Camping

Gear Review: Water Filters

Posted on February 12, 2023 by Helen Webster

Staying hydrated is crucial for both enjoyable day walks and multi-day hikes. Getting hold of additional water on a walk in Scotland is often not a problem, but knowing whether it is safe to drink can be. The presence of animals (who will be defecating and sometimes dying near or in water sources) and humans who may be contributing chemicals as well as their own waste to the environment can result in nasty illness as a result of drinking contaminated water. People can also be worried about industrial, agricultural and sewage effulent as well as micro-plastics in water. Unless you…

Posted in Accessories, Camping, Gear reviews, Magazine

Gear Review: Dried Backpacking Meals

Posted on October 28, 2022 by Helen Webster

Tasty, nutritious, filling food is as important as weather and scenery to the enjoyment of overnight camps. Exploring some long distance Scottish routes this year while researching a new guidebook has seen us try a number of dried camping meals alongside our “go to” staples of instant mash, cup-a-soups, noodles and couscous. We tried a selection of meals from most brands including meat and vegan, main meals, breakfast and dessert options where available. The selection included brands that dehydrate the whole meal (said to preserve flavour), meals where ingredients are dried separately and then combined, and freeze drying which prolongs…

Posted in Camping, Features, Gear reviews, Magazine

Gear review: Vaude Alpstein 200 DWN quilt

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Paul Webster

Recommended Price: £330 (but check prices online)Weight: 595g including stuffsack An ultralight sleeping bag or quilt has been on my gear test wish list for longer than I can remember. Lifting of lockdown restrictions mean I’ve finally a proper chance to get out and try the Alpstein 200, a summer sleeping bag / quilt from Vaude. The Alpstein design is interesting, quite different from any sleeping kit I’ve used previously. The foot end is fully enclosed, like a sleeping bag, up as far as the backs of my knees. The rest of the design is then open, though there’s a…

Posted in Camping, Gear reviews, Magazine

Gear Review: Vaude Power Lizard 2-3 person tent

Posted on June 13, 2019 by Helen Webster

RRP: £525 (currently on offer at various retailers)Weight: 1.5kg When heading out on overnight or multi-day adventures, an ultralight tent can offer one of the biggest savings in weight. We’ve been testing this 2 to 3 person tent from Vaude to see how it measures up. First thing to say is that at 1.5kg including the stuff sack this is really lightweight and packable for a mainstream two-skin tent. Secondly it’s huge – luxuriously big for 2, with an inner base size of 3.2m2, you could fit a third small adult in, but would be perfect for 2 adults and…

Posted in Camping, Gear reviews, Magazine

Review: Summit to Eat backpacking food

Posted on September 6, 2017 by Helen Webster

Recommended Price: £5.50 Main Meals and Scrambled Egg Breakfast, £4.50 Desserts and Oat Breakfast Weight: (Dry Pouch) Main meals 112g-136g, Breakfasts 80g-91g, Desserts 86g-97g Calories: Main Meals 499-603, Breakfasts 449-469, Desserts 300-447 Tasty and nutritious meals are such an important part of any multi-day backpack: fuel to keep your body functiong well; something to look forward to at the start and ends of the day; as well as a much needed morale boost particularly if the weather is poor. Having used a variety of brands over the years we took a selection of main meals and hot breakfasts from relative…

Posted in Camping, Gear reviews, Magazine

Gear review: Hilleberg Nallo 2 GT tent

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Paul Webster

RRP: £835 (£695 for the Nallo 2 version with the smaller porch) Weight: 2.9kg including bag and pegs (2.4kg for the Nallo 2) Colours: As well as green (as pictured) the tent is available in red and sand. I’ve had long experience of the smaller Hilleberg Nallo. One of these tents was our home as we walked 4,000 miles across Europe for 11 months during 2003-4. Weighing in at around 2.4kg, the tent was of reasonable weight for the interior room it gave for 2 (more than 6 foot long inner tent) – whilst being stable and tough enough to…

Tagged with: magazine
Posted in Camping, Gear reviews, Magazine

Gear review: two person tents

Posted on September 3, 2016 by Peter Macfarlane

There’s no way for me to avoid clichés when talking about tents because they’re true you know, every word. Tents are a gateway to adventure, a passport to freedom, a ticket to ride and also something you’re going to have to carry up and down mountains as well as sit in while it’s raining or the midges are trying to strip you to the bone, so it pays to do a bit of research. I love camping, I actually go out of my way to camp on mountains. I can drop Holly off at school, nip out and climb Ben…

Posted in Camping, Features, Gear reviews, Magazine

Backpacking Kit Test

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Peter Macfarlane

Most of my reviews on Walkhighlands have been a grouptest – a selection of similar or related items that I use and compare over time. This month is a little different with reviews of either a pair of test samples or just single items. I wanted to do backpacking test, but half a dozen tents, half a dozen sleeping bags and so on would take me months to cover so I looked at the press releases as they came in last year, looked at what was new and thought about what I would chose for myself if I was going…

Posted in Camping, Gear reviews, Magazine

Gear Short: SteriPEN Ultra

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Phil Turner

We’re lucky to have probably the world’s finest water in Scotland, so most hillwalkers think nothing of swigging straight from the burn – in fact, it’s one of my greatest outdoor pleasures (especially when combined with a local single malt…). Even in Scotland precautions need to be taken though, extracting water downstream of a dead sheep is never wise, and ensuring that you’re well above farmland and any surface run-off is a good move. Risks from contaminated water include waterborne pathogens – protozoa (causing, for example, cryptosporidiosis), bacteria (eg. dysentery) and viruses (eg. hepatitis). There’s also the matter of particulate…

Posted in Accessories, Camping, Gear reviews

Tent Pegs

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Phil Turner

In the quest for the lightest possible weight, backpacking tent manufacturers often supply extremely minimalist pegs. They’re fine on a still, beautifully manicured campsite, but in a wild camping situation they can often be found lacking. And certain terrain such as snow requires more specialist techniques. Here are some generic alternatives: 1. Snow Stakes – eg. MSR Blizzard Stake Camping on snow or loose ground requires a different approach. Snow stakes such as the red MSR Blizzard (right) or the larger unbranded model are long, with a large surface area and concave shape to hold firm in sand or snow.…

Posted in Camping, Gear reviews