Order of the boot.

I was in Rohan this morning buying a pair of trousers. I had initially gone in to buy a pair of Rohan Bags but i couldn’t find a pair to fit. My athletic physique is obviously different to the Rohan man of the 1970’s.

 I also wanted to have a look at the Striders and the Trailblazers as well, and then make my choice. I actually settled for a pair of Fusion after trying on about 10 different pairs. 

But what caught my eye was these Lapka boots. Rohan’s own with Barricade waterproof liner. £125 a pair.

They caught my eye because i had only recently been looking at a pair of Brasher Lithium GTX, also funnily enough £125 as below.

Now it may be a co-incidence or my poor eyesight but don’t those 2 boots above look very similar apart from a bit of colour.

So do i take it from this then that Rohan’s Barricade is actually Gore-Tex GTX? (XCR)

I can’t imagine doing a badging exercise would change the internals of the boot. But i could be wrong obviously.

So now that it looks to me that Rohan boots are actually Brasher’s i thought i would see what prices i could find. Well i was staggered to say the least. At Farlows above they are a 5p off  £160.

At Field and Trek and also Sports Direct, which are one and the same company now, you can get them for £65

Or £59.99 at Pack your Bags including free delivery! Wow.

I actually found a company selling them for £49 but they had no stock left. Why am i not surprised.

Lesson, Shop around, don’t buy the first ones you see, and the name, well it could be anything, don’t go off the badge.

The Invasion of Hartington.

   Sheila and I were very pleased to be invited on "A Christmas Walk" by Martin and Sue Banfield. AKA blogger Phreerunner. Postcard from Timperley.
It was to include a walk taking in Wolfscote Dale and part of the Tissington Trail in the White Peak area of Derbyshire.
  Lunch was organised at the Charles Cotton Hotel in Hartington, approximately mid way.

  It shows how well people appreciate Martin and Sue's walks because all 31 persons, including the two of us,  who said they would attend, actually did.

  There was already a small number of cars parked in the layby just North of Alsop en le Dale on the A515 when we arrived at 9.45am and it didn’t take much longer for the whole brigade to assemble.
 Greetings over, Christmas cards swapped , car keys lost and found, gear donned we set off across the A515 towards the old railway track which forms part of the Tissington Trail. Anybody looking down from above might have thought Noah’s Ark was close by.

  The old track belonged to the London and North-Western railways and ran between Buxton and Ashbourne. It was opened in 1899 and closed in 1966. Fortunately in 1971 it was bought by the Peak National Park and Derbyshire County Council.
Part of the old line, just south of Buxton is still used for quarry freight today.

 Two by two they marched to Hartington.

 Leaving the Tissington Trail for a while. We ploughed on through intake land which proved to be very muddy, the clay sticking to the boots making them feel ten times heavier than normal. The troops were revolting.

 Once we had slithered our way down to the River Dove, which was a kind of a ski slope without snow, it seemed to warm up a bit which resulted in the removal of a layer.

 At every gate, stile or wall, we formed file and it seemed to take ages getting everybody through.
Then, just as it started to rain Martin dropped his rucksack and suggested that it was time for coffee.
Well why walk in the rain when you have coffee to drink.
 Caramel fudge cake and chocolate brownies being offered out to all by Martin And Sue.
It was a nice spot to picnic, just where Wolfscote Dale joins Biggin Dale.

 A very pleasant walk onwards to the footbridge at Beresford Dale. Lots of social chit chat about gear and good places to walk and overnight. All extremely Sunday.
 It was good to meet up with Mick and Gayle who’s walking trips makes ours pale into insignificance. We had kept up with Gayle’s writing for some time but we had never met.
We also found out later that another set of bloggers were on the trip but unfortunately due to the high turnout we didn’t get chance to talk. Helen and Colin.
You can catch their blog HERE.

 Pausing for a few minutes at yet another stile, it proved a good spot for a group piccy.

 And yet another as rain got heavier.

 We marched on until the rooftops of Hartington came into view. It had been raining quite heavily and it was a wet army that needed food and drink as arranged at the Charles Cotton Hotel at 1.15pm

Upon arrival, the 31 rucksacks, jackets, overtrousers and pairs of muddy boots were found houseroom without complaint from the management.  

  We were shown to a very nice suite for lunch and all was ready as Martin had arranged previously. The food was excellent and the staff very accommodating with nothing too much trouble. Many of us wondered if it would be possible to have a little snooze before setting off again as the portions were substantial but it wasn’t to be.

 A portrait in the Ladies Powder room on the perils of “Fly” fishing. 

 A fine bunch of lunchers.

During the frivolities, it absolutely lashed it down, the rain was bouncing. Again perfect timing to avoid a soaking. But we had to set off. So with the bill settled we were allowed to proceed on our journey. The invasion of Hartington sadly left behind us.

 We headed off through the village and passed the beautiful Youth Hostel. Turning onto aptly named Leisure lane. It was raining still but not too heavy.

 Obviously lunch was taking it’s toll as the legion got a bit spread out on the way to Dale End.

 Then as we passed through Dale End the result of the torrential downpour that we had managed to avoid had to be surmounted. It was quite deep in places but it was passable on the left banking.
We watched a couple of cars plough through it without a care for the vehicles engine or the bow wave that it made.
  Passing through lovely Biggin village and Greenhead farm we soon met up again with the Tissington Trail which was followed back to our start point.  It was unusual to see twin lambs at this time of year too.
Darkness was falling and due to the ease of walking on the old trackbed progress was somewhat rapid.
We was hoping that it would be dark enough for head torches before we finished the walk because 31 torches would have made a good photograph. However, this wasn’t to be and it wasn’t until we got back to the vehicles that darkness fell.

We had really enjoyed todays walk and we must say a big thank you to Martin and Sue for organising it, also to the management and staff at the Charles Cotton Hotel who made lunch a pleasure and to everybody on the walk. Thank you so much.

A little history:-
  Charles Cotton ( April 28, 1630 – February 16, 1687), lived at Beresford Hall, now demolished, wrote, with his great friend Izaak Walton, a remarkable book about 17th century rural England called ‘The Compleat Angler’. No other English language book, other than the Bible and Book of Common Prayer, has been reprinted more times. He shared his time between an extravagant life style in London society with the quieter pleasures of his home and the Peak District. That is when his creditors were not chasing him - then it is said he hid in a cave in Beresford Dale. The fishing lodge he built still remains on private land in Beresford Dale, but can be seen from a distance when approaching the dale.


Sheila and I had stayed in Hartington the previous night and when we arrived there on the saturday afternoon it was a completely different view. A few inches of snow which disappeared overnight.

Not a great image as it was taken from a moving vehicle.

Hartington village pond.

We stayed B & B at the Hayloft and can thoroughly recommend it and also the friendliness and good food at the Devonshire Arms.

Aw what a shame, its too windy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Waterproof Hiking coat

  I always read fellow blogger Alan Sloman’s posts because they portray quite a lot of what i think about the outdoors but he puts it much more eloquently than me. And his latest post “Being warm and dry” was no exception and can be read HERE..
  I was posting a comment on Alan’s blog when i realised it was far too long and that it was better to put my thoughts as a post and link it.

  We, in the Outdoor Hiking world, i believe, have been hoodwinked for years. I tend to side with the comments made by Gordon Green that the perfect material has been developed but it daren’t be released because that would be the end of us buying new “Waterproofs”.

  The words relating to the jackets themselves defy what they actually mean. I am as guilty as anybody out there when i say, i want a new waterproof jacket but it has to be breathable.  Waterproof and Breathable? Please!


  Well to what degree do we want this phenomenon. 100% Waterproof and 100% breathable, that’s what we require.
Or as near as i can get it we later admit.
And there we have the first contentious point, you cannot get a hiking jacket with those statistics so we succumb to as good as we can get, and i am sure that in some cases we might not even realise what we have. This leaves massive areas of manufacturers graphs on hydrostatic head, breathability, tear strength, seam sealing, etc, etc. that you can look at if you really want to, but not here. This is just an experienced and practical posting.

  Many people buy a waterproof because that's exactly what it says on the tin or label. They have no idea to what degree that waterproof statement relates to.
  What is the material, what is the layering, there are so many different materials to choose, to name a few, Gore-Tex, eVent, Drillite, Aquafoil, Paramo’s Nikwax, but there are many many others to consider. The thing with all of them is that they are not water PROOF only water Resistant to a figure determined by it’s hydrostatic head. The greater the number ie 10,000 mm the better the water resistance to leakage than 1000 mm.

 What is hydrostatic head? It is the pressure of water required to penetrate the said fabric measured in mm. Heavy or wind driven rain has a higher pressure to light rain.
Waterproof jackets with a material head of 1000mm or less can only be regarded as shower resistant.
1500mm suitable for summer walking and so forth until you get to the likes of 10,000mm which is a minimum suitable for winter high altitude walking. 20,000 mm and even 40,000 mm being as good as you could get currently. See HERE for some comparative figures.

  Then there is breathability. This is the ability to transfer warm moisture vapour through the layers of the jacket.
It’s measured in grams per square meter over a 24 hour period. Or g/m/2/d. Typically you want the water resistance say 10,000 mm to equal breathability 10,000g/m/2/d.
But, the practical issue here with breathability is that the fabric allows internal warm moisture vapour through the microscopic holes in the fabric which are such a diameter as they will not allow rain to get through but will allow the warm smaller molecules to exit.
  The problem is we all have different metabolic rates. Some of us can walk at a good pace up hill and hardly break sweat whereas others will be wet through and if it’s raining as well then the jacket gets deemed not waterproof by the owner.

 Also, it depends on how many layers you like to wear under the waterproof outer. Too many layers will result in the warm vapour loosing it’s heat before it reaches the jacket and therefore it cools and cannot escape, this then condensates on the inner surface and is then transferred back onto your mid and base layers.
 The term bomb proof, i take with scepticism when talking jackets and tents as it depends on so many important scenarios many relating to the individual and again you cannot get 100% waterproof and breathable.

 Another important issue is the strength of the outer fabric. If your backpacking or daypacking the jacket outer material must be able to withstand the riggers, the abrasion of carrying the weight you take. Many jackets mix materials in high stress areas when a jacket has been made for backpacking but others don’t, especially the lightweights. Once the outer material starts to show signs of wear in these areas, ie shoulders, back and hipbelt, the chance of it staying waterproof are nil.

 Now, hiking gear has seen a transformation of late and gear has moved into the realm of the fell runner. If he can wear trainers, windproofs and lightweight waterproofs on exposed runs in adverse weather so can we.
But the trouble is he doesn’t carry a hikers backpack, he’s constantly on the move/run and therefore he/she stays warm and more often than not the exercise only lasts for short periods of time. So you must take this into consideration when buying lightweight backpacking gear if you want it to last more than one outing or at worse fail on a trip.
 Of course you get the multi day challenges like the OMM and similar and also overnight orienteering where this light gear is used but it isn’t anywhere near used or abused as it would get on a long backpacking trip.

  Another important issue not to be forgotten is the actual design of the jacket. How well it fits you, how good the hood is, if you don’t climb in it then don’t buy one that says hood compatible. It will fit like a sack and leak like a sieve.
 The hood is extremely important and it is surprising how often this gets overlooked.
 Check accessibility of the pockets and pull chords against what you will be carrying.
Make sure that the cords don’t wick water back between the layering of the jacket and make sure rucksack harness’s don’t rub the zip material.
Don’t buy one with masses of stitching which then has to be sealed with tape which with time will deteriorate and start to come apart.
Look at the zips! There are more and more water resistant zips on outer gear now. This has lead to the elimination of rain gutters and wind deflectors that used to be present behind the zips. A big mistake in my view as any water ingress in these resistant zips is transferred onto your inner clothing directly.

 Unfortunately cleaning your jacket is important to it maintaing whatever standard of waterproofing and breathability it started life with.

  There is so much to take into consideration when talking waterproof jackets there isn’t a definite answer that will suit everybody but hopefully my post will at least give others food for thought and realise that being waterproof is not entirely what it seems..

  The only thing that is waterproof and breathable is an umbrella.

More very interesting reading on the subject can be found Here.

  

Top of Leach in a Gale.

Having parked up at SD 871-158 and just managed to hang onto the door as we got out, we headed off on a windswept day heading for Top of Leach  at SD859 - 178.
There was plenty of blue sky around and thankfully the views excellent.
It was quite a biting wind and it was straight in our faces as we made our way up Rooley Moor Road.
Height is quickly gained and turning around out of the wind we managed to keep the camera steady for some photo’s.

The track we are on has lots of history attached to it and the more that you search the more interesting the story becomes.
The route was built for the cotton industry and the old original cart tracks can still be found in a number of places. An example of which is below. This dates to pre 1860 and is known as “The Cotton Famine Road".

 During the times of the American Civil war when the Union blocked the Confederate ports, cutting off cotton shipments to this area, it obviously caused great hardship and was called a famine. This may have had something to do with the many Irish folk that had come over to find work during there own “Potato Famine" a generation earlier.
 Some work had to be found for these poor souls and an enhanced road was built using quarried sets and again is still clear today and in good condition.

Even through the hard times the people here backed the Union and the abolishion of slavery and when that event happened a letter was sent to President Abraham Lincoln and which was given such significance that he replied within 2 weeks.

A much better account of events can be found here.
During a period of quarrying and also for the land owners, a pub was established called the MoorCock Inn. Unfortunately only the basic footings of the building and the gate posts remain today.

The MoorCock Inn gate posts.

Keeping on track we came to the Trig point which is Top Of Leach where today we could make out Whernside, Penyghent and Pendle Hill.

It was bitterly cold now and fortunately for us there was a wind break in just the right place.
Lunch was taken fairly sharpish if a bit late and off we went back.

  We headed south towards a (BS) boundary stone marked on the map. (Sorry no map as the printer has decided to take a short break).  We were not watching where our feet were going because next thing Sheila slipped, but she held onto my hand firmly and with the momentum of the slide threw me bodily over her shoulder just like a professional wrestler. We lay in a puddle for what seemed like 1 minute but was probably no more than 20 seconds. Bruised but not broken thankfully.

  The sun had moved further round towards the west and gave us less hazy views south where we could make out Manchester City Centre and the Beetham Tower. Unfortunately the photo was not good enough to print. So here are some sheep and cows instead. Much better we think.

It was just over 6 1/2  miles and a pleasant afternoon.

Sleeping mat.

L - R  Std Therm-A-rest. Getting on a bit now but still a likeable mat. Weight with sac 460gr.
           TrangoWorld Skin Micro lite foam filled. Very comfy. weight with sac. 375gr.
            Big Agnes Mummy Weight incl bag 560gr.
            Therm-A-rest Neo Air. Weight incl sac 265gr.

   Like a lot of people we plunged into the market before the initial dust had settled and bought the Neo Air.
There were quite a few rave reviews and so this was the original stimulus to buy.
Within a short period of time, probably around about 7 nights use, Sheila decided that it was uncomfortable and she went back to using the Std Therm-A-Rest. Then a while later we found the TrangoWorld mat and now this is Sheila’s and possibly my favourite.

   I, on the other hand stuck with the Neo Air, not so much to do with comfort but just purely weight.
However i found so much wrong with the NeoAir in my opinion, that i wanted to find something else.
This is very unlike me as i hate spending money twice.

 What did i find wrong with the Neo Air you might ask.
Well, i keep falling off it. I turn over and away it goes. I put beads of silicon on the underside but it didn’t stop the problem.
It deflates quite considerably overnight too and i have never slept well on it.
Apart from the pack size and weight there is not much i like about it to be honest.
 
 I decided to buy a cheap longitudinal tube mat, something of the Multimat Adventure type. Not too expensive if i didn’t like it and at 440gr not excessively heavy either just to do a comparison test.

  But just as i was about to order it, i had been internet speaking with Maz, who’s excellent blog The Journeyman Traveller is here.
He very kindly offered to loan me his Big Agnes Mummy Mat for appraisal of the opposing tube direction to the Neo-Air. How brilliant and trusting is that. I had never met Maz and we did not know each other apart from reading each others blog.

  Having now slept on it a few times i have come to the conclusion that the vertical tubes of the Big Agnes suit me far better than the horizontal tubes of the Neo Air. I find it suits my body shape better. The air movement is better within the vertical tubes and therefore the mat rises and falls in the right places supporting me and providing a comfortable sleep.
  This Big Agnes is a mummy shaped mat tapering off quite a bit at the foot. I would not go for this style by choice, as i found my feet were on the floor quite a bit.  But i must say what a quality mat this is.

  I am now considering my options. 
Currently i fancy the Vaude Norssken which also has larger diameter tubes on the outside which, in theory should keep you on the mat better. But it is a touch on the heavy side.
Decisions, decisions.
Thanks ever so much Maz for your assistance.

Lost Suunto Vector black watch.

On the way down from Greendale Tarn  (Near Nether Wasdale)  on Saturday 29th October 2011 i inadvertently lost my Vector watch.
It was lost roughly at the point where the Greendale Tarn path joins the fell road at Greendale Farm.

I post this just on the off chance that somebody has found it and happens to read blogs.

Well, here's hoping. Cheers.

Whoosh - Coming to a hill near you!

  I was keen to get out today so, i checked the weather forecast last night and it was good.
Today I drove up the A680 Edenfield Road and parked up in the lay-by close to Ashworth reservoir.
I had no grand route planned, i just wanted to be out  and wherever the legs took me well that’s where i went. Well it would be difficult not to wouldn’t it.

  The last time i was up in this neck of the woods it was cold, misty, some ice and not much of a view. Although today the visibility was good it wasn’t as clear as a bell and the low watery sun was not an ideal partner for photographs.

  When i left home there was still a redness to the edges of the cloud and i was hoping for something better from higher up. I had taken the tripod so that i could take longer exposure shots. if i got the chance.

  Unfortunately the sun had climbed a little too high and it was right in my face as i made my way up to Knowl Hill.

Knowl Hill and Scout Moor Turbines in the shadow.

 Looking back to Ashworth Reservoir from the Approach to Knowl Hill.

  The turbine site has gouged this landscape and cut 10 metre wide gravel tracks through it’s heart.  Today there was little wind and the continuous noise of the extractor fans amplified by the 60 metre wind pipes, could be heard even louder than the intermittent whoosh of the triple 40 metre blades.

There are 26 turbines in all but it looked like 3 of them were not working.

  The path had quite a few boggy sections and i had to make a couple of detours to avoid wet feet.  At one point i thought i had come across a builders tarpaulin but it turned out to be quite a large tent that some poor souls had taken a battering in. They had obviously had enough and made a quick escape and left the bedraggled gear to fend for itself. There wasn’t much left.

  Once at the top of the hill i was bathed in sun. Bright but not that warm enough for sun bathing. After all it is mid November. It was still delightful and i decided it was a good place to have a cup of tea.

I donned my outer jacket which up to this point had remained in the rucksack.

Tea time. (Jasmine Green tea)

 I set the camera for a timed shot and only just got into the frame as the shutter operated.

 If i had only waited a minute or two maybe the chap in the background would have taken a photo for me.

  I sat in the windbreak for about 10 minutes just appreciating my surroundings. Also within the windbreak was empty bottles, crisp packets, tea bags, remains of somebodies lunch. Why do people leave litter. It beats me what kind of a brain they have.

  I touched the trig point as i always do to prove to myself that i have actually been to the top and surveyed the panorama.

Views to the North and North West from Knowl Hill.

  Brew over, 3 running types came up from the east side and went to the trig point for a 10 second stop and pointing session before carrying on in a South West direction with a “Good Morning” as they past me yawning.

  I also headed east and headed for Dixons Brow. It was quite a drop off here which i didn’t particularly want to do, so i decided to contour round to pick up the gravel track near the mast. Looking at the map there is also a mast at Higher Hill off in a North Westerly direction which looked ideal for what i wanted to do. So off i went with the sun behind me. It was so bright at times the blades stood out like stars.

  Not far along the track i got fed up of it and wanted to get off road. I could just make out the mast on Higher Hill in the distance and just went for it. A straight line job. 

Well this proved not such a good idea as it was 1 step forward and 2 steps back. Bogey being an understatement. The map shows a ditch running NNE and i thought i could follow it as it went in my direction. Retracing my steps i again ended up on the gravel track more or less where i had started.

 Oh well at least it wasn’t raining.

  One thing for sure is that you can certainly pick up speed on these tracks and in no time at all the mast was in sight ahead.

 Higher Hill Mast.

  Another 15 minutes and i was there. I sat down on a raised bank and had my lunch of Cheese and Onion on Brown Bread and another brew. A group of 3 others passed me looking as though they were heading for Whittle hill. They didn’t see me at all and i was no further than 30ft away.

  Checking the map i wondered about going over to Cowpe Low but decided it had been a good test for the calf muscle and not to push my luck. I decided to call it an afternoon.

 Towards Whittle Hill

 View back to Knowl Hill from near Cheesden Edge.

  It had been a pleasant walk even though the turbines blight the view. 

  I got back to the car and heard this screeching, bird screeching. Then i saw this chap with a hawk at the back of his car. Approaching with caution i eventually got within a few feet and had a chat with the owner of what turned out to be a Harris Hawk. It’s name was Skye and was 4 years old.

By all accounts it doesn’t like cars or people and the owner brings it out here to hunt. 

It kept looking at me all beadily like so i took a few pictures and then retreated to a safer distance.

  

   

  7.3 miles in total.