One good thing - 25th May 2020

A beautiful, warm and sunny evening tempted me to sleep out under a tarp again - and while lockdown continues in Scotland the only available option remains the most micro of "micro-adventures" in the garden.  The tarp is an Alpkit Rig 7 which offers almost limitless pitching options as it has so many guying and lifter points.  This set-up is a simple one but was very effective on a night which was forecast to be warm but breezy.

Pitched with the foot end into the breeze it offered good airflow and was quite low to the ground whilst giving adequate headroom at the top end.   It's a bit different to the open fronted pitch I've used recently, but is one I'll use again.  all that was left to do at this point was to put my sleeping bag in.

I slept really well until the dawn chorus began at 0312 with our resident Robin,  Blackbird and two Cuckoos first to get going.  By 0400 the birdsong was terrific, a real treat if a little early in the morning for humans!

Tarp test - Alpkit Rig 7

This is a catch-up post from early summer, testing out a tarp on the hills above the house on an overnight trip.  These quick trips have become known as "microadventures" - but they're still overnight trips!

Allan and I set out from Terpersie on a lovely evening of bright sunshine. Whilst not particularly warm, the weather was fairly settled with the forecast of a cool and clear night to come.  At just two kilometres from home, there wasn't far to travel!  We set a leisurely pace and climbed the ridge known as the Fouchie Shank on a grassy track.

It didn't take us long to reach a spot I'd noted several times as offering a nice camp or bivvy spot.  At the edge of a wood which covers part of the upper ridge there are a number of decent pitches - in fact the difficulty was choosing the best of them rather than finding anywhere to pitch.  Allan had brought a tent and chose a spot under a large pine tree just outside the wood where there was good flat ground.

I was trying out my new tarp for the first time and chose a spot at the very edge of the wood.  Having tarped a long time ago, for some reason (midges mostly!) I'd switched to tents and not used a tarp for many a year.  My interest had been rekindled not by weight considerations - the combined weight of tarp, groundsheet and rigging isn't that much different to really light tents these days - but by the experience of sleeping in the open again.

Looking at various designs and configurations I'd decided on an Alpkit Rig 7 as seeming the best combination for what I envisaged.  Regular readers of this blog will know that I'm a bit of a fan of Alpkit products anyway, but what interested me about the Rig 7 was the lift points along the face of the tarp and the 16 eyes around the edge which are all reinforced with "hypalon" - which seems to be a very tough and strong relative of neoprene, with enough stretch to allow walking poles etc to be used with no risk of ripping the hypalon or the tarp fabric.  The fabric itself is 30 denier PU coated cordura with a ripstop weave, and comes in two colours; "kelp" as pictured here or a "chilli" red shade.  Dimensions of the Rig 7 are 2.4m x 2.8m and the pitching options are limited only by your imagination!  Guy lines and pegs aren't included, but Alpkit do a bundle which includes these items.  I used mainly 3mm guy lines which worked well and carried a long length of 4mm line which could have been used as a continuous ridgeline for rigging between trees.  the Rig 7 is one of a family of tarps with similar characteristics but differing sizes; from small solo tarps to group shelters.

My groundsheet was an "Oooktub" from Oookworks in a 220cm x 90cm configuration which has an ingenious design to form the tub shape when pegged out.  It's made of tough PU coated nylon and looks to be able to really keep the wet stuff at bay. My sleeping mat was an Exped Downmat 7 UL, one of the best pieces of outdoor kit I've ownd.

All up, my rig for this trial run was 1100g for the tarp, rigging, pegs and groundsheet.  As mentioned, this isn't much different from a lightweight tent; though it is noticeably lighter than my usual tent of choice, the full spec Terra Nova Voyager at 2100g.

As the night was forecast dry I chose to rig the tarp with an open frontage to maximise the experience of sleeping in the open.  there are so many ways in which the Rig 7 can be pitched that there should be an option for just about any weather - there are some tips on the Alpkit website for some simple rigs.....there's even a name for the art of pitching - "tarpology"!  I was glad I'd tried out a number of pitching arrangements at home; this gave me a start in deciding where and how to pitch for the trial run.

By coincidence, Allan was also using an Alpkit product; the Tetri; a two person tent with a tried and tested design.  Weight here is 3kg, so quite a difference.  That said, had the evening been very wet or midgy a tent would have been the preferred option!

After a bit of supper I settled down for the night, the sun not quite set on an early June evening.  The feeling of being out in the open is a real contrast to sleeping in a tent; even though I habitually leave the door open on fine nights.  Here, I was immersed in the wood and was able to see and hear the place settling for the night as part of it rather than being sealed away and slightly separated.

I slept pretty well too!  Deer moving past woke me briefly and a cuckoo called intermittently right through the night, but then in June the "night" here in Aberdeenshire is just a couple of hours of dusk rather than darkness.  For the first time, we heard the sub-song of the cuckoo, a chuckling low laugh between the familiar two-note call....probably it was amused by waking us?!

First thing on waking was the realisation that I was still "outside", immersed in the wood with early morning sunshine dappling through the trees.  I had been warm inside a down bag despite the night being quite cool and the tarp had kept any dew off me. There was little or no condensation on the sleeping bag; on colder nights I'd probably add a lightweight bivvy bag to the kit list.  Second thing was one undoubted advantage a tarp has over a tent - the ability to roll over and put on a brew without leaving the sleeping bag!  In fact two cups of tea were enjoyed from the comfort of my bed before getting up.

It was all in all a very successful test of the tarp and groundsheet and a very pleasant "microadventure".  I'll be using this set-up more often once the midges have disappeared and will write a more informed review once I've tarped in less favourable conditions.  For now, it's enough to say that it was a very enjoyable experience.

Equipment Review - Helinox "Chair One" camping chair

It was this winter camp which finally convinced us that camping chairs would be a good investment on sea kayaking trips.  A bitterly cold evening sat on just on the ground with the cold penetrating upwards was followed by.....

...a frigid morning several degrees below zero.  Mike, Douglas and I camp regularly both in the mountains and on sea kayak trips; in all seasons and in all kinds of weather. Whilst backpacking I tend to keep things reasonably light, but with the sapce available in a sea kayak there seems no good reason not to pack a chair to make things a bit more comfortable.

Douglas and Mike purchased Helinox chairs shortly after this trip, and having done some research I came to the same choice; I've now used the chair for two years in a variety of situations from summer and winter wild camping, in bothies, at camp sites, for family picnics and as an extra chair when the house was full of folk.

Helinox are a Korean company specialising in lightweight, innovative outdoor equipment.  If you've not heard of them (I hadn't before researching folding chairs....) then you may well be familiar with their best known products, the respected DAC series of tent poles.  The European dealer is Nigor BV based in the Netherlands.

The Chair One is designed as a lightweight but strong folding camp chair capable of supporting up to 145Kg.  The frame is constructed of DAC TH72M shock corded pole sections which are thicker and more robust than the average tent pole.  The frame connects to a pair of moulded attachments and the seat is then attached to the ends of the poles - as shown on the video on the Helinox website. The whole thing folds down and stows in the supplied zipped bag.  Total weight is 960 grams and the pack size is surprisingly small.

It has to be said that the Chair One is in no way a budget product, retailing at around £95 in the UK.  There are other desings and some close approximations of the Helinox design for less money, but none have the quality of the Chair One.  Right from unpacking the chair the quality and design are plain to see, the frame is strong and the design is good - everything fits just as it should and after extended use shows no sign of becoming loose or sagging.

The seat fabric is a robust and quite stiff cordura type material with panels of mesh at the back and lower sides for ventilation; the pockets into which the pole ends fit are very strongly constructed.

After a few months of using the chair I slipped on a wet rock and fell onto it, placing a stress at an angle onto one pole section which it was never designed to take.  Surprisingly, the pole didn't break but was slightly bent.  At the end of the trip I contacted Nigor to see if I could purchase a replacement section, explaining that it wasn't a fault with the chair but my clumsiness which had damaged the pole.  My email was answered within twenty minutes - a pole section would be despatched from Holland that day free of charge and postage.  That level of customer service and the quality of the chair mean that I should be enjoying a seat for many years to come!

If there's a drawback with the Chair One (and most folding camp chairs) it's that the legs tend to dig into soft ground, snow, and or pebble beaches.  Helinox have thought of this and there are two optional extras - a groundsheet which attaches to all the feet, and "ball feet" made of ABS plastic with silicone bases which push over the legs.  We purchased the ball feet and have found that they transform the stability of the chair - they can stay on the legs and the whole thing still fits into the zipped pouch.  The feet add about 250g in weight but are well worth considering.

So, it's a chair....... big deal you might think.....

But it really is!  Comfort at camp sites is just so much better; one's backside and legs are raised off the ground and into a comfortable sitting position.

The angle of the back seems just right to relax and the Chair One is still comfortable after a couple of hours sitting, whether that's enjoying a sunset......

......or sitting around a fire.  The seat height is 34cms without the ball feet, a couple of centimetres higher with the ball feet attached.  This height is just right for me, and is a convenient height to be able to sit and stand comfortably.

The Helinox Chair One may not be the cheapest chair on the market, but it is a premium quality, lightweight and comfortable chair which should see many years of use.  It packs small enough to easily fit in a sea kayak or rucsack.  Mine lives in the car when it's not in my boat and goes on most trips with me - only if I'm lightweight backpacking do I revert to a piece of sit-mat. 

There's a lot to be said for getting one's backside off cold, wet or tick-infested ground and chilly camps are now much more bearable!

Conflict of interest statement:  I purchased my Chair One at retail price (less a club discount) from a national retailer and have no connection with Helinox or the retailer apart from being a satisfied customer.

Equipment Review - Exped Downmat UL 7 sleeping mat

A good sleeping mat is pretty much essential for a good night's sleep when camping or bothying, particularly when the weather is colder.  Up until two years ago I'd used Thermarest inflatable mats for about ten years, which were a big step up from the closed cell Karrimats I used before that.

A friend recommended looking at the Exped range of downmats - I was intruiged by the concept and after some research took the plunge and purchased a Downmat UL 7.

Exped are a European company with a reputation for producing innovative lightweight camping equipment, and the downmat series certainly fits this theme.  The Downmat UL 7 is an inflatable mat with 170g of 700 fill-power goose down distributed along the tubes.  The combination of the down and the thickness of the mat are designed to provide insulation from the ground, claimed to be effective down to -24 degrees Celcius.  At a suggested retail price of £180, this is a premium product.....  so is it any good? 

The pack size is very compact - 23cm x 11cm and fitting into a 2.2 litre stuffsack.  Shown here against a 250g gas canister and a lightweight "traditional" inflatable sleep mat, the pack size is noticeably smaller, and lighter too.  The mat itself in the Medium size weighs 575g, and is supplied with a stuffsack, a useful repair kit and instructions (both of which fit into a pocket in the stuffsack - a good bit of design).  Also supplied is the inflation method.....

.....which Exped have named a "Schnozzle".  This is a large and lightweight stuffsack-type bag with a roll and clip closure and a "beak" fitted with a valve.

On the mat are two large valves, one to deflate and a non-return inflation valve.  To avoid the down getting damp from oral inflation, the method is to attach the Schnozzle, capture a bagful of air and squeeze it into the mat.  This takes a few goes to get the hang of, but is a really efficient method of inflation.  In a breeze, the bag can be fully filled and the mat filled very quickly.  The non-return valve ensures that no air escapes when removing the Schnozzle.  Deflation is very quick via the large deflation valve and the mat is easy to roll up. Unlike many outdoor products, it also fits easily back into the stuffsack with the Schnozzle and other accessories.  Incidentally, filled with spare clothing, the Schnozzle makes a useful pillow - I find it most comfortable if I then put the "pillow" of clothes inside a fleece top rather than sleeping in contact with the nylon bag.

Exped's website is packed with information about the mat, including full instructions, tips and repair instructions.

Fully inflated, the Downmat UL 7 is (as the name suggests) 7cm thick, the comparison with a traditional inflatable mat is quite striking.  This provides not only insulation, but evens out bumps in the ground under the tent.  The medium size is 183cm long and 52cm wide, ample for a 175cm tall, 75Kg adult.  Although lightweight, the construction is tough. Like any inflatable product, care needs to be taken to avoid punctures, but this mat feels well made.

Of course the only measure a sleep mat should be judged against is whether it offers a good night's sleep.  I can honestly say that the Exped Downmat has revolutionised my comfort and the quality of sleep.  The combination of insulation and the "plush" feel of the 7cm thickness make sleeping on this mat more akin to sleeping in a proper bed.  The outer two tubes are slightly larger than the other tubes which helps prevent any tendency to roll off the mat whilst asleep. Some lightweight and ultralightweight sleep mats sound like "crisp packets" when they are laid on; the Downmat is not, though there is a slight rustle when turning over. 

The Downmat has is astonishingly comfortable in use.  No more waking up with cold spots, and no more emerging from the tent in the morning feeling like the night has been spent lying on bumpy ground.  It's and expensive product, but in my opinion pays this back many times over in the quality of sleep it provides. Another noticeable benefit of using the Downmat is that there's no condensation on the base of my sleeping bag or under the mat itself. After a look at my mat, Douglas and Mike also took the plunge and bought Downmat UL 7's - none of us would consider going back to our previous sleep mats for a second!

After multiple uses, the down sometimes "clumps" in the tubes a little, this can be made out if the mat is held up against bright light.  Inflating the mat and giving it a good shake redistributes the down along the tubes.  One thing to look out for is the length of the mat.  For average sized folk, the Medium mat is well long enough at 183cm; if you go for the Long model,  it's 197cm and it would be worth checking if it will fit in your tent.  For very cold climates, a 9cm thick version with more down is available.

Having used the Downmat UL 7 for two years, in all kinds of conditions from well sub-zero to comparatively warm, in tents on a variety of surface and in bothies, I can highly recommend it - put simply it provides an extremely comfortable outdoor sleeping experience.

A fire on Kintyre

The coast north of Carradale is wooded right to the edge of the water and feels quite remote as the minor road leaves the coast and goes inland.  

Near to Eilean Grianain (sunny island) we stopped for luncheon and watched the "Ronja Challenger" manoeuvring alongside the salmon cages of a large fish farm.  A newly built vessel, the Ronja Challenger is Norwegian registered and is on a five year contract with Marine Harvest Scotland.

Described as a "wellboat", her job is to transport live fish from fish farms for either transfer to another location or to a processing plant.  She is 70 metres long and has a capacity of 1800 cubic metres - that's a lot of fish! 

Beyond the fish farm the hills of Arran remained resolutely in cloud, but we thought we detected a slight lifting of the cloud base as the afternoon went on.

Our next stop was on the inviting sand of the beach at Grogport - great name but sadly no grog seemed to be available other than that safely stowed in our kayaks for the evening.

The mica rock on this beach is featured in thin layers almost like scales - this half buried boulder resembled a huge seashell. 

Underway again, the seabed beneath our boats was lit with beautiful shades of green in the pale sunlight. During the next hour or so we looked at various camping spots on the shore which we'd marked as "possible" on our maps, settling on a rather fine spot.......

...where we could land on a shingle beach usable at all states of the tide......

...with a good bit of level ground behind on which to pitch our tents.  The ground was a little stony for the pegs but we both got good spots and put up the tents, the green colours blending unobtrusively with the vegetation.

Before dinner we gathered a quantity of driftwood, and after dinner we lit a fire below the highest tide line utilising a "Wilcox Ignition Aid" TM

Keeping the fire small and contained meant that we could generate a good heat.......

...and sit in comfort in our Helinox camp chairs with a Sports Recovery Drink and warmed by both fire and a small dram of our favoured Jura whisky - life seemed particularly agreeable!......

....and continued to be agreeable as we chatted long into the evening.  Baked potatoes were placed in the embers at "Log Mark 6" for the requisite 40 minutes and eaten with salt and butter under a sky which had cleared to show a swathe of the Milky Way.  All in all it was a pretty perfect evening, and it was as well that we enjoyed it as the following evening would be quite a contrast....

Rain, clearing later...

About 2am I was woken by the wind which was by then gusting strongly. I got out of the tent to check the guy lines, noticing that the cloudbase was moving past rapidly just above the level of my camp. I hadn't long been back in the sleeping bag and was dozing off when sleep was again interrupted by the sudden arrival of rain. No gentle summer shower this; it sounded as if I'd camped in a car wash! For the next several hours I listened intently as huge gusts of wind approached with a rising whoosh, intensifiying the rain battering the tent. The gusts slammed into the tent, causing it to shake violently and although it spoiled my sleep I was comfortable and confident that my tent (a Terra Nova Voyager) would ride out the weather as it has done many times before.

The gusts and rain eased towards dawn and although the wind stayed strong it was a steadier thing. I slept for an hour or two and woke to the familiar sound of Ptarmigan calling from the rocks above my camp.

The view outside was initially very misty, clearing slowly to reveal a grey and breezy morning.  I was in no hurry and treated myself to a cup of tea in bed before emerging.......

.....to a rapidly improving scene.  The cloud was tearing away on the strong south easterly wind and a first blink of brightness appeared.

Within an hour, the change was complete and the morning was bright and sharp if still notably windy.  I took down the tent and moved above the loch to wait near the path where I knew that the Duke of Edinburgh's team would pass by.

I met with the participants, who'd had almost no wind at their camp in the shelter of the Loch Avon basin, though they could hear it roaring around the crags above.  We discussed whether their proposed high level route was achievable and they continued on their four-day journey; which for most would be a completely new experience in an environment they'd never before encountered.  It's one of the great strengths of the Award that it introduces young folk to the possibilities within themselves in this kind of setting.

As they headed towards the skyline in this image, my return route took a path left, following the outflow of the smaller lochan......

...down past the Hutchie, which had folk in residence....

...and down the long walk-out through the glorious pinewoods of Glen Derry.  At these lower levels the wind was reduced to a gentle and pleasant breeze - just enough to keep me cool in the strong sunshine and to ward off the midges.  By mid afternoon I was back at a busy car park, chatting with some folk who'd intended to camp out the previous night, but had elected to stay at the Youth Hostel in Braemar because of the forecast rain through the night.  They didn't know what they'd missed! 

Equipment review - "The Sprainer"

I particularly like pieces of kit which are simple, especially if an item can perform more than one function.  For cooking in a non-stick pan on camping or bothy trips I wanted a good spoon which wouldn't scratch the pot. Normally I cook and eat with a MSR titanium spoon which doubles as a tool for maintaining one of my stoves, an MSR Dragonfly, but clearly titanium would damage a non-stick pot.

I also wanted something to help when straining vegetables, rice or pasta in the pan.  I couldn't find anything which fitted the bill properly on either count, lots of Lexan spoons but none big enough to use as a cooking utensil, and all the strainers were to big to carry easily in a rucsac or a boat.  So, I decided to make my own.

A wooden spoon from my local hardware store cost less than a pound.  I cut off about half of the handle, measured so that the spoon would fit inside the non-stick pan but still be long enough to use for cooking with.  Then I used a drill to make a series of holes in the spoon so that I could use it for straining. The longest row of holes are drilled to follow the profile of the pot rim, though it's not really necessary to be so precise!

So here it is the Spoon-Strainer - or "Sprainer"!  I can report that it works rather well, and is a good deal less expensive than some of the alternatives :o)