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Belgium. Brunt of jokes on radio 4 comedy programs, Brewer of brilliant beer, and maker of fine chocolates. It's often grouped in with The Netherlands and Luxembourg as the low countries. It's easy to think of Belgium as a polder landscape punctuated with abbeys awash with beer. Tell someone...

Are you sure about that? Yes membrane based fabrics like Goretex and eVent do not perform very well once the temp drops far below freezing, but Paramo being non membrane based is known to function well in cold climbs. This is why it was selected both by the British Antarctic Survey and The...

I reviewed the Bentu Jacket and Fleece on this forum here.. Since writing that review I've also got a Fuera ascent jacket. It's the same fabric as the bentu, but lacks the extra lining in the hood and shoulders, so isn't as water proof on it's own. But as a wind proof it's excellent, with the...

Others have said the importance of training, I can't reiterate the importance of training strongly enough. You mention tramping, the question there is are you going alone? If you are going alone, that defines what you take with you. No point taking stuff that you can't put on yourself. Can...

Oi! I can see the garlic you're holding behind your back. J

You see I take the opposite view, and when I've been asked on stainless mora vs carbon, unless you're going to be spending all your time in the water, I always say the carbon. Why? Well it teaches you to look after the blade, oil it when you are done, keeping it sharp, stopping the rust...

I bloody hope not, it's bad enough that I could be put to death for who I am in a number of countries and am illegal in 82 without my home land making it a crime too... J

Can't go wrong with a Mora. I've been using one for a decade. I keep looking at shinier more expensive knives, but just can't seem to justify the cost when a mora Just Works™ J

Congratulations You've just been taught about Sam Vimes Theory of Economic Injustice the hard way. Yeah, Mountain Warehouse is cheap stuff of low quality. You're better off buying something better quality else ware. Of note, I bought a pair of shoes from Cotswolds, and as I have their...

I carry my Fuji XT1 in a lowe pro pouch clipped between the two shoulder straps as a sort of chest rig. It took me a little fettling, with a couple of dyneema loops to get it in the right position, but unless you are well endowed in the chest department, you won't have the same issue. This...

Looking at the photo below, can anyone see any obvious edibles, maybe enough to make a wild salad or a mug or three of tea? (click for full res version) J

Arrow shafts. It's a nice wood to carve. Oak leaf wine is quite nice. Oak galls can be made into ink. I wouldn't fell oak just for firewood, that's a waste, it's a brilliant timber. Sure burn the thicker branches if you fell one, but the trunk, keep that for timber. That is massively...

That's a heavy looking load out. I would question why you're taking the axe. You can't really have a fire there, and you can't legally chop trees down without the landowners permission... Cooking in a stainless bottle is doable, but it's perhaps not the most versatile option. IMHO, you're...

One comment I would make on both compasses you have mentioned is that if you plan on going further afield than the UK you may find their lack of declination adjustment to be a pain. In the UK declination is about 2°, so pretty much in the margin of error, but if you go into scandi it can be upto...

That's a nice idea upto a point. On a large enough wound, having a couple of large dressings you could apply are going to speed things up and increase chance of survival. That said, with no means of communicating with the outside world, a big enough injury will be fatal, where as others who can...

It's a nice idea, but it's 1.2kg. That's pretty damn heavy! J

Just out of interest, have any of you had a knife blade break? What was the blade? where did it break (tang, tip, middle)? and what were you doing at the time? Cheers J

Not sure about the measurement, I don't have a fixed blade knife with me as I'm on the road through various legal jurisdictions where I'm not really wanting to justify my knife in another language. But I know from trying to design a knife that I tend to like a 120mm long handle to have enough...

Has anyone any experience with the nDur button compass? How durable is it? How well does it cope with being banged around in a pocket ? J

Yep, I get the feeling that both you and Joe have been bought up with an attachment to nature and the wilderness, you're taught to track, to forage, to live in the wilds. Funnily enough neither my school, nor my parents taught me either. Sure my mother did teach me what she thought were...