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.

 

 

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.

OS Map Deals that Dash to you!

I just wanted to make a mention to a company called Dash4it that specialise in maps. I ordered an OS Explorer map on Monday 10th February at a knock down price. With the online discount, and an added discount sent by email I paid the grand total of £4.67. That in itself is really good when considering there was no charge for post and packaging. The real bonus was that the map turned up today, Tuesday 11th February. I have no connection with the company in any way except my order. That is brilliant service and well worth being registered with the company online.

 

 

http://dash4it.co.uk/

 

 

I thought I would share such a great service with fellow walkers out there.

Dehydrated Meal Review: Part 4. Fuizion Spaghetti Bolognaise

Cooked by a chef with over 20 years experience. Using, where possible, the best locally produced ingredients. High levels of nutrition with an aim for an average of 650 calories per 110g of product. Using a freeze drying process aimed at creating a high quality meal when re-hydrated. Starts out as a description for a restaurant and transforms into something that sounds like a science project. What ever they say, the proof of the pudding is still in the eating..........Fuizion Freeze Dried Meals.

Dehydrated Meal Review: Part 3. Mountain House Salmon and Potato in Dill Sauce

This was the one I was looking forward to most with respect to freeze dried meals. Mountain House have a fairly good reputation and seem to be particularly popular in the USA. I picked Salmon and Potato in Dill sauce as it sounded like it might be healthy. Oh well, here goes the review.

Review: Nakd bars. Oh yeah, no Es!

Nakd is a line of products made by the company Natural Balance Foods. They are proud to produce energy bars and other goodies that are free from wheat germ and dairy ingredients. And most importantly, there are no additives, none of those nasty E numbers that might induce yourselves or your kids into running around the room like lunatics.

Dehydrated Meal Review: Part 2. Real Turmat Beef Stew

Real Turmat is the product line of a company called Drytech. They are based in Norway and use Norwegian sources to make their meals. They state on their website that they have worked with the Norwegian Army and the armies of other Scandinavian countries to develop their products. Unfortunately, they are also well known for being expensive. But I thought I would give them a try and see if the outlay was justified by taste. I chose the Beef Stew, as this sounded like something I was used to, and would allow me to give a better judgement on the quality of the meal.

Dehydrated Meal Review: Part 1. Bla Band Potato with Beef and Bearnaise Sauce

Having reviewed the MX3 meal a while ago I decided to try some other options. A good supplier of camping type dehydrated meals is Outdoors Grub who have quite a reasonable selection. So I decided to by a few examples to try and do a review, in several parts of the meals I bought.

First up is a make I had heard of, and had a reputation for being a good quality dehydrated meal. The maker in question is Bla Band. Specifically, their Potato, Beef and Bearnaise Sauce.

Review: MX3 Aventure Dehydrated Meal Pack

When I go camping for a length of time and go off doing walks I like to return to the tent and get something prepared to eat quickly. I find that if I have to start and mess around too much I don't always eat properly after a long walk. I've had the usual Wayfarer's and Reiter's meals over the years and even had on occasion the Be-Well expedition meals. But with a week in the Lake District coming up I thought I would try something new. Roll in the MX3 freeze dried meal packs.

Review: Should I join the BMC?

To quote their website "The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) is the representative body that exists to protect the freedoms and promote the interests of climbers, hill walkers and mountaineers, including ski-mountaineers. The BMC recognises that climbing, hill walking and mountaineering are activities with a danger of personal injury or death. Participants in these activities should be aware of and accept these risks and be responsible for their own actions."

A Review: Mason's Campsite in Appletreewick

The standard of campsites can vary greatly, from the very basic to over the top. I have to admit, I've seen the varied quality myself. From a field and single toilet at the foot of Tryfan in the Ogwen Valley in Wales to a campsite in Devon with swimming pool, TV room, bar etc. Most people have different ideas about what is an acceptable standard. For me, clean and an ability to keep myself clean after a long walk. I think that the Mason's Campsite has that.