acehtn – Member
How to catch small crocs on that Bear Grylls island right now, could be handy for the lake district when the tea shops shut

I’ve caught crocs (small ones). Dead easy. But not biting off more than you can chew takes on a new meaning here.

Not wanting to necessarily turn another thread into ‘it was better back in the sixties’ but..

Had you been born back then, as a kid in the boy scouts as lots of us were, you’d have done all this and probably by the time you were fifteen. Bivouac used to mean making it out of natural stuff like branches and ferns, no tent allowed, it was a special hike for some woodsman’s badge I can’t remember the name of, sleeping bags were pretty crude affairs by todays standards but you were allowed to pack a ground sheet. What you eat you had to catch (usually fish, but some resourceful lads trapped rabbits with those wire loop things). You had a sheath knife the size of which would have you locked up today, and a hand axe, all on your belt and you had to wear those stupid wide brimmed scout hats and keep them in good order for inspection on your return. The hike had to be ten miles or 25 using bicycles. Water you carried or blagged off a local farmer, fires you could use a limited number of swan vestas, I seem to recall the fire lighter test involved no more than three matches, you’d have learned this skill (including running the match through your hair to keep it burning)and others under canvass before you did this Bivouac test.

All as I said before as a sub fifteen year old lad, can you imagine mummies of today letting their little darlings off on an adventure like that? Kind of puts what you’re up to into perspective a bit as well, but then it was utopia back then, no time for ‘hand wringing’ 😉

What when your expected dinner decides to eat you first 🙂

Only had to tackle wild mussles with my bare hands, little sods had mini pearls and broke a tooth for me.

Late to the thread and haven’t read it all so apologies if someone else already made the same suggestions.

The current issue of TGO (The Great Outdoors) magazine is a backpacking special (the kind of backpacking where you go for a walk and camp that is, not the SE Asia gap yaah kind). There’s lots of useful advice on gear, techniques, safety etc. Worth perusing. I think TGO is the hillwalking equivalent of Singletrack in that they are both a bit more thoughtful and reflective than the more mainstream equivalent mags.

My advice for a first small expedition is to pick a spot with an easy to follow route in like a big landy track or well-marked path. Camping is optional – there are lots of lovely bothies in the UK – check the Mountain Bothies Website for details. Walking in down Glen Feshie to Ruigh-Aitchechan is lovely, and you can choose to camp near the bothy and just use the loo there (one of very few bothies with an actual loo!).

Tarps are fun to play with as well. Decathlon do a surprisingly good one for around £20. Spend a night out in your back garden under it for practise. Tie it to trees or use walking poles to raise it.

Good luck! Self-supported long journeys camping out are immensely satisfying. I’ve walked across Scotland twice from coast to coast carrying everything on my back and both trips are among the most memorable experiences of my life. I’m thinking of repeating the trip on a bike in a couple of years’ time.

All the old bikers used to tell me it was Meridan. They were addled on cheap speed tho.

Banbury Star Cycling Club by any chance?

Haven’t seen this forum mentioned yet….

Men with knives and hatchets

no time for ‘hand wringing’

And that’s why no-one has wrung a single hand on this thread!

I agree you don’t need much expensive stuff, but I wouldn’t go with a £50 tent. Everything else can be cheap as you like, but a tent is important. And £100 isn’t an expensive one imo 🙂

As for tarps – chances are, up in the hills, there won’t be any trees.

You’re not serious about making fires are you?

How about kipping in a cave to save the weight of the tent, must be a fair few suitable to settle down. Not underground, especially when rainy, obviously.

You’re not serious about making fires are you?

Why, is that a really stupid idea, or bad form or something?

Or under a big rock…

Cougar – Moderator
You’re not serious about making fires are you?
Why, is that a really stupid idea, or bad form or something?

Not in the slightest IMO. But read up on where you should and shouldn’t light a fire. You don’t unwittingly want to start a forest fire or set some turf on fire that can smolder for months underground and surface later to cause damage etc.

I tend to play it safe and just have fires next to lochs and stuff.

Stones for a fire pit and all that, aye.

I never use stones. I enjoy the bonfire approach! 😆

Depends where you are. On a beach or lakeshore, yes. In the mountains, I wouldn’t. You’d be seen from miles around and it’ll draw attention one way or the other. Remember you’re not actually supposed to camp up there anyway, and that brown grass and even the peat can be flammable. Plus you’re more likely to piss off farmers or landowners if you are making fires. In the forest – obviously not.

Plus there won’t be any wood in the mountains.

Ah, good points, yes.

I’m late to this thread and also late for work so no time to read back, apologies if this has been mentioned.

Alastair Humphries cycled round the world (and wrote good books about it, ‘Thunder and Sunshine’ and ‘Mood of Future Joys’). He’s been promoting the idea of a ‘microadventure’ that fits the bill of what your looking for Cougar.

Info and videos to inspire are on his website and also here on the Howies website.

I booked him to speak at my school and he was excellent.

My mental image for this trip is a cross between Robinson Crusoe, Deliverance and that episode of Bottom where they go camping on Wimbledon Common.

On a more serious note, in terms of map reading, navigation, etc. there are some great books out there, Mountaincraft and Leadership by Eric Langmuir is the classic, while there’s also a more ‘modern’ book (ie lots of colour pics and maybe easier to start with) ‘Hillwalking’ by Steve Long et al. Both very good books and cover everything from nav to how to ‘behave’ in the hills.

So an update.

First, I’ve decided I’m definitely going to do this. I had cause to be at the hospital a few days ago, and seeing people variously limping / rolling through the place convinced me that I need to do it whilst I still can.

The rest of this post is largely based on recommendations here, so thank you:

I’ve bought an airbed. I was in need of something light for this project and also something comfy for an upcoming fortnight in France. Long story short, I picked up a Thermorest NeoAir XLite (as recommended on STW and originally discounted be me on cost grounds) for 69 sovs from Decathlon. 100 quid is silly money, rude to leave it on the shelf at that price.

I picked up (now last month’s) ‘backpacking special’ of The Great Outdoors. Read it cover to cover, very interesting, inspring and helpful. Just grabbed the new one today.

I’m reasonably sold on the Zephyros 2 tent, though I’m agonising over the premium on the Lite version. The regular is 100 quid on t’web, the Lite is twice that. For a shorter pack size and (from memory) around a pound’s saving in weight I’m struggling to justify the price hike. Anyone know whether the Lite is better / worse in any other ways? Ie, are there other compromises or is it a better investment? Anything else I should be considering instead?

Water, I have a LifeStraw® which I got as a Chrimble present, which should be more than sufficient for the UK, no?

And the elephant in the room is, I still have no idea where to go. Help!!

Sorry if it’s been done (my memory ain’t what is used to be and there’s already 4 pages to look through….)

Get over onto the Bearbones forum for lots of dedicated bikepacking chat

Also – you might fancy the idea of a two-day “starter” course. http://www.carbon-monkey.co.uk/wp/index.php/2014/05/intro-to-bikepacking/ That might help you decided on kit and would give you some hints and tips on campcraft.

For your first couple of nights out, just stay local. Learn what works for you, what you need to buy, organize, what you prefer etc. Then work up to something with more of a journey or adventure to it.

PQ who used to post here is a serial bikepacker. Goes all over the world on his trusty Roberts. 650b might bring the trails alive but you can get a 26in tyre in deepest Africa or Mongolia. He told me he spent 11 days without seeing a living thing (not just a person) riding across the Tibetan plateau. As a vegan he found the fermented horse milk I’m Krygistan a bit hard to keep down.

Head up to the Lakes, bin the tent and head for the Priest Hole on Dove Crag..
Only about 90mins from Accy..
Park up, head up, kip, then onto Ambleside for some breakfast..

On the tent Cougar.

Sat in one last weekend, on the day price was £90 special offer 🙂

For a first tent it will be fine.
The lite version is lighter and i think has 2 doors.

Trying to find a XL Lite 2 version to sit in somewhere, need something a bit bigger.
Have the Terra Nova Laser comp 2, the wild country is based on the old pattern. They are fast to pitch up, can pack down smaller with a proper stuffsack, apart from the 2 end rods, but they can be made to fold down, the lite version i belive comes with the folding endpoles as well.
The downside to this style of tent, and it’s been copied/cloned by many other brands….space…. the 2 person tent is a luxury 1 person and a snug 2 person.
We go 2up in ours with 2 rucksacks on multiday trips, and can get all gear inside the porch and still cook in there too.
However, one cooks while the other lies down, and only one door makes night time relief trips interesting as someone has to get climbed over. However, it was when i bought it very lightweight and more for Mrs Ace for solo use, i think a Zep 2 XL lite might be better for us or a TN Voyager superlight (other brands out there )

For £100-120 for a Zep 2 if it fits your end use, can’t go wrong and can always sell it on fairly easy.
Loads of youtube reviews on them.

Bump!!

Ok. Progress. I’ve done a lot of reading, and set a date. Weekend of the 26th is when I plan to do my best Reggie Perrin impression.

I have a borrowed tent, my OH’s down sleeping bag, lightweight thermarest, cookset, bladder, and generally more crap than I actually need. I think I can read a map and use a compass (I read the instructions the other night, what could possibly go wrong?) I know Naismith’s rule, Napier’s rods and Rimmer’s directives.

Few random kit questions:

[list]
[*]I don’t have a suitable rucksack to stash it all in, so am open to suggestions. I guess I’m looking at around 40L, is that right?[/*]

[*]Should I worry about a trowel? Or will a knife suffice for the burying of unmentionables?[/*]

[*]Milk for coffee. How? Small bottle? Dried coffee-mate? Something else?[/*]

[*]Walking boots or Salomons? Route-dependent, I guess.
[/*]
[*]SAK or Opinel?
[/*]
[*]Is carrying emergency repair kit like zip-ties / duct tape sensible, or overthinking it? I think I want to make a paracord bracelet, for no real reason I can figure.[/*]

[*]Tent pegs. No-one carries a mallet, surely; is it de rigueur just to find soft ground and / or pound them in with a handy rock?[/*]

[/list]

More pressingly, what I also don’t have is a destination.

I plan to leave the house on Saturday, drive for a couple of hours (from East Lancs), then set off walking. I want to camp somewhere near a water source (ideally a tarn I think – some of the pics I’ve seen here and in mags are just breathtaking), then make my way back on Sunday. I’m looking for somewhere away from other people, but for a first solo outing I presume that something with a reasonably easy to follow route would be sensible.

Assuming that I don’t, in fact, die, or get lost and become a nomad only to be discovered 30 years later grey and naked and living off juniper bushes, I hope to turn “overnight” into “multiple day” stints.

I’ve looked at the weather and it’s looking nice (so far) with the highest chances of inclement weather in the north west. With that in mind, can anyone recommend a good “my first solo route” destination please?

Oh,

I was eyeing up the Quechua Forclaz 40 Air pack at Decathlon a little while back. Seemed ideal for the price. Thoughts? Anything better?

You are going Air hiking! Awesomes 🙂

BTW,it looks a good pack

40l sounds about right – you’ll always fill whichever size you take. I find using the heel of your boot is fine for ‘disposal’ but if you’re only staying one night you can probably manage a before and after? I’d say go for boots as you’re varrying a rucksack, on your own, and also more likely to have dry feet at the end of the day. I’d just take instant coffee with milk in it if you’re wanting to keep the weight down, or just drink it black. Bit of duct tape never goes a miss, wrap a bit of it around your camping mug/poles/etc. so you don;t need to carry a whole roll. Couple of zip ties won’t hurt. Just use your foot to ease in tent pegs, but go steady so you don’t bend them.

As for where, MWIS seems to reckon thunderstorms for Lakes/Yorkshire/Pennines which are the areas I know well within a short-ish drive so can’t hugely help this time sadly.

Just make sure you’ve got everything in drybags/ziplock bags and you’ll be grand!

if you’re only staying one night you can probably manage a before and after?

That’s the plan, but as a good friend once memorably said to me; “I don’t care what statistics say, it will be me.” I’m almost guaranteed to need to consult the Bristol Chart halfway round.

Ah, I didn’t know about MWIS. That’s handy, ta.

It’s pretty reliable, updated very regular as well so keep an eye out. Also, just realised that the 26th isn’t this weekend, duh, so a couple of recommendations would be:

High Cup Nick, Pennines: Ideally from the Cow Green reservoir side as you can leave the car there, easy navigation as it’s a decent trail and you have the ‘wow’ factor when you arrive at the head of it. Stream for water and flat areas to pitch there too.

Innominate Tarn, Haystacks: Stunning place to camp, various option for approach, I’d suggest if the weather is good so you don’t have to worry about nav, park at Seathwaite in Borrowdale, up Sour Milk Gill, Green Gable, Brandreth, then along to Haystacks (good camping spot by tarn). Next day maybe head down to Honister Slate Mine for breakfast, then down the valley and back up to Seathwaite.

Trowel – yes

Milk – dried milk is ok in coffee in a get-it-down-yer sort of way, but vile in tea. UHT milk keeps somewhat longer than normal milk out of the fridge, ime, but given how hot it’s likely to be I’d not bother. You can get sachets of coffee creamer liquid in supermarkets, this might be your best bet. Or learn to drink it black like a man.

Emergency repairs – sure, why not? Bootlaces are important though, and a tent pole repair sleeve (you will already ahve one if you have a decent tent, I suspect). You can get small neat rolls of duct tape in Clas Ohlson.

A knife is handy for whittling tent pegs when you forget yours… *ahem*

Practise your compass usage when it’s fine. I like to double up – GPS and map.

Tent pegs – yes, I use a foot or a rock.

I can lend you a rucksack, work in Burnley so could meet up if your interested?

Have your people call my people, we’ll do lunch. I work just off J9.

That’s very kind of you, what have you got? I should clarify – I’ve got rucksacks coming out of my ears but none are ideal. Most are on the small side; the only one that’s big enough is the one I used to use to haul climbing gear, it’s a Karrimor Hot 30 (IIRC) and about 20 years old so not the most comfortable thing I’ve ever worn. So, I can “make do” if needs be but I’d prefer something that actually fitted properly.

It’s a Karrimor Alpiniste 45+10. Long back length and pretty good nick but a few years old. Mail in profile to sort details.

On the rucksack front. Planet-x are selling podsac rucksacks for cheapness.

Sak or opinel… Either or both.

I think I’ll give that offer a miss, given the number of Planet-X threads there have been lately. Ta anyway.

Please don’t use a knife to dig a hole. It can ruin the blade. I don’t mind so much if it’s a cheap blade, but if you buy a decent/good one (and you should because it will be worth it in the log run), you will ruin it. Just buy a Gerber Gorge or something (http://www.heinnie.com/gerber-knives-folding-shovel)and use that for digging when on a shovel recce.

Knife-wise, what will you be needing it for? Just opening packets, or whittling (as per molgrips)?? Heinnie Hays is doing the Ontario RATII for cheap money and that’s a good knife for the money (http://www.heinnie.com/ontario-rat-ii-black)

Thirty quid for a poo? Nah, you’re all right, I’ll use a cork first.

The knife question wasn’t really “recommend me a knife” – though that RAT looks ace – but rather “which of my knives would be most useful?” I’ve a big SAK, a light Opinel and an old lock knife that a fit ninja could hurl through a tree trunk.

For your tea coffee and sugar. A and well anything else really…

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCV9CNckdzM[/video]

But you’ll want tog o camping again yes? So then it’s only 15 quid a poo. Another trip? A tenner. One more?

You get the point.

It’s not quite a “buy cheap, pay twice” scenario, but quality and thinking long term helps. I have one of these for camping and hunting: http://www.heinnie.com/fallkniven-knives-wm1-sporting-knife-satin-zytel-sheath

You get the point.

Yeah – but it’s also it’s also nearly 800g, that’s half a tent.