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Morning All
Me and my son are planning on taking a little light weight hike and camp this afternoon and I have a question about stoves.
I was going to make a little drink can stove then wondered about a small tin can (220g baked bean can) with a ring of holes drilled around the side instead?
It will only be used for boiling water so doesnt need to be anything super fancy. Any reason why this would'nt work?
If its all good then roughly how much meths would it take for boiling about a litre of water? Is there any great science to this or just chuck some in and top up as required?
Cheers All 🙂
Just google 'supercat stove'
What you describe sounds like a great stove, maybe 1.5 oz meths per pint of water? Guessing
OMG, i just lost an hour reading some of this, inspired to give it a go now.
Sign up here - http://www.bikeandbivi.co.uk
I did a few weeks back (Kev on bikeandbivi) and although new has a whole mountain of information. I noticed that quite a few STW regulars are now on there inc Ton this week.
Just got hold of a new Nemo Gogo Elite bivy.
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I've been looking for a tent/bivy compromise that's still lightweight and packs small & this looks promising. Lots of pics & words on [url= http://pedalhead.net/2011/08/19/nemo-gogo-elite-bivy-initial-thoughts/ ]my blog[/url] if you want to know more about it.
🙂 , just been checking your new bit of kit on www.bikeandbivi.co.uk !!!!!
Spurred on by this thread and a fellow forum member. I'm heading out with a couple of friends to attempt the SDW in 2 days tomorrow.
Candodavid you might also like ... www.bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk link to the forum from the main page.
Ready for this weekends beachriding bivi trip along the Moray coast 🙂
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Sturider, where can I buy one of those solo mini coffee things? Is it a Bialetti?
I was interested by the idea of freezer bag cooking and that got me curious about food dehydrating. There are dehydraters available to buy which seem to range from £25-100 but I also found a number of designs across the net for making your own out of a cardboard box lined with foil/insulating material.
A couple of 100w bulbs sit in the bottom and you can fashion some shelves made from bbq skewers to rest wire racks on. You could also make a more substanial one out of plywood if you so desire.
I've not got round to reading up a great deal on "cooking" times etc as yet but it seems that its all dependent on your dehydrater and personal taste.
I think I'll give it a go making one next week as I'm off, has anyone got any experience of using or making a dehydrater?
I shall also read up on dehydrating in a normal oven. I wonder if this would be more expensive to run?
We got one in at the weekend. What had originaly been planned as a Dartmoor bike bivi turned into a Canoe camping exursion before metamorphing into an on foot adventure after I managed to do my left paddling shoulder in. The venue was somewhere along the wild South Devon coast a mile or two from the nearest road, carpark and ice cream kiosk.....
The Venue nestled in lovely, desolate Devonian coastline...
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Off we go to visit the famous sea cave. Only accessible at low tide...
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Ahh, this must be it then....
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Jim, Si & Tim were surprised to find out this was actually my second visit in fifteen minutes.....this time without the toilet paper 😉
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While the others went for a swim I climbed the cliffs and did some scoping for sea mammals.
All I actually saw were three lily-white retarded land mammals jumping around in the surf 😉
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Early evening cuppa on the go in our chosen bivi location, A little cove that was cut off from the rest of navigable dry land at high tide.
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My one-pot Paella knocked the baubles off the Vesta Pack Chow Meins the other three cooks were rehydrating...
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My bed.....
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Morning, low tide view from the sleeping bag, shortly before it started raining...
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Second coffee of the morning...
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Slugwash Flickr: [url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/8308384@N06/sets/72157627482146894/ ]South Devon Coastal Bivi[/url]
lovely location, looks like fun 🙂
Have anyone here tried nesting sleeping bags?
I have a Marmot Arete, and if I get say an Alpkit pd 600 or SH 800 as an autumn bag (I am based in northern Sweden, so it can get cold), do you think I can use the Arete inside it for winter camping, or will it not have space to loft properly?
In the winter I am looking at potential temperatures down to -30
Have anyone here tried nesting sleeping bags?
I have for winter camping (in tent) before. I used a large cheap old mummy bag (from when i was a scout) around my alpkit bag. worked well.
however there probably isn't room inside an alpkit bag for another bag - they are pretty snug. I would email alpkit - they are pretty clued up.
HTH
looks awesome slugwash.
can we have your one-pot Paella recipe... please 😀
"has anyone got any experience of using or making a dehydrater?"
I've had an EzDri Snackmaker probably 12 years ago with about 10 shelves. A mix of mesh & solid shelf liners. Cost about £80 iirc. They have a video on youtube. Looks like you can buy them again the UK now.
I've never worked out how much it costs to dry food. The heater doesn't generate that much heat, certainly doesn't seem to be close to the 500W they claim the heater is - more like a 100W lamp or a PC. The key to drying food is to keep the warm airflow over the surface of the food. Drying times reduce if you turn the food during drying.
Needless to say some things work better than others. Try to remove as much water as possible before drying for sauces, or wet foods. Cut up solids smaller than you probably would normally. (I learnt that one the hard way with some veg stew where the chucks were too large & wouldn't rehydrate). The thinner you spread the food on the sheets the quicker it dries. I'd say average drying time is about 10-14 hours. I try & do as much drying as possible in the winter just so i'm using the heat from the dryer to warm the house.
Once dried, i store the results in sealable sandwich bags in the fridge (i don't know if the fridge is absolutely necessary tbh). I've used foods dried a year after drying & they've been ok.
I'm veggie so can't say what it's like for drying meat.
Dhal dries great. Cook it thicker than normal. It ends up sort of powdery but rehydrates fine. Add green leaved veg (spinach, chard etc).
Rice dishes work well, mixed veg & nut pilau is a favourite.
Stir fried beancurd, veg & rice works ok if the beancurd & veg are cut small.
Tomato sauce for pasta works well. Add thinly sliced mushrooms or veg.
I dehydrate breakfast - muesli with finely chopped banana & kiwi, made with soy milk, maple syrup. The last thing i do at night when camping is to make a brew & use the rest of the hot water to overnight soak my breakfast. If i'm doing a long walk i'll add a spoon of Torq neutral per portion to bump up the carbs.
I've tried pasta. That took about as long to rehydrate as cooking a quicker cooking pasta from scratch. Won't do it again.
If you were making a drier, i'd suggest you need to get a fan blowing air over the food as well as some heat source. A 100W bulb plus a PC fan with a speed control (like the one Zalman do) would work. Look at the youtube video at how the shelves are designed on the EziDri. They channel air around the shelves. The fan is in the centre bottom of he unit, & warm air is vented from a hole at the top.
some bits of kit that I have for sale that maybe of interest to followers of this thread.
I have for winter camping (in tent) before. I used a large cheap old mummy bag (from when i was a scout) around my alpkit bag. worked well.however there probably isn't room inside an alpkit bag for another bag - they are pretty snug. I would email alpkit - they are pretty clued up.
HTH
Thanks. I emailed them, they said I have to try. I guess it depends on too many things like the persons size and the specific bag involved for them to be able to give a general answer.
I need a new bivi bag.
Anyone have any real life experience's with the Rab storm bivi
are they roomy, water proof, pack small enough and light
I love my new marmot one. Loads of room enough for a winter down bag plus more, but only come in REALLY bright colours.
http://www.bikeandbivi.co.uk/php/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=39&p=182&hilit=marmot#p182
marran - Member
Have anyone here tried nesting sleeping bags?
No (well not since I was a teenager with an argos bag), but Andy Kirkpatrick talks about it in one of his gear articles, worth a read.
http://andy-kirkpatrick.com/articles/gear/
Anyone bivvied/camped in or around the Berwyns?
TheBrick: Thanks for the link, good read.
For some reason he uses a synthetic bag as outer, but I guess a generously cut down bag like Alpkit SH800 would work as well
looks awesome slugwash.can we have your one-pot Paella recipe... please
Yes, it's an easy one that. I'll post it up some time.
Meanwhile, this weekend's bacon and bean stew with dumplings was less sucessfull.
I forgot the bacon and the dumplings disintegrated 🙁
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/8308384@N06/sets/72157627421626697/ ]Flickr - Last Bivi of the Summer[/url] (photo's currently awaiting sorting)
It's definately getting a bit cooler out on the hills.
Is anyone else getting out under the stars at the moment? And is this thread slowly dying now everyone's over on the two new bikepacking forums ;-(
Is anyone else getting out under the stars at the moment?
tend not to over the summer - getting excited about the season starting again....
I agree with tom, far prefer autumn bivvying myself - it get's dark earlier and there's less tourists, both helpful for stealth camping.
Also I much prefer fresh and frosty to damp and muggy, I find it easier to keep warm than cool and there's fewer insects about - yup the seasons just starting 😀
Ooops!
Here is a recent bike/BOB bivi from Kidderminster to the Stiperstones and back on my Alfine 11'd Charge Duster. Only a 1 nighter but was a good trip.
[url= http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6188/6096331822_e0775cdf74_z.jp g" target="_blank">
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/66965813@N03/6095831893/ ]DSC05308[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/66965813@N03/ ]cheeezzy24[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/66965813@N03/6096331822/ ]DSC05297[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/66965813@N03/ ]cheeezzy24[/url], on Flickr
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/66965813@N03/6096326382/ ]DSC05311[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/66965813@N03/ ]cheeezzy24[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6210/6096326392_9ee7160b9b_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/66965813@N03/6096326392/ ]DSC05316[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/66965813@N03/ ]cheeezzy24[/url], on Flickr
Is anyone else getting out under the stars at the moment? And is this thread slowly dying now everyone's over on the two new bikepacking forums
Shame people arent posting on here, I do like the new forums but still like to check this one out as well.
Ive got one of the Tesco's ultra light down bags, how warm is that going to keep me in the next couple of months or is it time to start looking for a winter bag???
I picked up a couple of Tesco bags for me and GF for a tour in Spain, hoping that I can either double them up or use one with a synthetic bag over it for solo trips in colder weather.
Spending too much on kit at the mo so figured a bit of experimenting with a cheap bag and existing stuff rather than buying an expensive bag would be worth it.
The down bags from tesco look OK. Our local hypermarket is selling all the camping stuff on the cheap. They also had a few garmin forerunners in the sale for sub £100
www.bikeandbivi.co.uk
Here are some pics from our SUW trip from Portpatrick to St John's town of Dalry.
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some great pics I like the aged ones 😀
Rudedog, that's not far from me, never cycled any of the SUW to the west of the A76 though, what's the surface like?. Always fancied exploring that section, never managed though.
The route is all fairly rideable but theres a few sections that you may want to miss out if your cycling with overnight gear. Bikehike is down at the moment but when its back I'll put up a summary with screenshots of the maps showing each bit with what's rideable and what to avoid.
I couldn't be bothered with the maps but hopefully the descriptions will be helpful to anyone who fancies this part of the route.
Portpatrick to Stranraer
Theres some steps up from portpatrick to the cliff top - they aren't too steep so you could push the bike up with out too much trouble. After that the route follows the cliffs and drops down in to a couple of bays where you'll need to carry you're bike - its a lovely stretch of the route in terms of scenery but hard going where you need to carry the bike. If you've got a lot of gear and can't shoulder your bike, you should miss this bit out and go the road way out of Portpatrick, taking a left just outside the village and you'll pick up the SUW at the turning for Killantringan lighthouse. After that its all rideable (mostly farm road) to Stranraer with a nice but fairly short section of singletrack roughly halfway.
Stranraer to New Luce
Practically all rideable - Just outside Castle Kennedy village and Gardens, you pick up the road to New Luce here, as you start the climb, there's a short section of SUW which goes off to the right, its very steep and not much fun as it takes you through a muddy cattle field so I'd advise you miss it out (if traveling with gear) as it joins back to the road a little bit further up. At the top of the hill, the route heads off toward Glenwhan moor where there's a nice section of singletrack nearly all the way the luce valley, then a fairly steep drop down to the railway line - after that, you need to push for a bit until you clear the trees and can cycle over the river and push for another little bit up a very short but steep hill back to the road. You can take a short detour into the Village of New Luce here, theres a (very) small shop and a pub with a beer garden next to the river which made a nice stop for us.
New Luce to Bargrennan
Theres a fairly steep climb out of New Luce on farm track, the route takes you past some ancient caves/burial Cairns and then links on to road for a short bit before going totally off road through fields/bogs just north of Balmurrie farm. This section was a PITA - theres no trail at this point, but there are wooden waymarkers (sometimes hard to spot) every few hundred meters to keep you on course. You'll need to push your bike as its almost totaly unrideable for just over a mile and goes through a peatbog which you'll get wet feet from without appropriate footwear. After you come through the fields the trail is visible again and cuts through a wooded section for a few miles - its hard going again here as the trail is boggy and muddy but soon improves to half decent singletrack as you get closer to Laganngarn where the Beehive bothy is situated. Its a nice wooded bothy but no fireplace. The single track continues on passed some interesting standing stones and picks up forest fire road soon after. Your not on the fire road for long before the SUW goes off up a fairly steep hill but we skipped this and stuck to the fire road which just goes round the hill. From here on its plain sailing all the way to Bargrennan mosty farm/back roads - theres a couple of short sections of which take you off the road as you get closer to Bargrennan but they aren't great for riding and easy to skip. Theres a pub at Bargrennan which does decent food, and a campsite with shop. Theres loads of good spots in the woods here though if you are camping - we found a cracking spot on the shore of Loch Trool, not far from the old Caldons campsite which is now abandoned.
Bargrennan to Dalry
They changed the trail out of Bargrennan to Loch Trool a few years back which you might need to bear in mind if your using an old map. We missed this bit out as we'd been in the pub for a couple and were camping at Loch Trool so just headed up the fire road - it looked like half decent forest single track from what we saw though. The forest road way takes you passed the 7 Stanes trail centre cafe which serves sandwiches and has an outside tap for refilling water. Once you get to Loch Trool, if you have a lot of gear, I'd advise sticking to the forest road north of the loch which leads to the car park at the base of Bruces monument . We didn't do this and followed the SUW round the south side of the Loch and it was really tough going for the lads laden with gear. Lots of really steep sections, steps etc but probably mostly rideable and good fun without the gear - some good gnarly/technical descents. You also pass the battleground where Robet the Bruce defeated an English force ten times his size which was quite interesting to read about. Once you clear Loch Trool, theres a steep climb on forest road with some great views of the Galloway hills at the top. The forest road continues on for a good while passed Loch Dee and the Whitelaggan bothy and on to Clatteringshaws Loch. Just north of the Loch, the SUW leaves the fire road and goes over a few hills, we missed this section as we were running short on time and just stuck to the forest road and then back road over a hill and down to the Ken valley and St Johns Town of Dalry for a couple more pints and pub tea before being collected.
Anyone have any real life experience's with the Rab storm bivi
are they roomy, water proof, pack small enough and light
Roomy. Yes, but I'm only small (5'8"). Plenty longer than that, and I can fit all my kit in there with me.
Waterproof. Fortunately not had to find out.
Pack small. Yep. You could (at a stretch) fit one in your middle jersey pocket.
Rab Storm - yup.
It's a great bag, good size, good weight and very popular. There are no features to speak of it's just a waterproof bag cover with a draw hood.
When absolutely soaked through I did end up with a lot of condensation once, but they all do that under certain conditions once wetted out. It's roomy enough to allow a winter bag to loft, but you wouldn't fit any kit in there too.
Packsize, I would guess you could squeeze it into a 500ml bottle at a push.
Crackin' summary rudedog. Anyone done any of the SUW east of St. John's this year?
Pictures of this weekends bivvy.
Friday night out on the Pennine Way from Widdop reservoir for a couple of miles.
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Windy but sunny evening
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Mate knocked us up a couple of tarps
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Nice view from bed
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Tarps set up to shelter us from the wind (along with the rocks behind), and any potential rain.
Woke up the following morning getting a wet face. Wind had changed direction 90deg meaning rain straight in to the tarp so it wasn't protecting at all
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Slackman that looks great, what saddlebag are you running?
Your camp and view looked amazing!
Saddlebag was just an Alpkit dry bag with a load of webbing tie straps round it to hold it on, nowt special.
View was nice in the sun, not so good in the rain and wind!
I thought so! I ordered a 13L one yesterday (as my 8l was too small for sleeping bag) which will come tomorrow, as well as a few other bits, and bungee is my plan too.
thanks for the info
just bought a Hunka XL inreadiness for the Winter Bivvy Season 😀