Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

And

Season's Greetings

Marc

Quick Review: Outdoors Grub

The reviews I have done this year of de-hydrated and freeze dried meals have been purchased from one retailer. I had been reluctant to mention a specific retailer, but an experience this week has changed my mind.

http://www.forgottentracks.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Meal%20Reviews

I have some plans for January, on a walking front, as long as the weather complies. Part of which is testing some water heating systems. So to make the project more interesting I thought I would purchase some nice freeze dried meals. I placed the order with Outdoors Grub on Friday 21st December with hopes that the packs would arrive maybe late next week. The website warned that no meal order would arrive before Christmas. What a shock when my order arrived this morning, Saturday 22nd December.

I'm not saying they will always deliver the next day, but I have to say the service from Outdoors Grub is always very swift. I have no connection to their company, but I think it's worth pointing out reliable retailers that are internet based. It's good to know that when you click on that 'Confirm Order' icon that you haven't just thrown you're money away on an unreliable retailer.

http://outdoorsgrub.co.uk/products.php

Hydration Bladder Longterm Review Part 2: Osprey Hydroform

Osprey, an American Backpack producer make, in my mind, some of the best quality backpacks around. Their build quality is high, for me, pretty comfortable and generally quite light considering the features. Their only downfall for me is their sometimes overly busy exterior and overly long straps. One can be easily solved, the other not so.

Osprey also make backpack accessories, you may have seen my AddOns review a while ago. Unlike many backpack manufacturers, Osprey also have a hydration bladder in their range, the Hydroform. This breaks the Osprey mould in a few ways which I will cover in my review.

Pendle Hill: Views not to be Missed.

Pendle Hill in Lancashire may well be associated by many with the Pendle witch trials. They occurred in 1612 with 16 men and women being committed to trial. More information can be found here http://www.pendlewitches.co.uk/.

For me, it was less about the witches and more about the hill. I have not walked anywhere in Lancashire for a long, long time. Pendle Hill looked like it might make for a nice walk, so I headed up there last weekend to find out for myself.

A Walk from Milldale to Dovedale

The walk started in the car park in Milldale. It's quite a size, but it does fill up, so arriving early is a good idea.

Hydration Bladder Longterm Review Part 1: Camelbak Omega

Before I continue with this review I have to make a small admission, I'm still not entirely a convert to hydration bladders. I've used both the Camelbak and Osprey bladders quite a lot, for more than a year, but still prefer bottles at times. I know that bladders are more convenient on the move, but I find them annoying to keep clean and prefer the flexibility of a bottle. I'll expand on this during my review.

In no particular order I will review the Camelbak Omega first. Although Camelbak appear to have discontinued the Omega in favour of the Antidote, it seems to me that the essence of the two are pretty much the same. There are some excellent, cheaply priced, military style Omega hydration bladders around at the moment that have many of the Antidote's features.

When a MytiMug ain't no Mug

I got out in the Peak District at the weekend, on the hills overlooking Langsett Reservoir. It was a day for testing a few new items. The first was my new, lighter camera. Its a Fujifilm Finepix S2980, a baby version of my S9500. I wont be reviewing it here, but it did a pretty good job of taking the photos for this review. Plus it's a lot lighter and more compact than the S9500. So all plus points so far, more to come later.

A Panorama shot with the new camera.

In this post I'll be taking a little look at the MytiMug, a 750ml capacity titanium mug from Alpkit.

A Local Walk and a Bite to Eat

I had a walk around my local area Saturday morning after arriving home from work. I'm looky that a five minute walk sees me into the  countryside in the photographs. A walk through the local country park and I'm into some nice woodland walks. I'm not a fan of walking in woods on their own, I like views, but a mixed walk is nice for me.

The Gazebo is located in a really nice spot over looking fields with the edge of the Peak District in the distance. I cooked up a bit of something to eat while in the Gazebo and then headed off around the woods.

A fantastically pleasant morning, there was a chill in the air, but was great walking weather for me, cold and sunny........great.

It's worth taking the time to see what your local area has to offer.

Autumn Colour Change

I went for a walk around Langsett and along the Porter of Little Don River last weekend and was surprised by firstly, the colour change that had happened since my last visit.