I’d forgotten it was a bank holiday, but still they phoned me on a Saturday to question my money management techniques. Bastards, make them sweat I say, they can’t hurt me, I’m self employed so my credit rating isn’t worth the paper it isn’t written on anyway. We had lunch halfway through our wee family [...]
Posted on August 28th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 18 Comments »
I picked up Holly from nursery and we had an afternoon together. It started with a nice long sleep in front of the telly for the two of us (we have hard lives) but we picked up the beat pretty well with a picnic in the Kilpatricks at tea time. After which we explored some [...]
Posted on August 27th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Adventures, Items Various | 2 Comments »
I used the new Leki poles and the camera widget for all the shots except for a few sunset ones from the top of the Cobbler where the hard ground needed the tripod. There was a bit of a breeze which did fuzzify a few shots as expected, but it’s fine when it’s calm, and very [...]
Posted on August 27th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Gear Diary, Kit Reviews | 46 Comments »
For a Glasgowish mountain inclined bloke, there’s a hill which has been a glaring ommission in these pages. It went well with the pipes in Rutherglen and I found myself back at base around 1530. The sun was shining, and I fidgeted for a wee bit before taking decisive action, that being replacing cotton with merino [...]
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Adventures | 12 Comments »
“That’s the sun almost down, behind Beinn an Lochain. Ah, it’s beautiful… all that pink… catching some of the lower clouds and some of the tops. Ah, right above Ben Lomond as well. I’m on the Cobbler, as you might tell fae that wee lump. Beautiful night… Schoolnight too! Yay!”
Posted on August 26th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Adventures | 5 Comments »
That wee trip before we went down south had a couple of unusual participants. #1 in the finest of orange thgere above is a first generation Jirishanca, still with the gallus-looking KIMMlite winged badging. I haven’t used this pack in ages and I just fancied something different, and you know what, it’s really good. The [...]
Posted on August 23rd, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Gear Diary, Kit Reviews | 16 Comments »
Three and a half hours to get to Arrochar from home (it’s a half hour journey). The A82 was closed after Luss due to a “police incident” and everyone was on the Loch Long road, buses jammed against camper vans, nose to tail stupids all the way. We found out when we got home the police weren’t [...]
Posted on August 22nd, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 8 Comments »
Sometimes it pays to hang back a little, a year after I first spoke about it and after some apologies to Vaude UK, in for test is Vaude’s Power Lizard UL , in the rather lovely Saffron orange. The Power Lizard made as much an impact as was predicted, and comparing this tent to others is one of [...]
Posted on August 21st, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Kit Reviews | 68 Comments »
Here’s something we won’t see in the shops until next year, the new Fold Drybag Ultralite from Exped. I’ve got the size S on test, it’s 10″ by 15″ (reach for that metric converter…), has a circular base for a proper usable shape, all the seams are taped, it’s got the same stiffened closure you get [...]
Posted on August 21st, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Kit Reviews | 9 Comments »
Here’s something new in for test, Lorpen socks. I’ve got a pair of Light Hikers, which as with all outdoor things these days have as much techno-babblae attached to them as an episode of, I dunno, Sarah Jane Adventures, is that a good choice? The basics are a three-layer construction, Coolmax next to the skin (which [...]
Posted on August 21st, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Kit Reviews | 2 Comments »
I spotted it as Holly and I had a wander around town today. I know it’s the scientest, which makes it the lamest of all daleks, it’s waving a test tube over a bunsen burner while the rest are destroying the universe. But what the hell, it’s orange.
Posted on August 20th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 13 Comments »
Where do potatoes come from? “The shops” might be the answer you’d expect to that question these days. So with that in mind I gladly accepted an invitation to visit PHD’s factory in Stalybridge to see where potatoes really come from. A rarity these days, top-end outdoor kit designed and produced in the UK. A chance to [...]
Posted on August 19th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various, Kit Reviews | 78 Comments »
Can I borrow a tent? Said Ange. I have many tents, said I, come and get one. And bring your bike. It was a little later than usual when we met up, Phil was playing too, and we were all kinda relaxed tonight, so we took a few detours so I could show them some [...]
Posted on August 18th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Adventures | 2 Comments »
