I can see the Sgurr Dubh ones, and my two “WTF is happening” posts, but not the one ones of the bothy and snow covered hills in between. Oh well, will pop back later!

Though when I post again, its says its duplication. Anybody see some photos with Maol Cheann-dearg covered in snow that I can’t see?

OK, why won’t it let me make a second post of the next part of the trip? As usual with STW, no error message, no explanation, just doesn’t appear?

Spent last week in the Highlands, and got rather lucky with the weather.

Sgurr Dubh in Torridon, before more snow arrived, but on an atmospheric day when the clouds kept coming in and out.

I think deft has it about right.

One of the slabby outcrops about here, seen when you switch to Satellite/aerial view? https://goo.gl/maps/wiXEmxrhNQsrjRY69

This post always makes me a little emotional. Every year.

Will be up and out on the water meadows at first light in the morning.

Well, I’ve actually been on my mountain bike 4 or 5 times this year, so felt I could actually show my face again!

And some from the Gorges du Tarn in France

It worked! OK, a few from the more interesting of this year’s paddling trips:

Easter, Loch Sionasgaig and surrounding lochs.

I really ought to add some photos to this thread, but I never have quite got the hang of posting piccies on this site!

As a test, one from a somewhat chilly paddle yesterday on my local River Wey:

Wonderful, and a bit dusty in here too!

I just love to see kids doing daft and challenging stuff that most adults would baulk at big time, especially in the wilder parts of our isles.

Massive respect to you all.

One day, somebody will harness Spaniel power and the world’s energy crises will be over.

Kennet & Avon canal from Honeystreet near Pewsey, or similar for something a bit different to the East. Nice stretch with no locks, very rural. Plenty of other bits further east might work, and closer to direct way home, but more locks generally.
Basingstoke Canal at Winchfield Hurst or Colt Hill Wharf in Odiham are also very much on the way home, and a better option if there is any wind as much is lovely woodland.
Paddle Points for details.

Chapeau!

So what IS the angle?

I climbed up beside it in winter once, seemed steep enough to me!

I love the phrase “I nipped back over Bowfell and Esk Hause”, as if everybody does that on a Raleigh Shopper bike most days…

I bought a Torrentshell earlier this year, to replace a Rab Pertex Shield and previously a Paclite. Its proven far better than I expected, very good breathability, a waterproof zip that works and a reasonable fit, though I went up a size as I wear it in winter over insulated jackets for wildlife watching. I really like it and it has proved genuinely weatherproof in some very heavy rain. The only negative about it is that the toggle on the hood drawstring slips slightly, though not drastically. I wouldn’t replace my mountain Goretex with it, but its the best more basic jacket I’ve ever had and seems good value.

I also have a work TNF jacket in a very basic fabric, so the performance isn’t brilliant or expected to be. However, the hood is actually unusable, with no way of adjusting it to stop it dropping over your eyes, its just too voluminous for a bottom-of-the-range product. I’ve only worn it twice, and won’t be doing so again! So check the hood!

What an amazing find. Matt was one of the luckiest.

I wonder how his confidence in success in the next assault really was, presumably he would have written to make his wife less worried.

When my grandma, Alice, died, mum found some letters from my grandad, Arthur, to Alice during WWII. Arthur was taken prisoner at Tobruk (not sure which of the two main battles, but ’41 or ’42. He was a tank driver. For most of a year, he was MIA and Alice probably thought he was dead. The Red Cross found him in a POW camp in Italy and wrote to her.
There’s a Red Cross postcard he’d written that was simply crammed with lines and lines of the neatest, tiniest text, which, though it contains mostly mundane stuff (possibly censored otherwise), is incredibly powerful and is almost my only insight into a man I didn’t really know, as he died when I was quite young. Round the edges, to save space, he wrote a few sentences to my mum, Margaret, who would have been about 4 or 5 then and probably had little memory of him.

He was obviously there until the end of the war, 3 more years or so in the POW camps. Not once did he speak of it to family, and by all accounts he was a changed, quieter, man. A good friend of his went on holiday to Italy a few decades later, and I don’t think he ever spoke to them again, so appalled was he that they would treat Italians as possible friends.

Words are so powerful, even when they only relate the simplest stories. In context of our modern knowledge of both wars, what Matt wrote gives a remarkable insight into his bit of the war.

@malgrey sorry for the ongoing issues. We are developing our own specific cookie ‘flush’ and building it into the site so that the old cookie (THAT WON’T DIE!) will be flushed as soon as you open any page. A bit like building in the cookie killer to every page but for a specific cookie only. Hopefully when you are back that will clear things up for you.

Mark

Thanks for the reply Mark.

Unfortunately, no change yet and just done the cookie killer again, but I’ll be patient!

Still no change for me, no matter how many times I use the cookie killer. Chrome/Windows 10.

I’ll try again in a few days, but it really is reducing my number of visits and time spent on the forum. OK, I’d probably be no great loss as an occasional poster who has never bought anything related to the site, but I’m sure there are lots like me.

Yep, every page.

Have cleared cookies, but no difference. Chrome, Windows 10.

Things like this do affect how often I visit this site, it has always been far more painful to use than every other forum I post on.

Drove from Cheshire to Rogen (halfway up Sweden), canoed across the border to Roros (S of Trondheim basically), returned.

Our route was: Cheshire to Harwich; Harwich-Hook of Holland ferry (overnight); Hook of Holland through Netherlands, Germany, Denmark to Grenaa; Grenaa-Varberg in Sweden (second short overnight); up Sweden to Rogen (another full days drive).
Return was similar, but we used the Bridge of Doom (don’t try it in a very strong wind with canoes on a van!!!) from Malmo to Copenhagen then south via Rodbyhavn back to Germany. Stayed in a couple of motels on the way.

The Germany bit is long, dull and can get busy around Hamburg. Like driving the M6 really. Denmark wasn’t much more scenic, but far quieter so easy driving.

Once in Scandi proper, the driving is steady, not fast, but beautiful and I’d vary that to make it part of the enjoyment of the drive. However, southern Sweden isn’t especially scenic until you get closer to Norway, unless you divert to the coast north of Goteborg for an exploration.
Using the ferries to get a sleep worked well for us on the way up (we booked cabins for the first one).
I wouldn’t do the Denmark-Sweden ferry we used again, I’d use the bridge or a longer ferry.

You can ferry from Germany to Oslo or Gothenburg. That would give you a proper break.

Its a looong way.

Samuel L Jackson

Travolta, possibly

I was on the River Wye this weekend. Very busy, but once on the river you could avoid the worst of it. However, we left the campsite at 7.30am to ensure we got to space to park and launch and run a car shuttle before it was rammed. It was rammed at every bridge or access point, but any more than 200m away from them it was still pretty peaceful, folk simply won’t walk from their vehicles.

I’m starting to hate all these “10 best kept secret beauty spots” type messages in the media. Its hypocritical I know, as I’ve written articles/blogs about lots of places myself, but am avoiding doing so for my own special favourites now!

Closest to the Dordogne style in the UK is probably the River Wye. Some nice campsites along it. Some parts are slow enough to paddle in either direction for a while, but other parts will be too shallow and fast to paddle up in normal summer conditions and you’d need to organise an end-to-end trip.

The Lake District has a few waterside camps: Coniston Hall, Waterside on Ullswater, Low Wray on Windermere, Keswick C&CC site on Derwentwater.
In North Wales, Llyn Gwynant.

All the above will be somewhat busier & less relaxing than the French sites on the Dordogne! For solitude you’d want to be looking at wild cmaping at the end of a Scottish loch. Solitude meaning just you and a million midges ;)

You don’t need papers with the Java Drip. Its my go-to on a trip where I’m carrying weight. Otherwise I use the Aeropress like everyone else seems to…

EDIT; yes you do have to dispose of the grains but that’s not much of an issue for me.

I know that Louise. She and I have met up on numerous nights under a gloomy canal bridge, normally ending up with me shooting off into the bankside brambles. In my canoe.

Tandem canoes are a great idea, and can also be used solo with practice. 15′ or 16’will be most common, and good all rounders. Open canoes come into their own when you want to carry some kit with you, be it a nice picnic or a fortnights stuff for camping in relative luxury. Much drier and quieter than kayaks too.

The STW equivalent is Song of the Paddle, you’ll get lots of advice there.

Second hand is a good “way in” but paddling has been one of those things that has gone a bit mad this last year, so less is appearing. Like many things, prices rise in spring when people suddenly have the idea of getting on the water.
There are a few UK makes to look at for new canoes; Hou, Venture, Silverbirch, Apache; all made here. Importing is quite expensive now so more UK sources have opened up in the last few years. Canoes are not cheap now, but they hold there value very well.

As mentioned buoyancy aids and paddles need budgeting for. You don’t need additional flotation in the canoe if you are just on the canal, but might consider it for river and open water use, or if you get a composite/fibreglass canoe which won’t float if swamped! Most common brands are “plastic” (well not quite but covers it in simple speak) sandwiches and will float if swamped.

Much over 30kg would be considered quite heavy, so do consider that, especially if you’re going to need to carry it yourself and load it onto a vehicle on your own. Trolleys can help.

If you come across a Royalex (material) canoe second hand for under a grand, in good nick, that would be a good option (brands like Wenonah, Mad River, Nova Craft). The material isn’t made now, but was an excellent balance of durability and manageable weight. Replacement fabric T-Formex hasn’t really hit the used market yet.

Paddle Points is the place to find out where to launch.

Enjoy.

Similarly, the Alpkit Griffon works well for me. “”Grid fleece”; warm for the weight, quick drying, breathes very well, but not in the slightest bit windproof! There’s always another thin fleece or something thicker in the bag, depending on the conditions.

I’ve never regretted buying Patagonia when I have the spare money, though have only generally bought base layers, softshells and fleece items, not insulated or hardshell. All of which I still use, despite some being properly old and disreputable looking now.

This might give you an idea of the western half. Pretty much as described above:

https://www.wildernessisastateofmind.co.uk/bikepacking-the-south-downs-way

Enjoyed it though!

Agree about the “cornering lights” where the fog light comes on. I can’t tell the difference if they’re on or not, unless in a queue behind a shiny vehicle whilst signalling.

The medium and high settings on my work car’s heated seats. I can just about handle the low setting for a few minutes, not that I really bother. However the medium and high are so warm I’d worry about melting any synthetic clothing I’m wearing!

On other cars, those indicators that replace the daylight running light when indicating. Genuinely more dangerous than separate ones IMO, due to being harder to spot at a quick glance as the lights look “balanced” side to side, all just to look a bit clever.

The one that gets me is the outdoor retailer that will email me for a review of a product before I’ve even got home and attempted to use it…
I do find them mostly annoying. If buying off a reputable independent store that I like, I will happily consider posting a review once I’ve used the product for some time, if I think it would help other customers. I’d be happy to have a reminder about the product a month or two after buying it; just the once though.

Whilst I’ve never received anything to get me to write a good review, I have received something after writing a good review. I reviewed a paddling book I’d bought on Amazon, almost all positively but with some constructive criticism, as it is an excellent handbook. When the updated edition came out, and I met the author, he gave me a free copy of the new edition which contained amendments including those I’d suggested, and thanked me for the review. Needless to say, I also reviewed the new edition positively, though he never asked me to. Everybody happy!

If I’ve ever reviewed anything sent/lent to me without me buying it, I mention that fact. Generally though, I rarely post reviews on the main review sites, unless my experience/the product was either extremely good or extremely bad. I’m guessing that’s why so many places/products have plenty of good reviews, yet a good smattering of really bad reviews, and not so much in the middling area.

Google Maps will do most of this, as long as you have a Google account.

Its in Your Places/My Maps. Create map. It will then have a “layer” with an option to upload data. I have simply uploaded Excel spreadsheets into this. If you have columns with your different criteria in, these can appear as a label. However, I think they would have to be in separate tables to be able to have different coloured pins.

The only thing is, the data won’t be “live” to your spreadsheet, it is just a snapshot. So if you change it, you will have to re-load it to Google maps.

petec
Member
this one https://perfectbeers.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/134-the-bell-aldworth-berkshire-england/

local, great cycling on the doorstep. Decent beer & cider. Decent food. etc

If you like The Bell, which is indeed a gem, you’d also like the Black Horse near Checkendon/Stoke Row in the Chilterns.

As well as increased demand, stores have probably got issues with supply chains, with factories working at less capacity than normal for quite some time in many countries, due to the earlier Covid restrictions and now have a backlog to catch up on whilst still working under some restrictions. Also, a lot of this will be ordered many months in advance, and any increased demand will have been hard to predict, especially given the doom and gloom in early spring. Finally, despite bike related sales being good, people will be being quite careful in investing in stock, its a tough call at the moment. Generally I’ve noticed stores putting their resources into the core best sellers, and reducing their width of offering, in all types of retail from outdoor to supermarkets. Less core stuff is therefore perhaps suffering most.

I love my Casstrom Woodsman. Have they gone completely, or just not imported? (work browser prevents knife browsing!)

The other knives I looked at were the TBS Boar mentioned, and the Helle (which are in Go Outdoors). The Casstrom just fit my hand the best, bought from Tamarack Outdoors who’s advice is invaluable.

I also have an Enzo Knecker little knife, the quality is good so their bigger stuff would be worth a look.

Luxe Outdoor were mentioned above. I have a Habitat SIL (not listed now) which I’ve used for about 6 years very frequently. The quality is excellent, and the weight for size is excellent. It is not the best in REALLY strong wind, though survived a night half way up the Brecon Beacons during Storm Desmond when it was gusting 80-90 mph.

I picked up a 6 Moon Design Lunar Solo secondhand last year, specifically for bikepacking (which I haven’t done since!). It uses a trekking pole or a little optional carbon pole which would be the one for bikepacking but isn’t quite as stable. There’s load of space for the packsize; I’ve reviewed it here; https://www.wildernessisastateofmind.co.uk/six-moon-design-lunar-solo-tent

Down by the River Wey in Surrey was as busy as I’ve ever seen it. Fortunately this means that there were some people rather than no people, and as I was in the canoe, no problems. I had expected the modest parking area I use to be busy, so went early, but it never filled up and most people appeared to be arriving on foot.

There are a few local destinations that have filled up with the car parks re-opening, so I’m avoiding those.

Generally, my local walks have become slightly quieter as people now drive out of town (probably to the Surrey Hills as mentioned by others!). The roads have become busy enough to be unappealing for walking or cycling; not so busy that people can only drive at a safe speed as they normally are, but busy enough that drivers flying round blind corners has become a real issue. I’m no longer doing one of my local walking routes for that reason as there is a short road section that has become pretty unpleasant in the last week. So I too end up in the car…

Even where it has been busy, most people are being good with distancing, and I haven’t seen many obvious groups other than a few teenagers.

I still don’t quite understand why there wasn’t a distance limit put on the revised restrictions, but actually here I don’t think its working out too badly. Some areas are hotspots, but outside the risk does seem to be much reduced.

I had a 1993 Saracen Andes special edition, which I think was £379. I still remember the feel and smell of it when opening the box for the first time (worked sort of in the trade so was shipped to me by colleagues).

My next bike was a 98 (I think) Scott Vail, which was about £500 and had a shit RS fork and V-brakes, and geometry that sure as hell encouraged me to go over the bars on descents (I was shit too). This was followed by a 2001 Scott Comp Racing at £779 with a much better fork and V’s, that I put XT discs on and kept until a couple of years ago when I gave it to a mate who still uses it.

Our small block of 6 flats has a fairly small shared garden round the back (I’m at the front upstairs so don’t overlook it). There’s just about enough space to spread out nicely and we’re managing to share it just fine, but if more than 3 flats wanted to use it at once it might be an issue. Luckily we all get on mostly. It also helps that the resident in the flat downstairs at the back is away for the “duration” as this is her second home, and therefore we’re not right outside anybody’s window.
I even thought about camping out in it last night, there’s a corner that nobody else really uses, but it felt a bit weird so I didn’t.

None of this helps you specifically, but I have seen nothing in law that says Covid restrictions are different for shared gardens, but maybe they count as a public space like a park in the police’s view?

Another Wix user. I had a dabble with Word Press, but didn’t find it intuitive.

Suspect I fell into the “too many pages” thing quite quickly, but it sounds as if you don’t need much complexity and a simple home page with maybe 2 or 3 pages linked from a top bar would be fine. I managed to create mine fairly easily, though it took me a while just due to the writing and image loading I needed for what I wanted to do. I am reasonable with computers, but a long way from expert and entirely self taught.
What has been said about maintenance is very true; I’m guilty of neglecting mine quite a bit in the last year thanks to a change of job, though have 2 or 3 new blog articles in the pipeline now.
Wix can also handle mobile optimised views which is important these days (though it can mean extra work as the software sometimes rearranges the Mobile version strangely).
With a blog, e-mail, domain and other plugins etc, I probably pay about £100 a year now, but you needn’t.

For reference: https://www.wildernessisastateofmind.co.uk/

Excellent viewing.

Fair play to the drivers, 900cc and 24 hp, with ordinary looking tyres and rear wheel drive. leaf-spring suspension, over rough and loose passes. Guess it would be pretty light.