One bit of kit that I had for ages and really used to love, and still now miss most decidedly, is my old Sierra Cup! I previously had a Coghlans brand one but other mauufacturers in the USA sell them too I believe, as it is a classic design of outdoors cup over in the United States. I just cannot seem to find anywhere here in the UK that sells this small item part of the absolutely huge Coghlans outdoors accessories range! I do not like buying now on E-bay, as I have just been cheated on there far too many times to go trusting to its systems again.
Now, I should declare here, most particularly, that I did not in any careless way go losing my prized favouite outdoors cup of many years! This was unfotunately one of a number of items of kit that I lost last year in early december, when I was attacked while out walking one morning in the sleepy little village of Wonersh, near to Guildford of all places! I had been on my way to a survival skills course weekend, and was on the main road approaching Wonersh village, as dawn came up. A group of young muslim guys pulled up in a car engaging me in conversation, and asking me if I were a squaddie.
I suppose it was just because it was a saturday morning perhaps, and I was kind of dressed in green and camo walking kit, that they assumed I was a TA soldier or something maybe. When I politely refused an offer of a helpful lift, as I already knew where I was heading, and it was fairly close by, the guys in the car piled out and attacked me. I only managed to escape, the Surrey police reckoned, because I would not let the two main attackers drag me kicking-and-screaming into their BMW estate car; fighting back instead with a metal mini-maglite torch I had to hand in my jacket pocket by luck! Using the end of it as a sort of a Kubotan type of a self-defence thing!
Anyway, the upshot of it all is that amongst the sixty-quid or so of kit I had then stolen, by these damn guys as they grappled with me, was my favourite Sierra Cup attached in a separate kit-roll underneath my backpack with my bivi-bag and other essential stuff that I then subsequently lost!. I guess that I am lucky I only lost some much loved kit and not my life really! The local Surrey cops seemed to think that I was indeed lucky that I did not get myself stabbed fighting them off anyways!
To be honest though I was not at all going to give up either my life or my kit without having at least tried to put up a good fight! Even when it was really rather scary with what was happening there, as one of them was shouting at me that I was somehow responsible for what was going on in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts! "How many of my brothers and sisters have you mutilated and massacred in Afghanistan and Iraq?", was the kind of thing one of these guys was shouting at me, as I tried to desperately fight them off!
Still I really must get one of these little Sierra Cups from someplace very soon, as I really do miss it! My 58 pattern metal mug is great but just not my favourite. When I drink from that I think of times in the TA on exercise in the damn cold all of the time! When I used my Sierra Cup I thought of nice backpacking adventures past instead! I know which memory I preferrred! I rest my case; I need a new Sierra Cup ASAP! So does anybody know somewhere/anywhere in the UK that sells these great type of outdoors cups please?
Much obliged for the timely heads up there on those retailers selling the Sierra Cup design Parky Again! Sadly have now tried to order one from the first place with that advertised fab low price, only to find that they are now fresh out of them at the moment-so I am out of luck again it seems!
Thanks guys, I will try to give it a look! Even though my past awful Ebay experiences have scarred me for life I think! I do have a strange feeling though, from the look of that page on Ebay there, that this is maybe very likely indeed the Ebay shop of the company at the first link-due to the "DEJA-VU" layout similarities! I have been kindly now emailed by the chaps from the first link, that were out of the cups, and they say that they have more on the way right now from the USA! They will email me once they are in, and I will try to get my Sierra Cup from them now. I will post when the stock comes in again there, just in case anyone else is interested in this Sierra Cup type at that great price, which I think includes free postage too-which seems amazing as well!
I feel doubly indebted to Parky Again, I must say here, for pointing that first ultra-lightweight specialist outdoors kit retailer out to me! From further exploration of their fine website, I see that they stock the best parts of the USA survival/emergency preparedness range by Adventure Medical Kits! There are a good few bits of their great survival kit including the emergency bivi-bag/sack AMK Thermo-Lite2, and the interesting fire-kit named the AMK Spark-Lite, that I most definitely wish to get and try out too, in the coming new year! Prior to this I had been completely unable to find a UK retailer charging close to what I felt was a realistic price for these items anywhere at all!
well trevor, i've ordered a sierra cup too. never heard of the things but they look very interesting and multi-purpose to me. got it from FB's link (thanks FB) and some ti tent pegs nails too at a good price.
OK! Sorry there you chaps but have only just found an email in my home inbox Yahoo mail from the following website, telling me that the Sierra Cups there are indeed back in stock at the good price of £11.99 again now! Sorry for the delay in posting this happy info here! My order just went in as I was waiting for these lovelies with some baited breath!
Here above is that rather fine first Sierra Cup link once again, provided to me of course originally by that extremely fine outdoors OM individual, our Parky!!
i like it a lot. it's just perfect for my cup-a-soup whilst heating up some other stuff. if it cools down a bit too much a quick blast on the stove sorts it out. and it's wide enough for bread dunking and mopping. also great for a quick hot drink.
soup is french garlic soup with croutons that i stock up with when in austria.
i'd never heard of these until you mentioned them trevor. an extemely useful bit of kit.
Good for you Parky my friend! Yes, the old yanks seemingly do love this bit of kit quite a bit over in the States too! As I don't think I met anyone who when asked, either did'nt currently use or own one for trail use, or else who had not used or owned one at sometime in their past! I too, as I said first off, used to love my own one greatly, before some nasty toe-rag stole it off me, with some other bits of my valued kit too, when I got jumped by some Muslim guys one early morning late in 2006. So I am vastly looking forward to seeing my order for a pair of new Sierra cups that went into the internet ether just last night!!! Whooppppeeee!! I can't wait for their soon-to-be arrival!
