Francie's Hedgehogs..

The North Face Hedgehog GTX; Francies Review.

Time for a guest spot.

Fitness Footwear also recently supplied a pair of TNF Hedgehogs for my wife Francie to try out.

Here's what she had to say about them:

"First of all I liked the colours of them straight from the box as they don't look too brown or beige like most outdoorsy footwear so I can wear them more often with casual clothes.

They are very light and felt well balanced and comfortable straight from the box. Well cushioned, and an excellent grip and safe tread.

My feet got quite warm when I wore them for a long time so now I wear Coolmax socks with them which helps.

Only very minor negative is the laces are very shiny and come undone easily , but ok with a double knot.

Overall a good shoe and I am pleased with them".

4.5 out of 5!

Check out Fitness Footwear's full range of North Face shoes and boots here

Rubber me up!

After my recent dunking at Walney, I decided to replace the adjustable [ie not watertight] neoprene neck seal on my Gul Fugitive cag with a latex one from Lomo

I've never been keen on latex neck seals, but thought I could do with one fully sealed dry top to complement the others I have with open necks, neoprene seals etc.. and was prepared to take a punt on some DIY.

With a scalpel blade I unpicked and removed the neoprene collar and the front neck gusset, removed the velcro strips, and carefully sewed the seams shut again and swiped some Aquaseal over the seams to waterproof them.

I stretched the cag over a plastic cutting board, and opened the neck hole to 8"

A stainless steel dish exactly the right size came in handy to hold the latex seal in place with some duct tape...

..which held it nicely in place and centred too...

it's important to sand the surface of the rubber so the adhesive bonds well...

A digital scale was used to measure out 24gms of Bostik 2402 adhesive and 1gm of hardener. It's important to get this ratio correct, and thoroughly mixed for 2 mins.

I spread 2 thin coats onto the seal and the inside of the material...

Leaving the glue to set until just tacky, I carefully placed it bang on centre with no wrinkles, and gave it a good rolling with a small wallpaper roller to squeeze them together.

McNett's Aquaseal could also be used as adhesive too.

Aquatape over the seams and where I removed the velcro flaps and gusset...ooh er!

Finished neck seal. I will report on whether it is a success later!

Review: The North Face Vindicator boot

The North Face Vindicator Mid GTX boot

As I mentioned in my previous post, the nice people at Fitness Footwear provided some boots for my wife and I to try out and asked us to post some comments on how they are performing.

Check out their site here

I chose the North Face Vindicator model [above] in a mid height Goretex lined version, and wife went for the Hedgehog GTX shoes, which she will review separately.

I have never bought a pair of boots 'unseen', so I was quite surprised how well made they were when I got them out of the box, neat stitching and a subdued colour scheme. The chunky Vibram sole has provided good grip on most surfaces but I haven't been out on some really steep stuff yet.

The GorteTex lining makes the boots very warm, and I think they will be best suited for the colder wetter months. The shape suits my narrow feet, however I used extra thicker insoles to replace the skimpy TNF ones to make the boots fit better for my size 10.5 feet in the supplied size 11 boot. The lacing system is good, and stays done up, using 4 plastic hooks which really grip the laces tightly. The boots haven't leaked yet having covered approx 50 miles in some very damp conditions.

My major gripe is the length of the tongue could be 1-2 cms longer, as the laces can slip off the tongue. However this is a criticism of lots of different boots I have owned in the past.

Later this week I will be up in the Lake District for a sterner test.

Update 31/10/2009: went for a walk close to home on a surface I know is very slippery in the wet [highly polished pebbles set in concrete] and deliberately tried out the grip on these boots and they passed with distinction. Also impressed with the rolling action of 'em.

Update 07/11/2009: As the monsoon season has hit the NorthWest, I am pleased to report that these boots are coping well in the wet, and no damp feet.

I've been wearing these boots a lot recently, including a very wet walk on Anglesey when the weather was too poor to go kayaking and they are well up for the job. No leaks!

Check out Fitness Footwear's full range of North Face shoes and boots here.

Piglets on Piel!

8 members of Liverpool Canoe Club including myself set off on our annual circumnavigation of Walney Island near Barrow-in Furness, Cumbria.

We got on the water at Earnse Point in almost idyllic conditions, the sea was totally calm and virtually no wind, which made for a great days touring and watching the wildlife, and for once being able to have a good chat on the water with new friends and old.

We paddled south towards our destination for the night, Piel Island......

When we had the Island in sight, the seals came out to entertain us..

Little did we know that once we had set up our tents the Kune Kune Piglets of Piel would be rampaging through the camp....

The piglets didn't care what they could get their wee little gnashers on...however a couple of valiant club members stayed behind to ward them off until the Queen of Piel passed by with a bucket of food and led them back to their cosy sty.

Then we were besieged by the labrador puppy brigade....

The next day we set off to catch the flow up the channel between Walney and the mainland. On reaching the north of the island it was obvious conditions were rather different from the day before..

[Tootega is sporting some rather natty advertising stickers from Fitness Footwear and I will be posting a review of some equipment they have kindly donated very soon]

We chose to go into the wind and waves to get back to our start point rather than retreating and walk. It was heavy going and when we got back to the beach there was some dumping surf which tipped most of the crew at the last moment with the loss of 3 hats.

I excelled myself by getting caught out by a massive wave which tipped me at the exact moment I chose to raise my skeg. It was safer to swim in the final 100m.

Lesson learned...keep your eyes peeled!

Loch Fyne trip August 2009

In August we travelled to Minard, just south of Inverary on the west coast of Loch Fyne for a short trip. A secluded cottage on the bank of the loch meant that even though we were on a family holiday I could go out for a short paddle on my own on most days.

The weather was somewhat changeable, but the wind was a constant F3/4 in the middle of the loch with quite a few squalls, to make it a wee bit bumpy..

Our own beach 100m from the cottage!

There were 2 small islands in the loch [An Oitir and Eilean Aoghainn] which were well populated with mussels, so it was Moules Marinieres for starters!

One night I went out with a crab line and a set of mackerel feathers, and was managed to catch 4 fish at once within 30m of the shore, they too ended up on the table.

We visited the Mull of Kintyre, Macrihanish, Tarbert, Crinan, Loch Sween, a day trip to Oban [great seafood shack by the ferry terminal] . And the George Inn, Inverary has a fine menu.

As I said, not a lot of kayaking done this trip, but lots of future trips and destinations have been stored in the memory banks for the future..

Gear Stuff...

And now for something completely different; a list of the gear I are been mostly using this year:

Boats:

Tootega, my cedar strip kayak,

Valley Aquanaut HV RM [now sold],

P&H Easky RM [sold]

Sevylor K79 inflatable [beach fun!]

Paddles:

Lendal Kinetic Carbon originally 215cm shortened to 211cm following advice from Nigel Dennis,

Lendal Archipelago 215cm

Outerwear:

Palm Viper pants,

Palm Combi Bib salopettes,

Gul Fugitive cag,

Decathlon DG 500 cag.

Typhoon wetsuit long john+ top

Base layer:

Icebreaker merino tops [various]

Berghaus Tech T,

Immersion Research Thick Skin leggings,

Fourth Element Xerotherm top

Footwear:

Keen Targhee shoes,

Keen Taos sandals, [good all-rounders]

Merrell Chameleon sandals, [shortened by cutting a part off the front of them]

ALS Surf King neoprene shoes,

Green Crocs, [great out of the boat]

Gill tall sailing boots, [warm and secure on rocky/seaweedy ground]

SealSkinz socks [crap if they get wet inside]

* I don't seem to have any favoured footwear; I do like the Gill wellies a lot but they are a bit stiff and heavy. Sandals are great in the summer, and neoprene shoes a good all-rounder, but awful when carrying over rocks and pebbly beaches

PFD:

Peak Sea Zip

Spray Deck:

Palm Combi Tour

Playboater Tour

Safety Equipment:

Palm Ocean Pro 10m towline

Attwood Waterbuster pump

Vango 2 man emergency Shelter

Venture Kayaks Paddle float

NorthWater paddle leash

Lifeventure First aid kit

Brian's flares

Electronics:

Standard Horizon HS270 VHF radio

Apple iPhone [Tucabo Tide predictor and XC weather apps ..excellent]

HP iPAQ Voice Messenger phone

HP iPAQ hx4700 pda + Bluetooth GPS+ Memory Maps

Garmin ETrex GPS

Suunto Vector watch

Sleeping:

Macpac Microlight tent

Thermarest Prolight 4 mat

Go-Lite Feather down sleeping bag

Tesco lightweight down sleeping bag [very good..really!]

Cooking:

Jetboil PCS

Trangia 27 non stick kit with Gas converter

Home made meals or Look what we found! ones

Accessories:

Petzl E-Lite headtorch

Aldi wind up torch and headtorch

Leatherman multitool

Nalgene bottle with LED lantern in lid

Turbo lighter

Ortlieb Map cases

Alpkit Gourdon backpack

Exped drybags

Flexi flask water containers

Zojirushi Stainless steel flask

And thats just the kayaking stuff.

Out of the boat I like to parade in a combination of Alpkit Filo down jacket, TNF fleeces and waterproof pants, Rab Generator smock, Montane Superfly eVENT jacket

and a Lowe Alpine Mountain hat that really doesnt fit, but I couldn't be arsed to take it back for one the right size.

Funny, I've just noticed I have no clothing that uses Gore-Tex, maybe own brand fabrics have improved over the last few years, or perhaps I avoid it as its never worked well for me in the past.

A trip up the Mersey Part 2

Along with my good friends Brian and Christian, we took advantage of the fine weekend weather and a 9.8m tide to go up the Mighty Mersey this weekend...

At one point we were whizzing along at 14.5 kph!

Sometimes you feel a bit inferior...

33.5 km in a mere 4hrs 23mins.

A grand day out!

Update on 'Tootega': The kayak has worked out very well. I had to lower the stern keel by 1.5" to help with the tracking as it was out of the water most of the time unless the boat was well laden.

I had a wee problem with the hatches which was solved with some extra silicone sealant.

I also replaced the minicell foam seat I made with a fibreglass copy of the seat from my Valley Aquanaut.

I am very pleased with the performance of the Karitek skeg unit, and the Immersion Research 'Reggie' backband too. [IR even featured it on their website]

All said, 'Tootega' has been the subject of many flattering comments on all of the trips I have made this year in Scotland, Wales and the Lake District.

I have designed a new boat, Sedna, a lightweight 17' Greenland style, which should start to take shape in October. Here we go again!