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A more restful approach to 2020 hiking....

Fitness tips, Relaxation, Mind and Body
Itsallaguess
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A more restful approach to 2020 hiking....

#286058

Postby Itsallaguess » February 22nd, 2020, 11:33 am

Well, we're hopefully approaching the end of another long, dark winter, and this is usually the time of year when I start to plan out some of the warmer-weather hikes that I want to get under my belt during the coming year.

Once I've decided roughly where I'm wanting to go, and the route I'm wanting to take, my go-to process then involves the use of an on-line, OS-level map (https://maps.the-hug.net/), which importantly allows me to plot the routes I'm wanting to take with a mouse, export the routes to a GPX file, and then import the GPX file into my favourite off-line Android GPS app (ViewRanger - https://www.viewranger.com/en-gb).

One big difference that I'm wanting to make this year, when I'm out and about hiking, is to allow myself to stop and enjoy the scenery a lot more than I'm currently used to doing. I do tend to find it hard to just stop and enjoy the views sometimes, and during the last long hike that I did, I realised that one of the main reasons for that is to do with being able to find somewhere suitable to just plonk down and take it all in comfortably...

I told myself that this year I was going to improve in this area, and that I was going to make a big effort to have more restful hikes, with proper time to sit, relax a bit, and just enjoy the scenery a lot more without necessarily just stomping through it. This year I also want to make more contributions to the great LemonFool 'pic-of-the-day' thread (https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4836), and making sure that I stop more frequently and more comfortably will hopefully help with that.

Which brings me to the point of this post....

I have purchased a very small (when packed...) and lightweight hiking chair, with a view that this will help to largely solve the above issues. Having now set it up and re-packed it all away again a few times, I'm over the moon with it, and I thought I'd share this news with other like-minded outdoor-type LemonFools.

Here's a picture of the chair, taken from one of the Amazon user-reviews linked on the product page -

Image

It's got a larger seating area than I imagined it would have, given the small pack-size once it's all de-constructed and put back into it's travel-bag. The travel-bag can be seen in black in the above picture leaning against the car tyre.

It's also much more comfortable than I imagined it would be, and I really do think that this is going to largely solve the problem that I've had in the past with finding opportunities to stop mid-hike with any good level of comfort. The rubber feet are larger than I thought they would be, as I thought on initial purchase that they might have a tendency to stick into any softer ground, and I did purchase the associated light-weight 'landing-mat' that is sold separately, which has four sturdier pads onto which the chair-legs sit, and which will definitely help on softer soil or sand if necessary. However, having now seen the size and quality of the original chair-leg feet, I'm not sure that I will need to use the landing-mat as often as I initially thought..

The aluminium tubing is more robust than I imagined it would be, and they are all held together and in-situ by the use of the sort of thin elastic-ropes that we find in tent-poles. It's a fantastic idea as a way to provide a good level of comfort in such a small packed travel-bag. Weight-wise, it comes in at around a kilo all packed up, which overall isn't going to make a massive difference to my rucksack weight, and more importantly to me, it is light enough to want me to take it with me, and small enough when packed that I can do so without any real issues regarding space in my bag.

For about £30, I think it's a real bargain, especially having used it a few times in the house and realised just how comfortable it is, and I'm looking forward to taking it on some of my 2020 hikes and allowing myself to relax in comfort much more often than I've been used to in the past.

Amazon link to the chair (Black - new design) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trekology-YIZI-Portable-Camping-Chair/dp/B07NT77GT8

Link to the optional landing-mat - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trekology-Cover-Beach-Ground-Sheet/dp/B074YCPF3V

I shall report back once it's been used in anger a few times...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

nmdhqbc
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Re: A more restful approach to 2020 hiking....

#286065

Postby nmdhqbc » February 22nd, 2020, 12:07 pm

Itsallaguess wrote:One big difference that I'm wanting to make this year, when I'm out and about hiking, is to allow myself to stop and enjoy the scenery a lot more than I'm currently used to doing.


Yeah i tend to treat it as a race for no reason whatsoever. Love the Vantage Neo. I'd love a Cub or Sol if only I could afford them.

bungeejumper
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Re: A more restful approach to 2020 hiking....

#286074

Postby bungeejumper » February 22nd, 2020, 12:47 pm

Interesting, thanks. And it weighs a kilo, I think? Possibly a judgement call as to whether I'd want to carry two of them on a 15-miler through the hills, but I can think of a lot of less strenuous walks where they'd be really good.

Bro-and-sis-in-law used to carry folding anglers' stools like these (https://www.amazon.co.uk/UMIWE-Portable ... B07DPN11G7), which come in at under 300 grams, but they're for perching on rather than luxuriating in, so not the same thing really. :|

Our usual day sac carry is one of Poundland's finest: https://www.poundland.co.uk/ground-sheet-2-metres . Enough room for two semi-recumbent bums and a picnic, fully waterproof, and it tips the scales at less than 100 grams. Not much use on rocks, admittedly, but the price point is attractive. :lol:

BJ

tea42
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Re: A more restful approach to 2020 hiking....

#286076

Postby tea42 » February 22nd, 2020, 12:48 pm

I have one of those little clone Helios chairs, great at Festivals and very light to carry.
I belong to The Ramblers and one thing I dont like is that they chat a lot but seldom stop and pause to look at anything. Drink in a fine view, examine the flora and fauna in a lane which has rich green banks and a canopy, examine a pretty flower or strange plant. Look back!

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Re: A more restful approach to 2020 hiking....

#286081

Postby tea42 » February 22nd, 2020, 1:04 pm

nmdhqbc wrote:
Itsallaguess wrote:One big difference that I'm wanting to make this year, when I'm out and about hiking, is to allow myself to stop and enjoy the scenery a lot more than I'm currently used to doing.


Yeah i tend to treat it as a race for no reason whatsoever. Love the Vantage Neo. I'd love a Cub or Sol if only I could afford them.


Get a VW T25! The roomiest VW Camper. Sleeps 2 adults and 2 kids, goes practically anywhere and parks in a standard car park space. But...Reckon on a four figure annual maintenance budget.very cheap Classic Insurance. Good ones around from 5 grand. Because I cant venture outside the UK this year I will be taking mine (Old Rusty! VED free soon) to various UK locations to hike and cycle around locally on my Brompton. Might join walks with the local Ramblers sometimes too.

Itsallaguess
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Re: A more restful approach to 2020 hiking....

#286100

Postby Itsallaguess » February 22nd, 2020, 3:10 pm

Snorvey wrote:
I was chatting to an older guy a couple of months ago halfway up the side of Ben Rinnes and he told me that, when he was younger, he often hiked from Friday night through to Sunday afternoon. When I asked him about tents and all that, he said he didn't bother with that. He just slept under the stars. He still camps out, but single nights, generally, these days.

I am inspired.

Even for one night, I want to do this.......In the height of summer of course!

*I am currently researching 'bivvy bags'


Well, now you're talking Snorvey - this is something that I too would love to experience during those all-too-short periods of predictable dry weather that we sometimes briefly get in the UK, although I'll admit that the research that's taken my fancy has been more around the 'hiking-hammock' theme rather than ground-dwelling bivvy-bags....

This is the sort of blog that I like to spend the odd ten minutes reading through during those moments when this 'sleeping under the stars' lark seems like a good idea -

https://thetrek.co/appalachian-trail/thru-hiking-appalachian-trail-hammock/

With that said, I well remember my junior-school camping trip where we slept in a disused stone sheep-pen in a sleeping-bag/bivvy-bag arrangement, and it was one of the best nights of my school-years, so perhaps I need to re-set my 'acceptable comfort-markers' for the odd night and just get out there instead of just thinking about it....

This could be the year when the talking stops!

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Itsallaguess
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Re: A more restful approach to 2020 hiking....

#286175

Postby Itsallaguess » February 23rd, 2020, 8:27 am

Snorvey wrote:
Doze off on a bed of Heather (in my bivvy bag to keep the beasties at bay) and wake up a few hours later to a glorious sunrise and a hot cup of tea and a bowl of porridge.

That's how I dream about it anyway. Being Scotland it could all go badly wrong.


Sounds great Snorvey - hopefully the weather this year will be settled long enough for you to give this a real go.

Ignoring the clear benefits of the outdoor walking itself, I've had a number of great periods in my life where I've seen the true 'starry-night-sky' in all it's glory, in real 'dark-skies' settings - once when sailing a 30m, two-mast brig out in the Irish Sea, where we had a fantastic clear night just north of Holyhead, and then a couple of diving holidays in the Maldives, where the islands are often so small that there's almost zero back-ground light at night.

Some very happy memories of sitting on the beach in Maldivian deckchairs into the early hours, seeing the Milky Way with a clarity and resolution that really brings home our true place in the universe, and seeing bright shooting-stars every ten minutes whilst listening to the ghost crabs clicking around as they came out foraging in the dark.......times so good, it makes me smile just thinking about them...It's the thought that I might get some more opportunities for that sort of thing that makes this a compelling idea for me too.

Out of interest, what sort of bivvy set-up are you looking at?

Are we talking a light-weight 1-man tunnel-tent, or something more exposed and basic than that?

Some of the light-weight 2-man (1-man and gear...) tents like the Coleman Cobra (https://tinyurl.com/wzqk3xb) come in at around 2kg, which starts to sound feasible for an overnight hike, but I wondered if you were looking at something simpler, perhaps?

I'm 100% with you on the 'beasties' front, and can't imagine me enjoying a good night's kip without a fly-sheet in some form or other...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

dspp
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Re: A more restful approach to 2020 hiking....

#286368

Postby dspp » February 24th, 2020, 10:23 am

Bivvi bags have their uses, but limitations as well.

For lightweight tents check out Bibler, these days part of Black Diamond
https://www.backpacker.com/gear/black-d ... ler-i-tent
https://eu.blackdiamondequipment.com/en ... id=shelter
https://expeditionportal.com/forum/thre ... ond.31620/

(the Eldorado is the classic lightweight that BD now make. There used to be a Wild Country knockoff of this. Oh, and there used to be a Salewa version and a Fjallraven version. I've used all. And destroyed more tents in more places than I care to remember)

The single pole BD / Choinard pyramid tent used to be good for ski touring but I can't see it in a quick look on the BD site. It is also good for hiking in some circumstances if you can find it.

For lightweight chairs you should go Crazy Creek
https://www.crazycreek.com/original-chair/

regards, dspp

UncleEbenezer
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Re: A more restful approach to 2020 hiking....

#287318

Postby UncleEbenezer » February 28th, 2020, 8:30 am

I did a cycling tour the summer I left Cambridge, and was hooked. Bought my own ultra-lightweight tent.

Half a dozen years on (and by now enjoying backpacking as well as cycling), a colleague convinced me of the virtues of the bivvy bag. I bought one, and found I much prefer it to the tent for most purposes. Up in the mountains it's good for terrain where it would be impossible to erect a tent.

Though it is more miserable than the tent if you get prolonged heavy rain, and more exposed in the continental winter if the temperature goes a long way below what the sleeping bag is rated for. And there's some wildlife against which the tent offers more protection - though not the scottish midge, given that those peak in weather far too hot and muggy to hide behind a tent's fine mesh.

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Re: A more restful approach to 2020 hiking....

#287932

Postby kiloran » March 1st, 2020, 9:24 pm

Snorvey wrote:Scotland’s best Highland bothy weekend adventures


https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020 ... -highlands

Fond memories of Suileag. Spent a couple of weeks around 1983 putting a new roof on it. Stunning scenery

Image
Image

--kiloran


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