Visor Buff

August 29, 2010 – 13:28

Visor BuffI’d toyed with the idea of a buff years ago and I began to recall my original thoughts on the standard one: the appeal resurfaced but for protective summer use the advantage of a peak would be lost. Then I discovered the Visor Buff: a standard buff with a built-in neoprene peak.

An article in TGO magazine on summer walking hats prompted us to reappraise our summer headwear, which was past its best to say the least and never was entirely satisfactory. In the midsummer months we had been using standard Nike baseball-style caps for the strongest sunshine. They were satisfactory to cover our heads and they had good peaks to protect the upper part of our faces from direct sun, but they offered no protection for the ears or back of the neck, which seem to have become more susceptible to burning on recent trips despite our efforts with sun cream.

The caps had no chinstrap or other means of securing them properly either, which was not a problem most days but the manufacturers seem to think that blustery winds never occur in summer. Last year after a windy hot sunny day in the Cairngorms and nearly losing the cap, I resorted that evening to improvising a chinstrap in the tent, boring two rough holes in the cap and threading them with a length of Dyneema cord that I always carry. I really don’t like hats at all!.

The first use of the Visor Buff on my Northern Hirnants backpack was a great success. It had a very light and airy feel, and best of all I wasn’t wearing a bloody hat.

I’ve added a short piece here in the Gear & Tech section of the main site.

I’ll still appreciate my Lowe Alpine Mountain Cap in winter but Visor Buffs rule in summer now!.

I’m off this week for the promised bit of summer, Visor Buff at the ready…

By Geoff C | Posted in Outdoor Gear | Comments (3)

Memory-Map: an interesting success for mobile mapping

August 26, 2010 – 17:16

Send Map operationApologies to addicts of GPS/PDA/Smartphone mapping if this is obvious or old hat, but I was able to help a correspondent of mine recently in a quite unexpected way (I don’t own any GPS or mobile mapping devices at all but I’m really into mapping on a PC). It may be interesting to others in the same predicament.

He set out on a walking holiday and was dismayed to find that he hadn’t brought the required maps. Time was of the essence and there was no question of obtaining them at the destination. Then he had an idea, albeit a very long shot he thought:- knowing that I run Memory-Map (MM), and suspecting that I monitor my computers pretty much all the time when not out backpacking (I do), he sent me an email with the approximate grid references of the top-left and bottom-right corners of the map areas covering his intended walks. The idea was that I could extract just those map areas in the MM software and return them as email attachments, where the MM application running on his Smartphone could load them.

I picked up the email within minutes of its dispatch and I must say I was sceptical at first: the process seemed too easy for what he was planning and would surely fail at one end or the other.
The method he specified was to use the MM menu command: Mobile Device — Send Visible Map Portion… to create the map file on hard disk. It was a non-starter: on my MM installation, most of the commands on that menu are dimmed and unavailable, presumably because I have no mobile device set up or because the Microsoft ActiveSync service is disabled.

Thinking about it for a few minutes, I was sure MM must have the required capability even without a mobile device or service connected. Mobiles often have SD cards for extensible storage and we may want to write map sections directly on those. I remembered a technique whereby a closed route is drawn around a map area, enabling it to be digitally extracted, and I soon found the method:- right-click the route — Operations — Send enclosed map to Mobile Device…. This context command was enabled, and the resulting dialog gave the option to save to ‘Storage card on PC’. In fact it’s a standard Save dialog and you can save the map file anywhere.

Half the battle won!. Actually I suspected less than half: the real problems were more likely to be in software at his end. I emailed the map files one at a time and sure enough, a while later he reported that the maps had been received and successfully loaded onto the Smartphone. Now that did surprise me. I was expecting MM to stonewall us at his end, but not so, I could freely send him my map sections.

So there it is, a satisfying, if not entirely comprehensible (to me), success.

By Geoff C | Posted in Mapping &Technical | Comments (5)

Northern Hirnants 2-day backpack

August 17, 2010 – 16:58

Pitch on Cyrniau Nod

A return to the hills after a few weeks layoff, this was a 2-day circuit of the Northern Hirnant hills to pick up a couple of new Dewey 500m tops, also visiting several familiar 2000-feet summits. The outward route towards Foel Goch and the return from Bwlch y Fenni are the same as our Hirnants trip, as are some fragments of the core of the route, and a few bits of description have been taken from that trip.

Two dry days in a miserable August were just right for this short trip. The views on the first day were plagued by very hazy grey humid air that obscured the neighbouring hills until mid morning but conditions improved on the second day. The route is a mixture of very hard rough moorland and easy paths and tracks.

After slopping through some very wet stuff on this backpack I think my much loved Berghaus Pro-Rush Mids have started to leak: a test is in order now before the dreaded hunt for replacements. In the meantime I have an old pair of Stratos to test as well, they just might still be waterproof.

Full report & photos

By Geoff C | Posted in Backpack Trip Reports | Comments (9)

Sports Tape and rubbing

July 6, 2010 – 20:09

Mueller M Tape Zinc Oxide Tape

On my Patterdale & Kirkstone Fells trip last year I mysteriously suffered the worst case of rubbing I’ve ever known. The affected area was a strip around the base of my back beneath the pack hipbelt, most of which was quite sore but one spot in particular was severely rubbed raw right through the outer skin. Rubbing and chafing is usually associated with warm sweaty weather and people generally find that it happens most in such conditions, but that trip was in October and I started out in a quite heavy frost. However there was no wind at all in the valley, I probably sweated a fair bit despite the low temperature. It was puzzling nevertheless: I’ve always felt very slightly irritated in that region in warm conditions, just an itchy feeling not worth bothering about, but this was something else and confusingly it doesn’t happen every time.

I completely eliminated the well known problem of chafing between the legs ages ago: BodyGlide or similar product. One application before setting out from home and that’s it: job done for the whole trip. I tried BodyGlide as a preventative for this back problem and the next few trips (in winter) were problem free, but on the Central Cheviots backpack, the first trip of this year when conditions became warm and sweaty, the trouble resurfaced though mercifully not with the same severity. Lubricant was clearly not the answer.

I decided the only way forward was to prevent any possibility of rubbing from the outset. I tried a solution I read about some time ago: sports tape, aka athlete’s tape or medical tape. I first came across this years ago when a physiotherapist gave me a kit for taping a knee injury but it has many uses in sports. It comes in a bewildering variety of types and I decided on a roll of 5cm wide Mueller tape from FirstAid4Sport, a cotton zinc oxide tape with great conformability.

On the last three trips I taped my back at home before starting out: a vertical strip up the central lower spine and two or three overlapping horizontal strips around my waist as far as the sides. The tape has excellent adhesive, and once stuck down it will not move, no matter how much my clothing or pack hipbelt move about on top of it, nothing can possibly rub directly on the skin. I’m happy to report that I felt no red soreness at all on these backpacks and the weather was often hot, a great result.  Why I’m suddenly susceptible to this remains a mystery but I’ll be taping my back as a matter of course from now on, whatever the time of year.

The tape can be useful to walkers in other common trouble spots involving rubbing. Although I never suffer myself these days, soreness from shoulder straps and footwear are likely candidates. Up-and-down rubbing at the back end of footwear is common and many people typically apply a standard plaster to the back of the heel, but it often moves or comes off - this tape is much stickier and can even be multi-layered if required (is it me or are today’s crappy plasters much less sticky than years ago?).

The sudden feeling of a hotspot on or below the foot could be the sign of an imminent blister, a piece of tape applied immediately will stop any local rubbing. Another use is to tape and support minor injuries. It must have a multitude of uses for temporary kit repairs too.

However the weight of a roll and rarity of use would preclude adding it to the actual backpack gear list, I can’t see any obvious way of taking a small quantity.

By Geoff C | Posted in Outdoor Gear | Comments (5)

The Upper Wye Hills 3-day backpack

June 25, 2010 – 14:11

Pitch on Y FoelA circuit of the hills of the upper Wye Valley between the Pumlumon range and the Elan Valley, taking in a total of nine new 500m tops.

On the south west side of the Wye Valley, a line of hills stretches from Moelfryn near Rhayader to Llechwedd Llwyd above the confluence of the Wye and the Afon Tarrenig. The south-eastern end was covered in our Elan Valley #4 backpack, this trip traverses the rest of the chain and crosses to the north eastern side of the Wye to visit the two hills bordering the Hafren Forest. The outward leg follows line of the Wye Valley Walk as it traverses the hill country south of Llangurig to Dernol and the return uses forest trails and the path along the Afon Bidno valley.

The route planning technique of linking new little known tops has been satisfying, often producing fine walking in solitude and a few real gems, but it must be said that this route was less successful. Every backpack is enjoyable and it’s always great to be in the hills walking and pitching the tent, but in this case the rewards were pretty thin relative to the effort required and occasional cursing involved. There are good general views from the high ground over this part of Wales but no intrinsically memorable highlights among these summits, although a few of them will linger in the mind for their oddity value if nothing else. I was quite nonplussed by the area on the east side of Pumlumon near the source of the Wye, little did I suspect such land usage in these hills from our previous walks among the high tops further north.

Full report & photos

By Geoff C | Posted in Backpack Trip Reports | Comments (8)

Southern Arenigs & Waun y Griafolen 3-day backpack

June 19, 2010 – 12:58

Dduallt pool and summit rocksA new southern approach to the Arenigs range, exploring five new Dewey 500m tops and including a circuit around Waun y Griafolen, the huge shallow expanse of very rough wet moorland that lies at the heart of the region. The route also visits the two old favourites of Dduallt and Rhobell Fawr, the two Nuttall mountains of the southern quarter, and passes close to three other Dewey tops that we have climbed before but omitted on this circuit.

A route for lovers of solitude who desire to avoid the summer hordes, this was another of our 100% successes in that respect: in the entire backpack we saw absolutely nobody at all - literally, even from a far distance, despite the broad spacious views over the region. Even the valley at Cwm yr Allt-lwyd was deserted.

It was slightly surprising to find Dduallt and Rhobell Fawr completely devoid of walkers in such warm sunny weather, but not the tops that encircle Waun y Griafolen. Now this is one badass place for the foot soldier, a vast flatland of fearsome matted heather and tussocks with hidden bogs and trickling watercourses that mandates fine weather and a stoic frame of mind. By judicious choice of line for our crossing at the southern end, we encountered just a short section of this, and a serviceable path avoids most of the rough terrain on the higher ground of the periphery.

Full report & photos

By Geoff C | Posted in Backpack Trip Reports | Comments (5)

Malham & Littondale Fells 3-day backpack

June 6, 2010 – 15:27

Pitch below Parson's PulpitA circuit of the fells around Malham Tarn and Littondale, formed from a group of six new Dewey 500m hills and completed by traversing several of the familiar mountains of the area.

A backpack of contrasts in both scenery and numbers of walkers, the well used paths and tracks in the areas of limestone-encrusted greenery near Malham Tarn were positively heaving with day trippers and walkers, but the Access Land areas away from public paths were completely deserted. During the first afternoon on the limestone High Marks, and the whole of the second day on the long moorland traverse of Birks Fell, I didn’t see a single person, even from a far distance.

This western quarter of the Yorkshire Dales isn’t in our top drawer of backpacking regions these days, mainly because much of the region has the general feel of elevated farmland rather than wilderness country, more akin to country rambling and its attendant popularity than the wild backpacking that usually prevails. Nevertheless the extensive limestone geology has endowed it with a special quality that lifts it a few notches above the commonplace and this trip was a highly enjoyable one.

Full report & photos

By Geoff C | Posted in Backpack Trip Reports | Comments (5)

The Central Cheviots 3-day backpack

May 24, 2010 – 17:39

View from Shillhope LawA solo circuit around the central region of the Cheviot hills, based on a framework of ten new Dewey 500m hills and including five of the six Nuttall mountains of the region en route. The route covers a variety of terrain and scenery with expansive heather moors, coarse moorland grasses, the steeply incised valleys of the Usway Burn and River Alwin and the wide hill-lined College Valley and Coquetdale. Some parts of the moor are naturally boggy but their sting was drawn by the recent lack of significant rain: easy dry crossings all the way this time.

From leaving Alwinton on Thursday morning until I descended to the River Alwin on Saturday afternoon, I saw only one couple: they were on the principal route up to The Cheviot from Harthope, apart from them the whole area was totally deserted.

I found this backpack pretty hard, due in part to the temperature and humidity which were considerably higher than expected and made slow, gruelling work of the sheltered ascents. I don’t ostensibly suffer from hay fever but I suspect the high pollen index may have had an effect too, at any rate it felt a lot tougher than anticipated.

Full report & photos

By Geoff C | Posted in Backpack Trip Reports | Comments (7)

Metric stats and Route maps in IE8

May 19, 2010 – 19:54

IE8 screenshotAlright, people have hinted long enough about my persistence with imperial units in the trip and route stats. I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that hills and mountains lose something when expressed in metres and it’s not just that the numbers are smaller, it’s something intangible but of a curious appeal when thinking about them. Distances in kilometres don’t convey much to me either in raw form, fortunately I can do an instant mental calculation to get a mileage that means something.

Anyway, after a painstaking period of furious editing I’ve updated every trip report page with metric stats. There are still a few other pages with miles only, I’ll get around to updating those soon.

The next job was to install Internet Explorer 8 and test the site. IE8 is far more standards compliant than its predecessors (hooray at last), but it did require a change to my ‘browser-sniffing’ code to get the font size acceptable:- basically, IE always displays fonts bigger than other browsers and I have to load a different web style to cope with it.

There is one problem though, and it’s not the fault of IE (believe it or not):- it’s the display of OS maps for the trip reports. I use OS OpenSpace, which does not work in IE8 when the browser is operating in ’standards mode’ which is the default. The OS have known about this problem with OpenSpace for a while now but still haven’t fixed it.

In the meantime, to display the OS maps in IE8 you must first tell IE to display the trip report page in ‘Compatibility Mode’, then the OS map should work. You do this by clicking the Compatibility button in IE as indicated by the arrow in this screenshot. It does change the font size back though, so when the map window has opened successfully, you can go back to the report page and turn off Compatibility mode by clicking the button again to restore the font size.

Phew, enough of that, I’m off tomorrow for a good backpack despite the thick heavy humid air!.

By Geoff C | Posted in Main website updates | Comments (5)

The Dartmoor Tops Tour 3-day backpack

April 25, 2010 – 17:29

View from Great Mis TorA grand tour of the listed tops of Dartmoor:- a second visit to the two Nuttall mountains of the region and thirteen new 500m+ Dewey tops, including two of the small group that top 600m.

A Dartmoor backpack had been on the radar for some time, our only previous visit being a day walk in 1995 for the two Nuttalls. A plot of all the tops on Memory-Map suggested a grandslam of the whole group totalling around 56 miles, an ambitious route for 3 days given the long drive there and back, but one that would take me through the wild and remote heartland and out to some of the distinctive tors for which Dartmoor is so renowned. It would have been more relaxed and comfortable over 4 days, but I had 3 and the forecast predicted fine dry weather in the south - the challenge was on.

The heartland of northern Dartmoor is a vast expanse of domed hills and sinuous valleys dotted with rocky tors, a landscape that can test navigation skills for the unfamiliar. On this backpack in clear and mainly sunny weather, I utilized my compass and scrutinized the map detail and contours extensively, far more than on any other trip for years.

The central region of the northern moor is also famed for its bogs, but the recent lack of significant rain was another enticement for this trip. I encountered only a handful of very brief boggy bits and most of those were not up on the high moor, in fact most of the moorland seemed parched - more of a soft crunch than a squelch.

Full report & photos

By Geoff C | Posted in Backpack Trip Reports | Comments (14)