Posts tagged 'Trezeta'

A quick & dirty gear round-up

Posted by on November 17th 2021 in Bargains, Car stuff, Great Escapes, Shiny new kit

There's not much here for the technical-gear addicts, but we did try out a few bits of bargain kit to see how they fared during our week in the LDNP.

Fleece jacket: It's a Quechua Men's Hiking Warm Fleece Jacket SH500 X-Warm from Decathlon. I picked up a petrol blue / carbon grey and a black / carbon grey in the sale early last year. Each has waterproof bits, venting bits, breathable bits, stretchy bits, simple yet effective cuffs, a good pocket arrangement and a good zip-into-collar hood. Bargains at less than £30 a pop, with free Click & Collect at the local Asda thrown in.

Trousers: MOD-issue MTP PCS, I have a selection of sizes (mainly 80-96-112) in either temperate or warm fabrics to suit most conditions. Superb pocket arrangement, lightweight, quick-drying, fairly windproof, and tough as old boots. Prices and availability variable.

Baselayer: Good old Aldi merino long-sleeved tops. Always a bargain. I don't need to spend a fortune on anything more technical.

Headgear: In the fine weather there was no real need for tech-hats, but in order to keep the consultants happy I kept the UV off my sparsely-thatched bonce with super-cheap zandanas from eBay. They take about 20 minutes to wash and air-dry, and keeping a couple of spares in my pocket, along with a few face-coverings for pestilence-defence, is hardly a huge weight-penalty. I now have a fine selection of patterns to suit most occasions.

Footwear: I took the trusty Scarpa SLs but didn't wear them at all, opting for my Trezeta Incas. Had minor issues with them when they were new, the laces were stretching too much, replaced them with proper Scarpa laces and they've been fine ever since. Waterproof, grippy, and comfy. Nice to see that they're still using lasts nearly the same as Scarpa.

 

Headgear - jacket - trousers - boots - headgear - baselayer - trousers - boots

 

Pack: I used my trusty LA Alpine Attack 40 so no news there, but Chris was toting her new Forclaz Women’s trekking backpack 50+10L, another nice bit of kit from Decathlon. OK, so 50 litres is over-kill for a day-walk, but I'm not going to argue with her, she knows what she likes and she has to carry it so it's none of my business.

Comms: Not something that I use a lot on the hill, but when my previous handset died I opted for an outdoorsy waterproof replacement. I went for the Ulefone Armor X6 - it's MIL-STD 810G, IP68-rated and covered in all sorts of impact-resistant bits, so dropping it into water or onto rocks isn't too much of a worry. It's still passable as an everyday phone and it is way cheaper than any iThing.

Finally, there's Olga. Not sure if she qualifies as "kit" but she was a lock-down bargain and we wouldn't have enjoyed the holiday as much without her. She's built for comfort and for speed, and she has more in-built tech than I can shake a stick at, but I do wish that I could change the satnav's voice. I also wish that I could turn off the stupid alarm that tells me that the driver's door is open even when I'm sitting in the driver's seat right next to the door that I've left open on purpose.
One unnerving thing about her is that her warranty is longer than mine.

Why "Olga"? Well, here's a clue...

I couldn't bring myself to call it Bolg

North Wales 2013 – Thursday/wildcamp/Friday mashup

51 today! A lie-in, breakfast in bed, pressies and cards - the perfect start to another roasting-hot day.

Outside the cottage the RAF did another low-level fly-by, I assumed that it wasn't all in my honour but it was impressive all the same:

 

Chinook #1

 

Chinook #2

 

Chinook #3

 

The resident Squadron Leader looks on, unimpressed by the thundering mechanical behemoth

 

We spent the day in Betws-y-Coed, sight-seeing and getting some retail therapy. As a birthday treat we dined at The Gwydyr Hotel, the food was very good although for some inexplicable reason, in a land that supports so many sheep, the kitchen had run out of lamb. No matter, the beef was fine alternative. Ice-creams were had from Cadwaladers Ice Cream Café, Chris got some walking-sandals from F*** & T***, and we spent much time in many shops trying and failing to get Anna some sunglasses that she'd be happy with.

After an evening meal back at the cottage me and Ella packed our kit - we were off up my mountain to introduce her gently to the delights of wildcamping. We took the same route as we had on Tuesday, eventually finding a great spot in the gap at the base of the Daear Ddu (a place that we christened "The Gap of Rohan"). We'd picked a fine night - clear, warm and calm, with a gentle up-slope breeze that kept the midges at bay. Ella went down to Llyn y Foel to get water while I pitched the tent:

 

The Banshee 300 pitched in the Gap of Rohan

 

After a supper of discounted Wayfarer meals (found a few days before in the bargain-bucket at Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports in Capel Curig) we settled for the night and slept well.

Friday morning was warm and clear, we were up at sunrise to see a warm glow on the mountain and misty haze in the Lledr Valley below. We wandered up onto the nearby ridge and had breakfast (courtesy of Decathlon's Aptonia range) al fresco on a suitable rock:

 

Moel Siabod cwm pano (the tent's on the left)

 

On the ridge just after sunrise

 

Lledr Valley - mist and haze

 

 Dolwyddelan Castle #1

 

 Ella doesn't do mornings...

 

but she does do breakfast

 

Dolwyddelan Castle #2

 

Cotton-grass

 

Ella

 

Heather

 

Knobbly #1

 

Knobbly #2

 

Striking camp didn't take long - we'd not brought much. With the weather set fair and with us being on familiar ground we'd figured that stuff like waterproofs, spare layers, rucksack liners, map/compass/GPS weren't really necessary. Hell, I even eschewed the Scarpa SLs and wore my tatty old Trezetas instead! No shorts though - I didn't want to scare the wildlife 😯

 

Holy Trezetas

 

We shouldered our packs and completed the circuit of Llyn y Foel, taking a few pics on the way:

 

Columnar jointing, Daear Ddu

 

Moel Siabod reflected in Llyn y Foel

 

Llyn y Foel and "The Gap of Rohan"

 

On the way back down we had time for a bit of exploring around the quarry. Ella kept finding rocks shaped like footprints, I aced her with this one that bore an uncanny resemblance to Brian Griffin:

 

Dug

 

Some of the small quarry buildings overlooking the reservoir looked like they'd be fine places for setting up a bivvy:

 

Quarry building 1 #1

 

Quarry building 1 #2

 

Quarry building 2 #1

 

That Lonesome Pine again

 

Ditto

 

Reedy margins

 

Nearly back at the cottage the view was extensive - here's a 180-degree pano:

 

Widescreen

 

Before long we were back at the cottage. Chris did us a superb cooked breakfast, partly to refuel us and partly to use up the bacon, eggs, hash-browns and other such stuff in the kitchen.

The afternoon proved to be hotter than the morning. Nobody was up for going out so we spent a leisurely afternoon getting a lot of our stuff packed up in order to make Saturday's 10 a.m. getaway a tad easier.

Outside the view down the Llugwy Valley was being ruined by these festrous things:

 

Moel Maelogen wind farm

 

Soon afterwards the RAF provided more entertainment. We wondered if we'd been overflown by royalty:

 

Charlie's Angel?

 

Packing almost done, I took a few parting-shots of the cottages:

 

Cottages #1

 

Cottages #2

 

The kitchen

 

The Boss

 

After that, and after a third-and-final hot meal, we had an early night in preparation for an early start on Saturday.