Posts by Chris H
Subject to advice from your physio and doctor, training on a (well-fitted) bike can be excellent, as your joints aren't under too much load or twisting. Cycling that sort of distance will make a...
Very simply, the drier the wood, the more efficiently it burns, and the easier it lights. A lean-to on the downwind side of the house is very common as a long-term wood store (there's generally a...
Knives which are restricted in some places may still be threatening in others. Obviously this applies especially to large knives, but there are plenty of small vicious-looking knives (such as the o...
They appear to be part of a water tank. I've found a 1954 OS map that describes buildings at that location as "tanks" -- a term also applied on the same map to the water tower itself. Earlier map...
One unusual thing about robins is that they're territorial all year round. Combined with the way they sing from prominent spots to mark out their territory, this makes them really rather obvious in...
An extension of the same things in same pockets approach is kits for specific purposes: a cook kit might include cutlery, lighter, stove tools, washing up necessities, penknife; a valuables or dail...
The soft dry bags aren't as good as the stiffer sort anyway. My traditional plasticised dry bag can handle long periods in the water if it's been rolled down properly, but my nylon ones eventually ...
This is a bit of a non-answer but is probably better than a string of comments. There are some ideas in here. The problem is that you need line of sight rather than to be near a tower. You could ...
You can get waterproof belt pouches. I used to use them when I wore a wetsuit for kayaking (a drysuit makes this simpler). They'll easily hold cash + phone +keys, and are nicer for swimming with th...
To address the follow-up, Sweden has four species of large carnivore: wolf, wolverine, brown bear and lynx. The first three are all willing to scavenge, as are some birds, and of course humans (ple...
Isolated clouds are going to be easier to judge than gradually thickening cloud cover, as cloud height is important. I assume you've already established that the cloud is approaching you, though yo...
In addition to mattnz's answer (and my answer at your related question): I've paddled a tandem sea kayak (we were using it as a tourer that day) from the back while the front paddler was unable to...
It's along the lines of @stijn's comment but worse: if the nose digs in, not only do you lose speed, but your control suffers (and not just because many steering strokes require water speed). In ev...
Hiking boots for the hikes and flip flops for hard surfaces or while the boots dry out would seem to be a good compromise. The cost and weight of a pair of flip flops are negligible. Minimise the a...
A further reason is to use the space in the bag for buoyancy and to squeeze the bag into a space securely, by adding air to the bag after it's in place. This generally means a valve on a tube.
Quite often you'll have an ice axe with you in glacier country. That should be quite effective. If not, tent pegs, especially rock pegs or v pegs make decent chipping tools even for soft stone. You...
There are a lot of variables: A minor effect on day hikes but a significant one in backpacking is kit sharing (1 stove/tent/guidebook/first aid kit per group). It's not just the weight but the bu...
From what I remember, some biting insects deliver an anticoagulant . This may irritate, though it's not well studied. Others rely on not being detected, and deliver an anaesthetic. One effect tha...
I'm always tempted to suggest that if they can put up a sign they can put up a life ring, and sometimes they do. But the rate of vandalism and theft of rescue equipment, while small, is real. Of c...
The problem is that desalinating water is hard; nearly desalinating it isn't much easier (it would be possible to design a bad reverse osmosis system but there isn't much market for that). Instea...
When mine gets too bad I use WD40 to free it up, then clean with soapy water and a brush. Mine also goes through the dishwasher sometimes, with the blades partially open. If it gets gummed up with ...
I haven't seen a part like that in a tent before, but you might try calling it a boss or a hub. It might be located at the apex and take on that name.
Over a small area you may be able to do something. I don't know if you have a small area to deal with, and 10ft might be pushing it even then. Basically you fix the position of a known point by som...
It looks a lot like there's a power station just downstream (photo), which can be seen on openstreetmap. I suspect that the power plant is being used to respond to peak loads for which hydro is ve...
Putting a bed above the wheel arches is common, with storage underneath. The width you get is similar to the width behind the wheel arches, and that's often specified (it certainly could be found f...
