The Coniston Round

I'm certainly getting lazier when it comes to walking. It's not that I don't enjoy the walking, but the amount of it I do on any trip seems to be reducing. I could get all defensive about it and claim that I enjoy the camping more and to a certain extent that's true. Certainly there's at least a 60/40 split in enjoment levels but the fact of it is that I'm not up for flogging myself on. I'm lazy. It's supposed to be a holiday, and for me, a holiday means sitting around eating and drinking. So when Martyn suggested that we stay for at least one more in the Sun Inn in Coniston and I knew I was probably already more drunk than I should be for setting up a tarp, it didn't take much persuasion.
It had all started a long while back. The trip had been planned and cancelled twice before. The weather report couldn't make up it's mind whether it was going to be gale force winds and sub zero temperatures or actually fairly reasonable for the time of year. I wasn't too bothered. It meant I got several chances to repack my bag to try to accomodate the whims of the met office and, properly supported with some decent booze, packing my bag is one of the great pleasures in my life.

In the end I decided on a reasonably minimal kit, using only my Enlightened Quilt supplementad by my down trousers and my down inner jacket.

As it turned out, this was ideal and it all fitted into my new Z packs zero pack-just under 4 kg for the lot including food water and booze.

We decided on Coniston as we hadn't explored the area at all before. The Coniston round looked like a nice walk and as Martyn is also of the opinion that a reasonable length of walk is a day hike split into two days it seemed like a winner. Generally on the second morning we get up about 6ish and do about an hour's walking to get back early for our other halves. It does limit us in the walking we can do especially as we are limited to circular walks. Another must is a decent pub no more than an hour's walk from our first night's camp. Which is how we ended up in the Sun Inn. They had some decent beer and there were people to rip the piss out of, including ale snobs trying to humiliate the barman and a extremely well spoken racist trotting out 1950's stereotypes. In the end it was him that got us out of there plus the fact that we had no money left.

It was an easy walk up to the YHA, despite stubbing our toes on every other step. We tried for a few spots but gave up in the end and pitched on the river bank in full view of the hostel. We weren't sure of the legality but decided to ignore it. It was obvious we weren't party louts out to make a mess and the worst thing that could happen is that we would be asked to move on. I'd managed to get hold of a second hand Six moon Lunar Solo for Martyn in excellent condition. He'd had it as his Christmas present but it was a bit of a gamble. A tent is a very personal thing and I knew he was attached to his MSR microzoid. I was hoping that the 500g knocked of his baseweight plus the ability to sit upright combined with sizeable amount of extra floorspace would win him over. Trouble was, the Lunar Solo has a reputation of being a bit of a bugger to pitch taut and a first pitch drunk and in the dark was risky. Luckily my practice with the Gatewood Cape which is a similar design secured a decent pitch- certainly it was better than my tarp which I had to have three goes at before I was happy. We sat around drinking for a bit while a stream of pub goers returned to the Hostel. None of them batted an eyelid at us, if indeed, they noticed us at all.

I woke early as usual. My internal clock has been buggered by work so that I find it hard to sleep much past half six. Martyn has no such problem and alone, with a somewhat tender head, I decided stick to my usual hiking strategy which is to sit and watch the view with a whisky coffee. When we were travelling in Croatia we arrived to catch an early bus at 5 am to find all the bus drivers sat around with coffees and big glasses of brandy. If it's good enough for people about to embark on a seven hour trip precipitous roads with eye watering hairpin bends, then it's good enough for me. Martyn concurred and popped a beer when he emerged. We sat for a while enjoying the sun and only got around to moving when the level of families already walking told us that we were way past an early start.

It was maybe this relaxed approach that meant we headed up the wrong valley. We had two options- hop over the High Fell ridge to get to the right valley or just head up to the top of the valley towards Wetherlam and turn left. Of course Martyn opted for the eye watering clamber over the ridge, so pretty soon we had sweated out all of the booze anyway. We quickly gained the top of Swirl How and felt like we deserved some lunch. There was a brisk wind, but hunkered down we could get the full benefit of the sun. We were making exceptionally poor progress- it was all very nice.

Back up on the ridge, the wind was very brisk. I broke out my secret weapon- a fleece T-hirt I'd got from Matalan for three quid. It provided just the right amount of warmth underneath my Tachyon anorak, and the hood made a nice difference to my comfort as well. Thus it was at half two in the afternoon I made a running descent towards Blind Tarn, out camp spot for the night. We briefly debated heading back to the Sun Inn instead but decided against it. It was a very nice spot and, just a few hundred metres away from the hordes on the ridge, it felt pretty isolated. I had a doze and then we chatted and ate.

I slept pretty well, except for the fact that the bivvy kept sliding out from unedr the tarp. There was a brief shower about four and then we got up and headed back. I've made a promise to myself to find somewhere a bit more off the beaten track for the next trip. Our last couple of trips have been swarmed with other walkers which is all very well but it is nice to get a bit of solitude. All the gear performed well apart from the sliding issue. Of course, the elements didn't really give anything a thrashing, but that's why I chose the gear I did. The zero carried very nicely, despite Martyn's comments that it looked a bit homemade and plasticky. I barely noticed it was there even with a couple of beers topping up the weight. The only thing I would change would be the two gram pegs I took- too short (just) for the caldera and no holding power.

Lakes trip:gear review and brief trip report

Trailstar
Having only pitched it once in the garden, it was easy enough to pitch it in the dark after a few pints. Me and Martyn sat in it and had a beer, there was plenty of room, but there were a bunch of bugs battering around which were a little annoying. We could probably have both squeezed into the serenity net tent, but I had my bivvy. Once I was in the bivvy I had no problem as there’s a net on it. The real surprise was how tight I could get the Trailstar. Tapping the fly produced the sound that the phrase ‘as tight as a drum’ would suggest. I did find that the gaps at the bottom of the tarp allowed a fair bit of wind through- I need to experiment with getting it lower. I would also like to find a pitch which allows for more of a view out of the door when the wind drops. A real success though.


Caldera cone
Worked excellently, same as my old one but a lot more convenient to carry. It is a bit more of a pain to set up because of threading the pegs through. My beer can pot lid was a significant upgrade from a plain piece of foil.

New Balance shoes
I loved these. My only real concern with the actual shoe is that there isn’t a lot of toe bump protection, but that isn’t a problem as long as you don’t kick anything which I didn’t! Wet sock wise, I didn’t ever actually use my Gore-tex socks. If the weather had been worse, I probably would have, but the worst I got was a bit of dampness from boggy ground. They dried very quickly and I was able to wear my socks to bed. They’re fantastically light- I felt like running quite a bit of the time and did a bit of downhill running for kicks. I did need to look where I stepped more than a goretex boot would require of me but this didn’t bother me. They stuck wherever I needed them to- rocks, scree and grass. I didn’t have any problem with stones in my shoes and didn’t wear my Mountain Laurel gaiters. I may well still wear my Hedgehogs for Winter.

Zpacks zero pack
I spent quite a bit of time with the waist belt undone, my pack was really comfortable with the weight I was carrying. The back length is too short for me. I’ve been in discussion with Joe from Zpacks and apparently 18” is the longest you can get with the Zero, which is my actual back measurement- this pack is just the standard Zero length. If you want, Joe can add extra length to the top of the pack to allow a longer back length (At the expense of extra volume and weight). A lot of daysacks have very short backs, the assumption being that you don’t need the support aspect of the belt. I was stretching the capacity of the sack at first. After the first night I removed a bunch of stuff and took a summer kit list with me- no waterproofs or windproof trousers, no pack liner, no microfleece, no gloves, no down trousers. Even though the capacity was tight with the full load on the first day, I would still use this sack into the autumn- it’s a really nice carry. I was very careful how I set it down on rough rocks but otherwise treated it the same as any other pack. A Zero will be my standard weekender pack from now on.

How did my gear list work out?
For this weekend, it was perfect. I stretched the capacity of my gear to keep me warm ever so slightly on the second night- hanging around in the evening: I was cold and would have used my down trousers but instead got into my bivvy and sleeping bag and was toasty. In the night I got a little chilly and would have ideally had a little section of mat for my legs, but overall slept really well. On the Sunday morning my hands were cold and I would have liked some gloves, but it wasn’t desperate. I hiked in my baselayer and windshirt. I prefer to hike myself warm rather than have to remove clothes once I’ve got into the rhythm of walking. We ran into a few people who were camping out, typically carrying 70-80l packs and still strapping stuff to the outside. I’m not an ultralight evangelist but I was certainly glad I wasn’t carrying their packs. (Okay, so I felt a little smug)

The trip:
We managed to arrive at the Wasdale Head Inn just in time for last orders. The staff seemed fairly keen for us to leave so we didn’t hang around. After a quick wander we pitched the tent in a field with a river running through it. We sat in the Trailstar and chatted and had another beer.
In the morning I felt a little hungover. It was a beautiful morning though and I hung around for a while making coffee and looking at the views. There was a fair bit of wind and I lost my meths measuring cup and my new Caldera cone to the river. We managed to set out at about 9am and wandered up to Piers Gill. It’s certainly a great route and not to difficult. After a short while, we reached the summit of Scafell Pike. It was at this point that it occurred to me that I had never been to the Lakes in decent weather. There were hordes of people and I realised when I thought the area had been busy before, it was nothing compared to actual numbers. There were fantastic views from the top and people doing all kinds of interesting things like throwing their walking poles to their friends 50m down the mountain in a high wind. We ate some lunch in a shelter (Homemade ‘sun’ dried tomatoes plus cheese and crackers, very nice) and vacated the area as soon as possible.


It was only 2.30 when we reached Sprinkling Tarn. Martyn mentioned he’s always wanted to camp on the promontory and we wandered over to have a look. It was an ideal camp spot so we pitched and spent the rest of the afternoon drinking, chatting and dozing in the sun.

It’s very rare that I get the weather to do this as all my trips seem to happen in the Winter. It was certainly a busy spot- there were at least 4 other tents dotted about but everyone kept themselves to themselves. We were settled down by 7.30 and were up and walking by 7am.
All in all, a pretty relaxing trip in what was essentially summer weather and a nice opportunity to test the gear that’s been lying idle in my cupboard. Next trip I do want to go somewhere a little wilder though.

zpacks gear

I've been waiting to order this stuff ever since Joe went hiking. I actually emailed him with an order while he was on the trail which was extremely cheeky but I never realised his work email was his personal email too. Nice chap that he is, he emailed me back from the trail almost immediately. This meant I was pretty much his first order when he got back heheheh. The problem is that my murmur is just too big. I always pack my sleeping bag first and the weight of my gear compresses it. The pack actually carries quite well like that but it's really hard to cinch the top closed. Most of my trips are single nighters and it's overkill for that. What I wanted was a pack about half the size and the smallest zpack zero pack fitted the bill exactly. It's 16l with no added pockets, hence the name 'zero'. I agonised for a long time over whether to go for that or a bigger pack. I packed my gear into a whole bunch of different packs and what I discovered was that no two 16 litres are the same. The next size was 20l against the murmur's 28l in the main pack body. Stil I reckoned it would just about go. I added two bottle pockets and a front pocket, and thought that would definitely go, then I added a few other bits and pieces that I needed or just fancied. The pack arrived christmas eve, about a week and a half after I ordered it.

The pack is beautifully made, everything is designed to shed weight. Instead of webbing connected to the shoulder straps, it has cord with those cord lock thingys on them. The sternum strap is connected by a couple of cord loops, the compression straps are also the elastication for the front pocket. It swallowed my kit easily, I didn't even have to touch the front pocket which is huge and runs from top to bottom. I reckon I could easily take a three day kit and still not use the front pocket- whether that is a comment on the size of my kit or Joe's definition of 16l I don't know. I got it with a waist strap, so I can take the extra weight The only niggle is the colour- my brother called it 'the jellyshoes of backpacking'- I think I can get used to it though!

Joe has a whole bunch of accessories- I needed a really small stuff sack, a camera pouch and I decided to get a stake (or peg) pouch just for kicks, because my silnylon pouch is way too heavy! heheh. Actually, the stake pouch is about half the size of my current pouch, which probably accounts for the vast majority of the weight loss...

The small stuff sack is exactly the right size- I'd carried my odds and sods in a trekmates windshirt stuffsack. No need for a new one really but I wanted it. It has an extremely small cordlock and really thin cord. It's sewn rather than bonded like the team IO sack but other than that it's pretty similar.I carry my camera in a lowe alpine camera bag on my shoulder. It's a bit bulky and it doesn't need all that padding because it's not getting bashed around. Joe has a really nice looking shoulder pouch at only 8g so I got it. It's too big for my camera so I may put some laminate flooring underlay in there as some minimal padding, but the nice thing is it also fits my GPS and my whistle so they are both more accessible. It attaches by two elastic straps and a safety pin. I'm not convinced by the safety pin so I may rig up some velcro- on the other hand, it obviously works for Joe and he's done some fairly extensive testing!

Unfortunately it's probably going to be the spring before I can test the pack-bah!