Lung test....

[saxonaxe]

A day of bright warm sunshine was a chance to get out after being cooped up for over 7 days. I did get a couple of hours out on the Motor bike yesterday, a non stop whizz round the lanes but not really exercise, so today was my chance.

I'm lucky in that I can get out without getting anywhere near another person, so today was a chance to try the new brew kit and the new BCB Gel fuel stove I bought some time ago.

The path from home leads alongside the lake..

Mr & Mrs Mallard setting up home..

Just about everywhere I walked were wild flowers, the Celandines grow in great swathes.

Primroses and hiding amongst them Wild \violets.

I wandered through the wood and found a sheltered place in the sun out of the breeze.

The foam roll mat makes good cushion on the fallen tree. The Day Pack is a Civvy copy of a German Army issue bag.

The BCB cooker. In the closed folded position I found that 3 of the Gel fuel tabs will fit inside.

The Bushcraft Store brew pot in situ. The Gel tab lit very easily, instantly in fact. I put about 350 ml of water in the pot which is very roughly half full.

Sit in the sun and listen to the Spring song of the birds while the water boils...The sun on the Gorse makes the yellow flowers release their scent which fills that little hollow where I was sitting.

I sat there for about an hour, made 2 brews, both with the same amount of water.With one brew I used an ally windscreen in addition to the little windscreen that is part of the stove. It appeared to make no difference in boil time, which in both cases was 8 minutes. On the first burn the Gel tab burned out in a fraction over 9 minutes and the second burn lasted for 10 minutes, both occasions allowed a rolling boil to develop with burn time to spare.

The plastic Kuksa thing is not normally part of my kit, I don't like sitting down like a half baked Reindeer Herder trying to hold the daft thing. It;s just that it happened to fit nicely along with the sugar container and stove in that pouch.

Two tabs left a small amount of soot on the pot and a small residue in the cooker which came out easily with a sharpened twig.

Conclusion....
For me, as personal kit, the Gel stove will be either strictly day walks or as a back up stove. On an average backpacking/ wild camping trip I'm up to at least 8 brews a day. 1 on wake up, then 1 at breakfast. 1 mid morning stop. 1 lunch, 1 mid afternoon, then set up camp, grub and later night drink. 8 is rationing for me...good job I don't drink alcohol I'd be vino collapso most of my life......But I do like my tea.

So, a 5 day trip that's 40 fuel tabs...without cooking meals!! Order of preference for me is Open Fire, Wood Stove, Gas, Meths and then BCB Gel stove. It's good kit though, handy and being so small and light great as a back up.

Home through the woods..
A sea of Ramsons, place smelled like a Frenchman's kitchen...

Herb Robert..

Wood Anemone

Some King Alfred's Cakes. There was about a dozen on a fallen Ash, so I took three.

And home past the banks of Snowdrops..

I found out yesterday evening that one of the blokes and his Mrs at the re-union I attended end of last month, had just returned from a holiday at the Italian Lakes.....

Who knows? That was certainly the worst case of Flu I've ever had, but I don't think I had a temperature and I put the aches and stiffness down to not being able to go to the gym as I usually do, so probably just a mega dose of the usual...in which case my flu jab didn't work... At least I've been isolated so no problems caused for anyone else.

The TBCS pot and bottle are good kit,the pot lid fits well and the stamped,rather than printed volume markings are handy. The bottle top has a good 'grippy' finish so cold hands shouldn't be a problem.
Nice to get out...about 4 miles felt like 20 but hey! I'm still breathing....

 

[Madriverrob]

Thanks for sharing in these times when people are struggling to get out . Great review of the brew kit , I have the same and would agree to it’s usefulness as a day brew kit . Those gel tabs would work out expensive and heavy for an extended trip .

 

[Ark79]

Cracking Enjoyed that read thanks for sharing sax glad to see you out after feeling ill

 

[lol]

Thanks for sharing in these times when people are struggling to get out . Great review of the brew kit , I have the same and would agree to it’s usefulness as a day brew kit . Those gel tabs would work out expensive and heavy for an extended trip .

Isn't it just....thank you, Saxonaxe

 

[Peatburner]

Great write up and brilliant photos thanks for sharing

 

[Bam]

Fantastic post, thanks for taking the time to share your trip Sax. I've made fuel tabs out of candle wax and cotton wool, they take a while to light and don't burn as hot as hexy or the gel tabs but burn longer (and sootier), I've used them to back up hexy tabs in the past for longer burns.

Hope that's you over the lurgy mate.

 

[Brambling]

Just brilliant Sax, what a lovely spot. I have a recipe for fermented ramsons if you're into that sort of thing. Also, Firedragon do their gel fuel by the litre. I have a couple of litres and I decant into a 200ml tin to take camping and have a small bottle in my day brewkit.

 

[1 shot willie]

Nice to see you back out Sax... Cracking post and pictures

 

[saxonaxe]

Thanks folks, glad you enjoyed the post. Apart from feeling a bit weak and wobbly just before I got home the little bimble seems to have done me good. Another few days and I'll be leaping about like a five year old...well perhaps more like a 75 year old then...
Fire Dragon liquid might be a good alternative for me Annie, bottle of liquid would cut out all the packing as well.

I've made some wax and cotton wool fire starters in the past Bam. I used those face cleaning pads that ladies use and soaked them in melted wax. They burn well don't they, although I've only ever used them to get the fire going, never to cook on.

 

[Bam]

Thanks folks, glad you enjoyed the post. Apart from feeling a bit weak and wobbly just before I got home the little bimble seems to have done me good. Another few days and I'll be leaping about like a five year old...well perhaps more like a 75 year old then...
Fire Dragon liquid might be a good alternative for me Annie, bottle of liquid would cut out all the packing as well.

I've made some wax and cotton wool fire starters in the past Bam. I used those face cleaning pads that ladies use and soaked them in melted wax. They burn well don't they, although I've only ever used them to get the fire going, never to cook on.

Glad you're on the mend Sax, I use those eyepad things dipped in vaseline for fire starting, I melted a candle and packed an ice cube tray with 2 cotton buds (in each cube) and poured the candle wax in the 'cubes' to make the fuel blocks. Not that I've used them for a good few years but they boosted hexy quite a bit, lasting longer.

Thanks again for the morale boosting phots.

 

[1 shot willie]

Try adding a cap full of lamp oil to you melted wax.... Wax hardens and traps lamp oil...... Works better.... More efficient

 

[Bam]

Try adding a cap full of lamp oil to you melted wax.... Wax hardens and traps lamp oil...... Works better.... More efficient

Cheers mate.

 

[MildredsSmurf]

Fantastic. Great writeup and pictures. I especially appreciate the plant pictures and identification as I want to do more of that myself and have bought books that I still need to read.

 

[saxonaxe]

" I especially appreciate the plant pictures and identification "................

I confess to being a bit of an anorak with wildflowers, I just find their attachment to Folklore, medicine and other uses intriguing. To walk through a wood and know what I'm looking at, what it could be used for, ie: that places where Ramsons grow would tell the old time Foresters that the soil would be a good area to plant saplings, because Ramsons indicate good soil to encourage young trees. Makes a walk even more interesting. ...

 

[MildredsSmurf]

It certainly does, the little I know makes me realise how much valuable knowledge there is to gain. There's a load of stuff I need to identify on my walks now. I may even take the book!

 

[Bam]

It certainly does, the little I know makes me realise how much valuable knowledge there is to gain. There's a load of stuff I need to identify on my walks now. I may even take the book!

Me and Mar have some pocket books on mushrooms and trees that we take out when we mind, especially for the 'shrooms they can be quite enlightening to our novice minds.

 

[Brambling]

I'm a big fan of the Collins Pocket Gem series. The descriptions and photos are very clear and easy to understand.

 

[Bam]

I'm a big fan of the Collins Pocket Gem series. The descriptions and photos are very clear and easy to understand.

That's the badgers.....