North Ridge Onyx Smock: A Review

When I bought this smock, it was with reservations. I had been looking at picking up a Montane Fireball, but felt hat the pricing was a bit high. Looking at the Go Outdoors website I spotted the North Ridge Onyx Smock. My requirements for the top were pretty specific. Most of my insulated jackets have been purchased to be worn over the top of other layers on a stop/break or if the weather turns particularly cold. My mid-layer insulation pieces are generally fleece in nature, something I find only useful as a mid-layer. Fleeces let the wind through unless they are extremely thick, and I wanted something that was light and could be compressed to a small size. I required something quite close fitting, to be used as a mid-layer in the winter, and an outer layer in the summer. This is were the Onyx comes in because it uses Primaloft Infinity (Black Series) as it’s insulation.

 

 

Ram's Clough - A Quick Visit

I'm lucky to live on the fringes of the Peak District, and even better, a few areas with pretty good scrambles. So Saturday morning, following an eight hour shift at work, I headed out to Dove Stone Reservoir. My target was Ram's Clough, a little documented Clough that leads up onto Wimberry Moss.

 

 

Torside Clough, how tough?

Torside Clough is a glacial formed feature to the south of Torside Reservoir with a car park only a few hundred yards away. I haven't found very much information about the clough as it appears to be less popular or just not written about to the same extent as others such as Crowden Clough. And it was also my next choice for a scramble challenge.

Alpkit BruKit – Part 2

As mentioned in part one, I’ve been out to the Peak District and tested the BruKit in more extreme conditions. The temperature where I tested was at around 2C. Factoring in a wind of 15-20 mph and the temperature was running at about -5C to -7C.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Alpkit BruKit Review: Part 1

Jetboil and Primus seem to have cornered the market on convenient, reasonably light, stove systems. They have various models, from lightweight one man systems, to heavier multi person systems. There are competitors, but only a few, Fire Maple being one of them. But now there is another, although it is essentially a re-branded Fire Maple. Roll out the carpet, the Alpkit BruKit is here.

 

 

A long, almost eternal wait, has come to an end.

I’ve grown up with Pink Floyd pretty much most of my life. From being put to sleep by Wish You Were Here as a small child, to the rebellion that is The Wall, to being, as a teenager, overcome with surprise when I found they had released Momentary Lapse of Reason while on holiday in the Cotswolds. Then along came Division Bell, its echo ringing for twenty one years before finally being brought to an end by an Endless River.

Many people make the statement that they believe that they were born too late. This album makes me feel like I was born 20 years too late. By the time I realised how much their music means to me, Pink Floyd were already imploding. By the time I really started to appreciate almost two decades of their work, they had already split up. And just as I began to appreciate those first steps, ‘Arnold Lane’, ‘See Emily Play’, and the rest..........they stopped.

 

 

 

 

Fast forward 21 years and they are back. There are snippets of their past in here. David Gilmour’s bluesy, almost mournful at times, guitar licks dotted throughout. There are continued experiments with new and creative musical landscapes. It wouldn’t be Pink Floyd without them. But if you are expecting David Gilmour’s distinctly raw vocals, you may be in for a bit of a disappointment. Apart from the one track, they really don’t make much of an appearance, my one and only disappointment about the album.

 

I should feel happy about this album’s long, long, long awaited release. And in most ways I am. But one thing spoils it for me, it’s pretty clear this is Pink Floyd’s swan song. And so the twenty years too late point comes up. I don’t know how much longer I will live, twenty, thirty more years, more or less. But one thing’s for sure, it’s sad knowing there may be no more releases like this. I will, at least, have their back catalogue to listen to. It just won’t be the same.

 

So I think it is important to appreciate now, enjoy what you have, it doesn’t last forever.

Dovestone Reservoir: Scrambles Part Two

The Dovestone Reservoir area seems to have a lot of potential for scrambles. Many of the scrambles in the area are covered in the Cicerone book Scrambles in the Dark Peak: Easy Summer Scrambles and Winter Climbs. I’m looking at these as practise for bigger things, but these scrambles are all a challenge of one type or another. My first venture was to check out Chew Brook and get some photographs of the Wilderness Gullys while I was there for future reference.

 

 

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

Review: RAB Atlas Pants....no, trousers....pants are y-fronts!

I’ve had a couple of pairs of RAB Atlas trousers for the last eighteen months or so. (Yes, trousers, not pants. As one fellow English blogger put it, using the word pants makes me think of Y-fronts. Strange that an English manufacturer should use a non-English word in that context. Especially considering that, as far as I know, the company founder, Rab Carrington, was originally based in Sheffield, but not sure if he was born there. Maybe someone could comment?) They have been very good trousers, and still are, pretty much. One pair in particular has been through the wars a little just lately. I thought it about time to review them and go over their pros and cons.