Evening all,

This is probably going to incur maximum abuse for ‘wild’ camping so close to civilization, but here are a few photos from this weeks first bivvy trip at Gisburn:

Bivvy location, trig point at Whelpstone Crag

With the top of Giburn forest trail in sight (from the trail you could only see the bivvy if you knew what you were looking for)

Coleman Solo pot with F1 Lite Stove

Cooking some chorizo to add to my pasta and sauce

View from in the bivvy

Am I mad or blind, but have we got through a full page without anyone suggesting:

NWA – Staight Outta Compton
Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
– Fear Of A Black Planet

Rusty Mac,

I can concur that Stroh is not good. Burns on the way down. Burns on the way up.

Its the Jones of the road world

Teeto:

My (cheap) recommendations, although not the lightest:

Coleman Solo cookset – £9
Coleman F1 Lite stove (77g) – £15

I never seem to be able to get a coke can stove to boil water in any quantity, but that may well just be me (so i’m not knocking them at all)

North,

It’s like this:

Uses modelling balloons so like an inflatable air bed, but a lot lighter and smaller packing.

slugwash,

Just some ripstop nylon I had for another ‘project’. Poorly sown with a machine into 8 tubes wide. No got any pics of it inflated, but here’s a catalogue picture draped over a chair!

Haven’t had a chance to use it yet. It feels pretty thin, but then for £40 I couldn’t really expect it to be rammed with down.

I’ve left it to loft for a few days and it’s certainly increased in volume some.

I’ll be taking a cotton liner to add some extra warmth (if it feels cold) and keep the inside clean.

It packs pretty small and weighs less than a kilo, so is a LOT smaller than my other bag which is a Snugpak car camping effort.

I might well give it a go between now and when I first use it in anger to check i’ll not die of hypothemia so will pop a message up to let people know how it is.

TheBrick,

Point taken regards the tarp. Just wanted to see how small everything packed.

Afternoon all,

Thought i’d post a few pics of some of my kit and also a psa type thing:

Top row (left to right): Alpkit head torch, Tesco down sleeping bag including a cotton liner (not sure how warm the bag is hence the liner), Decathlon Tarp sans poles (and pegs at the minute, so need to add some pegs)

Bottom row: Home made balloon bed, Coleman Solo Pot (that’s the psa), containing 250c gas cannister, Coleman F1 Lite stove, lighter, small pot of instant coffee/sugar, Alpkit Hunka bivi bag

Fits into an Alpkit dry bag quite well and weighs 3.6kg (no idea if that’s light or not)

Now on to the psa: Coleman Solo pan set

Hard anodised black, 2 sets of nesting pots (800ml with lid/cup and 400ml with lid/cup). In the pics above, i’m only taking the 800ml pot with lid/cup.

A standard threaded 250c gas cannister fits inside nicely, with a stove and lighter.

Maybe not the lightest, but a whole £8.64 inc free postage from amazon

Magura Louise have done me proud and are properly powerful, whilst being faff free.

You should be able to get a set for your budget brand new.

Not cheap, but like a lot of things in life, the better things aren’t:

Milwaulkee

It’s nearly as ugly as:

Other half uses VMWare Fusion with Windows 7 on her Macbook Pro.

It’s appallingly slow on the internet and kills the Mac side of things too. It’s like a new machine when Windows is shut down. I’d not recommend it, however, her Macbook Pro is my only experience of Mac so far, and to be honest, i’m not a fan. Just not nearly as fast as I had hoped (although I only use it for browsing the mincernet)

Slugwash

What is you’re windscreen/pot support made out of (or have I missed it?)

If it makes you feel any better, the stuff below is pretty nice and cost me the equivalent of £8 for the big bottle (1.75ltr) from the states last year

Gents,

I’ll take your outdoorsmagic stove thread and raise you a stove forum![/url]

Muke = headache!

For that ‘someone trying to push your eyes out from inside your head hangover‘, why not try a couple-a-four pints of:

Milwaulkee, Festool, Hilti

Best all round outdoor knife is a matter of opinion.

Probably the best value is a Mora Clipper (carbon steel for best edge, stainless for longer edge holding and less blade care)

Stainless
http://www.heinnie.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=304&P_ID=4200

Carbon
http://www.heinnie.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=304&P_ID=1276

Best all rounder…….how much you got to spend? Could do a lot worse than http://www.shingcrafts.com/

Opera is the fastest browser i’ve used, but not idea how ‘bloated’ it is

Barrett 50 cal. End of thread

Saab petrol engines (or at least the older ones) are quite literally bomb proof and pretty quick (bad turbo lag, but 3rd and 4th gear acceleration over 1700rpm is awesome) Not sure on the newer ones, and think the diesels are Vauxhall. It’s not unheard of for older Saabs to go on for hundreds of thousands of miles if properly serviced.

Oil changes on the petrol are 6000miles to save the turbo from an untimely death, but mine was always a great car for not a lot of moneys. Not as expensive as you’d imagine on the insurance despite the rapid performance of some. If you go for a petrol version make sure it’s the HOT version.

Ermmmm, missed it as I thought it was at 9pm. Iplayer seems to suggest that it’ll be aired again xmas eve and thus won’t be available online till after that, am I reading that right?

Could try (Solaglas) Windowcare (although not sure if they deal direct with customers). They are one of the big guys, but there’s a reason that a lot of insurance companies use them….i.e. they are good.

If you have a hook, some fishing line, bread and a rock, I know of a slightly less PC way of getting rid of said gulls which doesn’t involve any sort of gun (but needs a strong stomach).

Not an Astra.

I’ve got a 58 plate 1.7ltr which is pretty slow and not very good fuel consumption at all. Also isn’t massive in side.

Mondeo for the win (or maybe a Vectra estate which genuinely are massive inside!)

An air rifle will be touch and go at close range with a good head shot.

I’ve seen seagull survive many a 12 bore shot unless they take a head shot or a wing shot. A shot to the breast just gets absorbed by the feathers.

If you shoot one, put it in your garden. Seagulls are pretty interested in dead gulls and tend to pop down for a look. Makes it easier to shoot the next one. Once you’ve shot a couple of them though, they tend to get wise and steer well clear!

Left side drive for people who grind on the right?

Lifetime warranty, made by Britool.

I’ve got a ratchet set from a few years back. It’s been great. Only damage is to the flat bladed screw driver when not using it as a screw driver!

There is nothing more pleasing than having the correct size spanner, socket etc when you need it.

If you’re looking for a socket set, I reckon you’d be hard pushed to find better value (yes, you can get better quality (Snap On, Facom, MAC etc) and yes you can buy cheaper, but this set will last you a long time especially for the money)

p.s. No I don’t work for Hal-Frauds, just pleased with my professional socket set from them.

The Victorniox knives are very good. On the link above you can get a decent set for £70 (bit above your budget, but a good deal).

The other option was a mitre box and tenon saw, but this seems like quite a slow option, that in the past (with a bought mitre box) hasn’t worked great.

I was thinking the sliding might be more useful.

I’ll go and have a look at them tomorrow and see what they are like.

Captain, you sir, are a gent. Many thanks!

You had me all excited!

I remember her being in FHM as the student of the month (she was at Loughborough). Was babbling on about how after her boyfriend had a couple of pints, he got what they called ‘the hammer’. Found it hilarious that she had decided to divulge that little tidbit in a national magazine!

p.s. go for non acetoxy silicone if you can. The acetoxy stuff stinks for days.

Or Tremco silicone

Sika is another good make for silicone.

Make sure you have a palette knife ready to apply the silicone with 🙂

Go up the Rockafeller Centre. Quieter than the Empire State, and you get to see and take photos of the Empire State. Somthing you would struggle to do in the Empire State!

Eat a lot. There’s a great deli next to one of the studios (it’s famous because the chap who runs it interviews celebs who pop in from the studio to grab thei lunch). They do very good sandwiches.

Go to Katz deli, (Where Harry met Sally). Bloody expensive, and tourist centred but looks like what you imagine a real deli does.