Exploring the dark side

During November the chance came to get out and test the new poncho quilt on a trek out along Upplandsleden. I picked up where I left off last time and took the stretch as far as Sigtuna.

It was a chilly and damp autumn day and the early stretch was punctuated with the sound of gunfire - some at close range as the trail passed by a shooting club out in the woods. 

Even when I swung off to the headland I'd mapped up for overnight stop there was still sounds of dogs japping and shots echoing off in the woods.  But still, it was a nice quiet spot where I set up the tarp - in a gully on the back of a rocky headland. 

By 3pm its getting dark, and after eating there's not too much to do except creep down under the quilt. The temperature is a little plus but with that raw damp feeling.  The quilt did its job, but I do need to bump up the ground insulation. I've a short pad supplemented by a sit pad and the rucksack back piece. Now when it's cool coverage isn't enough to not get cool spots and an uncomfortable background chill. Especially when it's a loooong night camp - sunrise not before 8am.

Sitting out before turning in I did use the quilt in poncho mode. It wraps well round the body and added welcome warmth.  You feel a bit 'Michelin man' with it on, and sitting down I'm still not sure if I want to sit on it or let it sprawl. 

I'n conclusion then. Apex 167 seems to work down to a few degrees plus and I could push colder with a better pad and another layer. It is bulky, up to twice the size of down but its nice on a soggy day to not be worried about the damp. 

Hikers are doing it for themselves

... A post about making my own poncho quilt.

Original sketch

So I recently bought a nice new down quilt so why make my own? 

Well.. I've started planning for a long hike for next summer and I'm looking to shrink pack weight. At the same time I realise that sitting around camp in the cold needs more than the clothes I normally carry. I can swaddle in the quilt, but with a sewn in footbox it is a bit cumbersome for that.  So my thoughts turned to a dual purpose poncho quilt - and synthetic to be tolerant of the damp if I'm going to sit around in it.

The design is a fairly standard tapered quilt with a cinched end for the footbox and a rounded top to pull over your ears . The footbox includes a draft flap behind the closures. For the poncho the neck opening is a slot with a double baffle. The inner has velcro tabs for closure and the outer is insulated and stitched to (hopefully) lie flat.

The finished item

The fabric is 10D nylon from Adventurexpert - 22g/m2.  Initially I was planning for a lightweight Apex 100 fill, but after plenty of surfing and consideration I opted for Apex 167. That should make it good down to zero C, maybe with some extra layering. That added about 200g to the finished weight but it is still lighter than the quilt plus an extra in camp layer. 

Finished weight is 660g - about 10 grams heavier than if I bought one

(though if I bought one the quality would be better;).

The finished item is big.  Folding and rolling it up it's about 15L.  Putting it in a 13L dry bag it goes down to about 10,5L.  I'm hoping to get it into eight with the right stuff sack. - or maybe just throw it in the bottom of the backpack and let the rest of the kit do the compressing.

Making the footbox draft strap

I won't go into details on construction. There's good videos online on sewing a quilt using the 'sew the layers together and turn it inside out' technique. The quilt part took time but was straightforward. The neck opening was a bitch - pardon my French. My venerable Elna sewing machine didn't have enough space behind the sewing head to easily work in the middle of a big fluffy blanket.

Footbox cinch cord

Mistakes?  I've made a few  ;)   Troubles with one of cord channels - twice having to unpick while trying to stitch round the  neck slot, struggling to get six layers of material and insulation into a grosgrain edging... some wear and tear on the fabric.  No it's not perfect  - but  it ended up much as planned and hej - I made it!

As a quilt - before adding the neck slot

The finished quilt clips together nicely.  The poncho fits.  Indoors it's like wearing a sauna and i look like a Michelin man - but function over looks right?

Now I just need to try it out for real :)

Gear talk - down to the nitty gritty

Home sweet home

My weekend trip was largely a chance to test some stuff - so what worked and what didn't?

Firstly the cold.  I'm trying to gauge what I may need if I do the GR10 next year - how light or how heavy can I get away with and still keep warm.  This weekend says I need more warmth for sitting around on cold evenings (assuming temperatures down to freezing in the mountains).  That should solve itself if (when?) I make my poncho quilt. That'll be a good extra wearable layer that I can use in camp and for sleeping.

And talking of sleeping - having chilled off in camp it took a long while to warm up under the quilt.  Adding layers solved that - though its reached the time of year when I need to have some full length insulation. And it probably means I do want to consider taking leggings to sleep in.

Then I was pleased that the quilt stayed dry in the bivy.  I was less pleased when I unpacked when I got home and found it damp - despite being in a dry bag.  I'm not sure if it's moisture in the bag when I put it in or moisture from the rucksack getting through to the down.  The ultrasil dry bags have a fairly low waterproofing rating.  I probably need to add a proper packliner (trashbag) and maybe upgrade the bag for the quilt to something more tolerant of the wet.
(Day after comment:  Afterwards it's not clear how damp it was -  the see through material makes it look damp when first unstuffed as the down is still compressed together.  Left in a room it lofted back quite quickly with no lasting sign of damp)

Alternatively that's another plus for the myog synthetic poncho quilt.

The new bivy then? It's the first trip out for my Enlightened Equipment Recon Bivy - a long one in a custom colour.  All in all I'm pleased with it this first time but there are some wrinkles to work out.

The length is more or less perfect.  Comfily long enough for me without extending out of the shelter of the tarp.  Getting the end suspension sorted was more tricky.  To get the ridge to lift along the tarp it needs pulling out as well as up.  Using the hooks to the tarp guys gave too much up - so for the future I probably will use a running hitch onto the guy so I can easily adjust the run.

The riser on the head end was easy to adjust from in the bivy, which was just as well as getting in in practice means slacking off the head end completely. Organising getting in and out is going to be something to practice though. With limited headroom there's some contortion involved.

Inside the bivy the mesh sections gave good ventilation and view. At times I could notice cold air coming in too - no doubt helped by having the open side of the tarp to windward. (Light winds forecast to change direction through the night)

As any review will tell you the floor is fairly slippy so when the ground is not flat (and in the forest when is it ever) I tended to migrate t one side.  To be fair that happens without the bivy, and the bivy at least acts to stop me sliding away all together.

All round though, thumbs up for the bivy.

The stove then?  I have several old Esbit stoves at home. This time out it was a Meta 71.  It has a 4dl pot with a pot stand and lid all for around 90 grams.  For my morning brew - warm water on my muesli and hot (not boiling) water for instant coffee - I used one and a half 4g tablets.  6g, and there was fuel left at the end.   And to be clear - I didn't bring the one with the egg holder (!).

Also in the picture a mini windshield from foil.  They don't like too much wind!






The rucksack? It seems to be just the right size to take my packing.  8.5kg total weight when I set off - including food and about 1.8litres of water.   This time I left the waist band at home.  It doesn't seem to do much to take the weight, and as I'm not running I don't need to control the bounce.    I do find that after 3 hours I start to feel it in the shoulders.  Two things there for me - first, take more breaks. I need to factor in a 5 minute snack and pack off break every hour or so. In cold and chilly weather it's tempting though to keep on trudging on.

Second I want to offload weight from my shoulders onto my hips.  To that end I brought a waist pack and loaded all the water in to that.   I was going to have it on my hips - but loaded the rucksack sits too low so I used it 'fanny pack' style instead.  The pack is a Chinese North Face copy I've had for many years.  I bought it in the silk market in Beijing for about £4.  It's no ultralight - over 200g - but it has good straps so you can cinch down the contents well.  It worked very well -  unobtrusive and comfortable.   On the other hand...

I had a litre of water in a soft bottle with one of those mouthpiece tops that you pull out with your teeth.  It seems it's a bit tight and twice I managed to miss closing it properly resulting in wet stuff and wasted water. Useful to have but something I will need to look out for.

A few things to tweak there...  but some lessons learned too.

Upplandsleden - From Kallhäll to Rosersberg

A fresh autumn morning

It was one of those wet and inclement weekends.   The forecast was for cold and rain... which, as it happens was just what I wanted.  There's no way to know how gear works in the cold and rain without... cold.. and rain.
By the time I turned out on Saturday the rain had come through - everywhere was wet and muddy and with light winds a toasty five degrees.    The first part runs past Kallhäll and Stäket , areas I know fairly well, before heading north meandering along the coast and through the woods. Parts are on the road or on gravel tracks, other parts wind through the trees around rocks and tree roots. 
Saturday's leg is about 15km to Skarvberget.   The path veers off from the coast up a slope to  a cliff overlooking the water.  Fine views I'm sure if you have fine weather.   There's also a vindskydd there  (a timber built wind shelter with a place for a campfire).  I'm planning to camp, but it's the first time using the tarp in the rain so it's nice with a back up shelter.

Pitched with a view

And yes... cold means cold. I pitched the tarp and took my dinner watching the view and listening to cattle lowing across the water. But damp  and four degrees creeps into the bones so it was early when I crept under the quilt to turn in.  It was first time out for my new bivy so there was a bit of palaver getting everything sorted and comfy. Practice I hope will make perfect on that front.

Morning woke to light rain on the roof.  It was pleasantly dry under but eventually I had to get up and fix breakfast.  Today I'd swapped my Esbit 42 for the larger Esbit 71.  Space to boil a bit more water to mash the muesli and for a morning coffee.  It's still chilly and inclement though so I don't linger too long before packing up and getting off.

The second leg continues north.  It's still raining so I get a chance to test the poncho, gradually losing layers as I warm up.   Rather belatedly I remember that I wanted to take a detour to see a viking age ship grave that's not far from the trail.  I thought I'd missed it - but not too long after I reach the turn for Runsa borg - the site of an iron age fort and that ship grave.  It was a bit muddy getting there but defintiely worth a look.  The borg itself is just a once fortified hill, but the ship grave is more evocative of past times - an oval of stones laid out like a ship in the landscape.

Ship grave at Runsa Borg

Back on the road thelast of the trail took me to Rosersbergs Slott - once a royal palace, now still owned by the crown but used mostly as a training center.  Upplandsleden goes through the grounds with a fie stretch through beechwoods with a rich russet carpet of autumn leaves.

And.. lastly the trail passes along the border of an area used for military exercises.  The sound of shooting in the woods ahead is only slightly disconcerting - but to just by two blokes I passed on the trail it's hunters not infantrymen that our out this Sunday morning.

Home is via the commuter train a mile or so up the road from the trail.  All told for both days, a tad short of 30km. 

On the road to Paradise

Another weekend, another trip out. This time on Sörmlandsleden. Something a little less ambitious than last weekend - setting off from Tyresta By on stage 4 and 5. Today I've just done about 17k, partly running, mostly walking. I passed by Handen and now I'm tucked up on an isthmus by a lake not too far from Paradiset.

With some careful thought and due attention to the forecast I've managed to get my pack weight down, helped by only needing to carry my overnight water from Handen. Total pack weight when I set off was 6.9kg.

Whats different?

First I dressed to run and left my trousers home, so my waterproof pants are also my csmp trews. They are nice soft material so it's no hardship.

Then I swapped back to my sheet sleeping bag and left my merino bottoms home. And swapped out a long sleeve shirt and a merino base layer for a running top. No low temperatures expected, and I do have a quilt ;)

Then I cut down my first aid kit, swapping it for a mini kit I usually take when running trail.

And no stuff sack for my pad, just a 3g velcro band.

Then last time I was playing with my mini wood burner. That got left at home. I just brought my Meta 42 Esbit stove to make my breakfast coffee. Powder coffee.... No bottle for the cold brew, and no grinds. But the cold brew was nice!

#hiking #sörmlandsleden

Reposted from Wix

Kit and caboodle

Or.... Time for a little gear talk

My overnighter on Roslagsleden was a chance to test my new lightweight solo set up. So how did it go?

The tarp - a Hilleberg tarp 5. Seems pretty good. No hard weather and it was tricky finding ways to guy it on a thinly covered rock, but it was easy to get a good shape and well sized for one.

One thing I've got to think about though is attaching the poles. With no basket my pole goes right through the ring at the tie out - and the poles are fixed length. With the adjustment at the top its hard to just clove hitch it to the pole. I might need to do that in any case and have a running hitch at the bottom instead...

Interestingly the tarp got a lot of condensation. The ground was wet and the air was still and the tarp gathered condensation both above and below. In the morning there was too little breeze to dry so it went in the bag wet.

Packing up is easy. I like the built in stuff sack. Always there and quick and easy to use for marginal extra weight. I even have room for my pegs tucked down the inside.

The bag - my Western Mountaineering Astralite, and it's a quilt not a bag. A first for me with a quilt. It sat well, no drafts, and snug with the collar round my shoulders. It's rated to below zero so more than warm enough.

The pad system gets some criticism online and I made some mods beforehand that seemed to work well. I took the lacing out of the top position which gave a much looser lacing and let it drape wider than at the top. Then I changed the top pad strap to be connected only on one side. This did what I wanted. The quilt is attached to the pad, but I can open one side to get in and out or regulate the temperature.

One thing on the watch list is the damp. In the morning the bag was damp at the end and under the foot box. The quilt has no water resistant finish and the down is untreated so it's important it stays dry (not such an issue maybe for just one night). The damp could be condensation against the cold ground, or maybe the foot off strayed off the groundsheet. I'm looking at getting a bivy which should help the latter, but I may need to look at a thin pad for under the foot end.

The pad. I've just upgraded from an old Thermarest to a new Xlite Neoair (short). I thought about the ultralite model but opted for one that should work down below zero (R3.2). We'll see if I need it. Its about the same size as the old one, but tapered and thicker. It works well with the quilt straps and is comfyish... Well blown up it's too hard for my liking. I let air out a few times before I was happy. Then I found I was often on the edge of it - which makes it softer with less weight on. But when it's softer it's a bit like a water bed. Press it in one spot and it lifts somewhere else. Bottom line is that I'll need to get used to it.

I used it under the quilt with the lacing on top, and once or twice that let the tail slide off to one side. I'm thinking to try it in the bag instead to see if that make a better package.

#hilleberg #tarp #thermarest #gear #westernmountaineering #astralite

Reposted from Wix

Grevinnan rå

A few kilometers past Bergshamra there's a little stuga in the woods. It's open and anyone can use it. There's a fireplace, and a table with two benches... And a floor if you want to sleep there. And when I was there there was a selection of candles, some photos on the wall showing it being built, and a guest book.

Outside theres a big rocky open area, and a spot for a camp fire. There's also a collection of wooden fences that for me gives the place a feel of a western corral.

It's a nice spot, and from the guest book often visited, though I've not met anyone else there. I chose it this time as I planned to test sleeping under a tarp, and if it didn't turn out well it seemed practical to have a stuga to turn to.

I'n fact once I got everything set up I used the stuga for sit and eat dinner before retiring for the night.

Setting up the tarp was a bit of a challenge. Most of the area was rocky, uneven, or covered with blueberry bushes. Eventually I picked a broad flat rocky area with a some soil over and a short growth of moss, blueberries and heather. The whole area was damp from last nights rain, but I had a ground cloth for that. Guying out the tarp used the few trunks and stumps nearby and a few carefully placed pegs for the remainder.

It looked pretty good to me - for a first effort - although I was glad the forecast was very light winds. When you got under it though, the ground wasn't quite as flat as I'd thought... so getting comfortable and staying there proved to be a bit of an art form. But a definite plus for being able to watch the stars come out.

#hiking #roslagsleden #vandring #hilleberg #tarp

Reposted from Wix

Åsättra to Grevinnans rå

The nice thing with #Roslagsleden is it's very accessible. There are lots of places along the route or near to it that you can get to by bus. I'd chosen Åsättra as good place to start as it is a nice round 50km from my goal in Norrtälje.

I've hiked this bit before, but it was a long time back and lots of it I didn't recognise. There's lots of hiking through the woods - some full of roots and stones, some squeezing though new grown young birch, and some on nice wide easy paths. Sometimes the path plops out onto a gravel track, and every once in a while you take a stretch on the road - heading into Wira Bruk for instance. Mostly the signage is good, but I'd mapped the route up beforehand and had it in my watch (courtesy of #DWmaps).

I had a place to stay already picked out, but along the way I passed two wind shelters. The first by a bathing beach on a lake just before Wira Bruk. The other was in Bergshamra. That's in a quiet corner in the village and has toilets and water nearby. I didn't use either so I don't know how well sorted it was. (Though as it turned out a bit more water might have been handy) .

And speaking of water, I stopped off for coffee and cake in Wira Bruk and filled up with water at the cafe. Confusingly there the Coffee cottage (Kaffe stugan) sells linen not coffee. For that you have to visit the little restaurant. Wira is very nice. We'll worth a visit.

Thay even have a handy weather station...

#hiking #vandring #roslagsleden

Reposted from Wix

All packed for Roslagsleden

So I'm all packed up and en route for a trip out along Roslagsleden, a long distance footpath an easy bus ride from Stockholm. I have a new tarp set up I want to try and I have a longstanding goal to finish off the last part of Roslagsleden in to Norrtälje. (although #Roslagsleden now runs on as far as Grisslehamn).

I've swapped my 20l running pack for this, my Utimate Direction Fastpack 35. Base weight is a bit over 5kg. Total weight is about 9.5kg - I have plenty of food and snacks, and about a bit over 2l of water. I'd prefer to carry less but I'm a bit unsure on where I can fill up. One of the aims for the trip is to see how easy it is to find water along the way.

#hiking #ultimatedirection #fastpacking #roslagsleden

Reposted from Wix

Getting out there

So, I'm not a great adventurer, but I like to get out there - sailing, running, and here, hiking. It's not a lot of hiking to be honest, but, with a bit of inspiration it could be a lot more. Right now I'm interested in lightening my load to be able to mix trail running/fastpacking with overnight stops. And the inspiration to start a blog is to share both my experiences, both out on the trail, but also with my gear choices and changes.

(Photo: on top of the world at the top of Kebnekaise)