Primus Express Spider modification

The Primus Express Spider is an excellent stove and especially so in colder weather. If i use gas in place of Meths then this is the stove i choose.

One of the 2 problems it has is that it is a little unbalanced on it’s legs. Unfortunately the designers decided for some reason not to put a supporting leg adjacent to where the tipping point is. That point is where the small bore rigid gas tube connects to the main body.

The other issue to be overcome is that the regulator is on top of the valve body which makes inverting the gas cylinder difficult.

I have now modified the stove to overcome the instability. I looked at taking the legs assembly apart and repositioning the stops but decided that would be too big a job.
It was far easier just to add an extra stabilising leg under the body but ensuring that it didn’t interfere with the folding of the legs for packing away or the subsequent storing in my pan and looked half decent.

Below are some photo’s of the simple job.

The leg started out life as a lightweight alloy tent peg. It had seen better days so after a bit of flattening, bending and cutting to length it was ideal to use it here. It was fixed to the body support with heat resistant Araldite.
Cost of mod, miniscule.
Time to do, about 30 minutes.

Could save you a lost pan of water or worse.
Cylinder inversion to follow.
Hope this helps.

Back from the wilderness

 Well we are now back home after 11 days in the wilderness. That’s not to say we were in a remote place, we were actually in the Lake District but depending on whereabouts you are, the internet is non existent, hence the wilderness theme.
 We spent 5 days at Sheila’s mums in Gosforth, the internet is still steam driven at her house and any posts and websites take forever to load. And then 6 days at Seathwaite in the Duddon Valley where not only you cannot get on the internet but mobile (cell) phones don’t work either.
 We were in the valley visiting friends and also we were there as marshall’s in the Duddon Valley Fell Race. Our marshalling post is Swirl How at the north end of the Coniston ridge.
This year was a British Championship race so there were plenty of entrants and family. I will post separately on this later.

 Swirl How Checkpoint

Arrival at Swirl How.

 On arrival at the Newfield Inn we were pleased to see a vintage car rally from Holland had stopped at the pub for refreshments so i have some lovely photo’s to post of them.
 I was also giving an outing to the Scarp 2 from Tarptent which we both think is a superb tent btw and we were also testing out a 2 man tent from Millets and a pair of Sealskinz socks.
 So i have plenty of key bashing to come this week and also plenty of your wonderful blog posts to read and catch up with the TGO reports and gear reviews etc..

Walk around Gosforth

Sent from my HTC

Saucony Hattori lightweight shoe

I have been using crocs as my second shoe for backpacking or for river crossing. It's also nice to put the feet into something lighter and comfy at the end of a walk, when you get the tent up.
But the trouble with crocs is that they are quite difficult to compress, they take up a lot of rucksack space or they take up valuable pocket space on the exterior of the rucksack and crocs are a bit last year.

I recently took the plunge and bought a pair of Inov-8 190 sandals which are very comfy, compress well and as the number suggests they weigh 190gr.
I find them so much better than the crocs and are great for wearing around the house as well as on backpacking trips.

Then i recently saw these running shoes from Saucony and found that they only weigh 125gr. so you can imagine what i thought having just paid out for the Inov-8's.
They are also ideal for river crossings and any water based pursuits.

So if you are looking for a lightweight camp shoe or for canoeing maybe, then these may be just what you are looking for. They come in a variety of colours and men and women's design.
For further spec info follow the link HERE

Tarptent Moment major modifications

The Tarptent Moment in original guise.

The Tarptent Moment is a very good one man lightweight tent as i have posted before here. The weight of it is 0.85kg.
Having used it on it’s inaugural outing to the Scottish Borders i was made aware of a number of issues that i didn’t like and that would have to be put right.
The roof air vents would not stay open so this was resolved with a plastic stay.

There is a little more info on the stay here if anybody wants to make the support.

One of the ties holding the groundsheet had come away from its retainer so this needed to be sewn back and i glued it too to stop it happening again.

The 6” pegs/stakes were replaced with 8” ones so that they would cope with soft ground better.
2 guy lines were fitted to the main hoop pole sleeve. The ribbon was existing but not the cord or 2 extra pegs.
The zippers were quite small and these i put on extension cords so that finding them and operating them would be easier.
The inner door and outer door retainers were just elastic and had to be tied to retain the rolled up doors. I found these were poor and loosened off, especially in the wind.
I looped one side of the elastic and added a sliding cord grip to the other.

For me though the biggest and the main problem i found was the inner door. It was so restrictive and didn’t allow full use of the highest part of the tent. It also made getting hold of gear from under the porch problematic. So it had to be changed.

The original doorway.

I looked at doing the job myself but with no sewing skills at all and even worse, no machine i thought i had better look for help.
The help came from Robin, aka blogpackinglight. He put me onto Sean at Oookworks in Cumbria.
Strange name, which i will come to later.
I emailed Sean, showing him what i wanted and he suggested taking out the whole door and replacing it with a new mesh doorway incorporating an inverted “T” shaped zip.

With the Moment being single skin, the mesh is hemmed and stiched to the outer so i had doubts that it could be removed but i sent the tent off and waited to hear from Sean after he had chance to look at it in the flesh.
He said it could be done.
I waited eagerly for it’s return and when it happened it was immediately pitched in the garden. It was raining but what the heck i had to see it.

It’s absolutely fantastic. Sean picked the stitching from the mesh leaving the hem in place on the outer and replaced the whole door with a grey mesh instead of the original black.
The grey mesh believe it or not makes the inside so much lighter and makes looking out of the tent more pleasant.
The inverted “T” zip is the same spec as the original, 5mm YKK nylon.

Once the doors are open the Moment now looks cavernous. I can now sit sideways and have full access to the porch. It makes cooking so much easier. It makes getting in and out so much easier.
On wet days you can have the inner doors rolled back giving you more room to move around and on bug free nights you can leave the doors rolled up.

It is just fantastic now so thank you Sean for a wonderful job done and thank you Robin for putting me onto Sean.
The name Oookworks i am told was derived from the Terry Pratchet book where the Librarian at the Unseen University is an Orang Utan, who was once a wizard but now prefers being Simian and just says Ook.
Sean has added an extra O to the Oookworks name and says that it seemed a good idea at the time or maybe a few beers were involved. Anyway thats the story of the strange name.

Here are some pictures of the new doorway.

 How much better does the above photograph look in comparison to the original. Photo1.

So for the additional weight of a metre of zip the advantages far outweigh the penalty in my view. And now makes the Moment perfect or should it be magic. 

If anybody with a Tarptent Moment or any other tent or piece of outdoor gear would like the same or similar modifications done then Sean at Oookworks, see website here would only be too pleased to carry out your requirements. I can recommend him.

Water Filter, The Sawyer Squeeze.

Another new lightweight water filter hits the outdoor scene. How long will it be before we can buy it here in the UK i wonder.
But lets be honest, US$50 cost, at todays exchange rate =  (£30.50p), plus shipping and customs duty will not break the bank too much if you are desperate for a filter that cleans down to 0.1microns and weighs 85 gr. (that’s less the bag or your own bottle).

SP132 - SP132-Sawyer PointOne Squeeze Water Filter System

Info from the company website below. The NEW Sawyer Squeeze Filter is the lightest and most versatile filtration system on the market. With a total field weight of 3ounces, it is extremely lightweight and packable. Fill up the included 2 liter pouch at a lake, stream or river, screw the filter directly onto the pouch and 1) Squeeze the bag and filter water into your water bottle or container of choice. 2) Drink directly from the filter which has a built in push pull cap for on/off functions. 3) Attach the filter onto most threaded water bottles including 2 liter bottles.   The Squeeze filter is perfect for traveling abroad where tap and bottle water cannot be trusted.  I won’t be changing my Super Delios filter for a while yet but for those looking for a new filter right now may find this article of interest. I’m sure a UK blog review of one of these will be following somewhere.

Tarp Tent Moment Mods

Well today i posted off my new Tarptent Moment to have a new inner doorway fitted. On the last Moment outing i was not happy with the existing doorway and it just had to be changed.
Fortunately, Robin who’s blog is aptly named blogpackinglight came to the rescue and put me onto Sean at Oookworks who has kindly taken on the task.

If you are thinking like me that you want some changes made to your existing kit then it’s worth giving Oookworks a call or sending an email via the contact us section of the website.

I can’t wait to get it back and when i do i will be posting the changes.

Chally Gear? Maybe

At the end of a long day on the Challenge wouldn't it be just the ticket to relax in a comfy chair. No, not the Monty Python Comfy Chair but this one you hope your walking partner has remembered to bring with him/her. Weight 2.6k

Just saw this and thought i would share the laugh with you.

TGO Challenge 2011

Best wishes from Sheila and I to everybody who is taking part in the crossing of beautiful Scotland in a few days time on the Rab TGO Challenge 2011.
We hope your adventures will embrace some good weather and of course some good company and beers.

Good luck especially to Alan Sloman and friends who will also be protesting on behalf of all outdoor people by walking a coffin into the Monadliath Mountains where a devastating wind farm is to be built and will destroy an absolutely fantastic wild place.

We also look forward to the many posts and photographs that will entertain us in due course.
All the best everyone and good luck.

Tarptent Moment. 1st trip.

Tarptent Moment pitched in Peebles, Scotland, UK.

The first outing for my new Tarptent Moment from Henry Shires in the USA, was a 3 nighter in the Scottish Borders.

The first night was a flat pitch on a camp site, second night was a wild high pitch in the hills and the 3rd night was wild low pitch at the side of a loch.

Pitching the moment is a pleasure. It’s one piece construction means that there is no faffing about clipping up the inner or throwing on the outer when it’s a poor weather day.

It’s just a matter of locating the single hoop pole, pegging out one end, walking to the other end, tensioning the tent and pegging out the 2nd peg.

If its raining hard, you can get inside at this time and leave final adjustments until the rain has eased. But saying that, the final adjustments come down to 4 pull cords to set the positions of the fixed end A poles.

All in all about a minute.

The tent is supplied with 2 x125mm pegs. In my opinion these are too short, i replaced them with the 200mm pegs i received with my Scarp 2 tent. 

With the ground in Scotland or anywhere else wild for that matter, being of unpredictable firmness,  i think the 200mm pegs cover all possibilities.

On the hoop pole sleeve there are also 2 extra guy rope loops but no rope or pegs are supplied for this. Again i have added 2 guy ropes and 2 extra 200mm pegs.

On the first night we had a light breeze and for an hour or more it rained fairly heavily during the night. No problems encountered with seam leakage. The tent has masses of ventilation, from the ends which both fully open to the complete surround of the bathtub groundsheet to the mesh side walls of the inner and the 2 vents on the top of the flysheet.

In the morning there was some condensation on the inner face of the fly as expected. I purchased the additional roof liner and it will be staying fixed as part of the tent. 

The 2nd night was a flat calm night and pitching the tent on some very uneven tussock grass i was glad i changed the peg length for longer ones.

 The skies were very clear and the temperatures dropped quite considerably from what we had walked in during the day.  I thought there might be a frost but the temperature held just above freezing.

My sleeping bag is rated at -3 ℃, but i was cold, not from the ground but from the air temperature. 

With having so much venting it’s difficult to get the temperature in the inner warmed up. I closed the end vents hoping this would help but i didn’t notice any change.

I ended up putting on my light down jacket and spare socks to get warm. This worked and i dropped off to sleep.

In the morning i noticed that the roof vents were closed. I had also noticed this the previous night but put it down to the heavy rain.  Obviously it’s not the rain or the wind that closed them. They just don’t stay open too well even with the inner clips joined as the instructions show.

Coming home i made my answer to this problem.

I made 2 x Z shaped supports which attach to the existing velcro on the flysheet and keep the vents in the open position. The ones shown here are slightly wider than the ones i ended up with. These are 25mm wide and i ended up with 12mm wide. Extra weight 3gr. 

They can be removed for packing up the tent and they also fit my Scarp 2.
Amendment added August 2011
Having made the first supports and proved that the design worked, i went and made a second pair.

The upright is 50mm long and 12 mm wide with a top and bottom attaching leg 20 mm long.
I used self adhesive velcro attached to the legs which holds it upright in the vent.
End of amendment.

There was plenty of condensation on the inside but again the additional roof had kept the dripping from getting on the down sleeping bag. 

There was also the odd condensation run off onto the mesh surrounding the groundsheet but it wasn’t detrimental.

The others had commented on it being a cold night too and there was plenty of condensation being wiped off the other tents. So i can’t say that the Moment is any worse for only having a single wall.

One thing that was noticeable on this rough ground was that the A frames at the ends of the tent wouldn’t stay wide, ie at there maximum width, and tensioning them to make the fly taught only made the situation worse. 

I am going to take with me 4 very light titanium stakes to see if this solves the issue next time. (or i might think up something completely different).

The 3rd night was a similar sort of night to the 2nd, although it didn’t get quite as cold. Probably because we were lower down, but the issues were basically the same.

The previous 2 nights i had also become frustrated with the inner mesh door opening.

It’s just completely wrong. 

The shape of the inner doorway is an Isosceles triangle. The base being longer than the 2 sides. 

The opening of the mesh doorway starts at the apex, falls vertical from this point and then goes to one lower corner. (As above photo.) The trouble is that it only utilises half of the maximum head height opening space.

When you have gear in the porch area or you are cooking/eating and sat facing the opening, half of the opening you want and need is covered by the mesh.

Unless you are left handed this is a real issue. It’s hard to reach into the porch and to move your body in and out of the doorway you need to be a bit of a contortionist.

The annoying thing is that cheaper similar shaped tents such as the Coleman Libra (below in green ) and the Jamet Granite  4000 (below in red.) have got it right.

I am going to find out if i can get the mesh door modified as i think it should be.

The size and shape of the bathtub groundsheet is excellent and i applied quite a bit of silicon to the surface to stop sliding around. This worked a treat.

I also purchased with the tent a groundsheet protector made from Tyvec. Having used it on one of the nights i can honestly say it will not be seeing daylight again. 

It’s noisy, not particularly lightweight and a bit of a disappointment all in all. 

Laura, who’s blog is here, was camping with the Hubba, that had a very nice groundsheet protector and i will be investigating these footprints to see if i can utilise one of them in the future.

The tent also has a separate crossing pole for use in snow or high wind situations. I took it on this trip but never used it.

All in the tent weights just under 1kilo with the extra’s and is an ideal one man tent even though it’s not perfect in my opinion. 

Hope this review helps. 

CÀRN Cobra’s. His and Hers.

Cobra Trail Shoe, Sheila’s on the left, Mine on the right.

The first time i saw these CÀRN trail shoes was when i was reading a post about them on Lightweight outdoors blog here.
I kept them in mind and when the opportunity came to have a look at them first hand i thought they were impressive.
CÀRN are a relatively new company (2009). But have been designing shoes for other manufacturers prior to going it alone.
Some of their footwear has been influenced by Ben Fogle, but not these as far as i am aware.

Straight out of the box they feel sturdy and relatively lightweight.
My size UK8 weigh 397gr. and Sheila’s size UK5.5 weigh 350gr.


The first thing you notice about them is that they have no tongue. I liked that idea.
The large toe bumper was also something i was looking for as my current Inov-8 toe guard was quite small.
There is a huge comfort difference to my Inov-8’s. The cobra’s felt like slippers in comparison. There is more padding on them.  I wondered if this would result in them holding water and taking longer to dry, this will have to be tested out.

Having worn them for a week i can say that my first impressions are very good. They are especially good on rough stoney ground, the foot bed urethane cushioning is excellent and very noticeable. It was a pity i hadn’t bought them prior to my recent Moffat to Peebles walk which included much gravel walking.
I was equally impressed with the grip of the sole. They stick well on rock unlike my Inov-8’s.
I was not impressed with the Inov-8’s sole originally but as the sole wore down the grip improved. They became more slick.

The shoes are not lined with a waterproof membrane which suited me as i wear a Gore-Tex sock when it’s wet.
The upper fabric material is Trek-Dry, a Bamboo derived fibre. It’s said to have superior moisture management allowing body heat to be quickly wicked away whilst allowing cool air through.
The Insoles are shock absorbing and Anti-bacterial and are Poliyou® made by Kun Huang.

I was also impressed with the shop i bought mine from which was Footsteps Direct in Kendal. They were very helpful. This was my first visit to this shop but it won’t be my last.
Unfortunately they hadn’t got any 1/2 sizes in stock and so we ordered Sheila’s from Fitness footwear.

What was surprising was the price difference. I paid £55 in store for mine and Sheila paid £75 on the internet for her’s. So the internet is not always cheaper.
The other thing is, there are not too many outlets that stock them so you may have to travel to handle a pair.

Salford Trail Pt4

Wednesday 20th April 2011
I checked the web site to see if all was ok and there were no changes. Irlam 11.oo am, 8 miles linear to Cadishead. So it was a surprise to find that the walk was now circular and 11 or 12 miles and we had a new leader. (Had there been a coup i wondered).

So the brigade assembled away from the rubbish aligning the station approach, for the ubiquitous staring into the lens for the mass cheese speech. (photo borrowed from LDWA EL site).

Off we went, singing merrily and was involved soon with a large Mexican wave performed in synchronisation with a bunch of school young adults. They were too old to be called kids.

It wasn’t long, as we plodded into rural england, that we were halted by Allan, who rightly spotted that we had gone too far down this lane and we should have turned off earlier. Never mind it all adds to the mileage.

 There were quite a number of wood cladded properties in this area which was a surprise and some very nicely manicured gardens.

 Here Allan was trying out his camouflage rig but it wasn’t going to work. His map was too big.

 Onto the miles and miles of peat, which had been drained and raked ready for collecting and bagging.

 Lots of chatting along the peat resulted in another “track too far” . Somebody spotted the creator of the route and his buddy walking down a different course to the mass. Not to worry JJ decided to lead a mass trespass through a farm yard which would eventually intersect the original route.
We waited and waited but the creator was not to be seen. Oh dear we were worried. We thought we would miss lunch, but no, we sat on a wall and had a short break.
The missing 2 arrived 15 minutes later after the field with the path through had been subsequently ploughed over.

 We joined the Timberland way and the route followed the River, or i should say “Glaze Brook”.

 We thought we had found another stray but it was just a headless scarecrow.

 We passed High Woolton Hall in a sad state. looking neglected and in need of a use.

 And Great Woolden Hall farm

 Once through Cadishead we found the A57, it wasn’t lost, we just found it there along with a spiky sculpture to the Steel works and Margarine works that used to employ the majority of folks in this area.
Now gone.

 The nice walk alongside the Manchester Ship Canal towards Irlam passes the old railway line across the canal between Glazebrook and Partington and on to Altrincham and beyond..

For those catching the train back, they would have to wait until Irlam station. This one was going nowhere.

This was a stunning walk, the peak of the trail i would say.
I will look forward to doing it again relatively soon when Martin B is back from his sojourns.
Thanks to the creator and the EL LDWA for the company.

Distance 11.1 miles. Including a couple of minor detours of course.

Some more photographs can be found here.