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.

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'.

Introducing the amazing Shit Box

You have just got to see this and it it British. Great website too.

"The Shit Box is a lightweight portable cardboard toilet made specifically for outdoor use"

One of these and a poncho tarp and you are set up for a 'scenic' anywhere.

Buy one now, these guys deserve success.

Everest photos

Some early Everest expedition photos are available to see online.

Some fantastic stuff here at the Bentley Beetham Collection.

Via The Goat.

John Muir Trail - Cookie style

Check out Cookies JMT video. Truly inspirational stuff.

I was getting pee'd on in the Cambrian mountains and he was doing this.

 

While you are there, have a browse around, weeks of entertainment.

God, I won!

Today I had an exciting box arrive from Germany containing a Steripen - a hi-tech device for killing bugs in water. A quick blast from the UV light and it's safe to drink.

This is going to perfect when I am out for the day with my boys,

This wonderful gadget came from Roman, who blogs as Lighthiker and is the 5th in a series of competitions that he runs with some fantastic prizes including a Caldera Cone and a Gossamer Gear G6!

Roman's is one of the 3 or 4 outdoor blogs that I check every day - this guys is a true gear nut, a man after my own heart!

Check out his blog and get ready for the next competition. Thank you Roman!

New books

After reading The Thousand Mile Summer by Colin Fletcher, I had a hunt around for similar books depicting backpacking journeys.

 

'High Summer - backpacking in the Canadian Rockies' and 'The Great Backpacking Adventure' by our own Chris Townsend came up in searches , but they were not available through Amazon (out of print). A quick hunt around found Chris's website - he has some left and sells them online. A quick email to Chris and within two days, they had arrived, despite the horrible storms he was suffering 'up there'.

I am in the middle of The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane at the moment, but I have quickly dipped into the Pennine Way chapter of 'The Great Backpacking Adventure' and it is everything I had hoped it would be - a blow by blow account of his adventures.

Get 'em while you still can, thanks Chris!

The Suburban Bushwacker

Found an thoroughly entertaining outdoors blog after the owner left a comment here. Take a look, fascinating and funny stuff...

"A bit fat, a bit lazy, a happy suburban dad. I love to be outdoors, cooking and eating wild food.And for my next trick I shall turn myself into a bow-wielding Elk Hunter!"

He is an ex vegetarian with an unusual ambition...

"Hunt, and kill a massive Elk with a bow. To skin it, butcher it, put it’s meat on the table and in the freezer, hang its skull and antlers on the wall, spread its hide across our bed and love-wrestle Mrs Bushwacker on top of it in its honour".

You can find The Suburban Bushwacker here. Great stuff!

Great idea for the Snowdon Cafe

A zipline straight down to the bus stop from the new Snowdon cafe, just in case you snap off a heel on the way up.

Take a look at the video here, I really, really want a go on this!

Google Earth get biblical

Some fascinating images from Oz based creative collective 'The Glue Society'. They have used Google Earth to create 'what if satellite imagery existed in biblical times' imagery. Supreme Photoshopping.

 

This image shows Moses parting the Red Sea.

 

Have a look here for the complete collection of four artworks. Beautiful stuff. Check out the comments they have received, there are some very 'unusual' people around.

Ummm?

Click the picture for an enlarged view.

Found it here.

It is one of those "Wow, bloody hell" sites.

SEO For Bloggers

File under: Of no interest to anyone but my fellow Bloggers

Aaron Wall has written a Blogger's guide to search engine optimisation. If you read anything about SEO, read this.

Google Adwords

I am doing a Google Adwords course today, and I am going to experiment by seeing if I can drive traffic to www.hikewales.co.uk.

I am going to have to make some hosting changes and maybe even move away from Blogger, so the blog might disappear for a bit. Not sure when this will be though.

If you visit and get white noise, do come back, because it will pop up in it's beautiful new form.

Hopefully.

New Welsh outdoors blog

Check out Pembrokeshire Life - The Way Out West by my mate Tim.

It's never going to be much cop, but I feel sorry for him living where he does.

He comes to work on a horse and cart y'know.

New Podzines...

Better late than never I suppose.

I have just had a chance to listen to the first three 'issues' of Bob Cartwright's Outdoor Station podzines.

Bob manages to do what none of the other outdoors podcasters do (and I have listened to most of them) and that is to produce a varied, interesting and beautifully produced mix of content that is of interest to all outdoorsy people, whatever your core interest(s).

He does a few interviews (real face to face, 'microphoned' stuff unlike those awful telephone and Skype interviews that our US friends are forced to produce), a quick review of the mag's, a bit of industry gossip and a regular competition (that I am destined never to enter) giving away some pretty cool blagged prizes all wrapped up in that unique style of delivery that is 'Podcast Bob'.

My only worry is that the weekly show is going to be too demanding on his time and I will have to, once again, listen to Chris Moyles on the way to work every morning.

Ektaman

For those of you that follow Duncan's blog, 'Aktoman', you would have noticed that it has taken a decidedly photographic turn over the past months.

I think it all started when he spent a small fortune on a new digital SLR, then he had some time off work which he used to hone his apparent talent. He is actually bloody good!

I have been through art college (and the photography 'modules' - they weren't called modules in those days and we used Ilford and Ektachrome rather than SD cards) and I know how hard it is to take some of the shots he is attempting - and managing to pull off. In my work, I commission very expensive photographers and Duncan's work is of a standard that could be used for destination marketing (contact Visit Scotland Duncan!)

The man has an eye for it and I hope he doesn't mind me reproducing two of my favourites here.

If you don't already subscribe, RSS Duncan's blog and watch this talent grow before your very eyes!

A new Welsh blog...

Check out Simon Chaplin's new blog, 'Walking Adventures'...

http://simonchaplin.blogspot.com/

Carbonite

No, it's not some new hi-tech material for tent poles.

It's an on-line backup service that costs £25 a year. Set it up and forget about about it until you need it. Depending on how much data you want to back up and your connection speed, it takes about 5 or 6 days to do the initial backup.

After that, it sits in the background, archiving your precious photos, mp3's, memory map routes or whatever else is dear to you. There is no limit on the amount of stuff you can back up.

Have a look at their website and consider it a cheap insurance premium for the years of 1's and 0's you have gathered. It's beautifully simple :)

New look backpackinglight.com

www.backpackinglight.com has had its promised overhaul. Not too bad at all.

Old Hands, new blog

Two people that have inspired me with their superb site chock full of adventures have just started to blog.

Geoff and Vivien of VG Backpacking in Britain, have one of the best backpacking sites in the UK and I often scour their content for trip ideas.

Check out their new blog here.

Cool Japanese UL blog

I can't read Japanese, but there are lots and lots of lovely pictures!

http://ulgoods.exblog.jp/

The man is a genius - I wish he was my next door neighbour.

UK Outdoors Bloggers Forum

We have our forum!

Thanks very much to Lay for setting it up - I look forward to talking shop with the usual suspects, (podcasters too ;), see y'all over there.

But that's enough of that, back to outdoors stuff.

Wales 1000 Things

IT'S ALIVE!

www.wales1000things.com

Get over there now and upload your photos or videos of your good times in Wales and there is a very, very, very good chance of you getting a tenner voucher from Blacks. They have 1000 to give away.

THE BEST BIT... You can do it as many times as you like! Just think of the excuses you won't have to make to your other half when those new Goretex Paclite trousers arrive in the post!

If you don't have any pic's or YouTube videos to put up, take a look around - there is some great stuff up already. There is a walking section and you can view by region too. It's worth a visit just to see the pic of Alan ice skating on the Black Mountain!

PLEASE HELP!

If you read this, can you do me a little favour please?

Just click on the comment link below and let me know where you are from? Just your town and country will do, no need to write anything else if you don't want to! I just want to get an idea of who actually reads this.

It is just a little experiment and I would REALLY appreciate your help :)

Thank you,
Chris

White Box stove review

My favourite little stove has just been reviewed by Backpackinglight.com and it's a free article, so you don't need to be a subscriber to view it.

Take a look here and have a look around the site, it's well worth the £12 or so a year IMHO!

Bob's Tips - Strapamaptome

I have just listened to Bob's excellent 'tips' podcast. If anyone can visualise his strapamaptome device, can they please sketch it and email to chris(at)hikewales.co.uk!

It sounds great but I can't get my head around his description. I am sure it's just me!

Geocaching

Happy new year to you all!
I had the day off today so went to do a couple of local Geocaches that I had not ticked off yet. The first was in Ilston Woods on Gower and the second on Cefn Bryn, also on Gower. I have my own cache hidden on Gower, Radar Love.
For those of you that have never tried Geocaching, take a look at the site, tap in your postcode and be prepared to be amazed by the number of caches within a few miles of your home. The site gives you a set of co-ord's for you to enter into your GPS and off you go.
A cache can be many things, but it is usually a Tupperware box hidden in the countryside containing little gifts and a log book for you to record your visit. You can take a little gift with you and swap if you fancy something (great for getting your kids into the countryside as it is a sort of hi-tec treasure hunt).
I like geocaching as it takes you to some great places. When we went to the Lakes the summer before last, I entered half a dozen caches into my Garmin before we left and they were the basis of our 'family' walks. Just the job when you don't want a full on hill day but just a lungful of fresh air and some exercise!

If you have a GPS, give it a go, especially if you have kiddies.

V-G... what a cracking site!

I have had this site in my bookmarks for a while now, but have just spent some time taking a good look.

Dive in here and take a look at the trip lists these guys have put together. They have included day by day journals, maps, panoramas, MemoryMap data and loads of great photography.

They cover the whole country with loads in Wales including a 3 day (36 mile) trip in the Preseli Hills and another two trips in the Beacons.

Thank you very much for a brilliant reference site!

He's done it!

Aktoman walked through the night to hit Fort William at 4.00am and had us gripped every step of the way. His multiple posts throughout the day are a web marketers dream - stickiness as we call it in the trade.

What the hell am I going to look at next week - back to OM I suppose;)

Well done and thanks for the diversion!

Aktoman's Adventure

For those of you that have not tuned in yet for Aktoman's live blog from the West Highland Way, pop over there and have a read.

It's a great concept - he is posting via mobile technology and it captures the emotions that a post hike report never could.

I'm hooked!

GoLite Podcast

Episode 16 of the US based Practical Backpacking Podcast sees Bernie talking to Demetri Coupounas, or Coup as he's known, the co-founder of US lightweight company, GoLite.

Backpacking Bob had the scoop on Coup in his podcast last December, so you would have heard a few of the anecdotes before, but Bernies version is still worth a listen as they chat about the new GoLite kit. Coup is a very interesting guy and can talk at length, and with passion, about his company, his products and the outdoors.

After listening to Bobs professional productions, Bernie takes a little getting used to, but he has some great interviews in his archive including Dusty Allison of 'Leave No Trace', Sarah Svien, author of Freezer Bag Cooking and our very own Matt Hazley. His conversation with Henry Shires is one of my favourites.

Hey Bob, why don't you interview each other - it would be a delight with the contrasting styles!

What do you mean you don't have an iPod? If you are a podcast virgin, you can listen to them straight from your 'puter or Apple have just released a micro iPod for around £50, ideal for lightweighters, take a look.

Thanks for the mentions!

Thanks very much to George Griffin at London Backpacker, Aktoman, John Hee at Walkabout in the UK and Andy Howell for the kind comments and links.

Traffic to Hike Wales has soared!

Andy Howell's is back!

Andy Howell's excellent blog is back.
After major technical problems Demon managed to lose his data somewhere in cyberspace.
I hope he manages to get some of the archived stuff back online soon.

Welcome back Andy :)

New website address

This blog can now be found, in all of it's glory, at www.hikewales.co.uk. Please be sure to bookmark this new address!

Thanks
Chris