Wouldn’t it be nice if packing for a summer trip in the UK meant chucking in your t-shirts, shorts, footwear and nothing else? Not having to worry about chance hail storms in July, unfairly chilly nights in a tent, glorious mud…
So what can we do about it? Complain a lot, move to the sunshine, or get on with it, embrace the wonder that is the UK in the summertime – and get some clothes to suit the job.
Outdoor clothing company Keela is Scotland born and bred, so its experts know more than most about coping with weird weather conditions. And nothing shows this more than its Stashaway Jacket – even the name is most summer hikers’ dry dream.
The Stashaway Jacket is lightweight and packs away into a tiny mesh bag, so if the threatened downpour never happens, you’ll barely know you’ve been carrying it. And if the heavens do open, it’s the perfect waterproof overlayer for most outdoor activities. It’s breathable, has a roll-away hood, and adjustable cords at the hem and hood. At £39.95, and in a choice of five colours, it’s an essential item for any day sack.
The Good: Extremely lightweight, packs down to near enough nothing, dries you very fast, dries itself very fast, odour free
The Bad: Nothing
New from Lightwave is the Rap-Vap travel towel, a technical piece of fabric that does the same job as a normal heavy duty towel, but is ultra lightweight and super fast drying, and at 40g (small) & 95g (medium) I can already see why they will be extremely useful to any hygienically minded hiker, biker, climber, or mountaineer.
The Good: Fully waterproof, Very easy to mount/dismount, Good build quality, Good value
The Bad: Only available in two colours
Ortlieb are a well known manufacturer of bike storage equipment and accessories from panniers to first aid kits, and I have had the pleasure of testing a pair of their front & back Roller City panniers in the build up to my cycle tour this August. The brand are renowned for making reliable, durable and fully waterproof panniers, so lets see if the Roller City’s live up to the Ortlieb reputation.
Peter Hubbard has been on his bike for five months now – he’s cycling the length of South America – so we reckon he’s something of an authority on what should make the pannier and what stays in the garage. Here are his top five luxury items to take cycle touring…
1. Computer Why?
With wi-fi becoming increasingly prevailant, and dinky laptops now available, many bike travellers carry a computer. In doing so they enjoy greater privacy when Skyping, have somewhere to watch films, keep their music, organise photos and write notes. Entrepenuerial types can extend their travel funds by doing a little work or playing internet poker. Why not?
Internet cafes are widespread and inexpensive.
Five things you probably didn’t know about the GPS
Written by Rosie
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
OK, I’m not the best person to write this, as there are roughly 3,000,000 things I don’t know about GPSes. Like the plural of GPS, for example (GPSs? GPSes? vote below). And, er, how to turn them on (only a slight exaggeration). But an intro day with the dons of the GPS at Garmin has left even a technophobe like me impressed by these little satellite delights. Of everything I learnt, here are my five favourites:
1. You can tag photos on them
Yep. Not only do the newer Garmin GPSes (definitely ‘es’ I reckon) have cameras, you can tag the pictures you take. Not tag in the Facebook sense, oh no – it’s far more technical than that. You tag them with their exact location, and can then send the pictures to other GPSes so people can go to the spot where you took them. The GPS you send it to doesn’t need to have a camera to receive pictures either.
Wouldn’t it be nice if packing for a summer trip in the UK meant chucking in your t-shirts, shorts, footwear and nothing else? Not having to worry about chance hail storms in July, unfairly chilly nights in a tent, glorious mud…
