can anyone recommend me a good stove for wild / solo camping

maybe some advice on essencial accessorises etc

If I had the room I would be carrying a jetboil with the larger cup and my food stuffed in the cup.

If I was going minimal then a dragonfuel stove and fuel with a metal cup to heat things up in.

I either take this:

or this

+ smallest gas can.

Either option fits inside the pictured Alpkit MytiMug

Unlike many that love them, I’ve never really got on with the meths pop-can stoves. I don’t like the smell, or having liquids, or the lack of control over burntime. I should probably persevere, but haven’t been bothered so far.

I use:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coleman-68178-F1-Lite-Stove/dp/B000JXQABQ

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/hi-gear-backpack-cookset-p287230

(Seems there’s a newer version too – http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/oex-sola-x-cookset-p362177 )

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/gsi-outdoors-ultralight-java-drip-p263348

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/folding-spoon-p194569

I got a Karrimor stove similar to that Alpkit one that is made out of titanium for about £15.

Add a gas canister and a windshield that clips on to it either way up, plus a titanium Alpkit mug and spork and a little firestick thing for lighting it.

Can generally carry the stove, the firestick and food inside the mug.

Take packets of noodles, cous cous or risotto so you generally just have to add water

As above basically, I have:

An MSR Pocket Rocket (there are now smaller and lighter stoves available, just waiting for this one to die)

An MSR Ti Kettle. Don’t actually need full capacity, the most water I need is 400ml for some dehydrated meals, but cous cous only needs 200ml and coffee/hot choc only 300ml. Once it dies I’ll look for something smaller but it shows no signs of dying yet!

Usually the second smallest gas canister. Obviously the smaller ones make more sense but I’m becoming slowly allergic to waste and I can use a small canister in a long weekend but usually get two or three weekends out of the next bigger canister. Keep meaning to buy a refill valve so I can just run one small canister and refill it out of a jumbo canister but the refill valve costs £40…

Plastic bowl, plastic collapsible mug. Could use the pot for both but can’t be arsed with the pesto flavoured coffee in the morning or the coffee flavoured cous cous at night 😀

Take packets of noodles, cous cous or risotto so you generally just have to add water

Yep, that’s what I do.
Then I have Travel Tap filter, so that I never carry more than a litre at a time. Where I tend to go bivying there is no shortage of water sources!

Keep meaning to buy a refill valve so I can just run one small canister and refill it out of a jumbo canister but the refill valve costs £40…

Oh yes – I’d forgotten they exist. Might have to research…

Alpkit Myti Mug
Edelrid Kiro/MSR PocketRocket/ChineseCopy/Vango TiStove
Ickle gas cannister
Spork
Home made windsheild from disposable baking tray.

Inside it all goes a plastic bag with tiny offcut of scourer and little bottle of washing up liquid, lighter and some coffee sachets. Rubber band holds it all together.

If I want to go really light, I use my brilliant 6g ti stove and Esbit tabs.

As above, if I weren’t racing something I’d not bother with crappy bean tin etc. I’ve got a small stove like the Alpkit one above that has a piezo lighter, which is dead handy. Perhaps invest in a windshield though.

Go Outdoors had a jetboil knockoff set for £20, I think I fancy that.

I use the fire dragon stove and alcohol blocks; not controllable, but I’m not making soufflé.

In terms of more general advice, be aware of the timing and the weather. If you can get a good sunset, be settled and camped before sunset. If you are pitching in the dark you can stay for another pint.

Either way, you’ll be up when it’s light and probably won’t get the best nights sleep you’ve ever had.

Pillows are more important than anyone thinks.

If you need a wee, have one. Waiting doesn’t work.

A good sleeping mat is better than a good sleeping bag.

Alcohol is welcome, but I was still drunk when I got in at 7am after my last wild camp.

Genius. £30 from Amazon right now…

That’s fantastic.

Would also work the other way up to refill multiple small canisters from a big one.

Now all we need is one you can fill from the LPG pump at a petrol station, like caravanners have.

A bit of treat food, hot chocolate, etc is always worth it. Also avoid any foods with MSG ie some instant noodles and soups. A windshield is a good idea with any stove. Have your last hot drink whilst in your sleeping bag for a toasty night. +1 for a pillow being more important than you think, you can can some great cheap and light microfiber inflatable things now.

Generally, start heavy and go lighter, rather than over do it and put yourself off having slept under a sheet of clingfilm chewing dry polenta.

Jetboil if it’s just me, Pocket Rocket and Ti mugs if there are two of us.

Would also work the other way up to refill multiple small canisters from a big one.

Yep, that was my plan, already have all my 90% empty mini canisters in the freezer to lower the pressure inside. Apparently the greater the difference in pressure between the filler canister and the fillee canister, the greater the fill.

G-Works also make a butane adapter for that thing up there so you can use those £1 cans to fill the expensive propane-mix ones.

There are also $10 ones off ebay to do the same, although they don’t screw or turn off or anything.

I use an old Coleman peak stove bought for a fiver from a carboot .Boils water in no time and uses little hfuel

Apparently the greater the difference in pressure between the filler canister and the fillee canister, the greater the fill.

Dare you to microwave the big cannister…. 😉

Apparently the greater the difference in pressure between the filler canister and the fillee canister, the greater the fill.

Put a bit of warm water in the concave bit on the bottom of the top one..?

Put a bit of warm water in the concave bit on the bottom of the top one..?

Unscrew slightly and light the gas that leaks out to warm the top canister?*

* may do more harm than good

(in case you’re still wondering, no this isn’t a serious suggestion. Look -> 😉 )

The freezer suggestion sounds like the safest plan!
Anyway – this is all a bit off-topic for the OP!

I have a friend who only uses 3 small nails and a hexamine block wrapped in foil. And a Ti mug natch.
Finds a stump to bash the nails into (a hammocker like me, so is always in the trees).
Good for brews.

Even the dinosaur that is the British Army have stopped using hexamine, it’s all alcohol blocks now. You can use them as a hand disinfectant too, and they can be put on a stick and used as squaddie lollies.

The last part of this is not true, please don’t be a dick!

Loving that refill doofer, I’d no idea such a thing existed.

Go Outdoors had a jetboil knockoff set for £20, I think I fancy that.

Yeah, I have one, I linked to it earlier. It’s tremendous, can’t rate it highly enough.

MSR Pocket Rocket
Snowpeak Mini Solo Mini Solo

This made a bigger difference to confort than I expected
Pillow
So much better than clothes stuffed in a dry bag.

I like the look of that little travel pillow, although it costs almost as much as one of my sleeping bags, and more than the other! (£20/£40)
But I do agree a pillow makes a big difference, I forgot my little Wilco travel pillow for my Green Man weekend, and really missed it.

I received this as a Xmas present a few years back and it does make wild camping slightly surreal
press

I used to have an inflatable pillow with a fluffy bit around it, and it was shite. That one might be better though, probably is.. but I’m still sceptical.

By accident it fits in the hood of my sleeping bag. Otherwise it pings off like a stepped on bar of soap.

What I like the most tho is these
bars

Jetboil for me.

I have one of those refil doofers – great gadgets.

That refill valve…does it have an auto 80% cutoff?

Seems pretty dodgy, along the same lines of the adaptors that let you fill Propane bottles from the pump at the petrol station, but lack any float gauges/non-return valves/80% cut off. Generally used by travellers.

My first Google hit revealed a site where the author is talking about the need to weigh the empty cylinders and then calculate the 80% fill in grams, thats quite a lot of reliance on the end user to refill the cylinder safely…

Although this is turning into a gas refill tech fest, the important thing about wild camping has many parallels with mountain biking…

It doesn’t really matter what stove you have, or how it is fuelled, or what sleeping bag/mat or tent.

The important thing is to get out there and do it for the first time.

Choose a weather friendly night, choose a spot, get your kit and go for it.

It’s only by doing it a few times that you will learn that x is better than y, that calm nights are good for sleeping and midges, that no windshield means more fuel, that crappy pillows mean poor sleep, that good mats are worth the weight, that needing a wee is a sign that you need to have a wee, that the extra jumper/fleece that you didn’t need is actually needed, that small pans need scissors to cut the bacon up, that strong coffee in the wild means pooing in the wild, that a hat is always worth taking, that doing it with mates is as good as doing it alone…

…and it’s about doing something different…

…and it’s about pressing a re-set button in your head…

…and it’s about having a ‘micro-adventure’…

Go on, have it.

cheers guys – loads of advice

looks like Alpkit is great value and good quality

roughly what size back back would I need for a 1 nighter (with 1man tent)

Alpkit is very good value for the money.

As an alternative to a small tent, I’d recommend a tarp and bivvy bag (or just a bivvy if the forecast is dry) – AK sell both.

Depending on the size of your doss bag, I’d think a 30 litre daysack should do. Take some stuff into Cotswold Outdoor and have a trial packing session with some of their bags.

By way of rough guidance, I can fit a Blackthorn 1 man tent, 3 season down bag & a decathlon inflatable mat into a 13l Dry bag with a weight of 3.15kg.

My stove is a triangia burner with a 3*3cm hinge. When hinge not in use fits inside the burner, but when unfolded rests atop the burner and supports the mug, a standard tin mug affair. The burner & windshield both fit into mug for transport.

Next question is how many clothes you need to change into – Fresh socks, dry trousers, fleece midlayer, down gilet & hat would be a suggestion. My clothes, and cooking set up currently go into a 20l drybag, but could easily fit into a 13l bag if required.

roughly what size back back would I need for a 1 nighter (with 1man tent)

Depends hugely on how small your kit packs up really. First time I went I filled a, what, 65L bag I think, due to the kit I had. Could probably get away with half that now.

maybe something around 40-50 would be cool then