My eyes snapped open. It was like a hand reaching into the bed and pulling me onto the floor. The floor was cold, there was only a dull orange filtering through from the street, I couldn’t get my bearings, but I had to follow where it was taking me, tripping over the dark shapes of [...]
Posted on August 20th, 2008 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 2 Comments »
I only got an iPod last year and it’s been a constant companion ever since. I thought it would spoil my outdoorsyness with it’s electronic evilness. But, a marvellous thing it has been, solo camps with metal in my ears, the West Highland Way with something to keep me awake… The danger of trashing it is [...]
Posted on August 20th, 2008 by PTC*
Filed under: Kit Reviews | No Comments »
Pole armageddon continues here with a left field entry from Exped. These are aluminium, 7075 seamless in fact and that means there as hard as nails (mountain biking teaches you about aluminium). They’re a bit quirky in that they’re split into four sections (Quad, you see…) and consequently they pack down to 21″ but still [...]
Posted on August 20th, 2008 by PTC*
Filed under: Kit Reviews | 10 Comments »
That’s what I’m not getting right now. Lying in my sleeping bag with the sound of the flame filling the tent from it’s spot in the porch, the merest hiss from the water joining it as it starts on it’s way towards boiling. I lke to lie and wait for the boiling water, it’s the first [...]
Posted on August 17th, 2008 by PTC*
Filed under: Adventures | 13 Comments »
After a productive and genial meeting in the sports centre cafe where the KORS do was held, we decided to go and grab some dinner. We went to the Brewery Arts Centre which is where they have the Kendal Mountain Film Festival. A very nice place, all fine stonework, clean surfaces and a midge free beer garden. [...]
Posted on August 15th, 2008 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 9 Comments »
We were down at the Kendal Outdoor Retailers Show, luckily missing the press day which is today. Get a few cans of Irn Bru down me and I’ll tell you who the exhibitors were and weren’t looking forward to meeting today… All the kit has or will been covered elsewhere, the mags and proper websites [...]
Posted on August 14th, 2008 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various, Kit Reviews | 43 Comments »
He sucked on his pipe and immediately realised his mistake. Despite the beard he wasn’t a turn of the century explorer, despite the hand on his hip he wasn’t valliant or heroic. Despite its insulative qualities and 1970′s colouring, that’s not the hat of a man concerned with results. He sucked on his pipe and realised [...]
Posted on August 12th, 2008 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 9 Comments »
You’re better not planning. I never plan. Plans mean you have your eggs in a time basket, fine if you have a good luck gingham blanket to throw over it, but invariably if you say “I’m going to camp on Octember the 37th” then the weather comes along, cocks a leg at your basket and pisses [...]
Posted on August 11th, 2008 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 12 Comments »
Not really, not yet. But it saves on paper to combine the two subjects. Osprey have their new Exos packs coming out next season which are very light for the capacity and style. We’re looking at 840g for a 46litre pack with proper internal stiffening. They won an award at Friedrichshafen, which we’ll be seeing on the swing [...]
Posted on August 8th, 2008 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 36 Comments »
I sat and watched for a while. Nothing moved. I blew at it, laughed and nearly sprayed my Orange and Ginger Nuun on it. I looked around, there was nobody anywhere near me. I knocked gently on the side and waited. I knocked again, still nothing. Bugger. I whistled, the same way they whistle. Not [...]
Posted on August 7th, 2008 by PTC*
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Retro chic, or nostalgia, or grass is greener, or whatever. There’s always excuses made for the past, and then reasons given as to why it was better. Being younger back in the early ’80s is start I suppose, but do we really want Thatcher in power, to choke on Spangles, to have to be a First Year at high [...]
Posted on August 5th, 2008 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various, Kit Reviews | 12 Comments »
“Lighter…warmth”. It’s basically about having your insulation work as a year round system you can add to and sleep in. It’s amazing how much weight you can save when you plan to use your clothes as part of your sleep system. It’s also addressing the concept of modularity which I’m expanding on next month, taking [...]
Posted on August 4th, 2008 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 12 Comments »
The heather is covering the hillsides in purple an pink. The season is changing. It’s getting dark that little bit earlier. Autumn, an annual visitor I don’t mind making up the spare room for. I’ll go and look out the clean sheets, just in case it’s early.
Posted on August 2nd, 2008 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 2 Comments »
