just emptying my bag now and though i might as well list the contents here for advice. sorry i dont have any pics.
Just headed out for an overnighter, caught a bus for an hr and a quarter, then walked about 30 minutes to a nice little quiet tucked away place i go to when city life is getting too much (and it often is.) Wanted to try out my new, well 2nd hand, bivi bag and get boiling in my new SS nalgene.
all this fitted in alpkit gourdon 30L backpack [i use drybags/liners all the time and they reduce my use of space so this seemed like a good idea - even though i still use drybags, just less of them i guess]
nalgene SS 1L water bottle [also used to boil in]
nalgene plastic bottle 500mlfilled with water
750ml plastic disposable water bottle [cause i didnt think i had enough, i was right]
solo cookpot [trangia brand, rectangle]
opinel No.8 folding knife (i would usually bring a knife i made but i split the handle a few months ago and havnt got round to properly repairing it yet]
altoids tin [containing mini buck branded leatherman, waterproof matches + striker, strips of innertube, cotton wool balls, charred cotton wool balls, charcloth, some electrical tape, small box of dental floss, a sewing needle and some water purification tablets which i have never used before]
firesteel
**** roll + alcohol jel
2pints of milk
half pot of honey [both big/heavey luxury items i know but i wanted them so i brought them. got into the habbit of treating myself to hot milk and honey when feeling blue]
4 teabags and a baggie of coffeegrounds
morrisons brand 'cheese and brocolli pasta' packet - add to boiling water [with some milk and butter]
someotherbrand 'cheese and ham pasta' packet
a pack of bacon [another luxury item im sure but im staying in a veggie household and i just rediscovered the joys of meat a few months ago - so this was my chance!]
a small block of salted butter
a bag of sweet chestnuts [39p on offer from morrisons i couldn't resist. they were lovely chucked in the fire]
DD 3x3 camo tarp [ridge line already in place while stored so i dont have to thread it through while out and about, with both ends of tarp attached to prusick loops - stored in drybag]
alpkit kelp bivibag
vango viper 750 [placed inside bivi bag already incase its raining when i go to sleep, though i had a tarp anyway - compressed and stored in drybag]
thermarest prolite 3 [a friends which a borrowed, really liked it - hope to get myself a 'thermarest prolite plus regular' which i believe is the current version of this]
when i first tried out my bivi bag and sleeping bag together [in the living room, the day i got it, like an excited schoolkid] i could see/imagine how it would work in a proper down-pour. I could pull the shock-cords to create a small hole for my face, and position that hole so im on my side, and it is too - as to avoid the rain. it would run off the bivi but yet not onto my face or into the hole. cool!
I placed the thermarest inside the bivibag, under by sleeping bag - but this made it hard to close the bivi in a way that rain wouldn't/couldn't get in. was a doing something wrong? could/should i have just re-positioned the bivibag round a bit so it was work as described above without the thermarest. what do other people do in this situation? Ive been using a £6 TKmaxx hammock and along with my dd tarp for the past few years, but would like to narrow my load down to a bivi and thermarest instead of these two things. I had the tarp last night so i wasn't stuck but id like to know how to use my bivi effectively with thermarest inside it, if anyone knows? Any other advice or comments on any of the gear appreciated. ta
Just headed out for an overnighter, caught a bus for an hr and a quarter, then walked about 30 minutes to a nice little quiet tucked away place i go to when city life is getting too much (and it often is.) Wanted to try out my new, well 2nd hand, bivi bag and get boiling in my new SS nalgene.
all this fitted in alpkit gourdon 30L backpack [i use drybags/liners all the time and they reduce my use of space so this seemed like a good idea - even though i still use drybags, just less of them i guess]
nalgene SS 1L water bottle [also used to boil in]
nalgene plastic bottle 500mlfilled with water
750ml plastic disposable water bottle [cause i didnt think i had enough, i was right]
solo cookpot [trangia brand, rectangle]
opinel No.8 folding knife (i would usually bring a knife i made but i split the handle a few months ago and havnt got round to properly repairing it yet]
altoids tin [containing mini buck branded leatherman, waterproof matches + striker, strips of innertube, cotton wool balls, charred cotton wool balls, charcloth, some electrical tape, small box of dental floss, a sewing needle and some water purification tablets which i have never used before]
firesteel
**** roll + alcohol jel
2pints of milk
half pot of honey [both big/heavey luxury items i know but i wanted them so i brought them. got into the habbit of treating myself to hot milk and honey when feeling blue]
4 teabags and a baggie of coffeegrounds
morrisons brand 'cheese and brocolli pasta' packet - add to boiling water [with some milk and butter]
someotherbrand 'cheese and ham pasta' packet
a pack of bacon [another luxury item im sure but im staying in a veggie household and i just rediscovered the joys of meat a few months ago - so this was my chance!]
a small block of salted butter
a bag of sweet chestnuts [39p on offer from morrisons i couldn't resist. they were lovely chucked in the fire]
DD 3x3 camo tarp [ridge line already in place while stored so i dont have to thread it through while out and about, with both ends of tarp attached to prusick loops - stored in drybag]
alpkit kelp bivibag
vango viper 750 [placed inside bivi bag already incase its raining when i go to sleep, though i had a tarp anyway - compressed and stored in drybag]
thermarest prolite 3 [a friends which a borrowed, really liked it - hope to get myself a 'thermarest prolite plus regular' which i believe is the current version of this]
when i first tried out my bivi bag and sleeping bag together [in the living room, the day i got it, like an excited schoolkid] i could see/imagine how it would work in a proper down-pour. I could pull the shock-cords to create a small hole for my face, and position that hole so im on my side, and it is too - as to avoid the rain. it would run off the bivi but yet not onto my face or into the hole. cool!
I placed the thermarest inside the bivibag, under by sleeping bag - but this made it hard to close the bivi in a way that rain wouldn't/couldn't get in. was a doing something wrong? could/should i have just re-positioned the bivibag round a bit so it was work as described above without the thermarest. what do other people do in this situation? Ive been using a £6 TKmaxx hammock and along with my dd tarp for the past few years, but would like to narrow my load down to a bivi and thermarest instead of these two things. I had the tarp last night so i wasn't stuck but id like to know how to use my bivi effectively with thermarest inside it, if anyone knows? Any other advice or comments on any of the gear appreciated. ta