Weird Darren returns to the outdoor blogging frontline for
a specially delayed report...
Well thanks to Good Friday we missed a column, so to make up for that
we have a double length special covering the past two weeks. We start
with an international feel to things with a new blogger from New
Zealand.
Gerard Smith's "Mountain
Plush" Blog. Our Gerard is actually an outdoor
clothing designer, ex-Berghaus and now with Icebreaker. He won't like
it down there, oooh no...
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'...down the path from the 1950's or 1960's - bit
'interesting ' in places, lots of bush bashing and clinging
to the occasional semi vertical rock precipice above the
river, hanging on and not letting my pack get caught in the
vines!! '
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John Hee is trying to start his own religion and is asking
people to worship his body because
My
body is a temple - Fitness and the post coital fag.
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'The first few fells were taken slowly, listening to my
heart and lungs, and gently reminding my body that this
level of sweating was normal.'
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Which prompted Mike Pitt to talk about
getting
back in shape.
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'i suppose i forgot how much i love walking over the last
10 years and over the last 6 months have forgotten how much
i loved biking and how much i need my fix of mother nature
to keep sane in a otherwise grazy urban world.'
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Andy Howell had his
First
Wildcamp of the Year.
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'My evening in the hills was to be a tarp evening, a
fantastic system for an over-nighter. Using a tarp means
that I can get all of the gear needed for an overnighter in
my diminutive ULA Relay pack.'
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Alan Slomans epic
LEJOG
pub crawl staggers onwards.
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'The weather was perfect and then we found a pub. Three
pints of Black Sheep sorted most things out and we got to
discussing old girlfriends. I will leave it there, as Debbie
and Lynnie read this blog.'
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While Judy Armstrong's
Alpine
Challenge has begun
Buon
viaggio! - Bon voyage! - Gute Reise! Judy Armstrong says
lighthiker.
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'Please join me in saying goodbye to Judy
Armstrong and wishing her all the best on her epic 5500km
(3417mi) hike around the Alps!
For those of you who don't know her she is quite a
terrific and determined lady who not only quit her job and
sold her house, car and belongings in order to make this
trip but does it also in memory of two good friends of her
who died from cancer.'
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Freedom
or loneliness? is the question
Dave Mycroft asks,
followed by ponderings on mild camping in
90
degrees.
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'What matters is the days out on the hills and being with
friends, and inside I'm still at heart the lightweight
camper - but in its place. You can't recreate the feeling of
wild camping on an organised camp site - so why try!'
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Bearded Git may be in the dog house if he can buy the map to
find it:
Who
needs a map? but in the meantime he has also found time to
post some more slides
Faeroes,
Iceland etc. Album 5. We may even get round to updating his
mug-shot sometime soon... Sorry Stef.
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'100 yards down the road, the co-pilot chimed up with "Do
you know the way?'
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John Hee talks about his weekends walks
Mapping
- Saturday circular; Holmsley Enclosure, New Forest
and others, while also trying to explain to his wife why he is
meeting strangers off the internet
I
met this bloke from off the Internet......
And none stranger than this Weird Darren character he walked with
UK
Bloggers Meet the Burley Bog Monster.
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'Oh no. Had I inadvertently done away with him? Sucked
deep into the notorious New Forest bogs. Another sad
statistic that the local tourist office play down 'Well yes
sir, we do loose a few people each year but they tend to be
mostly the infirm whose families take them off the waymarked
paths when their time has come. We try not to publicise it
too widely as the bogs do fill up so quickly.'
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For the tarp fans out there (oh thats me)
Roman posts more on
the lightweight tarp that OM Member Morph makes
New
tarps made in UK II.
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'Well, a tarp is a tarp and from a simplicity point of
view not comparable with a double wall tent but it performed
flawlessly in a chilly night (2C / 36F) with moderate winds.
Not a stormy and rainy one which would put it through a real
test and I expected no problems but if you hold it in your
hands for the first time it is so light and seems so fragile
that I was really looking forward comparing theory with
reality.'
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A
less than perfect Pennine day is how
John Hennessy
describes, well, a less than perfect Pennine day on the Pennine Way
between Marseden and Littleborough in classic less than perfect
conditions of clag and murk.
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't's a eerie experience following a path while
only having visibility for several metres around you:
thoughts of the results of a misnavigation were hardly
enjoyable. Thankfully, the Pennine Way offers a good clear
track to follow and any navigational questions were quickly
resolved with inspection of a map.'
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Roving blogger
Aktoman
started his Southern Upland Way (SUW) Trek with some live blogging on
route. Although I feel I should warn you that you will see a side of
Duncan that is very disturbing in one of his piccies.
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'You haven't heard from me for a few days so thought I
would let you know the cows haven't got me yet although they
follow me everywhere. Sun goes down, the cows follow me. The
sun rises, the cows follow me.'
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It's time to assess those gadgets in your pack with Roman -
Hiking
and technical items - A systematic approach I and
Hiking
and technical items - A systematic approach II.
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'One of the most controversial discussion topics amongst
hikers is the usage of technical items during a hike. The
Purist might say: I'm out there to get rid of all this
technical stuff that surrounds me in my daily life, so I
leave everything battery powered at home.'
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Finally Trail fitness guinea pig Sarah finds
It
took a present to make me see the point to it all. Here's a
clue...
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'I've never really seen the point in walking before
(shoot me down in flames, dear Trail readers) - you get to
the top, it looks nice, and you walk down again. But now
there's a photo in everything - a new thing to focus on, a
new abstract to find, so much to learn before you can make
it look as good through your lens as it does to your
eye...'
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Happy reading folks and don't forget to visit
Darren's own
blog, yes, he's too modest to mention it, but you can find it over at
whitespider1066
and follow his preparations for the TGO Challenge. Right now he's
worried about the heat, oh dear...
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'If it is hot I will suffer. There is no doubt about
that. So I am hoping that it will cool for May.
But is does seem now that nature is springing into
life. And it all seems to be in the last week or
so. Leaves are all of a sudden on the branches, blossum
is out. It's magical, almost awe inspiring..'
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john hee (http://WalkaboutUK.blogspot.com)
