So it turns out I may have ‘accidentally purchased a couple of new tents. I fell down a YouTube rabbit hole regarding two Naturehike tents and could not decide between them both. Even now I have them, the jury is still out, however I think I like the Opalus best out of the two.
I am not gonna give a review of these tents, as there are a million and twelve reviews out there for them, and what I want in a tent is different to what other people want in a tent. I will, of course, share some pics and then move on.
These galleries seem to keep breaking so let’s see if this one works
So that was the Opalus tent, weighs only 1.8kg thereabouts, as weighed on my kitchen scales. That is 400 grams lighter than my current wee tent. This one is huge, has a nice big porch to cook in when it is raining, and for storing all my crap. Actually, although I have not spent a night in it, I cannot think of anything disparaging to say about it
So this is the cloud peak 2, which you could spend a day or two on YouTube watching people discussing. It is nice, looks a bit like a squished bug when you are setting it up, and absolutely love the twin doors. If you do fall down the YouTube rabbit hole about this one, I managed to find an older version of the tent with the inverted T doors. If you watch them you will know. It is quite a bit heavier, 2.3kg I think I got it at on the scales, but have seen vids of it standing up to some fairly punishing weather.
Anyway, that is enough about tents, as I am not going camping during the half-term, as it is bloody expensive and noisy. I have also spent a few days rearranging the garden. I am currently awaiting a ‘sun sail’ to provide a bit of shade as required, as I MacGuyvered one up yesterday out of some of the stuff from the two tents.
That should be exciting and I will if course keep you updated. Only other excitement was bottling up the Pina Colager on Friday and then drinking lots of the vintage beer as I have run out of empty bottles for brewing.
Just an additional, physically embarrassing vid of me putting up my original wee tent, as I wanted to hoover it.
So I guess I should list the disasters that befell me over the last 24 hours, just to prove once and for all that I am a cursèd man.
Did not start raining seriously until I was crossing the field to the campsite.
My new biolite stove, which I was very much looking forward to cooking on, is not allowed on the campsite.
My watch charger, a cute lightweight item that can plug into either old style usb or usb c, does not actually work with power banks. at all. pick update having got home and tried it in a plug, it turns out it is just shite.
I had taken a lightweight summer sleeping bag, this was not enough as it was freezing during the night.
My dehydrated food all turned out to be a nightmare, the hot chocolate was an unholy crime against nature.
On the bright side, I have still not had to use the shameful item. Although I probably should have last night as it might’ve meant a better nights sleep.
It also cannot be denied, it’s a stunning day today, sunny, blue skies, not pissing it down or a thunderstorm; it seems that yesterday’s weather did not set the bar very high.
I have not decided if I am gonna tough it out for another night, but will certainly sit and soak up the atmosphere and sunshine until the evening.
In the end I got the train back home, cooked a Chicago town pizza, with the stuffed crust, and ate the entire thing before going to bed and sleeping like I was a hibernating bear.
WetWetterWettestLord Cthulu and all his briny ShoggothsHome and pizza
Sooo I am back in the New Forest, after updating some of my kit and also just wanting to celebrate the start of summer. Cut down on all of the equipment to make it as light as possible and it was still heavy as hell. but on the bright side, I still made it to the train station just in time for it to start raining. And I do mean pissing it down.
My pack, although very much whittled down, still weighed about the same as one of the ponies that keep wandering past my tent door, but I managed to get it here, so I will look forward to the immense back pain kicking in tomorrow. As I have always packed the tent with a rainy repitching in mind, it was actually quite a quick and simple job to get the tent up. Downside was that keeping the door open to get rid of all the steam coming off my damp clothing meant that the rain just filled up the doorway. I MacGuyvered a kinda awning by borrowing a spare guy rope from the fantastic people as Ashurst Campsite
Oh, and a stick
Once I was in the tent, makeshift awning applied and all comfy, it was quite nice listening to the rain come down while I sat in the warm and dry. Admittedly, it did make me wanna pee, but rain stopped play as far as that was concerned.
I will mention this as an aside to the main text, but I purchased last year a… well I don’t know how to describe it other than a pisspot. It came with a shewee attachment that I have been at a loss to know what to do with. The bottom line is that it extends so, I assume, it can take a voluminous quantity of pee. I have taken it on a few camping trips but have never had the courage to use it yet. I will refer to it in future as ‘the shameful item’.
I has also taken with me a litre of my home brew cider, assuming that this would last me the evening, but by 1900 I was in the local pub as I had finished the home brew and decided more was in order. This decision was reached after two minibuses of kids rocked up and started pitching tents and gazebos opposite my pitch. I felt that and extra drop of cider would assist in ignoring them for the remainder of the night.
Since camping in the New Forest, I have been in a coma and therefore have been unable to post stuff. Okay that might not be strictly true, but it seems more forgivable than the usual, I could not be bothered.
Sooo, since then I have worked, had the occasional drink, cancer scare, minor operation, couple more drinkies and have nearly sorted out the back garden. All in all, pretty successful. I have also done some camping and a little travelling, but nothing too extreme. I will fill the blog with lies as I backfill some of the highlights of the previous year, and date them as if I posted them at the time, in case I ever get any new subscribers and they are wowed at the amount of nonsense I post.
So, in full disclosure, I have not just been to the IoW, this was last year and I may have forgotten to post about it.
I managed to pick a day to depart that was one of the hottest of the year, so hot that the trains were reduced to only 25 mph in case the tracks melted. On the bright side this did mean that my entire £70 ticket was eventually refunded as it took hours to get there rather than an hour ish. I had opted to traverse the Solent by hovercraft, which was all kinds of awesome, as I believe it is the last public hovercraft service in the world. It is quick too.
When I got to Ryde, it was a huge wait for my next train so I went for a paddle and tried to cool off a bit. It is also worth noting that I had not booked a hotel or anywhere to stay at this point, so was just hoping to find something when I got to Sandown.
In view of Ryde Pier
Train eventually took me across the island to Sandown, where I was very disappointed to find that the pub that used to be opposite the train station there had long since closed (apparently decades ago). It was a very sweaty walk into the main hotel district so I wandered until I found one with vacancies and got myself settled. No aircon or even fans, in a room that was thirty-five degrees hotter than the surface of Mercury. Was good to be near a beach though, and the bar served cold beer and had a rooftop terrace.
View from the beer terrace
That night, when I took in an evening constitutional , there was a blood moon. People were gathered all across the beachfront to see it. I tried to get some pics of it but was not happy with my results.
I also started getting the suspicion that my ‘Pro’ camera was no longer up to the task at hand. I realised that by now it was over a decade old and although it had a Leica Lens, this was no longer enough. Plus I broke the only memory card that I had brought with me. I drank another beer and decided that was a problem for tomorrow, and I would lay sweating all night in a boiling room whilst morons on mopeds raced each other up and down the road outside of my window.
Slightly better night’s sleep still awake at 6 though. When I finally got myself up, the ponies started. So when you are first in the New Forest and the whole concept of wild ponies wandering about is a fresh state of affairs, you just wanna get some pics and exclaim, ”Wow this is incredible, they are so friendly.”
Then, it starts to become like a horror movie. Almost all animals, no matter how cute they are as individuals, tend to feel a bit menacing as soon as there are a bunch of them, especially if they keep staring at you. Horses aren’t even that cute to begin with, and they are big. It definitely seemed like I had popped my tent down in a patch that had been recently been getting rave reviews from whatever the equine equivalent of Tripadvisor. It got so that I was surrounded in my tent and at one stage, my solar panel was attacked by an horse who was obviously very heavily invested in the oil industry, or had some other anti-green energy agenda.
As the day wore on, it fast approached the time to depart, so I thought I would strike camp nice and early to give the groundsheet time to dry off so that i could pack it away in good time. Pulled up the pegs and everything was bone dry, so actually had to do nothing at all, meaning that I was all ready to go about 2 hours early. I left my bags at reception and headed to the pub. Can’t lie, the chips they did must have been the chunkiest you can make chips before they become jacket potatoes.
I then took a slow walk back to the campsite to await my lift, where I am currently sitting, in the shade of a tree, vibing with my spirit animals.
Wow, what a horrible night’s “sleep”. I definitely need to invest in a proper pillow, as that certainly did not help.. The trains barrelling through the night like banshees delivering their fatal warnings. Plus the rain, obviously it was gonna rain, it wouldn’t be a camping trip without it, but does it have to be so noisy?
When I woke, I had to get dressed and make my way to the toilet block, which was at about 6am. the only positive that I can offer is that sunrise was about 4am, and my eye mask thingies kept the light away. When I had wake up two, the day did look amazing, almost worth the bad night for the view.
Then, after having washed up my cook kit with no cloth or washing up liquid, I made a cuppa that tasted of curry, and lay there enjoying the tranquility. While I was enjoying the stillness, the Cheltenham cup felt like it was run past my tent. I swear one of them, if not jumped my tent, at least jumped the guy ropes. Managed to grab a quick shot of them disappearing into the trees. When I had recovered from this, I got up and sorted my shit out. Decided to go on a little walk. There were instructions at reception for a couple of walks, and I picked the easiest one, obviously. I have included the route below:
Quick loop of some woods in Ashurst
I barely got lost, only taking a wrong turn which meant I had to walk way further to get back over the railway tracks. At one stage I was practically opposite my tent, just on the other side of the rails. Got back and chilled for a bit, made some lunch, which had a faint taste of curry still, and then booked a late departure for tomorrow. Loads of ponies wandering around but still have not seen any deer.
Took a wander around to find a Co-op and some indigestion tablets, which although it wasn’t a huge walk, was hot as hell and seemed to take longer than it should have. Got fizzy water, a can of meatballs, some crisps and Gaviscon. Wandered back and my meanderings took me past the pub, so I thought it would be polite to stop in and freshen up. After a refreshing few pints, I took myself back to my tent and cooked the meatballs by boiling the can, as cleaning the stove was beginning to be a pain. This brought me inexorably to chilling and awaiting unconsciousness.
After what has been a scorching few days, followed by rain and misery as far as the weather is concerned, I have been recently stockpiling camping gear with the intention of going lone camping somewhere. I have been buying all the most lightweight items as i am a physical weakling and felt that if I have a tent that weighs less that a 2 litre bottle of lemonade, I should be onto a winner. My camping mattress is a thing of beauty, about the size and weight of a pixie’s fart and twice as fragrant. The cooking kit I just bought weighs the same as a can of beans, so I felt that even with my multiple physical infirmities, this should be a breeze.
The issue is that when you start adding food and clothing, the weight just piles on, until the point that I could barely lift the rucksack to get the train to Ashurst. Added to this, obviously, was the cool bag containing the 5 litre keg of beer, which I could not possibly be expected to go camping without. I decided that dragging all of this to the train station, and then across the New Forest to the campsite would be a hideous drain on my energy if I expected to drink all of that beer, so I chickened out and got an Uber.
Uber driver was a gent, dropped me right at the campsite, even though I cheekily set the destination for the village centre. Got settled in and also found out that the website had overcharged me so I got a refund processed. Then came the first real test, getting from the campsite office to wherever I wanted to pitch up. I was told I could do it anywhere so I was completely overwhelmed by choice. I picked a nice looking spot under a tree, enough out of the sun that I would not cook in the afternoon heat, but not so underneath it that I would be crushed by any falling branches.
Just set up.
Got myself settled and made a cuppa with my new camping stove. The thing is a beast; boiled water for a cuppa in about 50 seconds. Had a bit of a wander about to get my bearings and then headed to the pub for a refreshing pint.
Only slightly better than my homebrew.
Had a couple of these and then felt that a lie down would do me the world of good, so sauntered back to my tent and fixed up the mattress and sleeping bag. Had a quick glass of homebrew from the keg that was still icy cold.
When I woke up again, it was raining, absolutely pissing it down. I also discovered that trains run past Ashurst all through the night, and they don’t do it quietly. My incredible mattress is too narrow, so that if you wanna do anything with your arms, you are shit out of luck, and although I brought with me every kind of medication you could imagine, to deal with every possible disaster, I neglected heartburn. All in all, not my best night’s sleep ever.
Soooo I realise that it was a while since I posted the very short guide on sourdough starters, and although you do need a little time to get it going, probably not as long as this. Luckily nobody tried so there is no loss.
I will provide a quick recipe for making some awesome bread, although I have not dialled this recipe in to be perfect quite yet.
Extra-Tangy Sourdough Bread
Baking Prep Time: 15 mins | Cook Time: 30 mins | Servings: 1 1/3 loaves
Ingredients: 151g ripe (fed) sourdough starter 227g lukewarm water 241g Flour 200 grams More Flour 1 2/3 teaspoons salt 2/3 teaspoon ground pepper
Directions: Combine the starter, water, and the first of the flour. Beat vigorously for 1 minute. Cover, and let rest at room temperature for 4 hours. Refrigerate overnight, for about 12 hours. Add the remaining flour, and the salt. Knead to form a smooth dough. Allow the dough to rise in a covered bowl until it’s light and airy, with visible gas bubbles. The dough will expand and become puffy. Depending on the vigor of your starter, this may take up to 5 hours (or even longer), depending on how active your starter is. For best results, gently deflate the dough once an hour by turning it out onto a lightly floured work surface, stretching and folding the edges into the center, and turning it over before returning it to the bowl. Adding these folds will give you a better sense of how the dough is progressing, as well as strengthen it. Gently divide the dough in half. Gently shape the dough into two rounds or oval loaves, and place them on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and let rise until very puffy, about 2 to 4 hours (or longer; give them sufficient time to become noticeably puffy). Don’t worry if the loaves spread more than they rise; they’ll pick up once they hit the oven’s heat. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 220°C. Spray the loaves with lukewarm water. Slash the loaves. If you’ve made round loaves, try one slash across the center, and a curved slash on each side of it; or slash in the pattern of your choice. For oval loaves, two diagonal slashes are fine. Make the slashes fairly deep; a serrated bread knife, wielded firmly, works well here. Bake the bread for 25 to 30 minutes, until it’s a very deep golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and cool on a rack. Store bread, loosely wrapped in plastic, for several days at room temperature; freeze for longer storage.
Give this a go, but it is not perfect, but that is the joy of sourdough baking, you never know whether you are gonna just fuck it up, or produce a pistorial masterpiece that would not be equalled by Mr Warburton himself.
So I will start with my usual apology for not having posted in months. I have been busy with work and keeping myself sane, so I am not sure why this didn’t occur to me earlier. So lockdown has continued, working from home is still a thing, and leaving the house has not been a major focus. With this in mind, I have turned to one of my favourite pastimes, finding ways to get fatter. So I have purchased KitchenAid stand mixer, in the first instance. this is to facilitate cake and cookie making, when I feel the call of sweetness. I have also put shelves all over my tiny little kitchen so that I can store stuff, as there is very little cupboard space available. But I am sure that nobody is interested in my DIY skills, or even my outlandish purchases. What you are here for is sourdough.
What you are here for is sourdough.
This is such a simple idea that I am shocked that I have no fallen into this before, although I did have an attempt at making sourdough a year or so ago, and what I ended up with was a jar of mould that refused to shift, and is probably now taking over a landfill somewhere. I have read hundreds of different recipes and suggestions for how to make your sourdough starter or mother, and have condensed all if these differing ideas and theories into a simple concept which anyone can try. I have found it to be not only successful, but damned tasty too.
What you will need:
Flour
Water
Well that was simple. You can experiment with whichever flour you usually use, but I use strong white flour, as that is what I like. Apart from those you will need something to put it in, so any old jam jar or glass container will suffice, size dependant on how much sourdough you feel you are likely to need. I also use a secondary jar for what most sites will call the discard.
Directions:
This is not a quick process, in fact not much involving sourdough is, so be prepared to find your happy place and remember that things you wait for are way better. Except trains, and test results. Also worth noting that everything here is done by weight. When it comes to baking, weight is way more accurate than volume, which is how the real bakers do it.
I will start with 30g being the magic number, as this is where I started. Start with this as your magic number and amend this if you need once you are up and running.
Get your jar, and pop it onto your scales and set it to zero.
Pop in 30g of your flour.
Top up with 30g of water.
Mix together into a thin paste.
Put to one side. Do not seal the jar, put a lid resting on it so elves don’t fall in, but allow air to get in and out.
Go to bed. Unless you did these first steps in the morning in which case do other shit until it is bed time, then go to bed.
Wake up. Lament the lack of sourdough bread for breakfast, then remember that you are just starting to make the stuff and do that.
Add another 30g of flour and 30g of water and mix it all up. You now have 120g of gunk in a jar. Congratulate yourself and go back to bed.
Wake up on day 3 and it is now the dawn of a new age where you will own sourdough.
You now need to pour away half of your gunk. You can either dribble this down the toilet (do not pour gunk down your sink, I guarantee you will regret it at some point), or you can use the secondary jar, and pour off half your gunk into your ‘discard jar’.
Now put another 30g of flour and 30g of water into your original jar and mix it all up again.
Return to bed.
Repeat from day 3
Bubbly gunk in a jar
So that is the basics. I personally leave the discard jar to get sourer and then when I have enough, make a loaf out of it. So basically every day you chuck half of your starter away and then top it up with new. By keeping your chuck away, you are being less wasteful and making yummy stuff all the time. I regularly make crumpets, bread, pizza dough, pasta and am always looking for new things to make with it.
Loaf of sourdough bread
There are loads of other sites that will tell you more about the science behind this and how it works and recipes with what to do with your sourdough once you have it, so I will leave it to them to give you ideas on what to make once you have extraneous gunk to use up. I might include the sourdough crumpet recipe someday, as this is so simple it is amazing. In the meantime, feel free to post pics of your gunk.
