Choosing a Rucksack for D of E - this post has now been moved to here:
http://www.walkandtravel.com/walk_and_travel_blog/choosing-a-rucksack-for-d-of-e/
http://www.walkandtravel.com/walk_and_travel_blog/choosing-a-rucksack-for-d-of-e/
Come and read my blog about travel accessories, walking gear, tips on outdoor gear, info and reviews. There is a smattering of advice posts on what outdoor gear you may want and outdoor gear you need. Hey, I sell outdoor gear, 'course I'll blog about it!. Will couple this with other interesting snippets on the outdoors as and when it pops up. Keep checking back and thanks for looking at the Walk and Travel Blog. Gareth Sear
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Monday, 18 January 2010
Iodine Ban by the Eu
Water purification and EU legislation.
It isn't often that I am affected by EU Legislation that I see so blatantly in my day to day life, but recently I had someone buy up my whole stock of Iodine Tincture - and wanting more besides!
I duly got in touch with my supplier only to find that you can no longer sell Iodine in the EU. This was a surprise. hard to keep up with changes in law. Especially EU Law. So I duly sold what I had in stock and advised the customer accordingly - who knew about the ban and was buying up as much as he could from people who were still advertising it.
Researching a little further I see that it is classed as biocide and is being banned because of this and also - according to some forums, can be part of a drug making paraphernalia.
A quote taken from a forum shows Lifesystems stance in this:
'As you may know, iodine droplets and tablets will not be able to be sold in Europe for water purification purposes after 26th October 2009. Although proven to be very effective and safe, unfortunately iodine is not being supported under the EU Biocides Directive. For this reason Lifesystems will discontinue supplying iodine products (stock codes 3100/3110) in August of this year. It should be made clear that the product is still perfectly safe to use. Please however be aware that we will not accept any returns on iodine after August, unless due to a quality problem.Lifesystems have been working with various water treatment experts to make sure an improved alternative is available. Chlorine tablets will continue as normal, but we will also be introducing Chlorine Dioxide liquid and tablets to the range from August to replace Iodine. Chlorine Dioxide is considered to be the best way to disinfect water in outdoor environments and will be very effective against most water borne pathogens including Cryptosporidium and Giardia, and does not have any after-taste or long-term effects. '
Which makes interesting reading. Amazing how EU legislation 'filters' (excuse the pun) and affects humble little retailers, who aren't really into 'doing drugs' or major biocide use. So I'm guessing look out for Chlorine Dioxide water purification , in stock at Walk and Travel and has been for years - like to think we are one step ahead of the EU ;-), if you really want to be sure about making your water clean. To be honest, it is what I've used, quite a lot, but not in real anger in Africa or Asia, just in UK and European mountain streams and even with my delicate disposition, have fared well. On the other hand you could invest in a great Katadyn Water Filter, that will clean out most of the nasties that you don't want to drink.
Get your Chlorine Dioxide water purification now, before the EU decide that this too becomes a banned chemical. You may also want to stock up on DEET insect repellent and permethrin insect proof clothing treatment as well, but I think that story is for another time.
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Water Filters & Overland Truck Safaris
Water filters - which one do I need for an overland truck safari?
I've just had a great conversation with a customer about water filters and deciding what one he needs to take on his adventure. What adventure is he doing? He is getting the bus to Australia. From the UK. Cool. Now this is a trip that one day I'll be doing.
The journey takes 6 months on board a converted Scania lorry, an overland truck safari grande! My customer said that he was travelling with UK to Oz Overland taking in 23 countries in one massive hit. This is the route they are taking. That's as many countries as I have been to in my life time -let alone cramming them into 6 months, and going through Iran. Iran is supposed to be stunning and you need to get there soon in case the Americans decide they want a regime change. I'm jealous, I'll admit it.
Think of all those fantastic passport stamps and visa's that look really rather grand when you get home. Think of all the fantastic photos, places, people. The three P's sounds like a marketing wheeze. But to me it is really what travel is about. Photo's, Places, People.
So that is the amazing adventure that my client is going on. On an overland truck safari they usually provide you with clean water, but this water is kept in storage tanks on the truck and then often cleaning using a chemical process, such as chlorine. Sometimes this may leave the water not tasting brill, so you may just want to put it through a water filter to give it a thorough clean - hopefully making it taste a little better.
We went through his options and he was advised to get a water filter bottle where you can just fill up the bottle and the top is the filter. Now, 6 months on the road is quite a long time and these bottles only do 150-200 litres of water until you need a new filter. You would probably need to be drink 2-3 liters of fluids a day, especially if it is hot and more than 3 liters if it is excessively hot or you sweat profusely. So you may need to think of a new filter on the bottle every 50-60 days. so on this trip you will need to take two/three spare water filters for the bottle. Which can be expensive.
Looking at other options the Katadyn Mini Water Filter looked like an ideal alternative, but you need to pump the water through the filter, from one container to another container, or directly from the source, be it a stream or a sink in your hotel. The Katadyn Mini Filter can filter up to 7000 liters of water before you need to replace the water filter. So this may be the better option.
Before you go on an overland truck safari, talk to the operator and see what they recommend and what would be the easiest for you to use. My customer is going for an Aquamira water filter bottle -because it what was recommended and because it is simple and easy to use.
What are your thoughts? Have you used water filters on an overland truck safari? Got a question on water filters? Post your comments!!
Want to read an overland truck safari review? Rob sent this one in after his trip to India.
I've just had a great conversation with a customer about water filters and deciding what one he needs to take on his adventure. What adventure is he doing? He is getting the bus to Australia. From the UK. Cool. Now this is a trip that one day I'll be doing.
The journey takes 6 months on board a converted Scania lorry, an overland truck safari grande! My customer said that he was travelling with UK to Oz Overland taking in 23 countries in one massive hit. This is the route they are taking. That's as many countries as I have been to in my life time -let alone cramming them into 6 months, and going through Iran. Iran is supposed to be stunning and you need to get there soon in case the Americans decide they want a regime change. I'm jealous, I'll admit it.
Think of all those fantastic passport stamps and visa's that look really rather grand when you get home. Think of all the fantastic photos, places, people. The three P's sounds like a marketing wheeze. But to me it is really what travel is about. Photo's, Places, People.
So that is the amazing adventure that my client is going on. On an overland truck safari they usually provide you with clean water, but this water is kept in storage tanks on the truck and then often cleaning using a chemical process, such as chlorine. Sometimes this may leave the water not tasting brill, so you may just want to put it through a water filter to give it a thorough clean - hopefully making it taste a little better.
We went through his options and he was advised to get a water filter bottle where you can just fill up the bottle and the top is the filter. Now, 6 months on the road is quite a long time and these bottles only do 150-200 litres of water until you need a new filter. You would probably need to be drink 2-3 liters of fluids a day, especially if it is hot and more than 3 liters if it is excessively hot or you sweat profusely. So you may need to think of a new filter on the bottle every 50-60 days. so on this trip you will need to take two/three spare water filters for the bottle. Which can be expensive.
Looking at other options the Katadyn Mini Water Filter looked like an ideal alternative, but you need to pump the water through the filter, from one container to another container, or directly from the source, be it a stream or a sink in your hotel. The Katadyn Mini Filter can filter up to 7000 liters of water before you need to replace the water filter. So this may be the better option.
Before you go on an overland truck safari, talk to the operator and see what they recommend and what would be the easiest for you to use. My customer is going for an Aquamira water filter bottle -because it what was recommended and because it is simple and easy to use.
What are your thoughts? Have you used water filters on an overland truck safari? Got a question on water filters? Post your comments!!
Want to read an overland truck safari review? Rob sent this one in after his trip to India.
Monday, 4 January 2010
Outdoor Technology
Outdoor Technology.
What type of technology accompanies you on a walk in the mountains or hills?
I've just started to ask this question as my list of gadgets, or Outdoor Technology increases - as does the weight of my rucksack.
Last week I was in the Lake District, enjoying some very cold and snowy weather and even a couple of mountain tops - one on the Uldale Common the other, Skiddaw, the 4th highest mountain in the Lakes and a beautiful climb at 8am on New Years Day.
These walks, plus a couple of shorter ones with my young family, saw me carrying a mind boggling array of these gadgets:
Canon Digital SLR
Canon Compact Camera
Panasonic Camcorder
Garmin GPS - Oregon 300
Mobile phone
Back at the cottage lay a net book and a Three mobile internet dongle, which proved useless as there was no signal!
Thankfully I wasn't silly enough to take all these things out with me each time. I carefully chose the gadget for the walk. Family walks, camcorder, great views on a crisp cold morning the DSLR, risk of getting a white out and general interest in walking stats (nerdy?) Garmin GPS and the compact camera and camcorder for when we went out on Uldale Common where a blizzard whipped up and we decided to try plastic survival bag sledging.
Now, me being me, I decided to do the sledging with my camcorder and camera in a pouch on my waist belt - where I could get easy access and film the action, makes sense I hear you say. What I didn't reckon on was the spindrift and the general snow from wiping out on the plastic survival bag sledging. Opening my case I found that everything was covered in snow, I had (if it was made from paper) a very white and soggy loooking set of gadgets. Oops I thought. Best get them dried off and hope that they still work. Amazingly, like when I lost my DSLR into a crevasse for a week, I got them home, dried them off and they are working fine. I'm very impressed - but will be more careful next time.
For the the walk up Skiddaw I was more prepared -I put my DSLR into a plastic bag into the camera case. Perfect I thought. I can even shoot through it and not get wet gloves all over the camera. On the saddle between Carl Side and Skiddaw I was foiled by the wind with the plastic bag being whipped away from me as if I wasn't holding it. It was a wild day. But the pictures look great (coming soon). On the summit, spindrift was getting into my case again so I made a mental note to take a dry sack next time and attach it firmly to the daysack. The Garmin GPS fared better, being waterproof and rugged, it performed well at every glance, giving me my altitude, stop time, walking time and average speed and a maximum speed of 19.6kmh (more sledging!).
Technology is amazing and what is available can really add some fun into your walking, especially when you are back in the warmth of your cottage reviewing sledging on the lap top, looking at your amazing pictures, thinking that was awesome whilst checking out your walk stats and wondering what the hell I was doing stopped for an hour on a 5 hour walk? Heck - you could even upload your pics to Facebook if the dongle worked.
Be warned though - take care of your gear and don't let the snow into it nor the rain. And spend some time getting to know it before you go out - I'm sure my Garmin GPS and Panasonic Camcorder can do a lot more than I manged to get them to do. Have fun - Love the Adventure and may technology help you re-live it.
What type of technology accompanies you on a walk in the mountains or hills?
I've just started to ask this question as my list of gadgets, or Outdoor Technology increases - as does the weight of my rucksack.
Last week I was in the Lake District, enjoying some very cold and snowy weather and even a couple of mountain tops - one on the Uldale Common the other, Skiddaw, the 4th highest mountain in the Lakes and a beautiful climb at 8am on New Years Day.
These walks, plus a couple of shorter ones with my young family, saw me carrying a mind boggling array of these gadgets:
Canon Digital SLR
Canon Compact Camera
Panasonic Camcorder
Garmin GPS - Oregon 300
Mobile phone
Back at the cottage lay a net book and a Three mobile internet dongle, which proved useless as there was no signal!
Thankfully I wasn't silly enough to take all these things out with me each time. I carefully chose the gadget for the walk. Family walks, camcorder, great views on a crisp cold morning the DSLR, risk of getting a white out and general interest in walking stats (nerdy?) Garmin GPS and the compact camera and camcorder for when we went out on Uldale Common where a blizzard whipped up and we decided to try plastic survival bag sledging.
Now, me being me, I decided to do the sledging with my camcorder and camera in a pouch on my waist belt - where I could get easy access and film the action, makes sense I hear you say. What I didn't reckon on was the spindrift and the general snow from wiping out on the plastic survival bag sledging. Opening my case I found that everything was covered in snow, I had (if it was made from paper) a very white and soggy loooking set of gadgets. Oops I thought. Best get them dried off and hope that they still work. Amazingly, like when I lost my DSLR into a crevasse for a week, I got them home, dried them off and they are working fine. I'm very impressed - but will be more careful next time.
For the the walk up Skiddaw I was more prepared -I put my DSLR into a plastic bag into the camera case. Perfect I thought. I can even shoot through it and not get wet gloves all over the camera. On the saddle between Carl Side and Skiddaw I was foiled by the wind with the plastic bag being whipped away from me as if I wasn't holding it. It was a wild day. But the pictures look great (coming soon). On the summit, spindrift was getting into my case again so I made a mental note to take a dry sack next time and attach it firmly to the daysack. The Garmin GPS fared better, being waterproof and rugged, it performed well at every glance, giving me my altitude, stop time, walking time and average speed and a maximum speed of 19.6kmh (more sledging!).
Technology is amazing and what is available can really add some fun into your walking, especially when you are back in the warmth of your cottage reviewing sledging on the lap top, looking at your amazing pictures, thinking that was awesome whilst checking out your walk stats and wondering what the hell I was doing stopped for an hour on a 5 hour walk? Heck - you could even upload your pics to Facebook if the dongle worked.
Be warned though - take care of your gear and don't let the snow into it nor the rain. And spend some time getting to know it before you go out - I'm sure my Garmin GPS and Panasonic Camcorder can do a lot more than I manged to get them to do. Have fun - Love the Adventure and may technology help you re-live it.
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