Stoves epic.

Following on from October 19th post. I cannot believe it was so far back.
I have been making some new burners and testing out how they work. I have completely discounted using a gas burner this year as the lightest set up is around the 200 gram mark and it would mean i needed a new pot to store it in. I am not going to buy new gear so thats out.
I am now down to the Esbits and Meths. I am putting my findings together and will post my thoughts early next week.
This weekend i am on a double birthday bash and an anniversary bash so thats the weekend gone again.
Fortunately its up in the Lakes but i doubt that much walking will be taking place, except to the Loo of course.
Never know, might meet Mr Sloman in one of the hostelries?  A bearded bloke with a belly carrying a settee, shouldn't be hard to spot.

Niche market

I went into Manchester yesterday to check out phones and to buy a pair of Goretex or similar socks for Sheila.
Just on the socks front i asked in the following stores, Blacks, Ellis Brigham, TNF, Millets, Nevis sport, Sweat shop, Up and running, Evans cycles, Nomad and the Cotswold shop. None of them sold waterproof socks apart from the not waterproof Seal Skinz.

Talking to a very interested chap in Cotswold, he wanted to know why i wanted Goretex socks. So after explaining that we only hike wearing shoes, ie Inov8 etc with a thin sock and a slightly thicker sock on top then depending on the weather a waterproof sock he was impressed, i think, that this way was in his opinion, "different".
We went through the pro's and con's of boots and eventually he said to me. Well, you are a Niche walker and we don't cater for niche markets. Sorry.

So all you guys who walk in shoes, please take a bow because your different.

And i will search the web for a pair, or if anybody knows where i can get a pair of size 5-6 that would be great. TIA.

Phone Joy!

This made me laugh so thought i would share it.

I"VE BEEN ON HOLD FOR 45 MINUTES!!!!!

Ogden circular walk

Saturday we headed off to Ogden near Newhay. We planned to do a circular walk from the small car park adjacent to Ogden reservoir at Grid ref SD 952 122. It was a nice day, not much sun though. We set off east following the track on the south side of the reservoirs and then took a right at Cold Greave and headed for the pub on the Ripponden road at Grid ref SD 977 119.

We closed our eyes as we passed the pub just in case we may have been tempted to go in. We turned left and headed up the road to the footpath to Readycon dean reservoir.

We followed this track east passing the reservoir which was still frozen. The wind was bitting.
 Just as we rounded the end of the reservoir we noticed a large flock of noisy geese overhead going north.

At the point where the path meets the Huddersfield road we took a left and in a few minutes joined up with the Pennine way at Grid ref SE 002 122.

The track up to White Hill 466m, Grid ref SD 990 131, was a real quagmire in places, typical of the Pennine way. The views from here were good in all directions.

We could now see the mast at Windy hill which was our stopping place for lunch. Grid Ref SD 980 143.

The amount of rubbish people had dumped here was a real disappointment. There were TV's, tyres, furniture, general household rubbish. Obviously our recycling policy doesn't agree with everybody. Such a mess.

We didn't stop here for lunch but carried on a little further until we found some shelter from the wind.
From here we set off down Tunshill "green" lane and turned off at Grid ref SD 951 132 to Ogden reservoir and back to the car.

We  had a really good walk, not too far, only around 8.5/9 miles but my back was feeling ok and that was the main thing.

Valentines day

Well Valentines day is here again so i've done the right thing and been out and bought Sheila a new bag and a belt.

The hoover is working fine now!

Which Blogging phone?

I need the help of you guys who have mobile blogged for ages and are familiar with the good and bad points of the latest gizmo's.
We are due a phone upgrade in April and as we don't currently blog on the go, we thought we would give it a go this time.

We have quite a bit of Apple tech so the iphone is our 1st thought. However, we believe it's not the best to take on treks as you cannot switch batteries and the GPS is not that great either.

We were thinking that one piece of kit could do everything ie,  phone, camera, blog and GPS but we are sceptical that this is the right way to proceed. Jack of all trades but master of none.

Any help and advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Bleng Forest Limp.

After a painful drive up to Gosforth Cumbria on thursday night, it was nice that the weather forecasters had got it wrong with their prediction for Friday. It was a lovely day with sharp views through the Wasdale Valley to Great Gable. There seemed to be still snow hanging about at around the 800m mark.
I unfortunately was still in a bad way and was struggling to get about.
So bad that we never even went out Friday night for a gargleblaster or 2.

I slept on the floor and on saturday morning i woke with a little less pain and a bit more movement in the back and left leg. I was determined we should try and get out after lunch for a bit of a stroll.

Sheila just wanted us to have a drive round to Wastwater and take a few pictures as she didn't think i was up to walking any distance. I on the other hand wanted to see if a walk would loosen me up. Kill or cure so to speak.
We drove to the car park in Blengdale and set our sights on reaching the top of the track as it exits to open country on the east side. The views are usually good from there.

I limped my way up the track and found that the cure was winning. Well i was feeling no worse put it like that.

It's a great walk through the forest and a really good way of entering the Lake Districts higher fells. (but don't tell anybody) From here you are away from the tourist spots and there are numerous mountains within easy reach, like Seatallon, Haycock, Red Pike, Scoat Fell and further on the Pillar range and you probably won't meet a soul.

The river Bleng opposite.

Photo's to  the right and below, coming out of  Bleng forest on the eastern edge, views of Seatallon (R) of Sheila's head and Haycock behind (L).

Not much snow about now as the temperatures during the day had reach the dizzy heights of 8 degrees! Shorts weather!

As we made our way back to the car the late sun was pouring through the trees and made the forest look quite eerie. We saw only one deer and a  couple of people all afternoon.
I made it back to the car feeling far better than i did when i set off and looking forward to a couple of pain killing beers later in the Gosforth Hall Inn.

About an hour after we got back, incredibly, from being in wonderful sunshine, the mist came down and visibility closed in to about 100 yards.
It stayed this way for the rest of saturday and until we left for home today.

What a PAIN

How unlucky can i be. Went into the garden to bring in some logs, slipped on the snow and ice and slipped a disc in my back. After a couple of days lying down doing nothing i can now get up and write this. It's still very painful but hopefully if i keep taking the tablets, as the saying goes, i will be able to manage a short walk on saturday. Great!

Just heard that 2 guys from Yorkshire have fell on Great Gable, one dead and one seriously injured. I feel for the families.