I don’t care what they say, that was an end-of-year sky this morning. Lazy, faded orange flowing through layers of fine cloud. Oh, I long for the days of jumper, hat and gloves. There’s something wrong about leaving home at 0800 in a t-shirt.
All this talk of sleeping bags has me distracted. Summer camping is in some ways half-a-job, short nights, sweaty body, the tops all feel lower somehow. I miss sitting in the dark, slipping a hand out of my down mitt to turn the stove up, stepping outside in cold boots to the first flash of dawn simmering on the horizon. Heading back inside and scooping snow from the tent’s porch and dropping it into my bubbling pot to top it up for cuppa #2, that’s what I’m looking forward to again.
At least I’m consistent, summer’s rubbish.
Not so much a summer person myself, but not so much a winter person as well. I’m an Autumn man and my days are fast approaching. Really looking forward to them this year. Lots planned and hopefully a new camera to capture it all. :)
Autumn rocks. Just turned over the calendar to see a shot of Perthshire coverd in golden and rust coloured leaves :o)
New camera? Much joy to be had there, I’m thinking similar thoughts too.
Winter in Scotland is special, no doubt about it. The midges make camping in the summer a bit of a toil.
I’m looking forward to getting out in the hills on a much more regular basis next year. Making some gear purchases over the next few months after thinking about it for a long time. All interesting stuff, setups which you don’t hear much about.
http://katabaticgear.com/shop/palisade-sleeping-bag/
http://www.hyperlitemountaingear.com/products/echo-ii-ultralight-system.html
Bit expensive, so I’m saving my pennies.
This is the stuff I’m excited about:
http://www.revelatedesigns.com/index.cfm
Bikepacking. It’s the way forward.
I’ll be bikepacking up north as soon as I get through the backlog of other stuff. I was hoping to get the trip in before it gets too cold so I’d be carrying F/A. There’s still time…
That Revelate kit is interesting, I haven’t ridden with a load on the bike for years and like the idea of little bags here and there spreading the load over the bike.
HMG, one of the US army of geek driven mini brands, you’ve got to love these guys.
Midges? Anothe reason for camping above 900m!
Random comment time :-
no doubt you will come across a friend of mine either busking on the streets of Glasgow or working as a ranger in Mugdock at some point :P
Slightly off topic pete but over the last couple of days on here when clicking around various topics on here Kaspersky is picking up a trojan. Is everything ok your end. Thought i’d mention it in case anyone else is experiencing owt.
Ant, I have seen many of both, I shall now look for one doing both!
Coops, front page is sorted now, thanks for the heads-up. I think I’m going to have to move to a server where the front door isn’t open all the time.
3 months per season works for me but autumn is always welcome, in spite of overgrown brambles and drunken wasps. Season of the Rab mm too =)
Aye, the wasps are getting pretty twichy here.
I love all the cottage brands. Seems like they are the ones driving the innovation, while the big brands copy and perfect.
HMG, Katabatic, MLD, ULA, TarpTent, Revelate, Gossamer, Lightheart, Six Moons. There are loads of them, it’s brilliant – all these wee shops with people beavering away making stuff by hand. It’d be great if we had that sort of culture in the UK. It’d save on customs charges at least.
Take a look at Carousel Design Works as well for bike packing kit. Totally custom.
The big brands are aware of these wee guys, and it’s having an effect of sorts. We’re seeing real user-specific stuff in the works, the only problem is getting it into the stores.
I’m seeing a big name later this month who’ve really gone back to their technical roots, and it’s good to see.
There’s a middle ground there between big-box mainstream and geekworld and nobody’s really claiming it.
I’m bursting for winters return!
I’m no fan of the hot sticky.
Aye, it’s rubbish. Having to carry water is bursting my ass.