Name that hill...

Anyone know what this ridge is?

No prizes I'm afraid, just kudos :)

A clue, it's not Welsh.

Soulpads

I came across these guys when I was researching the Lavvu and again recently when I was reading the glamping bible, 'The Happy Campers'.

If you are going to car camp with your family, take a look at their tents, stoves and general hippy dippyness.

With 4 metre canvas bell tents (sorry, Soulpad) starting at around £250, you can be the envy of the campsite/festival wherever you go.

They have a lightweight version that the bushcraft community are apparently starting to get interested in, weighing in at a svelte 31 lbs ;)

The one issue I have with cotton/canvas tents is that when it rains on packing-up-camp day (and it always does), they are a bugger to dry out and will start to rot within moments of throwing them in the boot of the car. Soulpad recommend pitching your wet tent as soon as you get home and leaving it up until you have a sunny day.

Could be up for a while then.

 

Anyway, I want one :)

Cord Lock Light

An 8g wonder from Black Crater.

Via Uncooped.

Hike Hacker

I was spending a few minutes catching up with Weird Darren's blog and came across a recommendation to check out Hike Hacker.

I have been a fan of the LifeHacker website for a long time, and after taking a good look at this new site by the guy behind Two Heel Drive, I think that with lots of audience participation, Hike Hacker could become a very comprehensive source of bloody good ideas.

Take a look and get your top tips up there.

New ti' from Alpkit

The guys at Alpkit have just launched a new range of titanium cooking and eating gear to compliment their existing stuff (sporks, cutlery, chopsticks, cooking mug).

The new kit consists of of 'Snapwires' - ti' cutlery with folding handles (fork, spork, knife and a spoon @ £6.50 each), the Lhoon (long handled spoon for getting into freezer bags and deep cooking pots - 18g and a brilliant 7 quid), what looks like a remodelled MytiMug (750ml and 110g @ £25.00) and the MytiPot, a 1350ml cooking pot with a lid that weighs in 158g and £40.00.

I have also noticed a new LED lantern and some 8.5g titanium 'nail' tent pegs, although not strictly eating irons, I am sure that if you left your SnapWire at home...

Check out the new stuff http://www.alpkit.com/camp-cooking/ and start writing your Christmas list now.

The ultimate (car) camping BBQ?

The Bon-Fire barbeque set-up is just perfect! Beautifully made, Danish design and very 'pioneer'. This will be great when we camp with the Lavvu.

A heavy steel tripod holds a brazier / fire pan off the ground. There are three chains that hang from the legs that hold either a large stainless steel grill or a huge skillet / Paella style pan. From the top of the tripod comes another chain attached to a rotating handle and from this hangs a 6 litre enamelled stew pot (filled with Fasolia Yahni - Greek Bean Stew, in this photo)

But that's not all... there is a long handled pancake pan with... wait for it... a popcorn attachment. The kids love it. Lastly, it comes with an array of terrifying BBQ utensils, that look like tools for killing the cow as well as cooking it.

You can use firewood, lump charcoal or briquettes. I love this so much!

We tried it in the garden tonight - a practice run - just in case August should throw up two dry days in a row and we can go camping.

This set up is called the Bon-fire Complete Deluxe Package if you are tempted. Check out their gear at www.bon-fire.dk

Aaaaaggghh

I hate this weather sooooo much. It's bloody August for Crissakes.

Dear God (or the Met office)

I have 2 weeks off and just want to take my boys camping. How about some sunny days with the odd shower, not rainy days with the odd spell of sun? Please? Please?

Chris

xxx

Grandpa's Toasting Fork

I see Bob has the Light my Fire toasting forks in stock for only £3.99.

They just clip onto a stick and are great for open fire cooking.

I have one for each member of my family, they are great fun, especially for BBQ's when the embers are dying down and you can load them with four marshmallows.

Go get some now.

While you're there, grab a couple of tubes of the Gehwol foot cream. Rub it on your feet and between your toes before a hike and sore points and blisters will be a thing of the past. I didn't even get a hot spot on the Cambrian Way last year and put it all down to this cream.

Google Maps give walking directions

I have just noticed that Google Maps now gives walking directions as well as driving directions. That is pretty cool IMHO.

It plotted the walk from my office to my home as 4.9 miles and said it should take 1 hour 41 minutes - that is 2.91 mph.

It's still in beta, and gives the warning to 'Use caution in unfamiliar areas'. It will be interesting to see how this develops. At the moment it only uses the roads.

Wouldn't it be cool if eventually it used the footpath and cycle path networks, paths through the park and that sneaky shortcut through the school playing fields, with options to make the route high, scenic, mostly downhill or 'get me home from the pub ASAP'.

Dutch Oven

When we camped in the woods last year, I made some Beer Bread in a Dutch Oven and it went down really well. It is basically four cups wholemeal bread flour, salt, sugar, herbs, garlic, dried toms and any other fancy stuff you fancy - then you just pour in a 500ml bottle of real ale, mix it all up and leave it for half an hour before popping it in the Dutch Oven and placing it in the embers for another half an hour. (It works well in a regular oven too)

The yeast in the beer does enough work to make the bread pretty light - the flavour is out of this world.

Today, I practiced a recipe for a Peach Cobbler that is perfect for camping as it's so easy. You need any white cake mix, a can of lemonade and 2 tins of peach slices. Dump the cake mix and drained peaches in the pot, give it a stir and then add lemonade until the consistency is about right. Pop it on the embers for half an hour.

We had it with ice cream for dessert this evening.