Saturday 4 February 2017

Tentology

Mike, in his preparations toward the TGO challenge, which this year, he intends to do with his son, had bought a new tent. The intention had been for the two of them to share the one tent. Having purchased the tent, the idea now was to have a trial night out with it. Thus it was we headed over to Alwinton in Northumberland.
Following the river Alwin up for a short way we turned off up a side valley and pitched the tent out of sight of the track.
The tent, a Terra Nova, proved to be very spacious inside. We had pitched early to allow for a bit of faffing and getting a little more familiar with how it pitches. We spent a quiet afternoon, Lucky and Mike dozing and me reading. Mind, the afternoon and evening were not entirely quiet. The crump of  heavy guns firing on the nearby ranges echoed across the hills After a night of mizzle and occasional showers, the early morning broke grey and a wee bit dreich. However it soon cleared.
River Alwin
Our initial aim was to make a round of a couple tops. As we headed up through Kidland forest though it became apparent that forestry operations were being carried out in various areas. Inner Hill,( one of two) was dotted with machinery and was obviously out of bounds.  After a bit of head scratching and double checking of maps, we turned off at Heigh. Anyone intending to use the bridleway, beware, you may experience difficulties! Mind, the path down to Lindhope burn proved to be interesting in places!
Stopping for a brew and a spot of lunch, it was decided that with time running on a bit, our best option was to head back down to Alwinton.
A good day's walking, covering roughly nine miles. Mike had also come to decision with the tent, not really ideal for the Challenge. There was a solution though. Last week I had been experiencing one of my periodic lows. While browsing online, actually looking at handbags and shoulder bags, somehow I ended up with a secondhand Enan. Odd,  a bad habit that, impulse buying? Mind, it sorts out Mike's problem. He will be borrowing it, fantastic!

4 comments:

  1. Looked a nice pitch that, by the stream.
    It's funny how things suit different people. We absolutely love that tent between the two of us - the spaciousness in particular, we found was wonderful on our 9 days in Sweden. And for us, half of that tent, at about 1.7kg, is actually about 250g less than the 2 person tent we are used to carrying when one of us is out on our own with one of the dogs. It's not as light as an Enan though - which we do also have - and that is also a brilliant tent for one!

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  2. True Chrissie, however, if one drops out on the Challenge the other has to carry the full tent. Also, the Enan is quick and simple to erect, essential if the day has been a long one and one is tired.

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  3. More tentsDawn! You will be able to start a rental business soon. The Enan is a good tent but ridiculous price new. A good second hand buy is the way to go, if you need one of course.

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  4. This one was secondhand Alan, it was needing a new home!

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