Well I've gone and done it now....... Again!

I have signed up for another mountaineering trip, this time with Moran Mountaineering, in Scotland. The company was started up and is run by Martin Moran, mountain guide and Author. I read Martin's biography, Higher Ground, last year, which was very inspiring. His journey to becoming a mountain guide, highlighted in his biography, is very interesting with quite surprising origins. I can highly recommend reading Martin's biography with signed copies available from Martin himself on his website (www.moran-mountain.co.uk). You can also purchase his books; The 4000 Peaks of the Alps and The Munros in Winter.

Training will be beginning in vain now. Long walks with a weighted pack (off out early tomorrow morning), High Intensity Interval Training, weight training and trail runs to make sure I am fit enough for February 2017. I was not as fit as I would have liked when I went to Wales in February this year. I am fitter now than I was then, but want to turn up the wick and make sure I can enjoy myself and learn a great deal.

I will write a review after the trip. I have just had a break from the blog for a few months to concentrate on other things. But hopefully I can use writing on here to provide some motivation, along with having paid my deposit already.

www.moran-mountain.co.uk

Welsh Winter Mountaineering: A few photographs

Plas Y Brenin: Welsh Winter Mountaineering (A Course Review)

Introduction

 

Plas Y Brenin is an outdoor sports education facility with quit a reputation for excellence. Their main site is in the small village of Capel Curig in North Wales right in the Snowdonia National Park. As mentioned in December 2015, I had signed up for a Welsh Winter Mountaineering course with them. The only thing missing was the snow, but some did arrive, and we found more. I mention this separately from my review as this was the only part of the course with much to desire and out of the hands of the Plas Y Brenin team.

 

 

Well I've gone and done it now.......

I've finally made the jump and paid out for a Welsh Winter Mountaineering course with Plas Y Brenin. I know that a course in Scotland would have a higher guarantee of snow, but I also want to book a scrambling course in Wales with Plas Y Brenin later in the year.

 

The information for the course can be found here:

 

http://pyb.co.uk/courses-detail.php?coursecode=WWM04&irisref=247

 

I'm looking forward to the course more than Christmas. I'm off to do the course the first week in February 2016 and will feedback my experiences on here. I've gone for the full bag of mashings; the course, accommodation and insurance. The pricing is on the site, and I think it is very reasonable when taking into account five nights stay and all the meals. But like most things, proof of the pudding is in the eating.

 

One positive already is communication. I asked a question via email and the response took a couple of days, but was very good and exactly what I needed.

 

If you have experienced a Plas Y Brenin course please feel free to pass on your comments below.

Time for change

 

Possibly not quite as dramatic as it may sound, but I have decided I am too sedentary and started on a road to improved fitness. Or, possibly more accurate, a trail to improved fitness. From 1991 for almost twenty years I studied and trained in the martial art of Taekwondo, including 3-4 workouts at the gym every week. I was as fit as the proverbial ‘butchers dog’. After the ‘almost twenty years’ I had to give it up due to other priorities having, by then, reached the grade of 5th Dan Master. Although I have done a fair amount of walking since my accident back in 2010, I haven’t been as fit as I had liked. I have found the hills harder work than I should have. So several months ago I began a plan to improve my hill fitness.

 

DMM Locking Carabiner Recall

There is a recall notice for particular models of DMM Locking Carabiners. I thought I had better pass this information on as I had to check one of mine that happens to be one of the models potentially affected. Fortunately mine is okay, but yours may not be.

 

Link for information from DMM:

 

http://dmmclimbing.com/documents/dmm-product-recall-14-09-2015.pdf

King Kong Climbing Centre: Loads of fun for all Apes

While having a conversation with an experienced climber in Needle Sports of Keswick a few weeks ago, particularly with respect to my right arms limitations (which are constantly improving, but may have a limit) I was advised to go to a climbing wall. This would allow for a safe environment where I could work with an instructor and find my current limitations. I’ve had some climbing experience, but things have changed considerably since then.

 

 

Winter Has Gone, Spring 2015 is here.

It looks like we are well into Spring with the snow in the past....maybe. But we have fantastic walking weather at the moment. And typical, I have a bad cold that seems to be catching up with a lot of people. I'm off to the Lake District in three weeks, so as my cold is clearing I can get out for some exercise this week. But while I'm in the house, I've dug out my photographs from the winter and found some photographs of a crampon practise sessions I had on 4th February this year.

Shr****d Wheat for some, Dreaded Wheat for me.

Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s the wheat, but which ever it is, we have parted ways. Feeling bloated after a meal that included either bread, pasta, or flour in some form was never nice. The painful joints, particularly my knees, over the last couple of years, worried me that maybe they were shot. Nearly 20 years of martial arts, I thought, had worn them out, and was now causing pain. It seems I may have been wrong, that life may have just taken a turn for the better.

 

By accident I came across a video on Youtube about the potential negative impact on joints in a couple of ways. That the Gluten in wheat can cause joint inflammation, and also make the effects of Arthritis worse. With a right elbow that is guaranteed, at some point in my life, to develop Arthritis, I decided I wanted to reduce it’s possible effects. I also suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), which can be very disruptive, and cause all sorts of problems. Again, there are possible links between wheat and IBS.  So I gave up on eating foods containing wheat a few weeks ago. It’s been very difficult. Going shopping has many temptations, with the majority containing wheat; Buns, cakes, biscuits, my mums homemade Parkin. But I am finding myself trying new things. I’ve reduced my carbohydrate intake, and aiming to bring sugar right down as well.

 

But has it done any good? Well some changes can take a few months. But one thing I have found is that my knee joint pain has gone. I feel like I’ve gone back 10 years. And my stomach has gone down. I look like I’ve lost weight, but I haven’t. It’s the bloating that I strongly suspect was caused by wheat. Time will tell for any other changes or improvements.

 

This post is not entirely to do with stopping eating wheat, I believe that to be personal choice. This post is more about not allowing yourself to get stuck in a rut. That sometimes it’s worth taking the chance of making a change to your life for the better. I don’t see myself as on a new diet, I see it as a lifestyle change. With hope, it’s a step in the right direction to a better quality of life. Supposedly, a change is as good as a rest, it may well be very true.

 

http://www.greenstar.coop/health/305-discovering-a-hidden-wheat-intolerance

Should I join the National Trust?

The National Trust is a charity that purchases, preserves and makes access to historical man made, and natural properties within the UK. They are the UK’s biggest land owner. They use an annual membership, donations and money raised from it’s properties to fund it’s running costs. With around 3.7 million members, 61,000 volunteers and ownership of over 350 historic houses and properties, etc the National Trust is quite a large organisation. But is it worth being a member?

 

Would you honestly trust your life with this?

I use fire steels quite a lot, they are a reliable way to start a gas or alcohol stove. They can be quite expensive, but they work up to thousands of times, depending on size. Emergency use of a fire steel is something I can't really see me requiring, but you never know. There are few areas in the UK where you are so remote it may take some time for rescue services to reach you. But if you do find yourself in this situation, here in the UK or abroad, you want your fire steel to be reliable.

Primaloft Information to start off a series of Reviews

Okay, so I have already reviewed the Keela Belay jacket. But I thought this information might be useful to show the efficiency of different types and weights of Primaloft insulation used in the jackets I already have and will review.

Thermal insulation has a value, a CLO value where one CLO unit represents 0.155m²K/W. This is based on the difference between a persons skin temperature and the outside temperature of the material. So a higher value represents a higher difference between your skin temperature and the outer material temperature, a good thing if it is cold. This means a higher CLO value is better.

A Neon Fly and a Magnum

Okay, maybe not a walking subject, but it was a brilliant start to my holiday. I've been listening to Magnum since my late teens, around 25 years. For quite a long time I've planned to go and see them at the Holmfirth Picturedrome for about 5 years. Unfortunately a little car accident got in the way. Finally, last week I went to see them.

Bio-ethanol Fuel, a Methylated Spirit alternative?

Based only a stones throw from myself, in Sheffield South Yorkshire, Fuel 4 produce a range of bio-ethanol items, including a fuel gel, liquid fuel and cook sets. To be honest, the cook sets look too bulky for my needs. But looks like a possible competitor to the Trangia systems. In this review I will look at the liquid bio-ethanol with a review of the gel to follow once I have done some tests. So what's the spirit fuel like?

 

 

Good News............Their Back, Fuizion Freeze Dried Food!

Fuizion are back. The makers of what I think, and a lot of others do too, of the best freeze dried meals out there, have stock again. It's good news to hear, and below is a photograph of my order that arrived this morning. Thanks to Hendrik Morkel at http://hikinginfinland.com/ for spotting their return and posting on his blog.

 

 

Fuizion freeze dried meals can be purchased at http://www.fuizionfreezedriedfood.com/

 

Product Updates - Good and Bad

Mountain Fuel

Mountain Fuel, the Welsh supplement and food company are currently in the process of updating their website. According to the email I received, they are also updating their product line. Hopefully, the energy bar they had mentioned quite some time ago on their website will appear. The new website hasn't appeared yet, I was told the end of September. So possibly another few days and something should be online. Time will tell.

http://www.mountainfuel.co.uk/



Fuizion Freeze Dried Meals

This isn't good news. Having looked through the entire product range on the Fuizion website they have nothing in stock. Looking at their Facebook page, they have ceased trading. They say they are unable to make a profit, which would permit further investment. This may be down to what I consider quite a low price compared to the quality of the meals when considering similar products. This is a great loss to the outdoor industry, and my taste buds. I wish Tony and Alison, the people behind Fuizion, all the best.

https://www.facebook.com/Fuizion.Freeze.Dried.Food?v=wall&
http://www.fuizionfreezedriedfood.com/

The Roaches, a lot of weather and too many wind farms

The Roaches, a few miles north of Leek, at the South West corner of the Peak District in Staffordshire. They are a quite unique rock formation unlike anything I have seen before. I went there at the weekend, I will need to go back.

 

Hen Cloud

When your blog becomes someone elses.

I decided the other day to do a search on the net and see what activity my blog is having. I was quite shocked to find at least a dozen of my posts had been ripped and posted onto another blog without crediting me as the source. That's text and photographs, including the post about my accident and injury to my arm, which I take personally. I have posted a few of the links below so that anyone interested can take a look. I say this because it looks as though they are doing the same with other blogs too. Although there seems to be no recent activity.

The other blogs posts:

http://www.pochasilva.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/trangia-triangle-burner-stand-review.html

http://www.pochasilva.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/review-salomon-cosmic-2-4d.html

http://www.pochasilva.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/a-misty-start-with-clear-finish.html

http://www.pochasilva.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/a-local-winter-walk.html

My posts they ripped:

http://www.forgottentracks.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/trangia-triangle-burner-stand-review.html

http://www.forgottentracks.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/review-salomon-cosmic-2-4d.html

http://www.forgottentracks.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/a-misty-start-with-clear-finish.html

http://www.forgottentracks.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/a-local-winter-walk.html

 

I wonder what other people think. What do my fellow bloggers, not the ones who take others hard work, think about this kind of activity? Have you experienced the same? In my opinion, it's un-ethical, and probably theft in some way.

112 Emergency mobile number

We hope it never happens, but there may come a time when you are out in the middle of nowhere and you are unfortunate enough to need the emergency services. You've fallen and hurt yourself, got lost, or one of the many possible scenarios. How would you go about contacting the emergency services. Most people in the UK should be aware of 999, for the USA, 911, etc.