Coast to Coast Walk (East to West) 2010

[posie]

Foxy, it's the TASTE of the water for tea, not the look of it....Poe.

[foxy mars]

Originally Posted by Jim Ford

339 grams for the Honey Stove - I thought you wanted to keep your gear as light as possible! You're also taking meths, which is inefficient for its weight.

I've got meths stoves only as museum curiosities, and use my Coleman F1 Lite with Titan Kettle for lightweight camping. The F1 Lite weighs 70 grams.

Jim

I've been weighting the stoves and if I use the Honey Stove c/w gas conventer, that totals 500gm inc. the 2 pegs for pan supports. Guess that's out of the window, too heavy. however the Primus Gravity stove I also have is 255gm and is a pretty good burn spec @ 3000w and decent pan support, so that may be on gear-list yet.

The Pocket Rocket is one I would love to take, but due to it's small size and small pan support, that's out.

However, Jim. The Coleman F1 lite looks tempting for weight and power output @ 4 800w, pretty impressive. One question to you, is the MSR Titan Kettle pretty stable on the pan supports and the Peek Plastic ring which is suppose to withstand heat from -60 to +320 Degrees, to that I've heard from a certain review site about the Peek Plastic part melting due to the high heat and the simmering is not so good and supposed to cut out if it overheats.

Saying that, it does look like a good stove for the price and for a 2 week back-packing trip, guessing £20 won't break the bank. I did have a EPL stove, now replaced by Coleman.

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by foxy mars

However, Jim. The Coleman F1 lite looks tempting for weight and power output @ 4 800w, pretty impressive. One question to you, is the MSR Titan Kettle pretty stable on the pan supports and the Peek Plastic ring which is suppose to withstand heat from -60 to +320 Degrees, to that I've heard from a certain review site about the Peek Plastic part melting due to the high heat and the simmering is not so good and supposed to cut out if it overheats.

Saying that, it does look like a good stove for the price and for a 2 week back-packing trip, guessing £20 won't break the bank. I did have a EPL stove, now replaced by Coleman.

The Titan Kettle fits OK on the F1 Lite, but I don't suppose any better than the Rocket. The main problem I find is knocking the whole lot over - because of the narrow base of the gas canister. Having said that, I've never done it!

I've never seen any evidence of the plastic softening.

I don't know about simmering. I use a 'cosy' made out of 2 layers of radiator foam backed with foil, with a lid made from the same stuff. This is to reduce gas consumption. What I do if simmering is needed (lentils+bulgar wheat), is bring it to a boil, then turn off the gas and put the pot in the cosy to one side. I then leave it for 10-20 mins after which it's cooked. The cosy is so efficient that even after 20mins, the food is still too hot to eat. It also has the advantage that you can hold the pot in the cosy while eating, without getting your hands burnt. It's also safer, as you don't have to watch it balanced on a burning stove and can get on with camp chores. It's one of the most useful bits of kit I have.

If you want to give the F1 a try you're welcome to borrow mine. If our trips in 2010 don't clash, you could use it on your coast-to-coast. P.M. me.

I've still got an EPIgas/Coleman Alpine stove, but it's a bit heavy and I don't use it.

If I didn't already have the F1 Lite, I'd go for one of these:

Portable Strong-power Camping Stove C1 x1 on eBay (end time 21-Nov-09 07:33:20 GMT)

I've bought stuff from them before and it's pretty good. They also have other stoves and small gas lamps (I've bought 2!)

Cheers, Jim

[foxy mars]

Originally Posted by Jim Ford

If you want to give the F1 a try you're welcome to borrow mine. If our trips in 2010 don't clash, you could use it on your coast-to-coast. P.M. me.


If I didn't already have the F1 Lite, I'd go for one of these:

Portable Strong-power Camping Stove C1 x1 on eBay (end time 21-Nov-09 07:33:20 GMT)

Thanks for the offer, Jim. But, I'm popping into Go-Outdoors on the way to work and going take a closer inspection of the F1 lite. For the price, I will probably end up buying it.

Thanks for the link, yes, it looked like a copy of the Pocket Rocket. My Pocket Rocket on closer inspection this morning whilst trying out the grill section on the Pocket Rocket to see if it could stabilize the Titan Kettle. Seems to work, but two of the pan supports on the Pocket Rocket are very loose. Guessing wear and tear, things nowadays don't last like there did years ago.

[foxy mars]

Originally Posted by posie

Foxy, it's the TASTE of the water for tea, not the look of it....Poe.

Tonight, I did the rice in the bag. Tried Tes**'s version not bad, but tasted a bit bland, best to stick to the top brands.

The water was boiled up and simmered for 15 minutes and made a cuppa of tea from the same boiled water, tasted ok.

[posie]

I'm pleased the tea tasted OK Foxy. Do you take any water with you at the start, or do you just pick some up daily. that is a silly question really 'cos you probably drink cold water as you go. Please explain. .....Poe..

[foxy mars]

Yes, the cup of char was nice.

I carry enough water for the day's walking, depending on how warm it is. I tend to carry 2 x 500ml Sigg bottles of water on me and a Platypus 2 litre bladder for when I arrive at the camp-site, usually always a outside tap available.

In the case of wild camping, getting water can be a problem. Maybe not so in the Lake District, which is plentiful, but can be a problem on the North Yorkshire Moors, which is nearly all peat moor. However, there is water if you know when to look such as springs.

When I did a weeks walking back in September, I was walking from Osmotherley to the Lion Inn, Blakey Ridge, the day was very warm and sunny and I was doing 23 miles. I was carrying water, but ran short. There is a cafe up on Carlton Bank and had a beer in there and purchased a 500ml bottle of water, which would do for the 10 mile stretch between Clay Bank and Blakey Ridge. But the heat of the day was getting to me and I was carrying all the camping gear, so I decided to omit the Wainstones and Hasty Bank in favour of the old Jet-Miners track. I knew from a walk many years ago, that there was spring along there. Luck and behold, I came across it. I never tasted water to be so pure, I drank from it using my cupped hands. So, now I know where to look in future walks.


The only thing I don't have is a water filter, I'm looking for something that fits the bill on my Coast to Coast walk. Any advice from the forum would be welcomed.

So, Posie. In a nutshell, I obtain water on a daily basic.

[foxy mars]

I originally was going to do the Coast to Coast walk in 14 days, but I'm now going to have a go at doing it in 10 days, so really more of a challedge.

I tend to start on the east coast of Whitby, so my first night will be:

Glaisdale...11 mls and so on like this.....

Beak Hills fm...21 mls
Danby Wiske...20 mls
Nun Cote Nook fm...21 mls
Keld...16 mls
Bents fm...18 mls
Mardale End...22 mls
Grasmere Yh...15 mls
Low Gillerthwaite Yh...18 mls
St. Bees or Whitehaven...19 mls

Longs days, I know but I used to be a long distance walker, doing the odd 26 miles or 50 miles. I remember doing the Lyke Wake Walk in 1995 on one's own, did from Osmotherley to Ravenscar overnight and the following week-end returned to Ravenscar and walked back to Osmotherley. Had blisters on blisters.

[posie]

Isn't there a lightweight portable filter, suitable for what you want ,on the market. Or you could use a polythene bag with a filter from a small kettle filter fixed across half way down. We've got a kettle with a filter at 'spout' which isn't as good as a proper water filter but is better than nothing. The reason I said polythene bag is 'cos of weight, but you would be carrying some sort of container for other uses and you could filter it into that, from the polythene bag with the charcoal(or similar) filter fixed in a hole in thecorner of the bag,secured and made watertight with a good rubber band. I don't know how much a filter weighs, but I expect they vary, anyway, you could make your own (with charcoal), you could even make your own charcoal.In fact you could make the whole thing from one polythene bag, two rubber bands and some charcoal..... HeHe do you think I ought to come with you to do 'filter duties'........Poe...

[foxy mars]

Thanks for kind offering, Posie. I will probably buy one, but I have one in mind. Mmm, maybe you could carrying my rucksack instead (only joking)