little.

Tarp in the snow

2010-01-15T16:12:00.002Z

A spade came in handy to clear away the snow!

The first outing of 2010

2010-01-14T19:42:00.000Z

Looking forward to a trip to the Peak District this weekend. The snow is clearing at last. I shall take the tarp and I have a new bit of kit to try out. As a tarp groundsheet, I usually use either a space blanket or a piece of polycryo. Neither are that strong although they are both extremely light in weight. Today, I've acquired a length of Tyvek, the stuff made by DuPont and used in roofing. It's a bit heavier but should be tougher and, I'm hoping, sufficiently waterproof. Another posting tomorrow evening hopefully.

TGO Challenge

2009-12-30T16:32:00.000Z

All's been quiet on the blogging front for a while. Anyway, we now have a route more or less planned and I've plotted it on Anquet digital mapping. We shall start at Dornie on the west coast and finish at Luna Bay on the east. It's not a particularly high level route but looks an interesting one. Plenty of wild, remote country. There will be some wild camping and a few sites and a couple of stretches where there is no discernable path, which should be fun. Once we have fine-tuned the route, it will be sent in to the organisers for vetting. More on this soon.

Backpackers Chilterns weekend

2009-11-10T23:07:00.002Z

Winter beckons and so Backpackers Club members gather. This one wasn't too far from home so no excuse. We trickled one by one on to the campsite at Radnage, near Stokenchurch, just off the M40 on a wet Friday afternoon/evening. Off to the nearby pub, The Crown, for a meal a pint or three of an excellent local brew, Loddon Hoppit, brewed by the Loddon Brewery. Saturday's weather was a real contrast to that of the day before - clear blue skies and some sunshine. In separate groups, we headed south, under or over the M40, and into some really lovely countryside. I've lived not far from the Chilterns for most of my life and never really explored the area. It's quite hilly and plenty of traditional woodland. The end of season colours were stunning.

The area is well known for its Red Kites and they were very much in evidence all the time wheeling around and making their distinctive call. The camp on Saturday night was in woodland in part of a nature reserve and was really quite special, marred only by the November 5th noise of a firework display from somewhere nearby, maybe Nettlebed. Sunday was a good day as well, returning by a different route to Radnage.

A new bit of kit

2009-11-05T13:10:00.002Z

Every lightweight hiker needs one of these poo trowels and it's very easy to make. I got the idea from a fellow backpacker who, in turn, had got the idea from Andy Howell's blog. It only took ten minutes to make and it only weighs one ounce - three ounces less than what it replaces. May get to use it this weekend!

TGO Challenge 2010

2009-11-04T13:13:00.000Z

My team has been selected! We now have to prepare a route and submit it for vetting by some time in February 2010. Great news. I shall now be a regular visitor to the Challenge website. It's all very exciting.

TGO Challenge 2010

2009-09-05T17:27:00.003+01:00

Well, here's some excitement. I've been invited to join a team to take part in the 31st TGO Challenge next year in the last two weeks of May. I'm about to complete the application form. Of course, we may not be selected as entry is limited to 300. The other team members are Frank and Gill. They are going to be planning the route to start with although I hope I can contribute something. Planning the gear to take will also need much care. The weather can be atrocious in the Scottish Highlands although, as I found earlier this year, it can also be superb! Will we take food for the whole two weeks with us or will we resupply along the way? There'll be more postings on this topic as time goes on.

Backpackers Dartmoor weekend

2009-09-03T13:25:00.010+01:00

Two consecutive weekends backpacking! Now that is really something (for me). The meeting point was Ivybridge station. The park and ride car park was overrun with travellers' caravans so I wouldn't have wanted to leave a car there. Just two of us (me and Martin) started the planned jaunt from there. The idea was to spend three nights wild camping and finish at Okehampton on Bank Holiday Monday.

The weather started fair and we were on to the moor within fifteen minutes or so. It started to get a bit showery and it was quite windy. At our first night's halt, we met up with John who had arrived and pitched a couple of hours earlier. We were at SX667670 where there is a good stream for water.

Saturday's weather was fair and sunny most of the time, as forecast. Our route took us over Ryders Hill to Hexworthy where we stopped for a pint at the Forest Inn. Then on to Dartmeet where, in the car park, we came upon what had been a dramatic scene. A fire engine was still there. It seems that a car had caught fire whilst parked, spread to the one next to it and destroyed it completely. The vehicle on the other side was also badly damaged down one side.

We walked on alongside the East Dart River and on to Belever where we pitched by the same river further north. On the way down, I'd come across a dead cow amongst the ferns and gorse. A farmer came by later and I offered to go back up the hillside with him to try and find it. I did so eventually but only by going up above the gorse level and locating our entry point and endeavouring to come down the same way. Having worn shorts all day, my legs were covered with red specks where the gorse had scraped them. At Belever, four more Club members joined us (Howard, Ray, Louise and Nigel).

Next morning, Sunday, was wet and stayed that way much of the day. We went through Postbridge (where there is an excellent village shop) and then took a very cross-country route northwards and stopped for lunch to the east of Fernwood Forest. We then headed east on a virtually non-existent path to Little Varracombe. By now it was quite misty and very wet underfoot (and me wearing just trail shoes). We went over Hangingstone Hill and sheltered for a while behind a concrete shed built by the military who train around here. It was very windy!

On from here, yomping through some very wet and boggy bits. In the fog, we lost Martin and John, who went on to camp at Small Brook. The rest of us camped by East Okement River at SX607934 - good water and plenty of room. During the evening, Howard's orange survival bag flashed past me into the river. He then had a challenging time retrieving it with me, camera at the ready, to catch the moment when he might fall in the river. Unfortunately, he didn't.

We then went our separate ways on Monday morning.

A Cotswold weekend

2009-08-23T18:08:00.010+01:00

With a good weather forecast and no-one else at home, I thought I'd go off for a couple of days. I left work at lunchtime and, with a light pack, headed from home into the southern tip of Warwickshire, joining the Donnington Way at Little Compton. This is a 62 mile trail linking the pubs belonging to the Donnington brewery. I won't have time for all of it (or to call at all the fifteen pubs) but I'll have a decent walk, probably returning home on Sunday evening. From Little Compton, the route passed through Barton-on-the-Heath and then west towards and alongside the Fire Service College at Moreton-in-Marsh. At Moreton, I called in at the Black Bear for an excellent pint of Donningtons BB. From there, I prepared an evening meal in a field and then continued towards Blockley. Near Batsford, I startled a herd of about 150 deer. Light was fading so I looked for somewhere to spend the night in Park Plantation. This was on Monarch's Way. I was surprised to find a couple already pitched here. It really is easy to wild camp in the south of Éngland if you leave it late. Knowing it was unlikely to rain, I packed no tent or tarp, just a sleeping bag and bivy bag. I rolled these out close to the edge of the wood and was asleep pretty quickly. I slept reasonably well; to save weight, I'd brought a closed cell foam mat but the Thermarest would have been more comfortable.

Blockley early morning

Setting off at 6.10am, I continued along Monarch’s Way through Blockley, the main part of which is Cotswold at its beautiful best, money, and lots of it, evident from the size and quality of the old cottages and houses, all lovingly maintained. The route then went through Broad Campden and then Chipping Campden. From here I went up to Dover’s Hill on the Cotswold Way with far reaching views from the escarpment, the northernmost edge of the Cotswolds. I brewed some coffee here whilst enjoying the vista.

I continued along The Mile Drive on the Cotswold Way down to the café at Broadway Tower, meeting again my friend Kim, who I’d last seen on my LEJOG when she kindly allowed me to camp there. Fortified with a pot of tea and a generous slice of chocolate fudge cake, I made my way down through Snowshill (which featured in the film Bridget Jones’ Diary)

and then down through the hamlet of Taddington, then Cutsdean, Ford and Temple Guiting. Harvesting was going on everywhere. At Kineton, I took a path south-west and joined the Wardens’ Way into Guiting Power, through Naunton where, just south a bit, I followed the Windrush Way almost into Bourton-on-the-Water. Light was fading so I found myself a soft spot of grassy ground beside a hedge and spent a peaceful night.

Up at 5.45am, I was on my way shortly after and it was surprising how many people were about in Bourton, even at that time. From here, field paths and quiet lanes took me the three miles or so to Sherbourne where I headed eastwards through water meadows to the village of Windrush. Crossing the River Dikler here, I followed footpaths and bridleways northwards through Great Rissington, Little Rissington and then Wyck Rissington where I joined the Oxfordshire Way. Passing through Gawcombe and then Bledington and Kingham, I was home at 5pm having walked a total of 57 miles.

This was my first outing using just a bivy bag, an Alpkit Hunka, an excellent piece of kit which until now I've only used to make sure my down bag remains dry under the tarp. Having no tarp this time meant that I was able to move off much more quickly in the mornings, as it often has to be dried either from rain or condensation. Also, the walking day was structured differently. I tended to be away earlier, I would stop in the evening between 6-7pm and prepare a meal and I would then walk another couple of hours until it started to get dark and then find somewhere unobtrusive to spend the night. However, with a bivy, even though it's red, it's not nearly as conspicuous as a tent or tarp. Definitely an experience to be repeated and could add an extra to a tarping trip as, particularly when rain isn't expected, I wouldn't necessarily need to put the tarp up.

Fairport's Cropredy Convention

2009-08-15T13:11:00.004+01:00

Just arrived - 1.15pm. It's going to be a long day but should be good. Plenty of food opportunities and excellent music.

Walking plans

2009-08-13T13:37:00.003+01:00

I'm beginning to look ahead a bit and schedule in some backpacking trips. First up - I find I have the weekend after next to my self (to which I can probably add a day). I have a choice of some rather good walks that would take three days or so. There's the Donnington Way (61 miles), the Cotswold Ring (55 miles) and the North Cotswold Diamond (60 miles).

Next April, I'm hoping to latch on to a friend's already planned walk from Banbury to Bath, 86 miles along the Macmillan Way Cross Cotswold Pathway. I'm also planning a coast to coast walk some time next year. This is the North of England Way from Ravenglass to Scarborough - I think it's 206 miles.

Before then I'm off down to Devon at the end of this month with a Backpackers Club walk from Ivybridge to Okehampton, south to north over Dartmoor, three nights wild camping.

Pack weight

2009-07-16T14:01:00.004+01:00

I've been spending some time lately exploring the excellent US site of Francis Tapon. He's presently backpacking around Eastern Europe with a view to writing a book. His account of the various trails he's done in the USA make interesting reading. He's obviously an experienced (ultra-lightweight) hiker but he has a habit of losing bits of kit and having quite hair-raising experiences. His packweight (excluding food, water and fuel) is around 6-7 pounds. Using his kit list, I reckon I can get mine down to around 8.5 pounds and hope to get a weekend away somewhere soon to try it out.

Glyme Valley Way

2009-07-16T13:51:00.002+01:00

I had a guest staying with me last weekend. Those of you who followed my LEJOG adventure, may remember Vinnie. He's from Jamestown, NY and was walking his own LEJOG. Our paths crossed no less than three times - at Kingsbury Water Park, near Birmingham, in Thorpe in the Peak District and then at Horton-in-Ribblesdale. He'd been reading this blog back home before he started and so recognised me from my blog mugshot at our first meeting. We walked the Glyme Valley Way, a distance of sixteen miles, plus a couple of extra miles around Blenheim Park at the beginning. It's not that well signposted in places but that didn't present a great problem as I'm familiar with the area.

Vinnie's now returned home. I hope we'll keep in touch.

LEJOG kit review

2009-06-28T13:21:00.006+01:00

Tarp
My first assumption was that my sole shelter along the route would be my tarp, a Golite Cave. I’ve had this for about eight years and I know it pretty well. I then wavered and thought maybe a robust solo tent would be better overall and this was my intention until shortly before I left. I then did a complete turnaround and took the tarp and didn’t regret it. It’s lighter in weight, takes up less space when packed and gives much more living space when pitched. I’ve never used it in, say, 50mph wind conditions but my LEJOG route didn’t take me to really exposed places. I expected wind and rain (and had them) but not extreme wind and rain. I experienced rain, wind and below zero conditions on the walk and there was never any problem. The tarp has put up with worse conditions than this. It is far more robust than it looks and I can cook under it.

The main drawback of the tarp, in its basic form, as far as I am concerned, is that it gives no protection against midges. However, I have the Golite Nest which attaches by hooks to the inside and outer edges of the tarp. I had this sent in a resupply parcel when I got near to Penrith. I used the Nest for many of my overnight camps in Scotland and I’m glad I had it with me. It cuts down on much of the living space under the tarp but it guarantees a peaceful night’s sleep.

Trekking poles
Pacerpoles (aluminium). These were really very good. Their specially shaped hand grips were comfortable and gave extra power to propel me up hills and were also helpful when crossing streams. They kept the tarp up as well. I tended not to use them when I was using the Golite Breeze pack (see below). I found that I prefer to have my hands free when using this pack.

Backpack
I chopped and changed here. I started with a Kimmlite (now OMM) Mountain Mover 55 + 15. However, I felt that I was using this to its full capacity and the rather sparsely padded shoulder straps were a little uncomfortable. I switched to a larger, unbranded pack I’ve had for years. It carried everything well but, I came to realise, it’s made for someone with a longer back than mine and it tended to hang too low. On my quick visit home at the end of April, I bought an Osprey Ariel 65. This took the required load well and was generally reasonably comfortable. Once I got into Scotland and Amanda arrived with the camper, I was able to carry a lighter load and food supplies for maybe one or two days and nights and so used a Golite Breeze. It doesn’t have a hip belt but that isn’t so important with less being carried. It only weighs a few ounces and, when packed well, it is very comfortable and, I have to say, is still my favourite pack. On a future multi-day walk, if food can be picked up more often then this would be my pack of choice.

Sleeping bag
I used a Mountain Equipment Xero 350 throughout. I bought this as a bag for winter use but only rarely did I get too hot in it on this trip. It’s a superb bag. It’s down, lightweight and packs up small.

Bivy bag
Alpkit Hunka – it only cost £25 but it does the job in making sure my down bag doesn’t get wet from rain and is as breathable as I need it to be. I took it with me following the problems I had last year on my coast to coast walk but I could have done without it but it was sensible to have it.

Sleeping pad
Thermarest ¾ length self-inflating mattress. This is the thinner one but is more than adequate for me and ensures that I sleep comfortably. I carry a short length of closed cell foam to go under my legs and feet as well. This is also my sit mat under the tarp and provides good padding down the back of the Golite Breeze pack.

Groundsheet
As the tarp has no base, I used on this trip a length of clear Polycryo, about eight feet long and 2.5 feet wide. With careful treatment and a few duct tape repairs, it lasted the required ten weeks. In case it was needed, I also had with me a space blanket which does the same job just as well. The advantage of both of these is that they only weigh a couple of ounces.

Stove
Mini-Trangia. I’ve had this for years. It’s very simple and there’s nothing to go wrong with it. To lighten its weight, I’ve replaced the burner with a Varga titanium stove which weighs just one ounce. It uses much less fuel (methylated spirits) and, in the event of me running out of meths, I can use fuel tablets with it.

Waterproofs
My jacket is a Mountain Equipment Ogre, not cheap but reliable, comfortable and very breathable. My waterproof trousers were a disappointment. They were Rab Bergen and were sent home when I found that they let in rain. I’ve yet to decide what to do about them as they haven’t been used much but I can’t find the receipt. I used for most of the trip a pair of Gelert overtrousers which cost £11.99. They were very good and did the job but the taped seams started to fall part towards the end so I dumped them. I had a pair of Peter Storm overtrousers sent on from home which, after reproofing on the campsite at Peebles, were fine.

Boots
I started with a broken-in pair of Alt-Berg Fremingtons. These were good but I found that the little toe on my right foot was being pinched. These were stretched for me, which helped. In the meantime, from Whiddon Down to Broadway Tower, I wore a pair of Scarpa fabric boots I'd had for some time which were very comfortable but the heels started to come adrift. I had the Alt-Bergs brought to me (I wasn't far from home at this point). I then wore the heels of these right down by the time I was half way across Scotland so may have them resoled. A replacement pair, identical but in a wider width fitting, saw me through almost to the end. These are excellent boots, waterproof and comfortable.

For the last couple of days, carrying only a day pack, I wore trainers, an old pair of Merrell Exotechs. I could have worn trainers for just about all of the walking in Scotland.

Other bits of kit
Golite Wisp windproof top – indispensable. It weighs nothing, packs down to nothing and, over a fleece top, keeps wind out.

Mountain Equipment Polartec 100 fleece - a favourite.

Vaseline – I used a couple of Compeed blister patches but, if caught early, Vaseline is effective in preventing rubbing from developing into a painful blister. A £1.00 tin lasted me the trip.

Pocketmail – whilst I’ve used this on previous trips for blogging, this tended to exhaust my patience. It’s an old model and doesn’t work with a mobile phone. Therefore, I was dependent on finding public call boxes. This was generally no problem but not all were working, when they were, I couldn’t always get them to work with the Pocketmail – it was very hit and miss. In the remoter parts of Scotland there were no call boxes. In the end, I gave up and used the little Blackberry that I’d bought just before leaving. I thought I’d never get to grips with the minuscule keyboard but, with practice, I became quite proficient. The drawback with it was that it needed charging periodically whereas the Pocketmail uses AA batteries. I will definitely use the Blackberry for blogging again but for longer trips might consider using a separate phone for making calls and restrict the Blackberry’s use to posting to the blog to conserve its power. I can post photos to the blog with it, whereas the Pocketmail is capable of sending text only. The Pocketmail weighs nearly nine ounces compared with three for the Blackberry.

I used Exped waterproof bags to keep kit dry. With all kit kept in a waterproof pack liner, I didn’t use a waterproof pack cover and just let the pack get wet in the rain. It always dried out quickly.

My only light was a Petzl e+lite. My only knife was a small blade in a Swiss card; I used most of the other gadgets in this during the trip.

Some statistics
I camped 47 nights, of which three were in gardens, twelve were wild camps and the rest were on sites of one sort or another. None of the sites were really bad, some were better than others. I spent one night in a backpackers' hostel/bunkhouse (Fort Augustus), one night in a bothy (Loch Choire), one night in a pub (Aultguish Inn), one night in a Travelodge (Whiddon Down), thirteen nights in beds in houses plus one on the floor of a house (Eskdalemuir) and five in a campervan.

I can't say exactly how much the trip cost me. I know that those who I met also doing LEJOG who were using B&Bs would have spent around £3,000 in all, to include an evening meal with drink. As I used my own food most of the time for breakfast and evening meals, I think my cost was around £500.

I didn't wear out any pairs of socks. I used a few pairs of socks I've had for a few years and will continue to use them. I think I must be very light on socks.

Update on worn out legs

2009-06-25T14:00:00.004+01:00

I visited a physiotherapist and was given a leg massage. She could feel the knots in the muscles and released these and the legs are nearly back to normal now. Money well spent. The ankles are still swollen a bit - I've been told to keep massaging the achilles tendons myself and the problem should right itself.

Aftermath

2009-06-21T17:42:00.002+01:00

A week after I stopped walking, I'm still getting up in the mornings with legs stiff as a board - calf muscles contracted, achilles tendons tight and stiff ankle joints. I stomp downstairs and, gradually, movement returns. Swollen ankles as well. Nobody said it would be like this. Maybe I should have walked for another week or so, reducing each day.

Back to work tomorrow. Am I looking forward to it?

Day 70 Saturday - Watten to John o'Groats

2009-06-13T18:28:00.005+01:00

Walking 8.00am to 3.30pm
Distance walked today 19 miles
Total distance walked 1059 miles

Today was a road walk all the way to John o'Groats. The site we were on was three miles north west of Watten. There didn't seem much point in going into the village - it was an A road with no footpath. Therefore, I went up the A882 in the Thurso direction for half a mile before turning right signposted Gillock. I tramped along this road for two miles, turning right on to the B874 for half a mile to Gillock, then left for three miles to the B876, turning right for one and a half miles.

At Hastigrow, I turned left and continued almost in a straight line for eight miles to Upper Gills. Just before here, I came over the brow of a hill (more a vague change in elevation as, shortly before this, I'd passed a trig point at a height of 66 metres) and there before me was a view of the Pentland Firth something over a mile away with Stroma Island to the fore and the Orkneys beyond.

First glimpse of sea since Sennen Cove, Cornwall!

Continuing through Canisbay, it started to rain. As an aside here, one of the commonest birds I've seen on this walk has been the oystercatcher and, in a field in Canisbay, there must have been at least two hundred of them. Passing by the youth hostel, I then joined the A836 in to John o'Groats.

On the way in, there was a house named Aargh - is this some strange Scots word?

Just about there!

I'm told I'm grimacing here! I usually look a bit less ferocious

Just for the sake of completeness, having started from the most southwesterly tip of England, I shall continue tomorrow to Duncansby Head, the north east tip of Scotland. The rest of tomorrow will be spent exploring some of this part of Scotland, Monday involves a trip on the ferry to the Orkneys with a circuit by coach of the main tourist sites and we shall head for home on Tuesday via Morpeth to visit the people at my charity, MS Research and Relief Fund.

As for the other End to Enders I met, Reg and Geert, who I Iast saw on the West Highland Way, got to John o'Groats a couple of hours before me (Amanda met them whilst parked up some way ahead of me). Unfortunately, they'd had to make a dash for a bus to Wick just before I arrived.

Vinnie, my American friend, is just two days away and I shall go off in search of him at some point.

If having got hooked on this blog, you wish to switch to another, you might try http://brendanslittlelegs.wordpress.com/ - Brendan is now close to the Scottish border.

At this stage, I'd like to thank all family, friends, friends of family and friends and others who've given so generously to my charity. The original target was £2,000 and now the amount raised is nicely over £3,000.

I hope this blog has kept people entertained. I've certainly enjoyed doing it. I shall add more photos to it in due course and hope to make the whole adventure available as a downloadable pdf. The blog itself will continue with occasional postings relating to ultralight hiking and backpacking as before.

Strictly for afficionados (and sad people), I shall post some statistics of the trip and do a review of kit items when I get home.

Duncansby Stacks

Day 69 Friday - Altnabreac to Watten

2009-06-12T21:31:00.002+01:00

Walking 7.00am to 2.30pm
Distance walked today 16 miles
Total distance walked 1040 miles
Distance left 20 miles (actually, 20.5)

Lots of midges last night. I wiped the condensation off the inside of the tarp and realised that it wasn't just wet on the outside, it was ice - in June. I think the last night the temperature dropped below zero was in Devon two months ago. Judging by the amount of water I often squeeze out of my sponge, there must be a pint at least - I'd rather not be carrying it.

I'd been camping only three feet off the forest track so I rejoined it, continuing alongside the railway. I left without breakfasting as the midges were out in force. I'd made some tea but that had midges in it. I had a head net on but it's not easy to eat or drink with it on.

The first five miles was through forest. Breakfast was had on the edge of Loch More.

Loch More

Whilst there, I had the feeling of being watched. Turning round slowly, I saw a deer no more than thirty feet away. It obligingly let me take a photo before it ambled off - by far the least afraid deer I've come across so far.

Shortly after this, the track joined the road which passed Strathmore Lodge, a large house with a tower and a turret.

Strathmore Lodge

The road continued through Westerdale and Mybster and crossed the A9 towards Watten. Last night being my last camping night, we're at a site near Loch Watten on the A882.

Day 68 Thursday - Kinbrace to Altnabreac

2009-06-11T21:21:00.002+01:00

Walking 9.10am to 6.45pm
Distance walked today 19 miles
Total distance walked 1024 miles
Distance left 36 miles

I had a brief exchange of emails yesterday evening with my friend, Gayle (http://gayleybird.blogspot.com/), regarding her route from Kinbrace last year. In fact, the route she and Mick took over Knockfin Heights is the one described in Andy Robinson's "The End to End Trail". The OS map shows absolutely no paths over Knockfin Heights but Gayle likes a yomp over boggy, featureless moorland, the wetter the better.

I didn't go this way. Taking advantage of having my support vehicle and team with me, I took a day pack with just waterproofs and water, donned trainers and power walked the seven miles by road, the. A897, to Forsinard. This was single track with passing places and there were very few vehicles about.

The road north of Kinbrace

We had a quick look round the RSPB Visitor Centre and then went for a pot of tea at the Forsinard Hotel. I then continued, covering a further four miles in record time.

After this, I put boots back on, shouldered my Golite pack and headed off, initially south east, on a trail signposted Altnabreac. This was easy to follow, being waymarked and having a good sandy surface. In fact, I'm certain it was wider than the A897 in places.

The map I had was supposedly up to date and I expected to be walking through forest much of the way. Most of the forest had been cleared, obviously some time ago as part of a scheme to return the land to its original wet moorland state.

My planned overnight stop around Cnoc Maol Donn proved to be totally unsuitable so I collected water at a burn and carried on walking. After another three miles, I found a reasonable pitch close to the railway alongside a forest track at ND010461. In the three hours I've been here, one vehicle and one train have gone by.

Day 67 Wednesday - Loch Choire to Kinbrace

2009-06-10T17:46:00.004+01:00

Walking 8.00am to 3.15pm
Distance walked today 17 miles
Total distance walked 1005 miles (now, doesn't that look impressive?)
Distance left 55 miles

I spent a peaceful night in the bothy. Those responsible for it have taken a lot of trouble over it.

Loch Choire bothy

There was no need for a compass today. I followed the track along the south side of Loch Choire. I chatted to the housekeeper of Loch Choire House, who's from Hampshire, although her husband, the stalker, who I also met, is very Scottish. Along the way, I met the estate handyman, who is from the Czech Republic.

I took the track east, rather than the estate road, just past Loch Choire House. There were numerous deer around here but, as usual, they moved on as soon as they became aware of my presence. I then rejoined the estate road and followed this for eight miles to Badanloch Lodge - very easy walking. All along this road, there were superb open views from the west right round to the east. I passed by lochs I've never heard of - Truderscaig, Rimsdale, an Alltan Fhearna and Badanloch.

Loch Badanloch

I'm not good at bird identification, but I was definitely circled today by some very vocal curlew and I also saw many golden plovers.

Joining the B871, I followed this, passing by Loch Achnamoine, for the remaining four miles to Kinbrace. I moved off the road for a vehicle coming up behind me, only to find it was Amanda in the support campervan. She went on to put the kettle on.

Day 66 Tuesday - Lairg to Loch Choire

2009-06-10T09:23:00.003+01:00

Walking 9.00am to 6.00pm
Distance walked today 17 miles
Total distance walked 988 miles
Distance left 72 miles

I'd planned to walk out of Lairg up the A836 for nearly six miles and then head east along the track to Dalnessie. However, after my road walking yesterday, I looked for an alternative. I happened to have with me in the camper Andy Robinson's excellent book "The End to End Trail" and he gives a route through forest north of Lairg which joins the track to Dalnessie.

Fishermen on Loch Tigh na Creige

Having done it now, I can say that it is pretty easy to follow and is worth doing. In case it's of help to anyone, when Loch Tigh na Creige is reached, don't immediately head for the loch side - keep going ahead on the track (which is quite faint here) - then, when the loch side is reached, follow it round until a stile over a deer fence by a burn is seen at NC621094. Go over the stile into the forest, alongside the burn. Cross the burn at the first opportunity and head north through the forest to meet a path going east-west - head west and the path soon meets a main forest road on a bend. After four miles on this, the track to Dalnessie is met. This was a really nice forest walk.

Dalnessie

After Dalnessie, the track and then path was clear until some way past where there is an old shed and I forked left, following a burn called Allt Goblach. From then, over the next four miles, I would lose the path quite regularly. It was difficult to keep on course but as long as I generally headed north, I wasn't going to go too far wrong. It was bleak, open moorland.

Above the descent to the trees at NC623247, I caught a glimpse of Loch Choire, still nearly two miles away.

There is a bothy by the loch where I am spending the night. A jogger went by earlier. She has a very remote route. Having been showery during the day, it's now raining again.

Inside Loch Choire bothy

Day 65 Monday

2009-06-08T17:59:00.001+01:00

I mean double figures, not single! Less than a hundred miles to go, although much of this is likely to be somewhat tedious, across the Flow country of north east Caithness.

Day 65 Monday - Oykel Bridge to Lairg

2009-06-08T17:37:00.002+01:00

Walking 8.30am to 4.00pm
Distance walked today 16 miles
Total distance walked 971 miles
Distance left 89 miles

The route as originally planned would have had me walking along the A837 all the way to Lairg. However, in somebody's account of a LEJOG walk, I was able to identify a bridge crossing the River Oykel at NC407006 which isn't shown on the Landranger map. This enabled me to plan a route south of the river as far as Inveroykel. This bridge does exist (June 2009).

Bridge at NC407006

I followed then a path alongside the river a short distance to a hill fort. It's not clear here exactly where to go. There's a track shown on the map a little to the south east but no obvious way to it. I went too far to the north of the track but a lady walking a dog pointed me in the right direction.

River Oykel at Inveroykel

Having gained the track, it was an easy walk to Inveroykel. I stopped and chatted to a farmer on a quad bike for twenty minutes or so. He was extremely English but has farmed here for years and wouldn't live anywhere else. He told me that the village shop in the next village, Rosehall, is owned by Mohammed Al Fayed, (who also owns some 70,000 acres locally) and let to the proprietor. I went in the shop, called Invercassley Stores. It's very good.

Invercassley Stores

There was about a mile of the A837 to Rosehall, then, just past the river bridge, a track leading to Invernauld House. A lane from here took me up to the A837 again and I then followed this for the remaining six miles into Lairg. It was single track with passing places much of the way with very little traffic so, as far as road walking is concerned, it was quite good. It was dry and cloudy/sunny most of the day.

The remaining mileage to John o'Groats is now in single figures!