The Free Radicals Blog

5.11 Backpack Rush 72-hour

2011-12-03T22:13:00.000Z

As someone who has everything required for an pleasent outdoor weekend in the bush, not alot of kit catches my eye these days, but I came across this bergan by 511. Looks pretty good and I've always liked the US MOLLE mounting system. This bergan looks almost perfect, but it's capacity is only 47 litres... not quite big enough for me, but never the less a nice bag if it suits your needs.

My last post to this Blog

2011-06-26T14:10:00.005+01:00

The link on the right that was to a selection of photos will no longer work because I've removed the folder. I've been doing some housekeeping and having a tidy up and no longer wish to share that folder. TG if you want the photos from that folder then drop me a line and I will fire them over and you can upload and host them in your space. Chances are you should already have these photos stored somewhere.

I liked the idea of YouTube for the videos and the idea of this Blog. But sadly the YouTube account suffered from abuse so I closed that.

This Blog has gone nowhere fast. None of our crew have bothered to signup or comment, and the public input as been zero. It's only kept alive by myself and TG, and that's a shame and now seems pointless us two posting when we can share our thoughts, ideas and adventures via email etc...

This will be my last post to this Blog. I will still contact the crew in the way that I've always done, as there seems no point in posting it here anymore.

Thanks TG for creating this Blog, it's a shame that it's not been used.....Cheers mate ;)

Videos & Slideshow videos

2011-05-18T15:07:00.002+01:00

Sorry that the links to my videos and ones that TG has linked to will now fail. I've taken them down because I closed my YouTube account. TG, if you want any of the videos then chances are you already have them, if not buzz me and I'll send over any that you might want to store in your own space. Sorry for this but my YouTube account was getting more abuse than good sensible comments, so rather than keep having to police it, I've closed it.

Topgear breathes new life into satnav

2011-01-09T16:44:00.000Z

It's usefull having a gadget freak in your crew, especialy when he can bring your satnav back to life after you'v given up all hope of it working again and had tossed it too one side.
Cheers mate, she's working like a dream again.

October 2010 Forest Camp

2011-01-05T17:37:00.000Z

Well guys I have to say that was a great weekend. Good to see old faces and a new one. The tree climbing was a lark, as was the slingshot shooting. Great company and nice BIG fires, which in my case were needed after my encounter with that ditch ;-)

October 2010 Camp

2010-11-28T16:47:00.000Z

Here's some video from our October 2010 Camp, special thanks to the Big Guy for the camera work and editing. Highlight of the weekend, appart from it been too warm and too many bugs, was the tasty spit roast grey squirel!

Photo slideshow from the weekend can be found here

Looking forward to the Christmas camp.... subzero temperatures and possibly snow!

How to prolong lithium-based batteries

2010-10-18T13:48:00.000+01:00

As some of our regular readers might notice, the Big Guy and myself are know flashpackers out in the field, which means lots of batteries to keep our techo kit running while we are away. One recent innovation in battery technology is Lithium Ion (Li-ion) batteries. We like them because they hold more change for their size and they work well in the cold (but not below freezing!).

I found this article particularly useful on how best to look after and prolong the life of Lithium Ion batteries. Here's the simple guide for looking after your Lithium Ion batteries : -

Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory. (In this respect, lithium-ion differs from nickel-based batteries.) Short battery life in a laptop is mainly cause by heat rather than charge / discharge patterns.
Batteries with fuel gauge (laptops) should be calibrated by applying a deliberate full discharge once every 30 charges. Running the pack down in the equipment does this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate and in some cases cut off the device prematurely.
Keep the lithium-ion battery cool. Avoid a hot car. For prolonged storage, keep the battery at a 40% charge level.
Consider removing the battery from a laptop when running on fixed power. (Some laptop manufacturers are concerned about dust and moisture accumulating inside the battery casing.)
Avoid purchasing spare lithium-ion batteries for later use. Observe manufacturing dates. Do not buy old stock, even if sold at clearance prices.
If you have a spare lithium-ion battery, use one to the fullest and keep the other cool by placing it in the refrigerator. Do not freeze the battery. For best results, store the battery at 40% state-of-charge.

letsomebodyknow.com (where to find the body?)

2010-08-24T17:52:00.003+01:00

Here is a handy ~~free~~ $30 service for all us adventurers out there :-

http://www.letsomebodyknow.com/

"Want to stay safe but don't want to bother people by always telling them your plans? Use LetSomebodyknow.com to quickly log your plans and have the choice of only notifying people about them if you don't return."

or should that be 'going somewhere you shouldn't be and don't want to tell anyone... but just incase you dont come back they will know where to look?'

Joking aside, it is very important to let someone (or a website) know your travel plans, your expected locations with date/times and your expected return date/time. Be safe, be happy.

Topgear.

Fiskars Axe or a Gerber ?

2010-03-20T11:42:00.001Z

Fiskars say that the handle is a virtually unbreakable FiberComp^® fiberglass handle, and the head locks in a permanent, wiggle-free position.

Well I knew our axes were strong, and I have to say that in all the years that myself and TG have had them, they're as good as the day they were new.

Now the reason for this post is to spread a little known tip when buying one of these axes.

Fiskars and Wilkinson Sword, are one in the same. So if you see one of these little orange gems with Wilkinson Sword or Fiskars on the handle then buy it.

The main tip comes here.......the Gerber axe sells for a shed load more than my Fiskars which only cost me £17.99 about five or so years ago, and at the time then the Gerber equivalent axe cost closer to £50. Now a few of you know this but not everyone, so here goes......a Gerber axe is realy a Fiskars axe that's got a black handle and a badge that reads Gerber. So save yourself some money and go to the gardening store to buy a Fiskars rather than an exspensive outdoor store that's selling the same axe in a different jacket !

Water in a meths burner !

2010-03-14T22:31:00.001Z

I just recieved this response to one of my videos......

Now here's the WARNING......I'm not endorsing this as a tried and tested method because I've not had a chance yet to test it myself, but I am interested in anyones comments with regards to this and have they used this method and does it work and what sort of results did you get.

Good video. a small tip: I've found that adding a TINY amount of water to the meths in the burner doesn't affect it's efficiency, but certainly prevents the base of the pans getting "sooty", so to speak!

My stove setup for use in a tent

2010-03-05T11:58:00.001Z

This is now the only cooker that I use when I'm camping in a tent.

I've done away with the big heavy twin burner cooker and large gas bottle and gone for this little cooker that I had knocking about in the back of the car for brews and meals when out on the road.

Now I know the benefits of a twin burner with grill as I'm sure TG will tell me, but that's fine in his HUGE bungalow tent, but for smaller tents like my dome and tunnel tent, then one of these little gas stoves that fit into a compact case the size of a cordless drill box is the way forward for me.

You can see from the picture that I've taken an old curver plastic storage box and cut out the one side and then flipped the box over and cable tied an old wire rack where the box wall once was. I've also blue tacked my cooker splash guard around the inside of the box to reflect the heat and to save me having problems with the box melting !

It's proved to be a great setup. The cooker is fast and stable to have in a tent, the gas lasts for ages and the cans of gas are nice and cheap. The heat output is good so it also doubles as a tent heater. The splash box I made not only gives me somewhere to store the pots but also keeps stuff from splashing onto the inner walls of my tent.

I used this cooker on a frosty week up in The Lake District and only used two and a bit cans of gas, which I was surprised about. It's nice, clean and boils water fast. This will always be the cooker of choice for tent cooking in future, and if I find I need another burner then it's only £14 to buy another one of these cookers.

Yes I have small gas cookers and meths burners, but who wants to burn meths in a tent, the smell and sooty pots is a bitch and then the chance of spilling it is not something I want to think about, and as for small gas cookers, well they're liable to tipping over wich is not so bad outdoors but for in a tent it's a HUGE problem.

I pull the cooker from this box and put it back into it's case and toss it in the back of the car for year round use so It's been a good investment. I also like the Piezo ignition.

Anyway, here it is in it's splash guard box.

Rare footage of JB from HAE on a water run in Maine

2010-03-02T22:08:00.001Z

Guestbook Closure

2010-02-27T21:28:00.001Z

For sometime now we've made all our posts here so I've closed our

Free Radicals Guestbook

A link to all of our old Guestbook entries will go here soon...

Thanks to smartgb.com for our ever working FREE guestbook.

* New Photos *

2010-02-27T20:52:00.001Z

I've been digging around and added 114 photos to our folder.

Some old and some not so.......

They're over there --------> in the "Radical Expedition Photographs"

Just click on the slideshow to see them all full size

The SnowClaw

2010-02-21T21:31:00.001Z

I brought one of these back from my Canada trip, it was a gift from Her Indoors :-)

It's the cats whiskers for Backcountry Hikers.

People have them hung off packs and tossed in the backs of cars.

Have a look at the website and then take a look at the video.

My first thoughts were how usefull one of these would be on the mountain treks, but the more you look at it the more uses it has........shovel, fracture splint, snow anchor, glissade, pack support.....and at 6.1oz it's going to feature on the back of my pack on hikes, if not only for its use as a splint or a pack support to protect the contents of my pack, it's a great bit of kit and well worthy of hanging off the back of my pack.

Website

http://www.snowclaw.com/

Video

http://www.snowclaw.com/video.htm

R.I.P. My Trusted Friends

2010-02-14T10:41:00.000Z

Sadly on the day of the 14th February 2010, after many years of trusted service, my warm dry cumfy boots have been invaded by maggots and have been put to rest.

Leason be learned, never leave your boots in the shed with a pair of used garden gloves on them, because you never know who or what's going to crawl into them !

Goodby my boots, you served me well :-(

Some of the guys at Sty Head

2010-01-31T17:28:00.001Z

Mikey Dread, Van Cleef, Hawk, Mad Micky & Topgear

Memory-Maps Adventurer 2800 GPS

2010-01-02T14:14:00.001Z

Is this a poor cheeky clone of the rather splendid Satmap unit, or will it perform !

http://www.memory-map.co.uk/adventurer/index.html

Satmap Active 10

http://www.satmap.com/about.php

British Army PLCE Bergen Maintenance

2009-12-08T15:01:00.001Z

Well it's that time of the year where I give my main bergan a soak in the bath.

It's been hung up in the shed for a few months and has taken on that damp smell.

All I use to wash it is shower gell, as I've found in the past if I use washing powder it takes forever to rinse it out.

Now some people will be crying at the thought of me washing a bergan and killing its waterproof qualities, but save your breath, no bergan is waterproof, ok it might be for a few days when it's new if you're very lucky, but it's never going to be 100%, not even close.

The best way to keep the contents of a bergan dry is to line it with strong heavy duty rubbish bags.

You don't need fancy drybags, just a good strong rubbish sack to line the main compartment.

For extra security and peace of mind I also seal my sleeping bag inside a rubbish sack.

Water will find its way through the best bags in the world and even spraying the bergan with a proofing agent is a waste of time and money.

Save your cash and line the main compartment with one HUGE sack, then find smaller sacks to line the side pockets.

Nothing will get through plastic bags unless you puncture them.

Now I have to go and do a few fixing hoop modifications that are long overdue, including replaceing the worn out thin bungee that holds my Trangia fuel bottle on the one side of the bergan, and also replace the worn out bunjee on the other side that has held my Fiskars Axe in place for the past five or so years.

I will post a photo of the finisshed bergan and the mods soon...........

Tesco Rucksack for £9.50 is it any good !

2009-11-29T16:11:00.001Z

I needed a mid sized rucsack to use as carry on flight luggage for my trip to Canada.

It needed to big enough to hold my laptop and all my goodies, but still be small enough to meet the airline size regulations.

I spent a week looking at various packs around the 35 to 45 litre size and to be honest none of them suited my needs or pocket, what with some of them hitting £50+

So.....walking around Tescos with food on my mind I came across the reduced section and found this gem of a bag that had been reduced from £18.50 to £9.50

Now if I had the chance and money to ask someone to design the ultimate 45Litre rucsack for my needs, then this was or is the pack for me. It's loaded with features, it's strong, nice looking, cumfy to wear and for £9.50 it's pocket money priced.

I loaded this pack with the following:

Laptop + leads + psu

eTrex GPS

Camera + spare batts

Meds + firstaid

Fleece jacket

Snacks 'n' sweets

Pens, paperwork, passport, money, etc....

I had plenty of room left in it and had not used the side pockets.

The only limmit was the weight regulations or I could of got more gear in if needed.

I bounced it around three airports, took it on three flights and in the boots of two cars, sorry one was a trunk as I was in Newfoundland by then ;-)

It feels as cumfy fully loaded as it does empty. The padding on the straps and the ventilated back system do the trick just like they should on a pack £80+

I Looked hard for faults but can't find a single one, I even love the way that they've lined the zipped pocket that holds the rain cover, so if you put it away wet it will not be against your gear. I also like the fact that the zip on the top pocket faces the back of my neck, making it harder for Mr Naughy to get at my goodies while I'm stood with my back to him. The Ice-Axe/Walking Pole hoops are not mentioned in the discription, and under close inspection they're tuffer than they need to be so that's another bounus. I do like where they have the D rings on the straps, my two way radio fits on the one in a perfect place to use without having to remove it, and the same can be said of putting my GPS on the other strap, it's just where I need it. The chest strap is also very cumfy and incorperates a very loud whistle.

Seven weeks of abuse and it's still going strong.

I would of been happy to of paid more for it.

Go out and buy it.

Specs:

45 Litre Rucksack

600D Polyester with diamond Ripstop trim
Easy access vertical zip
Padded shoulder straps
2 bellow side pockets
2 side mesh pockets
2 quick release adjustable compression straps
Neoprene carry handle
4 compartments
Bright orange rain cover (elasticated)
ventilated back system
Hydration compatible

Dimensions L32 X W17 X H49cm
1.3kg empty

Ray Mears and the BBC iPlayer

2009-11-04T13:29:00.001Z

Just went onto the the beebs iplayer to watch the two episodes of Ray
Mears Northern Wilderness and see a few nice changes, mainly in the
form of not having to be online to watch missed program. You can now
download the programs you want and they will remain watchable on your
computer for 30 days. As soon as you start to watch a program it's
state changes and you're only alloeed to watch that program as many
times as you want in the next seven days. Anyway it's a nice touch if
you want to download and take your viewing with you. I was also happy
with how fast the programs downloaded. I had thre programs all of
630mb on the go and got them all in just over 20mins.

Have fun watching Mr Mears.

Turn Your Water Bottle Into A Solar-Powered Lamp

2009-09-10T13:42:00.003+01:00

Now this looks like a great Idea, and something that I fancy giving a blast, however I'm not going to pay £8, soooo I've got my eyes on butchering one of my solar garden lights and have already found myself a donor bottle for this project. Coming soon, BG's homemade bottle light ;)

Read this guys review.......

The LightCap 200 turns any of those ubiquitous wide-mouth water bottles from Nalgene or Camelbak into a solar lantern. The LightCap is, as its name implies, a replacement cap for a water bottle, but with four bright LED lights on the underside and a small solar panel on top. Fully charged (about 12 hours in direct light), the LightCap 200 will yield an amazing eight hours of light, which is more than enough to sustain most camping trips or outlast a power outage. More on my time with the SolLight LightCap 200 after the jump.

I've often cursed the waste, and weight, of fuel or battery-powered lanterns. So, I was thrilled to try out the LightCap 200 on a recent backpacking trip. It weighs next to nothing on its own, and since I had to carry full water bottles in my pack anyway, I had no extra weight in the form of batteries, fuel, or lantern. Since the LightCap 200 is waterproof, there's no problem screwing the cap onto a full water bottle. However, I strapped the LightCap 200 to the top of my pack for the hike in, to give it some time to charge in full light.

After using the light on the first night, I only had to leave it in the sun on Day Two and it was charged up and ready to go the next night. Due to the LEDs, the light is rather focused, rather than diffused like a regular lantern, but it provided ample light for food prep and a card game. Even better, I had no fumes or fire hazard to contend with while reading in the tent at night.

Click on the tittle of this post to see a video of the lightcap in action.....

Survival Playing Cards

2009-09-06T17:12:00.001+01:00

Jans mom gave me a usefull pack of playing cards while I was over in Canada.

Each card gives strategies and tips on surviving out in the wild.

No deed to take a pocket survival guide and a pack of playing cards now ;)

Categories include:

* How to survive a forest fire.
* How to survive an avalanche.
* How to fend off a black bear attack.
* How to avoid snake bites.
* River safety.
* hunting for survival.
* Finding water.
* Useful knots.
* First aid kit.
* Drowning.
* Plus 42 other categories!

The Big Guy Returns

2009-09-06T02:34:00.006+01:00

I'm back in Blighty after seven weeks in Canadas Newfoundland wilderness, just me, the mrs, the bears, the moose and the whales.

It was a trip of a lifetime, fantastic scenery, great people, stunning locations, splendid food, and more wilderness than you can shake a stick at.

Click on the picture above to see the moooooooose......

Rise of the Hammock

2009-09-01T11:26:00.006+01:00

Hammock Central

Last weekend was spent in the forest with the Mad Crew, unfortunately the Big Guy has disappeared off to Canada and obviously couldn't make it, he must have found those real mountains and endless miles of forest far too appealing, I expect he is waiting for the snow to arrive to he can go joy riding in a Skidoo :-)

This was the first expedition where everyone was sleeping in a hammock. Is this start of something new for the crew? Sleeping in a hammock is fun and you don't have to worry too much about what is on the ground, especially during the warmer weather when the floor is alive with bugs! Getting into your sleeping bag with a hammock is fun, the trick is to get into your bag while standing on the ground, pull it up over your head as far as it will go, then carefully sit in the centre of the hammock and swivel yourself in. Falling off just adds to the entertainment!

Tom look at a Sparassus Crispus

Find of the weekend has to be this Cauliflower fungus (Sparassus Crispus), first time any of us had seen one, probably because we are usually mooching around the forest out of season for this Fungi, it was certainly a fine looking fungus, apparently it's edible to. There where plenty of Toads to be seen and we also found the cutest little Pond Froglet you've ever seen, unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me a the time ;-(

Magnesium Fire Starter

2009-08-27T15:52:00.000+01:00

Well my old flint and steel snapped about three years ago and since then I've been useing TG's Sweedish Firesteel. So while I'm out here in Canada I decided to pick one up for myself, as I've been saying for the past few years...lol........but for a change and to make some comparisons I've picked up one of these magnesium fire starters, with a flame source of 5400F. It should do the trick of replaceing my old flint and steel.

Looking at the ammount I've used so far for testing, it should provide me with sufficient shavings to start hundreds of fires.

Will be nice to set it against the sweedish one in a field test this winter when it's damp and frosty.

Hannah Stove

2009-07-18T17:51:00.005+01:00

Heres my attempt at the Hannah (pressurised alcohol) Stove. This one includes my own devised internal heat exchanger which theoretically helps the alcohol vapourise better.... need to conduct some more tests to prove this. Burn time was 15 minutes using 20 x 1mm holes and 2 pence over the presure release hole (didn't explode!). You can see how hot this baby burned, it discoloured the aluminium!

Flashpackers, are you one ?

2009-06-03T22:29:00.002+01:00

It dawned on me a few weeks ago when I was up in The Lake District, parked up in Penrith, as I fired up my iPod Touch so I could borrow wifi from some open router, bluetoothed this and that, started charging my mobile phone, neccessitating the use of an adaptor which happens to have a surge protector, and shuffling tunes I downloaded ealier onto the iPod, checking my email, typing this for the Blog, using the earphones I borrowed from my old JVC pocket radio because I left my noise-reducing headphones at home. Then I checked the weather for the rest of the week, logged into Messenger to say hello to the folks back home. Checked the time on my all dancing Casio Pro Trek compass watch, dropped some new batteries into the GPS and some for the camera........STOP I've completely gone over the edge...

I don't have a satellite phone with a GPS uplink, but I totally admit that I wish I did. As it is, the techno gear in my backpack already weighs more than I care to mention. There's a term for this kind of travel. I've become a "flashpacker", This type of hiker can be fairly described as a young-at-heart backpacker traveling with tech toys, often to off the beaten path locales, as wired as any stodgy suit in business class.

Techno travel gear can be a good thing, having downloaded guidebooks in PDF form and Podcast walking tours, maps and street plans, can save space in a bag. Oh, man was that a complete justification for carrying these toys, or what?

I'm not sure who came up with the term "flashpacker" I had been casting around for such a moniker when I first came across a Lonely Planet forum thread naming the species; one post described the perfect, though imaginary, flashpacker

Flashpackers also tend to stay in single hostel rooms, bothies or bivi camps, spend a few more quid on food and say no to restaurants opting for campstove cooking.

One artful dodger fingering my backpack, though, and I'd be techno-deprived; theft-proofing by carrying tech travel gadgets on your body is not an option, not enough pockets and there will never be a belt strong enough to hold them up.

Having a lightweight bergan on my back is without doubt much more enjoyable than a heavy one, but will I realy be happy leaving my gadgets at home, and besides, which ones would I leave out, my GPS, my iPod, my camera.....how can I choose.

Topgear says he's starting to strip down his kit with good intentions to start going lightweight, but will he be able to leave all of his gadgets at home or will he remain our original "Flashpacker", hence the name Topgear ;-)

Pop can meths stove

2009-06-03T21:45:00.000+01:00

Ok I've made my first pop can meths stove and I'm more than impressed with its performance.

It's double skinned and made from the base of two pop cans.

I've bonded it together with 4 minute fast dry liquid steel.

My own little touch was to add four small nails to use as a pot stand.

The stability of the cooker with the nails added is great, better than I could of wished for.

I've not done any time trials for the boiling of water etc, but being a hardened Trangia meths burner user, I got the idea that it boiled just as fast and as hot as my Trangia, with the added advantage of weighing less.

Well I'm giving this cooker to "The Duck", as his Trangia diead a death for reasons that only he knows ;-)

He refutes our claims that he was intoxicated and stepped back onto it down the forest, thus crushing the poor thing.

Laptop or Ipod Touch !

2009-05-21T14:28:00.003+01:00

Should us "Flashpackers" leave the bulky laptops at home and pack an Ipod Touch ?

Watch this space for my thoughts on this subject comming soon!

--------------------------------
Ok the verdicts in, the Ipod Touch wins.

With the Ipod and an open wifi connection, I can do emails, check the weather, use google earth, check maps and get directions, use it to find ATM's, toilets, petrol stations, check my calendar, make notes, play music and videos, check the traffic and the news.

The thing I can't do with the Ipod that I can do with my laptop is move photos from my camera, but with SDHC memory cards getting cheaper than a packet of smokes, the laptop will be staying at home from now on.

Apple will soon be releasing verion 3.0 of it's software, and that will be unlocking the Bluetooth chip that they've kept secret and disabled via software. I'm looking forward to Bluetoothing photos from my phone to the Ipod, then via wifi I can upload them to this Blog or email them to friends and family. That will realy kill the need for a laptop when traveling.

The Lake District April 2009

2009-05-16T17:05:00.005+01:00

WOW........what a fantastic time spent in The Lake District.
Great weather, fantstic views, long walks, and some frightening drives over Hardknott and Wrynose Pass !

Click on the title above to view some of our photos...

Links to places we visited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardknott_Pass
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ullswater
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur%27s_Pike
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windermere
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crow_Crag
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambleside
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardknott_Roman_Fort
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pooley_Bridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendal

Water

2009-04-12T20:07:00.002+01:00

Paul using the MSR Microworks to filter dirty water from one Platy through the filter and into the clean Platy.

Take your rubbish home !

2009-02-22T14:36:00.004Z

While camped out in one of our favourite forests, myself and TG, came across a couple of camps that had been setup by strangers. The first camp we found was extremely sterile due to the guys removing almost every trace of a camp ever being there, it was only our keen eyes that spotted charring from a fire on the forest floor, but other than that you would never of known that anyone had camped there.........Then we come across this mess while out checking on some bird/deer hides, this camp had beer cans, tinfoil, candles, plastic bottles etc, just dumped in the nook of a fallen tree and most of it had already been dragged out by curious animals. The video did have sound but due to our disgust at this sensless act we had to remove it because our every second word began with "dirty idle f******, filthy b******s, take ya rubbish home d***heads.

We burnt what would burn then hauled out the rest with our own rubbish.........

THIS DOES NOTHING TO HELP US WILDERNESS CAMPERS WHEN THE FORESTRY GUYS COME CALLING !!!! SO DO US ALL A FAVOUR AND SMARTEN UP OR WE WILL PAY YOUR DIRTY CAMPS A VISIT WHILE YOU'RE SLEEPING, AND WE WONT BE COMING TO TUCK YOU IN !

Greenheat Gelfuel

2008-12-07T14:39:00.004Z

The Gelfuel is an alternative fuel source to methylated spirits. It is made from Ethanol which is derived from sugar cane and other renewable agricultural sources.

Benefits they say

The benefits of Gel over Meths are:

Safe

The fuel is a gel & therefore does not spill
It's safe if you spill water on it
The gel is non flare, non explosive, non splash, non toxic

Clean

The gel burns clean & odourless - only very low CO2 emissions & water vapour are emitted.
It can be used indoors & near children & pets as it does not pollute the air
No black soot or smoke is emitted, pots & pans stay clean

Efficient

Fuel can be extinguished & reused

Eco Friendly

The gel is made from renewable agricultural sources rather than fossil fuels/deforestation
It burns clean (ie CO2 neutral)

Our Initial Burn Test

Myself and TG, tested the Gel against a brand new out the wrapper Trangia burner.

For:
It boiled water at the same speed as the Trangia Meths burner. It's good that you can knock it over and just stand it back up. Clean pots, no soot on them. Comes with a clip on lid so you can close it up when not in use.
It burns direct from it's own container, you don't need to make a cooker fo it. A 200g tin that will burn for 120 mins and gets a thumbs up. it smells like Brandy ;-)

Against:
It's taller than the Trangia burner, but does come with a spring loaded wire ring that lets you lower and raise it in a Trangia cook set. For me it made it to tall for my Hobo Stove and would mean that for us "make you own stove people", we would have to knock up a new stove to accommodate it.

My thoughts:
I'm happy with my Meths, becuase when I run out of Meths I can throw twigs into my Hobo Stove, and although our first test proved that it boiled up water as fast as the Meths burner, I'm still not convinced that it would make it into my pack as a replacement for my trusty Meths burner.

I will toss my tin into my daysack and take it as a hand warmer for those nasty cold day hikes or treks up places like Ben Nevis, for those times where you have to take your gloves off and can't seem to get your hands warm after putting them back on.
It will also double as a fire paste for starting wood fires, just scoop some out and light it.

Half Ass Expeditions

2008-11-30T15:44:00.002Z

Check out our good friends from over the pond, read stories of true winter survival......days of deforestation.....hot toddies, the Thwam Thwacker, and if they still have it, a picture of a naked JB !!!

Half Ass Expeditions (HAE) started back in the '80s as a joke among four guys who go winter mountaineering in Northern New England. It is more or less a reflection of their camping style, which has developed over the years into a peripatetic, rambling, seat-of-the-pants modus operandi. So HAE is unencumbered by elitism and sundry attitudes that characterize high-altitude fraternities and primadonnas who want to be famous. They're certainly not looking to gain celebrity status among the world's alpine cognoscenti with their own radical style of climbing, even if their exploits have earned them notoriety of local renown.

Half Ass Expeditions
http://www.halfassexpeditions.com/

Uffmoor Wood - GPS Tracklog - 22/11/2008

2008-11-30T14:44:00.001Z

Well last Saturdays walk around Uffmoor Wood was a cold and damp 3.44miles with no sign of wildlife apart form the odd Robin and the rustle of animals in the woods. I pulled into the car park a bit late for a walk and well aware that it would be dark or getting dark as I got back to the car and had visions of the gate being locked and me haveing to bolt cutter my way out of there, not that I've had to do this before ;-)

It was a pleasant walk and would have made for some nice pictures if it had been frosty, but sadly it was just grey and wet without the hope of a few rays of sunshine. Anyway the dogs loved it and were more than happy to bounce off into the trees trying to flush out the Sheep and Deer with very little success, while the owners flip and panic and try to calm them down. Well It's that time of the year when all of the wild field mint has been muched down by the animals and only the wild Garlic remains by the one footbridge, maybe that's due to the steepness of the banks that surround the stream. I did manage to spot a couple of Frogs down by the almost completly overgrown pond. The rest of the walk was mud mud mud and plenty of slip slideing and a couple of stream crossings to add to the chances of getting a dunking. After that it was a pretty straightforward walk back up through the woods, over a couple of small footbridges in a very boggy area, then back around the edge of the woods and join the path that takes me back to the car.

I sat at the one very fast flowing water source and scooped out some water for a coffee when an old couple stopped for a chat, telling me about there walk and how much they love the woods etc etc.....when the old chap mentioned the name of the stream that I was getting my water from, turns out that it's fed by the River Stour, which starts in Stourport and is in turn fed by the River Severn, so that was a usefull piece of knowledge gathered from a friendly local :)

Well the darkness beats me and the last leg of the walk is a dark one with me wondering about the sign that says they lock the car park gate at dusk. Back at the car, muddy and happy that the gate is still open.

All in all Uffmoor Wood is a great place for a walk, it's not that big but has plenty for a ramble about for a couple of hours and in the past we've spotted an abundance of wildlife. It's also well liked by the dog walking brigade, so that hinders your chances of spotting any wildlife. I give Uffmoor Wood a thumbs up for a place to spend a couple of hours mooching about.

Topgears 24hr Ration Pack version 1

2008-11-30T13:31:00.001Z

A picture I took of Topgears ration pack before he went testing.

I'm interested to hear how you got on with your home made ration packs that you took away last weekend. Also what cooker did you take and what sort of pots did you use ?
I can see that you have some boil in the bag stuff but also a packet of curry, did you cook the curry in a pot or did you stand it in a pan of water ?

I'm just getting together mine to try out when we do that night in the woods to test your new sleep system. When I get it done I will post a picture and contents list.

Gravity-Fed Automatic Water Filtering Configuration Idea

2008-11-28T11:12:00.001Z

I've just been reading about Gravity-Fed Water Filtering and thought I would post the picture from the website.

Looks like things could be getting easier for us idle types, no more pumping ;-)

We will be testing the method and add our test results to this post.

Photos Comms & Navigation

2008-11-26T13:18:00.002Z

Photos & Video
I use a Canon Powershot A720is + 4gb SDHC + 2AA batts inside it and 4 spares in the front pouch. The camera performs realy good on one set of batteries, the life of which can be extended by turning off the screen and useing the viewfinder instead.

Phonecalls, txts & email
I use a Samsung SGH-Z140 camera phone + spare battery.

Navigation
I use a Garmin etrex H GPS, loaded with routes and waypoints for that day hike or trip and accompanied by a compass & map printed at 1:25:000 from Memory Map. I get between 17 and 20 hours out of one set of two AAs.

Walkie Talkies
Communications between the lads is taken care of by way of long range Walkie Talkies, the make of which will remain anonymous ;-) These are rechargeable and have a standby time of over 60hrs.

The death of a Nikon and the birth of a Canon

2008-11-26T11:18:00.003Z

It had to happen, I dropped my Nikon Coolpix 2500 onto concrete in Bridgenorth in September of 2007 and it died. It was only a 2MP camera but it served me well from 2003, providing myself and the rest of the crew with tons of trip photos from all of our travels. The only gripe I ever had was with the paper thin recgargable battery and I soon found I had to buy a spare so that I would still be snapping well into my trip. But no matter how cautious I would be with my snapping I would always run out of juice and without a mains supply at hand I was stuffed !

So when it came to finding a replacement I opted for a camera that took AA batteries (always available in all stores) and my three other criteria were it had to have a viewfinder and the option of being able to turn off the screen, thus stretching the life of my batteries. It also had to do great video and have a good optical zooooooom.

Well the Canon Powershot A720is does the trick for me, it runs on AAs, takes great pictures, has all the modes that my Nikon had plus lots more, and it captures video with sound at the same framerate as my Sony Handycam (30fps) and is only limited to that size of card that you put in. I've been useing the Canon with a 4GB SDHC Card since June 2008 and have to say it's the dogs gonads, no more having to carry a digital camera and my Handycam for the video side of things.

So my advice to fellow hikers thinking of a new camera is get one with a viewfinder so you can turn off that fancy juice hungry screen, get a good optical zoom (6x or more) for captureing wildlife, and one that does unlimited video with sound at 30fps.

I know lots of people are trying out solar chargers with mixed results, but I've not ventured down that route due to living in the UK and not being blessed with copious ammounts of sunshine, which to be honest suits me because I'm one that likes to walk on a crisp frosty trail and not be boiled by the sun, biten by bugs and annoyed by fair weather hikers, I use the word hikers tongue in cheek ;-)
And lets not forget the dog walking brigade, not all of them because I love dogs, It's the owners that don't bag the poop, and the ones that bag the poop and leave at the base of trees !!!, and the ones that can't control the dog as he runs at you like a missile, knocking you over like a skittle, then if your packs down on the floor, he's in head first and slobbers all over your lunch and gear, while the owner shouts "It's ok he won't hurt you, he just wants to be friends".

Ok I've lost the plot now and started on those dog walkers with the brand spanking new 4x4s that have never been, or ever will go offroad, you know the type with all the fancy branded gear that they put on just for walking the dog ;-)

Powdered Eggs

2008-11-25T16:34:00.001Z

POWDERED EGG RECIPES

FINE OMELET
Ingredients:
6 teaspoons dry whole egg powder + 4 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon oil or butter
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Beat together egg powder, water and seasoning. Heat pan over
medium-high heat. When pan is hot add oil. Pour in egg mixture.
As eggs begin to set at the edges, use a spatula to gently push
cooked portions to the center, tilting the pan to allow the uncooked
egg to flow into empty spaces. Shake pan gently to keep eggs from
sticking to the bottom. When egg is almost set on surface, but still
looks moist, fill half of omelet with herb filling. Slip spatula under side,
fold over filling and slide onto a serving plate.
(FINE HERB OMELET see above but add herbs to taste)

EASY-TO-MAKE SCRAMBLED EGGS
Ingredients:
6 teaspoons dry egg powder + 4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons milk
dash of salt and pepper
1 teaspoon butter or oil
Directions:
Whisk together all ingredients except butter. Heat pan over
medium-high heat. When pan is hot, add butter (or oil). Pour in egg
mixture and reduce heat to medium-low. As eggs begin to set , gently
move spatula across bottom and sides of pan to form large, soft curds.
Cook until no visible liquid egg remains, but they are still moist.
Do not overcook! Serve an enjoy.

Triangles, "proof" of an Illuminati or Freemasonic world ?

2008-11-19T16:49:00.002Z

Fundamentalist-conspiratorialists would have you believe that Triangles in coperate logos are "proof" of an Illuminati or Freemasonic world domination conspiracy. So why are we seeing Topgear & The Big Guy carving them into tree stumps !

If your first guess is that it's to mark where a tent is pitched, then you're wrong.....

Besides it's our little secret......we could tell you but then we would have to kill you ;-)

Coleman Dual Fuel Peak 1 Stove

2008-11-17T17:50:00.003Z

I've taken my old Coleman Peak 1 apart many times to clean and service it. You may find this parts diagram usefull should you have to do the same (click on the picture to enlarge it)

Tip: print it off and keep it with the cooker just incase you have to strip it down while out on a trip !

Charcloth And How To Make It - By The Big Guy

2008-11-17T17:37:00.004Z

How to make a cloth that can be used for starting fires with primitive methods such as a flint and steel. Note: It is important to use only 100 percent cotton to make charcloth, fabrics containing synthetic fibers will not char. Be sure that the inside of the can is clean.

Materials:

· 100 percent cotton cloth (old T-shirts or Tea-towels) tin can with tin lid (old coffee or biscuit tins work fine)

· A small hot ember camp fire.

· One small stick.

· And two larger sticks to be used as tongues for lifting the can.

Procedure:

1. Punch one small hole in the lid of the can.

2. Pack the can with a loosely rolled cotton T-shirt or Tea-towel and replace the lid.

3. Now lay the can on its side, and onto the camp fire with the hole facing away from the flames.

4. After a short while smoke and vapor should begin to escape through the hole in the lid.

5. 30 minuites into the job you will need to roll the can so that it heats all over (beware the can gets very HOT so roll it with two sticks used as tongues).

6. Now heat the can for a further 30 minutes.

7. Time elapsed should now be 60 minutes which I found was ideal.

8. With the tongues remove the can from the fire and wedge a stick into the hole in the lid, this will stop the charing process.

9. When the can has had time to cool down, open it and remove the charcloth. If the charcloth is brown it has not been heated sufficiently and will have to be returned to the can for more heating. If the cloth is brittle and crumbles at the slightest touch it has been "overcooked" and must be discarded. If the cloth is black and rips with the lightest touch you are then the proud owner of charcloth.

10. Test the charcloth with a flint and steel (you will only need a piece of charcloth no bigger than the palm of your hand). A glowing spark should catch in the cloth and spread with a little help from your lungs!….blow...blow…blow….then offer it to your tinder and kindling and you should be at the start of a healthy fire.

11. Store the remainder of your charcloth in an airtight container or zip sealable plastic bag.

Make Your Bottles Leak Resistant

2008-11-13T19:45:00.005Z

Earlier today Topgear emailed me this gem of a tip that he stumbled upon while trawling the Inet

So I had to give it a whirl, and it works perfect. These are my test results.

We all carry a few plastic bottles for things like sunscreen, alcohol (the fuel variety, of couse) water, juice, and various other liquids. I know that if I squeeze some of my bottles hard enough or somehow get them crushed in my pack, the liquid inside the bottles can ooze out from the caps. Now here comes the clever tip, just wrap some PTFE Tape (plumbers tape) on the threads of your bottles. PTFE tape is used during plumbing projects to seal threads when screwing fittings on like shower heads. It fills in the gaps in the metal or plastic threads and creates a water tight seal. So I had to try it and I can confirm that it works like a dream, no more oozing!! You just wrap a good 3"-4" long piece around the thread of the bottle neck and make sure it's on there good. Be sure to wrap the tape on the thread clockwise, i.e. the same direction as tightening the cap. Otherwise the tape might slip or shread when you put the cap on. The tape only really sticks to itself, but not really stick like normal tape. You will see what I mean when you use it. Make sure to keep the tape taught as you wrap it around. Next, screw the cap back on. It should feel a bit snug and good to go.

A roll of PTFE tape should cost you less than £1, in my case it cost me 59p from Wilkinsons in the plumbing section of the store. My roll has four yards on it, so that breaks down to 144 Inches, which means if I use 4 inches on each thread, I can seal 36 bottles all for 59p, saving me from anymore nasty wet backpack disasters !

Hmmmmm........ Topgear, do you remember the great cooking oil leak that The Duck had in November 2006, resulting in a whole backpack of gear covered in a nice slippy layer of cooking oil !!!

Dakine Daysack Review

2008-11-04T18:00:00.000Z

I got one for Christmas as a gift, and I have to say it's not only a nice looking pack, but it's also very functional. I'm very impressed with the build quality. One thing I always do with new kit is checkout the stitching, and this looks like it's been put together to last, which is good for me because I need a pack that can withstand more than the odd knock and scrape, my packs have to cope with mountain and forest hikes, so they need to be strong. The bag itself is nice and thick and good for jagged rocks, the padded back and shoulder straps feel cumfy. It's a great size for day hikes, which is what I was after. the top pocket that's meant for car keys and sunglasses is big enough for a mobile phone, GPS and a headtorch. The main compartment holds my big fleece jacket, gloves, hat, food box, map/compass, waterproofs, first aid kit, small radio and a chunk of foam mat to sit on. The two side pouches fit snug around my hexi water bottles. So that's a pack ready for a day hike. The only modifications I've made is to cut off the waist strap, as i'm not going to be rideing a bike wearing this pack so I have no use for one, and have found on past trips that the waist strap is left hanging off the bottom of my pack and great for getting snagged on rocks, branches and bushes. I've also removed the bunjee cord from the back and replaced it with flourescent green reflective stuff. Overall this is a great pack and It's serving me well.

A table of woods and their burning qualities

2008-11-04T11:17:00.003Z

Our fire pictured above is made up of mainly Pine with a few bits of Birch on top. Pine being a great fire starter due to it's high resin content. You can pickup wet rotton pine, a few handfulls of tinder, some kindling and it will burn as if it was dry wood. We find that Pine always forms a good solid foundation for a healthy fire. You can then add other longer lasting woods such as Birch and the daddy of all fire woods, the long burning Oak, which is a great fuel to burn in the late evening when you want to sit around the fire becuase of it's almost zero smoke output..

Hard woods : Good heating power, slow combustion.

Tender woods: Average heating power, quick combustion.

Resinous: High heating power, very quick combustion.

Tree	Heat	Flame	Smoke	Embers	Use	Combustion	Wood
Acacia	good	sparkling, explodes	feable	average	cooking, heating	average	hard
Alder	good	lively	feable	average	starting fire, light	quick	tender
Aspen	feable	lively clear	feable	feable	starting fire, light	quick	tender
Ash	very good	lively	average	very good	cooking, heating, light	slow	hard
Beech	very good	lively, clear	feable	good	cooking, heating, light	slow	hard
Birch	excellent	lively, clear	average	good	starting fire, lighting	quick	tender
Chestnut	average	sparkling, sparks, expodes	average	average	cooking, heating	average	hard
Elm	very good	small	feable	good	cooking, heating	slow	hard
Fir	average	sparkling	abundant	feable	starting fire, light	quick	resinous
Hornbeam	excellent	dansing	feable	good	cooking, heating	average	hard
Larch	average	clear, lively, lots of sparks	average	feable	starting fire, light	quick	resinous
Lime	average	clear	feable	feable	starting fire, light	average	tender
Maple	average	sparkling	none	good	cooking, eating	slow	tender
Oak	excellent	clear	none	very good	cooking, heating, light	very slow	hard
Olive	excellent	short	feable	very good	cooking, heating	slow	hard
Pine	average	sparkling, clear	abundant	feable	starting fire, light	quick	resinous
Poplar	feable	lively, clear	feable	feable	staring fire, light	quick	tender
Plane-tree	average	explodes	feable	average	starting fire, light	average	tendre
Spruce	average	sparkling	average	feable	starting fire, light	quick	resinous
Walnut	average	short	feable	good	cooking if well dry	slow	hard
Willow	feable	lively,clear	feable	feable	starting fire, light	very quick	tender

Hobo stove and meths burner

2008-11-03T17:31:00.004Z

From Hobo stove and meths burner

This is a copy of the stove that Eb "Nimblewill Nomad" made and used on his epic backpacking trip from Key West, Florida to Cape Gaspe, Canada; 4400 miles, 10 months. During this trip Eb did not carry any fuel. Instead he used this simple metal stove and burned leaves, bark, wood, twigs and other natural fuel to cook his meals. The only mods that I've made is I bent a wire rod to form a grill that sits on the top of the stove, this then lets me stand small pots and canned food on the cooker. The other main thing that I found was my meths burner from my old bulky Trangia set fits in the cooker and sits the correct distance away from the pots so that the flame can lick up real good. The use of the meths burner is ideal when you don't want to start a fire or when you're in an area where fires are not allowed. I would like to say a huge thanks to "Eb" for putting the design on the internet. I've used it for over four years now and have not looked back at my heavy Coleman Petrol cookers and the costly Gas ones.

For a full set of pictures of the stove in action and the templates for making the stove, click on the link below.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/stuthehiker/HoboStoveAndMethsBurner

Geocaching, what's Geocaching !

2008-11-03T16:49:00.006Z

Both myself and Topgear are Geocachers

Water For Drinking

2008-11-03T16:04:00.002Z

Topgear showing us a water source that's suitable for
filtering with the MSR MiniWorks water filter.

MSR MiniWorks Water filter

2008-10-16T19:31:00.005+01:00

Our water filter and a few tips on filtering water

Features:

Fast Flow Rate: Fills a 1-litre container in around one minute.

Delivers fresh tasting water, a solid block of carbon eliminates odors, improves taste and removes most chemicals including iodine, chlorine, and pesticides.

Field maintainable; If it clogs, we simply take it apart, clean it, and put it back together. You don't need any tools to take it apart and service it.

You can screw the filter directly onto wide-mouth Nalgene bottles and all MSR Hydration Bags.

An inlet foam pre-filter removes large debris, and keeps the hose off the stream bottom, extending the life of the cartridge and preventing the pump from clogging.

The filter comes with and indicator gauge that lets you know when its time to replace the ceramic cartridge.

The pump moves water on the down and up strokes, making it faster to pump our water.

Now they say in the blurb that it's light and compact.....well I don't think its light but on the other hand it's not realy that heavy at 454g and for the added peace of mind that the pump is keeping us from gut pains and diarrhoea, it's one of the most important bits of kit that we pack.

Tips:

Always keep a little water in reserve incase you have trouble finding a good water source.

Only pump from a flowing water source that's not got a layer of scum on it's surface.

If you have a map of the area take a close look and see where your water is coming from. If it's running off a lake that's used for fishing then the water may be subject to treatment for the fish or treatment to kill off pests. This is not in our eyes an ideal source of water and we avoid it if we can.

If you're planning a few days at the same camp, don't pump at the stream, instead lash the pump to a tree back at camp, then take a large foldflat water container and dunk it into the stream and fill it to the top, then haul it back to camp and place it under the filter that you've lashed to the tree, then pump water from the contaminated source into your water bottles. We've found that this system has many advantages for us. Firstly we can stand in comfort and pump one handed and then pump with the other hand while the tree keeps a tight hold on the rest of the pump.

The ceramic filter takes forever to dry when you bring it home, so after cleaning we store the filter without the ceramic block in it. This lets it dry out and also stops the filter from smelling from being closed up for the length of time that it's not being used.

Remember water filters are what they say....water filters, they filter out what they can but you still need to BOIL THE WATER

Guestbook

2008-10-15T20:26:00.004+01:00

Our Guestbook is still alive for those of you that want to view our old posts or maybe post something new.
http://users.smartgb.com/g/g.php?a=s&i=g15-01515-98

Ben Neivs - Scotland

2008-10-15T19:56:00.007+01:00

Standing at 1,344 metres (or 4,408 feet) Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles. If you plan to walk up Ben Nevis you will find it hard to pick a day with perfect weather. The mountain summit is only clear on one day out of 10 on average. Snow can fall in any month of the year. In a five year period there were 13 deaths on the mountain. Check the weather before you set out! Always make sure someone knows you are going to climb the mountain so they can raise the alarm if you fail too return! Carry all the important stuff and make sure that you know how to use it! Drink plenty and take some high energy foods like chocolate and bananas! Start your trek early, leave plenty of time for a nice steady walk! Stay safe and keep to the path!, if for some reason you can't see it due to snow cover or bad weather, then turn back, the mountain will be there for another day! Most of all, enjoy it, take plenty of pictures, don't litter, and have a safe journey. Stu :)

Ben Nevis summit, as high as you can get in the UK :)

I let Tom and Micky get a few feet ahead of me so that I could capture the weather and try and demonstrate just how bad the visibility was. It did get lots worse than this, both on the way up and on the way down.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/stuthehiker/BenNevisScotland

The rest of the photos can be found at the above link

Sunday Lunch in the Forest !

2008-10-15T19:45:00.003+01:00

Who said that just because you're camped deep in the Forest away from all the mod cons like cookers, running water and electricity, that you can't knock up a good Sunday lunch.

Geocaching

2008-10-14T09:54:00.009+01:00

I did a page up for our BoulderCache in the forest, then sent it off to be reviewed and published.
Turns out they wont publish it until I give proof that the recreational dept of the forest have given it the green light.

From what I've read on the Geocaching Assoitation Of Great Britains website, is that they've managed to secure a blanket agreement with the forestry for the placement of Geocaches and have also been given a boundries map and a list of conditions that your cache must meet. http://www.gagb.co.uk/gagb/glad/index.php

Well our cache falls into the map and meets with the listed conditions. things like no digging holes, no placing on animal runs, no placeing at historical sites, or fragile plantlife areas etc.....just the common sense stuff that us cachers follow anyway.

So I'm waiting to hear back from the Rec-department at the forestry and then will try and publish the cache again.

First Post

2008-10-10T22:13:00.004+01:00

Well, here is the first 'proper' post, this is a picture of me giving a good example of what it's all about. Picture from Feburary 2008

Welcome

2008-10-10T00:14:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the Free Radicals blog. Here you will find our posts direct from our expeditions and any other nonsense we might decide to send! Keep watching.