hike | camp | paint
Day 1: Portpatrick to Castle Kennedy A bowl of porridge with stewed rhubarb and scrambled eggs on toast inside me (I highly recommend the Harbour Lights Guest House in Stranraer), we headed to Tescos for a few lunch bits before getting the bus out to Portpatrick. Portpatrick seemed a pleasant seaside town. However, it had … Continue reading Southern Upland Way – Part 1: Portpatrick to Beehive Bothy
A bit of Background The Southern Upland Way is one of the "Big 4" of Scotland's Great Trails, being one of the 4 dating back from the days of Long Distance Routes, and predating the re-badging of the English and Welsh ones as National Trails, and the Scottish ones as Great Trails. The Long Distance … Continue reading The Southern Upland Way – Planning and Getting to the Start
When we started the South West Coast Path, back in 2008, we never expected that it would take until 2023 to finish it. At that time, we didn't even expect to do it all - it was just a pleasant revisit of the scene of some past family holidays. It was only after completing that … Continue reading Finishing the SWCP
A constant drip-drip from the trees above. The wind pushing the flysheet against the already damp inner, exacerbated by the fact I'd pitched on a slight slope. Condensation dripping from the roof of the tent through the mesh of the inner and onto my sleeping bag. A curious rustling noise that sounded like an animal … Continue reading The Unglamourous Side to Backpacking (The Wessex Ridgeway Part 1)
I've now had a chance to use the inner for a couple of nights and have some thoughts. Now I wouldn't usually review a product after so little usage, but my experience from my first inner build was that the flaws became apparent quite quickly, and more usage only made me appreciate the things I'd … Continue reading Making Another Tent Inner: Part 3 – Learnings and Field Testing
A number of fellow members of the Trek-lite forum agreed to meet up over the weekend of 25/26 February on Dartmoor, and I tagged along. To make it worth my while, as I was by far the one who lived furthest away, I decided to tack a couple of days on the end too. It … Continue reading A Meetup on Dartmoor
Now it's time for the scary bit - actually making the inner. Actually this wasn't as scary as it sounds, as the method I intended to use was fundamentally the same as for the first attempt last year. I embarked on the build with the hope that I'd make a neater job than last time, … Continue reading Making another tent inner: Part 2 – The Build
After making an inner last year, it's given me the confidence to do it again, this time with some refinements. I've now gone from a situation where the size, position and materials of a commercial inner no longer need to constrain my choice of tent - now I can just make my own. Provided I'm … Continue reading Making Another Tent Inner: Part 1 – Requirements and Design
The video for my walk of the Clarendon Way is now published. It can be found at https://youtu.be/OlCE67Srd08 https://youtu.be/OlCE67Srd08
For its relatively modest length, the Clarendon Way, punches well above its weight in terms of opportunities to go wrong. I briefly alluded to some of these in my last post, but rather than fill that one up with the full details, I thought I'd stick them in a separate post. It's my hope that … Continue reading Navigating the Clarendon Way
The first backpacking trip of the year always feels a bit weird in the lead up: typically, it being, or having recently been, winter, there may have been a bit of a gap since the last one, and it's as if I've forgotten what preparing for a trip is like. This is one reason why … Continue reading The Clarendon Way
After I abandoned the westbound walk at Detling in August, a few other bits of walking got in the way of picking it up again - a trip to Snowdonia in September, the West Highland Way in October, and not least the Kent Pilgrims' Festival in September. The latter involving walking all the way east … Continue reading The North Downs Way AGAIN – Part 6: Detling to Halling
Why ? One of the reasons I've turned over so many tents in the quest for a perfect setup, is that the inners that tend to come with tents, particularly pyramid tents ("mids") aren't roomy enough. Let me explain... In a typical mid, for example the MLD Duomid or Liteway PyraOmm Duo, you're looking at … Continue reading Making a Tent Inner
Rather than knocking out the usual self-aggrandizing post, going to great lengths to describe every adventure of the year, I thought this year I'd make it more of an index to the year's content (which is what I mainly use it for anyway) and keep the remarks about how the year went to a minimum. … Continue reading 2022 Index
Just one more day to do, but the longest daily distance of all, and a deadline to do it by. Our train was booked for 19:50, which shouldn't have been a problem, but nevertheless it was still a deadline. If you add time to clean up and have a celebratory pint and meal, the real … Continue reading The West Highland Way – Part 5: The End (Kinlochleven to Fort William)