Not in my backyard is a common syndrome among the societies of the western world. Renewable energies are preferred by many in these societies, as long as they are somewhere else. I concur that there seems not much sense in building a solar power plant Scotland – the Sahara would be a far better place for such – nor that we should sacrifice protected places like the Cairngorms for a bit of wind energy. So what options remain, if we don’t want to trust nuclear power (and who wants to do that after Fukushima?) and are fed up with the emissions of “clean” coal? I want to introduce you to my three favourite ways on how produce harness green energy, while ensuring that the wild places in which we love to walk are not plastered with pylons or destroyed by other emissions.

Windside and Cypress Wind Turbines are Finnish manufacturers of wind turbines. No, don’t click away yet. They are pretty. They are small. They are more efficient than the normal turbines you know. You might even want to get one to help power your house! It is a vertical design, which can operate at a windspeed as low as 1m / second. And it doesn’t kill birds. It has proven that it is durable in extreme conditions, from the deserts of the Sahara to the snow-swept planes of the Antarctica. More commonly you find them on the roofs of Finnish summer cottages to power a fridge and light the house, though. They even have been used as an art installation!

A Windside turbine. Photo courtesy of Wikikko.

Okay, selling you on wind energy is a hard game, and you are right, it’s fine for a summer cottage but might not be enough to power a complete outdoor shop’s electricity needs unless you put half a dozen on the roof of said shop. How about wave power then?

AW-Energy is a start-up which has developed a technology called Wave Roller, which exploits the surge phenomenon, a strong, ubiquitous and consistent natural phenomenon present in the world’s oceans. The back and forth movement of the tidal surge moves the plates of the Wave Roller, transferring the kinetic energy produced to a piston pump; this energy in turn can be converted into electricity. The whole setup has a low visual impact as it is under water – in 10 – 25 meters depth – and a pilot plant already has been tested in Orkney, Scotland, at the European Marine Energy Centre. The energy output of the technology is a lot higher as for the vertical wind turbines, and given that the ocean is in constant movement this presents a very reliable energy source. Have a look at this demo video, if you like:

Which brings us to number three, and my favourite, source of energy: Anaerobic Digestion. No, that’s not a fancy word for diarrhea, but the process which creates biogas. Biogas can be made out of a variety of materials, which have in common that they usually all are waste material: bio waste from industries and households, liquid manure, sewage, and waste paper, among others. Simply put, the feed material – the waste – goes into a reactor, sits there for for 12 to 21 days while the microbes go to work on it, transforming the feed material into fertilizer and  – ta-da! – biogas. This biogas can be used in combined heat and power gas engines (producing heat and electricity) or being upgraded to natural gas quality biomethane – which you can put into your biogas powered car. Result: Transforming a waste product into energy and fertilizer, creating zero waste, a warm house, and power for your car.

While there are large scale biogas plants in existence, the main argument against them is that they are fed with especially grown energy crops as maize, which, in a world where famines are increasing, is not a smart use of resources. A better use case for biogas reactors is for decentralized energy production – think how remote small villages could produce energy for their households, powering their cars, and use the fertilizer on their fields. These biogas plants can be build partially underground with a low visual impact as well, and having been at a small scale plant I can testify that a bad odour – which some might fear – is not existent. All in all a wonderful affair.

So there are alternatives to large scale wind turbines in National Parks, in the middle of a fine wilderness. Getting the word out about these is what matters, as well as individual action – installing photovoltaic panels or a small scale wind turbine on your roof to help power your house, investing in energy efficient gadgets, and switching that TV off not only sends a sign, it also will decrease your costs in the long term!

From the Long Mynd Looking West.

Saturday was planned to be a return to Brecon but the need to get back to Birmingham early in the evening but paid to that. As time was a little tight we simply headed for the Long Mynd. It was such a lovely day that every other person in the Midlands seemed to have decided to celebrate by taking a walk on the hills. I was unable to park anywhere near my ideal route and so — as not to loose too much time — I headed fo the National Trust car park in Cardingmill Valley.

Cardingmill valley is one of those places that all kinds of people go to. A stream runs alongside the road and grassy banks provide not only car parking space but a place to put up your picnic chairs and take your picnic. Grandparents doze while young children play and splash in the water and role down the steep grass banks of the valley. And on a day like this there really isn’t much need to do much else. Suffice it to say I have never experienced this particular pleasure!

As we drove into the car park we were stopped by a very pleasant national Trust volunteer who managed to combine a pleasant disposition and a certain measure of earnestness.

She was very concerned that we knew where we were going. She offered us a xeroxed map which basically showed us how to get to the top car park a mile or so further on up the track. We reassured her that we’d been there before. She relaxed, and then — with a certain amount of theatre — imparted to us what was obviously the highlight of her pitch …

“The tea rooms don’t open until 11.00″

A couple of months ago I reviewed Cameron Mcneish’s new guide to the Skye Trail. I mentioned in the review that I had never watched the Adventure Show special in which Cameron walks the route. Quick as a flash Cameron was on and a copy of the DVD was despatched through the post.

The skye Trial is the latest in a series of these guides that Cameron and Richard Else are producing through their Mountain Media stable. If you have a copy of any of the previous shows —most notably that on the Sutherland Trail — you’ll know how the format works. Cameron strolls along the route meeting and talking to those who can explain something about the history, the geology and the modern life of the communities along the way. And there;s the obligatory scene where Cameron stuffs his face in some high quality Highland restaurant. I’m happy to report that Cameron didn’t go hungry on Skye. For this trip he was fed by a French chef who is love with local ingredients. Out came plates of local seafood, scallops, langoustine, oysters and lobsters, to be followed by a rather lovely looking dish of local lamb. I may have imagined it, but there was a certain look of panic on Cameron’s face after dish after dish appeared!

Of course, Skye itself is the hero of the programme. All in all the production team have done a great job and the Skye Trail just looks stunning. The interviews that come along the way really make these programmes for me. Hear we learnt about ancient castles, the impact of the clearances locally, ancient burial grounds and we were also introduced to the life and work of the early mountaineers who explored Skye.

Mountain Media are now benefiting from having produced a number of these programmes. This is the best to date and the format now feels quite mature, in a nice way, Cameron himself seems to have become more relaxed with his role. The whole thing provides great entertainment for 75 minutes or so.

The Skye Trail is about 70 miles long and can be completed as a relatively straightforward week’s walk. The book was enticing enough but watch this DVD and you’ll find yourself seriously considering a walk along the trail.

The DVD is a fitting companion to the guide book and well worth buying if you are thinking about walking the trail. But many people will enjoy this regardless on whether they aim to walk the trail in the coming years or not.

Recommended!

The Skye Trail DVD

Mountain Media, £15.99

Ok, let’s get the main points out of the way first.

If you are a walker thinking about camping for the first time then this is the book for you. If you are a walker whose only experience of camping is a huge frame tent carried in a boot box or trailer, the this is for you.

If you are already a hiking person who carries their home on their back — and who is interested in lightweight hiking — you will probably be disappointed.

This book can be very useful, but it is not what you might think that it is.

I’m glad Cicerone sent me this to review. If the book had gone to any one of a number of other bloggers there would be flame comments everywhere. Why? Well look at this. Here is Traynor on ‘lightweight’

“It (lightweight camping) is certainly not a dark art, but it would be easy to think so if you roamed around internet forums for too long. After a while you could almost be forgiven for thinking you had stumbled onto a strange subculture”.

Bollocks — but I’ll come back to it later. But let’s look at what the book does that is good.

Essentially Traynor has produced a book which really does evangelise about hiking and backpacking. His aim is to get people out and camping and walking, whether this be using campsites or whether it is about encouraging people to try wild camping.

Traynor is very good at describing the sheer joy and walking and camping. The text is splattered with feature boxes which describes camping experiences on long walks. These are well written and enjoyable. If you have never carried a tent on a long distance footpath what Traynor does is give you a real feel to what you have been missing.

So, this is a book for the novice. Consider the chapters:

• Using a Base Camp — i.e. a campsite;
• On the move — a tent in your car or on your back;
• Out in the open — a good introduction to camping wild;
• Shelter — basically gear — we are talking about the tents you should see in any discount or mainstream store — they may be light they may not be.
• Homemaking — kitchens stove, etc — including full Trangia sets.
• There are appendices which help deal with subjects like buying a tent and camping with kids.

To be fair to Traynor the advice here is very good. If you are buying your first backpacking tent then there is good stuff here. If you are looking to camp wild for the first time then there is good advice here. If you are wondering about what you eat on a trail, then there is good advice here.

But there are real niggling doubts for me.

Lightweight gear has now become mainstream, just look at any of the major manufacturers. They are now trumpeting the kinds of ideas and techniques that many of us were being derided over four or five years ago.

You could follow the advice in this book and end up with a base weight that was needlessly heavy.

Traynor looks at the philosophy of going lighter and correctly reflects that this is a journey. You work out your staring point and then as you build up technique — and confidence — you realise how you can shed weight. Too true, but …

The starting point for this journey could start quite a way down the track.

Think about a stove. Do we need to carry a Trangia. No. A micro alcohol stove that weighs very little would be  better place to start. Canisters? well yes, but why not concentrate on the lighter varieties? The same can be said about the sections on packs and on tents.

You may think us ‘lightweighters’ are being too extreme, but you would be wrong. We are not really dispensers of the dark arts. I — like many bloggers — have a really heavy email post back. Lots of people send private emails as they try to understand what magazines and the like are telling them. I end up having phone conversations with many of them because they are nervous, they want to talk to someone who has done it. They want to make the most of what they do. There is real interest in lighter gear from mainstream hikers, more interest than you would think from reading this.

The real point of going lighter I feel gets lost a bit. The philosophy is simple. Carrying less weight is more comfortable. It allows you to go further and go longer. It is just more fun!

Consider Colin Ibbotson our more famous bloggy ultralight person. Colin explored all of this because he was carrying too much weight on a Lands End to John O’Groats. Lightening the load improved the experience. He just carried on experimenting. And he’s right about it all!

Reading this you might think that Cicerone have got this one wrong. I’m not sure they have really. Perhaps my reaction is based on what I assumed I would be reading.

Traynor has produced a book full of good and sensible advice for those who have never hiked/backpacked before. If this is you — and I know there are a lot of you out there reading the blogs — then I would recommend that you start here. You won’t regret the purchase.

But I’m left with a lingering feeling that this is somehow pitched in the wrong way. A couple of months ago I reviewed Smarter Backpacking by Jorgen Johansson. This is a very minimalist book that really does cover lightweight hiking and if this is what you were hoping to read well start here.

There is though a place for a Cicerone title that goes further and I guess a lot of people would like to see one. These books are, after all, beautifully presented, very well sub-edited and the whole range is very carefully put together. But I think we could do with something commissioned that looks at the whole world of lightweight hiking. This isn’t it. But it is a very good book if you are in the category I talked about earlier. And, to repeat myself, I know there are a lot of people wanting this kind of advice. But I hope I have helped people avoid buying something that is not what they think it is!

So, mixed marking here. Lots of good practical advice on camping if not on shedding weight.

One final and puzzling thing. Before I noticed John’s pops at us bloggers I did spot that he has his own website. Having read his comments on our work I decided to have a look: The site is Canny Camping:

www.cannycamping.com

This is something disappointing about the site as it really seems to just a blog of gear press releases. It certainly is light on additional information!

I really don’t like giving Cicerone books iffy reviews. To be fair they rarely are anything else other than excellent, but …

…if you’ve read the review you probably understand the problem!

You might want to stick to bloggers !!!

Post Revised by Editor 2nd Feb 2011

 

Piglet — the dog of Peewiglet (I know, it gets confusing at times!)

Best dressed doggie in Snowdonia.

Kimberlie and Colin

Gemma is delighted by Phil’s suggestion that tomorrow is spent looking at yet more gear shops …

Aeronautical engineer Ibbotson tries to grapple with Christmas cracker thingy …

That dog can be a deadly weapon …

Phil tweeting in the New Year …

Walking out near the Welsh border yesterday I found the countryside in a state of complete indecision. Was it winter or still autumn? Or could we still be in the grip of an Indian summer?

Despite the weather being glorious the hills were empty. I took the Ashes Hollow route up the Long Mynd surrounded by reds and ochres, yellows and golds. I’ve said this before, but it is easy to imagine this walk being somewhere in Snowdonia. I ambled up at a gentle pace giving myself lots of time to take photographs and to enjoy the long views of the clear autumn air. I found out this week that Ashes Hollow is at the centre of an important scientific study to look at the quality and quantity of carbon stored in upland landscapes, but there was no sign of any work being carried out on my route.

On Pole Bank I met the only fellow walker I would meet all day. We chatted for a while amazed that we had the place to ourselves. This was probably the last ideal walking day of the year.

One of the great things about strolling over familiar hills is that there’s no need for a route or even a plan. I had intended to head over the Mynd and walk through the splendour of Darnford wood but this would have brought me into contact with leisure ramblers. I decided to stay on the quieter routes and turned back east towards Round Hill. Beyond the hill I dropped down Barrister’s Batch to a route I haven’t walked in a long time.

Care was needed to navigate the steep slopes before meeting a narrow path that descended high above the rushing batch. If Ashes Hollow reminded me of North Wales then this walk could have been somewhere in the North Western Highlands. The path was slippery at times and in danger of eroding high above the water. I needed to take enough care with my footsteps to make the walk more interesting than normal.

I found what I was looking for, a number of fine wild camp spots, secluded with good water supplies and just big enough for one tarp or tent. I doubt anyone would find you here after a late pitch. I shan’t share the spots. You can find them for yourselves, mind you there are no paths along here shown on any OS map!

As I descended to the tree line I was greeted by the most vivid colours yet. As the path entered woodland I discovered a field inhabited by cows, quite unusual in these parts. I was about the snap the animals feeding on hay when they suddenly stampeded, deciding that it was time for milking. The stampede was an incredibly loud affair as my bovine friends shot of down the valley. As my path monetarily moved out of sight I heard the sound of an almighty crash, of cow against metal!

Out on a quiet lane I found the cows clustered around a gate quite convinced I was to lead them to some milking parlour or another!

The lanes were quiet too. In Church Stretton a few people milled around the tiny farmer’s market. As I approached the station rain began to fall. But I couldn’t complain. It had been a fine five hours or so.

I’ve just managed to start to listen to the TGO Podcasts for this year. I’m always surprised by these. They are quite interesting — and I was there. In fact, they sound far more interesting than I remember at the time!

As usual Bob has done a very professional job with the editing and the production.

And Shirley — she does like her food

The Podcasts are here.

I have received a few emails asking where the other pictures of Bishops Castle are! Well, there aren’t many. On Sunday morning the weather was horrible and I decided it was a better bet to enjoy a long breakfast. I shall have to return. I did manage to take a few half hearted snaps which might give you an idea of the place.

Not quite you expect in a market town!

More traditional

Bishops Castle in the hazy rain …

.. and finally a view from the hazy Mynd later in the day when the weather had improved a little.

I’ve just received an email fro Orla Cummins who works with Irish Ferries on their marketing campaigns. As part of their campaign a number of small You Tube videos have been produced extolling the virtues of hillwalking in Ireland. There are also videos on food, hospitality and other outdoor pursuits

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG0vczVwtDY&feature=channel