Hiking, Scrambling, Mountaineering, and Climbing

nah, thats no way as cool as:

Was wondering, what would the stance be on a Fairburn and Sykes style blade (as though obviously its not practical, I am definitely one for the aesthetics)?

So Alex Honnold free-solo'd El Cap in under 4 hours...

Is a 40L backpack enough for a ~5 day hike with tent, sleeping bag, spare clothes and food?
Water will be available along route.

No proper hiking experience other than daytrips with minimal packing and i'm thinking of doing some hiking in northern sweden first week in september.

Been looking at the Osprey Talon 44 but looking at alternatives around £100-£150.

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Depends how big your tent, sleeping bag, spare clothes and food are!

Got a friendly local shop who wouldn't mind you taking a pile of stuff down and trying a few rucksacks for size?

yes, I've done this, but just make sure you pack light with everything else and use high calorie density foods and you'll be ok.

consider montane backpacks too, I love mine

Packing light is the easiest way to make your trip more enjoyable, if you have the cash it's the way to go. Keep in mind that robustness or functionality is often compromised by lightweight solutions.

Not the most technical or extreme request here, but: I'm going to buy some walking poles. Had a set between two of us on a recent trip to the alps. They definitely worked as when I gave up the one I was using (when my hiking partner rolled her ankle!), I could totally feel one leg was much more tired than the other. Any tips on what to buy or not to buy? We have a set of these already: https://www.ellis-brigham.com/products/leki-voyager-walking-poles/685155

Any recommendations for a backpack 30-40L that isnt rigid in the back? I have a really concave lower back so my backpack kind of sits in the concave pointing outwards and pulls back on my shoulders (which in turn leads me to lean forward) if that makes sense, rather than doing anything to form to the shape of my back

Ive been using bigXtop daypack for years now but more 'baring' with the pain, rather than just getting something more mallable

Anyone got any experience of Hanwag boots? Looking at the Horndl and Stuiben. The whole double-stitched replaceable soles thing floats my boat.

this guy is bonkers keen on his http://earlyretirementextreme.com/the-last-pair-of-boots-ill-ever-buy.html

Yeah, saw that. Those Gruntens seem pretty beefy

yeah, I've read the blog for a while, he mentions them a lot, and lots of nice things in the forums too. I think hard to go wrong

Recommend me a brand of seam sealer and waterproofing spray?
Our Vango Pulsar proved to be fantastic over the last couple of weeks but being cheap as hell it did leak a bit at a couple of seams under heavy, prolonged rainfall. Want to go over the seams and add another guy line tab to sort out a slight sag on the porch before I pack it up and forget about it.
It's def a good tent but could be so much better..

Oh, and some new pegs are in order after the stock wire ones bent as soon as they sniffed a bit of gravel.

This seems to be the right place :)

An escape from the south.
Haven't been away for a few years, last couple of trips ended in hospital. If i hadn't already booked the Calidonian sleeper i wasn't overly fussed about this trip.
So the adventure begins near Dover, a bus to the train station, a delayed train to St Panc's, a womble down the road to Euston, the chaos of London on a Friday afternoon and what's being touted as the first weekend of school summer holidays, the mass exodus of escapers.
While killing time at Euston (we factored in loads of time so not to be late) we foraged for food. The food plaza outside the station being packed we ventured off into a small Italian resturant who wasn't phased by large rucksacks and promptly stashed them behind the counter. A nice place.
We returned to the station to see the train was delayed and went upstairs to watch the waves of people flow in from the platforms, then the mass migration as a leaving train had it's platform announced and everyone ran to get a seat.
Our train was free from it's delay and platformed, no rush as booked seats only....... gates where open and everyone ushered through to get the train away.
2xSleeper chairs Euston to Fort William, change at Edinburgh £45 each, thats cheap. So quirky allocation of seats and some informal rejigging of seating among us customers saw me and wifey together, a mum of 2 now next to her children and a happy chap with a laptop of movies on his own.
A blindfold and earplugs, limited access to food if not pre-booked and a small service hatch, the cabins have a lounge, we are not ment to go there.
The seats recline and are larger than on a plane. The ticket inspection..... the couple in front of us have no tickets and somehow managed to get on the train. They are taken aside as langauge is an issue and things are sorted and unbooked seats found and credit card action.
Although fairly quiet, the carriage lights are not dimmed and i can't switch off. We started travelling around 3.30pm, the train left around 9.30 and Edinburgh is around 3.50am, it's now 1am. I snatch a few minutes sleep here and there.
3.45am Guard comes along to awaken the Fort William passengers, we get off and just get told to walk to the front of the train.
3.55am Edinburgh is cold and quiet, about 10 of us wait slightly confused as to whats going to happen.
The train is split, an engine and carriage is added to the 4 sleeper carriages. Leaving time is 4.50am. The sleeper chairs are old and tired, but we have lost them..... we now have an older and more tired standard carriage to continue. Expected ETA at the Fort is 9.50am, we head to Glasgow, then up past Loch Lomond.
This is where the sleeper chair pays off, as you trundle across the moors, Red Stags lining the track side, vistas of Glen Coe and Rannoch Mor.
Trying to get a drink was hard work. A single stressed member of staff in the service saloon, i made 3 trips to get served, the cabin passengers take priority.
Fort William, now to get over to Mallaig. Next train is 12.15 limited buses on a Saturday, over to 2 hours to kill, time for food.
About £25 for 2 singles to Mallaig or take the steam train, the Harry Potter train, think that was £50 each.
Another hour and a bit to the coast.
We are now in Commando/Potter/Jedi Land
Just a ferry trip one way 2xsingle is £7.80 for foot passengers, the small isles.
We land on Eigg about 24 hours of travel time and loitering at transport stations.

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We wanted to island hop around Eigg, Muck, Rum, Canna but in our timescale and the not so linear ferry timetable we stayed on Eigg so as not to get trapped, which with speaking with locals does happen........
The island does have a well stocked shop and cafe/bar so wander off and wild camp for the night then head back and restock and wander off again. Bike rentals on the island and as we found out you can get most places within a few hours walk.
Camped away from the harbour on the beach, but not far away enough as some wailing harpies came down to the remote part of the beach (this is marked as campsite by O/S) for wailing lessons.
I forgot the Wickerman.
We are now having the Wickerman experience, just without Edward Woodward being burnt alive.
Didn't expect that.
Didn't expect the nudity on the northen beaches.

Fucking wailing hipsters, must have been well over 1/2 mile from the nearest house.

Woke up surrounded by cows and cows with a mutant single udder :)
Never seen sunbathing cows before.
Very docile unlike the more curious easy to spook dairy cattle i am used to, just move slow and give the calfs a wide berth and they where most unbothered by tents and people.

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Was a couple of little bays that you could get at, at low tide but with time restraints and ferrys and things being cut off and having a longer walk out could mean drama.
Weather people lied.
We went ready for 15c and cloudy and 10mph breeze.
It was 20+c zero cloud and maybe 5mph breeze, enough to keep the midges down, but so exposed and not much shade and the cleaner air, less pollution means a higher UV rating.
I got burnt real fast.
Hydration was not an issue i have a sawyer filter so just kept topping up from streams and cliff water falls.
Second night yomped up to the beaches, easy because road and track, hard because exposed and no shelter from sun.
Cows seem to roam free and care little for cattle grids and love the beach.

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Hot hot hot.
Ended up on the singing sands beach.
High quartz content of the sand means it squeaks and chirps when you scuff your feet over it or the wind picks up.
The beaches where busy during the day, we hoped to get it all to ourselves for the night but some other campers appeared.

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Cooler at night, some minimal clouds

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FIRE

Not often we do campfire, minimal wood, found some drift wood and dried seaweed stalks.
Was able to have a cold shower in one of the blown out caves, was tempted to lay out a fishing line overnight but a lack of shell fish on this beach to use as bait put paid to that.

Sea was not warm, i was able to deduce this from the perky nature of certain bits of the nude lady bathers anatomy. I notice these things, the bird watcher with the telescope didn't, but his girlfriend did and appeared to avert his gaze :)

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A small pair of binoculars is worth carrying, loads of birds, you may see dolphins and whales further out, and basking seals on the rocks during the day

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Looks like a beautiful trip. Thanks for the run down.
Having recently got a cabin on the sleeper train to Fort William and hearing about others who went seated, I'm confident that if there are cabins left it's definitely worth spending the money. The change at Edinburgh is a pain in the ass but apparently that will be changing with the new rolling that is coming in 2018. Although I did quite enjoy travelling on a slam door train again (I had no idea any were still around)

Cows on a beach always amazes me :)

Had a little sleep.
Turns out i don't mix well with sleeper trains and the constant motion has left me with mild vertico.
Going up in the chair was allright, but coming back lying down across the cabin has given me prolonged travel sickness, that and the raging cold we both picked up.

The rolling stock is really showing it's age and being end-of-life it's showing badly. Still an adventure and a taste of travelling that's not changed much for decades.
Was dissapointed no one was murdered a'la Orient Express :)

The cabin ride home. Leave Fort William 19.50, reconnect to main train at Edingburgh around 1 am, arrive at Euston London 07.45 and having breakfast in an O'Neills pub close to Kings Cross by 08.10.
Cabins are small and a lot of thought gone into maximising space. 2 bunks, a sink, a bin, shelves that go over your feet and built in coat hangers. Light switchs and a temp control (which might not have worked) 2x large mirrors and a window. The window blind is a total blackout when down. We got a blindfold and earplugs and bar of soap and 330ml bottle of water each. Sink water is marked not for drinking. Toilet at end of carriage.
Power socket has been upgraded to a 3 or 4 way USB socket. Some space under bottom bunk.
Getting in with 2 large rucksacks was fun.

With nothing to do in cabin you start looking around, the cleaners are cutting corners and in the morning we found out how bad the mattresses are, falling apart totally worn out and desperately need replacing.
£90 for 2 in sleeper chairs, £250 for 2 in a cabin. Would chair again as i didn't sleep really in either.
You kinda lose track of where you are and time with the blind down

hard to get a cab photo with out a fisheye lense on

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Prison cells are larger :)

While hanging around in Fort William we stopped into the West Highland museum (free entry) picked up a book that ties in with the area and shark fishing in the 50's onwards, also ties in with Gavin Maxwell (Ring of Bright Water) his old place is further up in the Sound of Sleat by Sandaig Island, stunning little place to go and wild camp.
Took supplies for the trip home as train prices are steep and food is actually pre-prepped microwave re-heat and serve stuff

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