Finished nights this morning and as the weather was nice decided to take a nice wee donder, so packed up some kit and off I wandered.
Enjoyed having a listen to some good music to drown out the noise of town until I was clear.
It was a nice sunny day here today, but not the warmest. I headed up towards a point on the hilltop I'd visited last summer, would make a great wee campsite if it werent illegal
The t-shirt didnt last long, as it was fairly breezy. I got set up for my brew and opened up my lunch, mmmmm rat pack chilli tuna pasta salad - made in Thailand!
Much to my dismay I suddenly realized I had forgotten any form of eating utensil! I was hungry and too impatient to find a large enough stick to fashion a rough spoon, and with necessity being the mother of creation I fashioned a stick fork or STORK (patent pending).
It did the job of transporting the food from its foil packaging toward my mouth very well for being such a rudimentary tool. Anyway, had my cup of tea with condensed milk (which I saw several people on here suggest) - it is AMAZING!
I also took some piccies of a belt kit I have been modding a bit, but more on that later.
On I wandered taking some pictures of the local scenery en route.
I decided not to summit Sugar Loaf today and explore her foot hills a bit more.
I found an excellent bit of woodland with masses of bramble bushes - I know where I am stocking up later this year!
Unfortunately, others have obviously been here before, and by the looks of the age of a few of the cans, quite recently too. At this point I realized a second item I had forgotten - a placcy bag! I would normally carry out rubbish like this, but had to make do with just removing the batteries the numpties had tried to burn, wrapping them up in some sweetie wrappers.
I will return to this area again and clear up the neat little pile of garbage I collected from around the charred campfire remains.
And so my adventure continued and I descended into a valley I have visited numerous times before but not by this route.
It has a lovely clearing with nice soft grass and catches the afternoon sun perfectly (when its not hiding behind clouds). Unfortunately this area is also scarred by the reains of a large fire and littered with cans and bottles. The nice lof that served as a chair hen I was last here is also gone.
I drank the can of ale I had been carting around and took a nap in the sunshine for a half hour (Lucky I didnt sleep for longer given Ive been working all night!).
I took some photo's of the kit I was carying in the sunshine:
The bag is a ~15l Swedish army Canvas sack - would have just gone with a gasmask bag but couldnt fit water, crusader and food in it, and didnt fancy wandering through town with full on belt kit. On the bag is my new Ti emberlit stove, little meths brew kit and rations for the day. To the right I've got my Auscam pouch for the osprey, crusader, lid and Millbank bag (I can tell you the crusader mug is an extremely tight fit, its a nightmare to get out). In the front I have my recently completed Karesuando Carbon Steel Knife and neck sheath, and alongside that the belt kit I showed you earlier.
Here is the knife and sheath in a bit more detail. I'm quite pleased with the outcome, of the knife particularly, I made several cock-ups on the sheath which will hopefully not be repeated next time - but ultimately it still works!
The belt kit is an army surplus leather one that I recently died. It has a D-ring between the two belt loops and a recent threat gave me the idea to hang it from a carabineer on my belt to avoid it interfering with a rucksack hip belt. I found this flapped about a lot, but then had the idea to use some paracord to make a belt for it. I braided some out before leaving and this worked a charm - really comfortable, still quick release, and solved both the flapping about problem and the fact I had been unable to squeeze cordage into the kit - win win Also leaves the belt loops free to snag a firesteel in - win win win!!!
I havent had a chance to use my millbank yet, so gave it a go today, as there is a stream running down beside the meadow. I didnt take any cord to hand the milly up, but my cunning belt kit came to the rescue et voila:
I then fired up my new emberlit stove to do the sterilizing once I'd got a cup full through the milly.
I also own a honey stove, and after first impressions of this competitor, the honey stove works better - but this may be all down to the wood and conditions (it was still fairly breezy here).
I like the technique from the emberlit website whereby you get a small fire going, the pretty much ram the feed poft with fuel sized chicks, gradually feeding them in as they burn. Once its going it really doesnt give off much smoke and gives good boil times. I find you can fit more in the honey stove and a s a result get a hotter fire and quicker burn time. With the emberlit I only just got to a rolling boil and the fire pretty much just fizzled out.
I may well do a more detailed comparison review in the future when Ive had more of a chance to get used to the Emberlit.
There had been a few passers by in the last little while and people looked at me like I was taking a dump in the street whilst doing all my millbank filtering and wood burning. Its not illegal to have an enclosed fire is it?
Anyhoo, another cup of tea and I set off for home. Left no trace:
Nice view of the late afternoon looking out toward my work where I had started my day.
On another side note it is the first proper walk for my new Rogue boots - and they are not lying when they say they are comfortable right out the box. I had worn them about town for a day, and after the 10 or 12 miles Ive walked today - NO BLISTERS!!! Even my well broken in Scarpa Rangers still give me blisters after walking up the first incline (*hence the change of boots). Anyway, very happy with them and would thus far not hesitate to recommend them.
Now its Pizza for dinner, steak for pudding, beer and movies. Steak for pudding I hear you mutter..... well it's my birthday and I'll eat what I want
I hope you have enjoyed the random news, reviews and ranting from the land of Colin, until next time...........
Enjoyed having a listen to some good music to drown out the noise of town until I was clear.
It was a nice sunny day here today, but not the warmest. I headed up towards a point on the hilltop I'd visited last summer, would make a great wee campsite if it werent illegal
The t-shirt didnt last long, as it was fairly breezy. I got set up for my brew and opened up my lunch, mmmmm rat pack chilli tuna pasta salad - made in Thailand!
Much to my dismay I suddenly realized I had forgotten any form of eating utensil! I was hungry and too impatient to find a large enough stick to fashion a rough spoon, and with necessity being the mother of creation I fashioned a stick fork or STORK (patent pending).
It did the job of transporting the food from its foil packaging toward my mouth very well for being such a rudimentary tool. Anyway, had my cup of tea with condensed milk (which I saw several people on here suggest) - it is AMAZING!
I also took some piccies of a belt kit I have been modding a bit, but more on that later.
On I wandered taking some pictures of the local scenery en route.
I decided not to summit Sugar Loaf today and explore her foot hills a bit more.
I found an excellent bit of woodland with masses of bramble bushes - I know where I am stocking up later this year!
Unfortunately, others have obviously been here before, and by the looks of the age of a few of the cans, quite recently too. At this point I realized a second item I had forgotten - a placcy bag! I would normally carry out rubbish like this, but had to make do with just removing the batteries the numpties had tried to burn, wrapping them up in some sweetie wrappers.
I will return to this area again and clear up the neat little pile of garbage I collected from around the charred campfire remains.
And so my adventure continued and I descended into a valley I have visited numerous times before but not by this route.
It has a lovely clearing with nice soft grass and catches the afternoon sun perfectly (when its not hiding behind clouds). Unfortunately this area is also scarred by the reains of a large fire and littered with cans and bottles. The nice lof that served as a chair hen I was last here is also gone.
I drank the can of ale I had been carting around and took a nap in the sunshine for a half hour (Lucky I didnt sleep for longer given Ive been working all night!).
I took some photo's of the kit I was carying in the sunshine:
The bag is a ~15l Swedish army Canvas sack - would have just gone with a gasmask bag but couldnt fit water, crusader and food in it, and didnt fancy wandering through town with full on belt kit. On the bag is my new Ti emberlit stove, little meths brew kit and rations for the day. To the right I've got my Auscam pouch for the osprey, crusader, lid and Millbank bag (I can tell you the crusader mug is an extremely tight fit, its a nightmare to get out). In the front I have my recently completed Karesuando Carbon Steel Knife and neck sheath, and alongside that the belt kit I showed you earlier.
Here is the knife and sheath in a bit more detail. I'm quite pleased with the outcome, of the knife particularly, I made several cock-ups on the sheath which will hopefully not be repeated next time - but ultimately it still works!
The belt kit is an army surplus leather one that I recently died. It has a D-ring between the two belt loops and a recent threat gave me the idea to hang it from a carabineer on my belt to avoid it interfering with a rucksack hip belt. I found this flapped about a lot, but then had the idea to use some paracord to make a belt for it. I braided some out before leaving and this worked a charm - really comfortable, still quick release, and solved both the flapping about problem and the fact I had been unable to squeeze cordage into the kit - win win
Also leaves the belt loops free to snag a firesteel in - win win win!!!
I havent had a chance to use my millbank yet, so gave it a go today, as there is a stream running down beside the meadow. I didnt take any cord to hand the milly up, but my cunning belt kit came to the rescue et voila:
I then fired up my new emberlit stove to do the sterilizing once I'd got a cup full through the milly.
I also own a honey stove, and after first impressions of this competitor, the honey stove works better - but this may be all down to the wood and conditions (it was still fairly breezy here).
I like the technique from the emberlit website whereby you get a small fire going, the pretty much ram the feed poft with fuel sized chicks, gradually feeding them in as they burn. Once its going it really doesnt give off much smoke and gives good boil times. I find you can fit more in the honey stove and a s a result get a hotter fire and quicker burn time. With the emberlit I only just got to a rolling boil and the fire pretty much just fizzled out.
I may well do a more detailed comparison review in the future when Ive had more of a chance to get used to the Emberlit.
There had been a few passers by in the last little while and people looked at me like I was taking a dump in the street whilst doing all my millbank filtering and wood burning. Its not illegal to have an enclosed fire is it?
Anyhoo, another cup of tea and I set off for home. Left no trace:
Nice view of the late afternoon looking out toward my work where I had started my day.
On another side note it is the first proper walk for my new Rogue boots - and they are not lying when they say they are comfortable right out the box. I had worn them about town for a day, and after the 10 or 12 miles Ive walked today - NO BLISTERS!!! Even my well broken in Scarpa Rangers still give me blisters after walking up the first incline (*hence the change of boots). Anyway, very happy with them and would thus far not hesitate to recommend them.
Now its Pizza for dinner, steak for pudding, beer and movies. Steak for pudding I hear you mutter..... well it's my birthday and I'll eat what I want
I hope you have enjoyed the random news, reviews and ranting from the land of Colin, until next time...........
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