Last week I picked up a Berghaus Vulcan on eBay. I have a few daypacks but I wanted a full-size bergen that could swallow a load of gear. The bag arrived on Friday, and by happy coincidence I had several hours free on Sunday to get out and give it a test in a local woodland. I loaded up the bag with about 16kg of gear and water, including a DD tarp, Tenth Wonder camping hammock, JetBoil and some amateur radio gear (more on that later). I'm pretty used to walking a few miles with packs containing 5 - 10kg of camera gear but this was the first time I'd ever tried to go beyond that weight - to be honest I found it pretty punishing and I clearly need to keep getting out with the pack and a decent amount of weight and get into better shape!
My plan was to walk about 2.5 miles including a few hundred feet of ascent, then set up a day camp for a few hours. I got most of the climbing over with on the first part of the walk - here's the view from the highest point:
There's a picnic bench on top of the hill and I took a break there for a few minutes. The Maxpedition pouch was meant to be slipped over the padded waistbelt of the rucksack but it slid around far too much - next time I'll attach it properly to the webbing:
After that it was back down the hill into the woods and onwards towards the spot I was planning to set up camp. Most of the woodland is young deciduous trees but there's a couple of conifer blocks - this one is a mix of Larch, Sitka Spruce and, rather bizarrely, Coast Redwood:
Once I reached the spot I'd chosen, it was time to get everything laid out ready to set up the tarp:
After about 10 minutes and a few nettle stings I had the tarp all set up - those trees on either side are just a little bit too close!
Playing radio - not really bushcraft but I know a few people on here are into amateur radio so I thought I'd put this one up. I picked a bad weekend for operating QRP (low power) portable as it was "Lighthouses On The Air" day and the band was completely crammed with special event stations - I did manage a few contacts around the UK though.
My plan was to walk about 2.5 miles including a few hundred feet of ascent, then set up a day camp for a few hours. I got most of the climbing over with on the first part of the walk - here's the view from the highest point:
There's a picnic bench on top of the hill and I took a break there for a few minutes. The Maxpedition pouch was meant to be slipped over the padded waistbelt of the rucksack but it slid around far too much - next time I'll attach it properly to the webbing:
After that it was back down the hill into the woods and onwards towards the spot I was planning to set up camp. Most of the woodland is young deciduous trees but there's a couple of conifer blocks - this one is a mix of Larch, Sitka Spruce and, rather bizarrely, Coast Redwood:
Once I reached the spot I'd chosen, it was time to get everything laid out ready to set up the tarp:
After about 10 minutes and a few nettle stings I had the tarp all set up - those trees on either side are just a little bit too close!
Playing radio - not really bushcraft but I know a few people on here are into amateur radio so I thought I'd put this one up. I picked a bad weekend for operating QRP (low power) portable as it was "Lighthouses On The Air" day and the band was completely crammed with special event stations - I did manage a few contacts around the UK though.
