Twinned with Ecco Biom Terrains

A little while after the 2014 TGO Challenge. (seems ages ago now) I swapped my Merrell Chameleon 5 boots for a pair of Ecco La Paz boots. This was my first pair of Ecco footware.

They were very comfortable, light weight and waterproof. So much so that i more or less wore them daily and not just for hiking in. I was asked about them on numerous occasions and had drafted together a blog post about their attributes. Unfortunately as i was about to make the post public Ecco discontinued them and so my blog post was made redundant.

They are still in very good condition today and i am pleased to say that they are still waterproof and pong only very slightly, so whatever anti bacterial compound they used has worked well. I have enjoyed wearing them very much and would have bought another pair.
What i find annoying is that companies have to tinker with products that are first class.

The nearest boot in the Ecco range today are the Ulterra.

I wasn’t in need of changing my boots at this present time but Sheila was as her new Merrells were leaking like sieves within only a few weeks. Very disappointed and that saw off the Merrell challenge.

So i was pleased to see that Rohan had now started selling Ecco boots although not the whole range. It is also ironic that just as they started selling them, Ecco opened its first store in Manchester only a few hundred metres away. I checked out the store and everything was full RRP, the Biom Terrains being £170. Not for me i thought.

A couple of weeks later and we now both have a pair of them, bought from Rohan at the sale price of £114.50.

His and Hers Ecco Biom Terrain. From Rohan.

Now i just have to get over this bought of man flu to give them a try. I had a flu jab in October which i must say has worked well for me over the last few years. This time i have all the symptoms of flu without it fully knocking me for six. I feel lousy and weak but not debilitated.

I will do my review of them before they get discontinued.

Another local walk. 12km

Well it snowed here on Saturday night which is a first for us this winter. It wasn’t much, maybe 2-3 inches. It looked wonderful and gave us the impetus to get up and get out before the melt happened.
The land is so warm we knew it wouldn’t be around for long.

It was quite slippery under the snow as the evening before saw temperatures fall to -3C so treading carefully was necessary.

A group of runners passed us as we made our way up to the watershed, moving quite gingerly. I think i would have worn spikes.

We had layered up expecting it to be a touch chilly but it was warm and windless. Around 0C. Once at the top of our local hill which is a massive 222 metres high the views were good. Walking through the woods is always a pleasure with the sunlight filtering through the trees and plenty of children made use of the slopes for sledging.

So here are a few photo’s of our walk.

A short bimble-locally.

 Sheila sporting the jacket she got off ebay for £0.01p. Honestly.

 Rochdale canal lock 58.

 Unusual fungi - Tandle Hill Park.

The path is here somewhere.

Tent Pegs for Scotland and other soggy places.

As anyone who is used to backpacking in Scotland knows, the weather can be pretty dreadful. The wind and rain can be fierce and snow is not unusual. I am thinking of May and June let alone December, January and February.
Pitching a tent on soggy ground, tussocks, peat and heather to name but some of the culprits is challenging to say the least.
My upcoming trip to backpack Scotland in May had me thinking about “the what if’s”. Be prepared i thought and i have been thinking of some fancy alternative methods of  keeping the tent grounded.

Numerous sketches have been drawn and discarded of all sorts of fancy regalia. My mind was wandering to methods so ridiculous that i daren't even list them here.

As it was just a simple tent peg is was trying to change that would cope with soft, boggy ground, i decided upon a cheap and cheerful upgrade that wouldn’t weigh to much, fit in my pack and would be cheap and pretty easy to make.

So here is my peg which should give me a decent nights sleep in the wilds.

The bottom peg is a standard “Y” aluminium extrusion that is provided with lots of backpacking tents and very good they are too.
The top peg is my “T” section Big Daddy peg.
I thought a “T” section would give the peg more resistance to being pulled inboard than the “Y” section. The extra length hopefully would be able to reach some firmer ground. The additional pull chord is necessary to remove the peg.

I am taking two of these pegs with me as i think two will /should provide the extra support i may need.
My peg weighs 36 grams. Not too bad. The alternative material titanium is too difficult to work with in my shed. I just don’t have the toolage to work with titanium so ally it has to be. The cross section is 15mm x 15mm and 1.5mm wall thickness.

So i got to thinking that some readers may fancy this peg, but don’t have the facility or time to make them for themselves. As far as i can tell, these pegs are not available off the shelf.
If anyone wants a couple then i can make some for £3.50 each. Plus Postage and packing.
Or you can make them yourselves.

Merry Christmas Everybody.

Thanks very much to all readers of the blog during 2015. Especially those who have commented and made it a better place. I hope it has provided useful information about outdoor product especially from small UK companies as well as a few places of interest to enjoy a walk.
For us it’s been a quiet year in comparison to other years but hopefully 2016 will be a good one.
Many thanks to Graham Brookes for the tractor Christmas card.

Sunrise to Sunset

The A515 between Buxton and Ashbourne is a great road to witness a sunrise. Its blinding.
We were here nice and early for our Christmas walk and lunch with Martin and Sue and too many others to mention in this sentence.
It was decided that we would have breakfast in the cafe in Hartington and upon arrival at 8.50am found that it was closed. The sign on the door pointed out that it was not open until Monday. Strange that a cafe doesn’t open on the day that i would guess is the busiest. Oh well, their loss, and ours.

Apart from a bit of a chilly breeze the day was quite balmy with huge clear blue skies. On other occasions we have been here at this time of year deep in snow with impassable roads. So please India, Russia and China keep belching out the CO2’s. It’s heart warming.

At assembly in the lay bye i think we counted 28 souls and 1 dog. Motorists passing would be forgiven for thinking there was a Marks and Spencers on the other side of the hedge. And then we were off, the huge gradient onto the Tissington Way easy conquered. The first of many “meanders" quickly overcome as we made our slippery way off the old railway line and down to the River Dove just shy of Milldale. A few bottoms got muddy on the descent. No group photo?

Once down by the river the breeze disappeared, the sun was shinning and the layers were removed. What a glorious day.
As with all group walks chatting is the main event. Good to catch up with Mick and Gayle as always and we hope you enjoy whatever Spain offers you. Have a great trip and don’t forget the sun cream for Colin.

We met Heather for the first time, TGO Challenger and all round good egg. Along with Rowan or Rohan, the dog. What a lovely companion.

The scenery along the Dove is wonderful although it was obvious that the wind had been fierce here during the past few weeks. Numerous trees were down and lots of logs had been cut and piled for removal.

Just before Biggin Dale we stopped for a compulsory coffee and brownie distribution. This has to be undertaken to ensure that the Mountain Rescue are not required. It was quite a leisurely brew stop and one could tell that it had been much rehearsed in the past.
Sadly, we had to resume leg bashing but unfortunately Gayle had forgotten how they were supposed to work and decided it was far better to test the cushioning on the bottom of her new trousers. Mick dashed to help, not.

Just a little disappointed that we had not been in snow and sleet and torrential rain we made it to the sanctuary of Hartington. There were no complaints, no one got lost, no lost equipment and funnily folk were still laughing. Some Christmas do this i thought, Bah Humbug.

The Lunch was booked and food pre-ordered at the Charles Cotton Hotel and that’s enough said about that. No point in telling you how good it was, because, well it wasn’t.
Martin’s quiz was as good as ever considering that they only got back from Patagonia a couple of days ago. And as it happens, the Bah Humbug team won the prize with 24 1/2 points from a possible 30.
Considering that Sheila and I usually avoid quiz’s like the plague, it was good fun. Well done the A team. The choccy’s kept us going on the return leg.

Martin was left to pay the bill and the rest did a runner just in case they remembered that we had had no boiled potatoes and that the food had not been heated, that we did have an appetite, that vegetarians don’t like ham and that fish doesn’t take as long to cook as turkey, that sprouts don’t get mashed with bacon because again it doesn’t go down well with veggies and seasoning is required, that mince pies need cream and well i could go on……..

It started to rain, just a little and not for very long. The hills behind us disappeared and the sky in front was looking ominous. A couple more meanders took place and Martin caught up. There was no swearing, there was no mention of food, for the whole of the return trip. I assumed why not.

We saw a tractor, a nice new MF, well it would be rude not to wouldn’t it.

As evening closed in the sky partially cleared to allow the sun to set spectacularly. Fortunately with such a clear sky we didn’t need head torches to find our way back along the Tissington Trail. Timing was perfect and farewell’s made, the darkness closed in and we were away.

Once again we had a wonderful time and met new people. Thanks Martin and Sue and everyone else.

 Sunrise

Note. No filters or editing software used on the sunsets. Thats how it was. Honest.

Bothy Life. BBC2 Scotland.

Watched the programme with great interest but was a little disappointed. Having used numerous bothies in my years and had very very few “Close encounters” and i must first say what a great job the MBA do and so may it continue.

I was disappointed that the line “I went there to get drunk and chase women" was kept in the programme. This was not needed and i found it off putting. So what do women feel who walk the beautiful bothy country alone feel about that. They should feel safe using bothies, not how many drunks am i going to find inside.

Maybe its just me.

Huddersfield yet again.

This weekends trip to Huddersfield was not of my making. Instead it was a birthday weekend of a mate of ours. He doesn’t live in Huddersfield, but in Manchester. He decided that it would be a better pub crawl in Huddersfield. Better in the way of less crowded, cheaper beers, no Christmas markets, less hassle and a bit of a change.

We are now getting quite good at finding our way around Huddersfield and i think we all had a good night despite the heavy and prolonged rainfall. It was waterproofs to everywhere.

Our friends had to get back home on Saturday which left Sheila and i with an empty day and night, so we made the most of it and found a few more pubs to add to the list.
Saturday evening we visited an excellent curry house called The Chilli Lounge and apart from an annoyingly squeaky table, the wine, food and service was 1st class. It gets busy mind and it was pretty full by the time we left at 7.30pm.

We also wanted to find a curry house open at lunchtimes so that we could organise a “Curry Walk” at some point in the future, but we didn’t find one. They all seem to open at around 5.30pm.

We did find a pub that sold good value for money food and cask beers, so this one just might get on the list. The County. Otherwise we will have to hope that The Head of Steam has a curry on the menu on the day.

At this point you may be forgiven if you thought this post is just about beer but you would be quite wrong. We did do a nice tour of some wonderful buildings and the photo set attached here shows just how nice Huddersfield is. Our walkabout took just under 5 hours and included a visit to the covered market which was full of stalls selling collectables and just about everything else and of course coffee and cake.
The first nine images below are inside the Town Hall-Concert Hall. We had hopes of entering the concert hall but because a rehearsal in progress we were not allowed. However the rest of the building was still worth a visit. The receptionist was very helpful and he was quite apologetic that we couldn’t get to see the whole building at this time.

The following images are random shots of Huddersfields architecture.

 Huddersfield Town Hall and concert Hall was built between 1875 and 1881 and designed by John H Abbey. All the stone is local and the carvings made by Thomas Stocks.

 The concert hall. (Which we couldn’t go into) Courtesy of Huddersfield.Gov

The Concert Hall Organ. Again courtesy of Huddersfield. Gov

 The Court of Requests. Built 1825 Now used as The Old Court Brewhouse and Pub. We didn’t have time to visit inside so we will just have to go back soon.

 The Lawrence Batley Theatre. Originally built as a Methodist Chapel in 1819 becoming a Mission in 1906 until 1970 when lack of numbers meant a change of use.

 Queenies Coffee shop.

 Huddersfield Parish Church of St, Peters. Built 1834 -1836. There has been a church on this site since the 11th century.

The Ramsden Building. Part of the University and was the Technical School and Mechanic Institution.

 Leaving Huddersfield and still raining.

It’s that fine rain that wets you through.