The dogs have been giving me that "we've been cheated" look once more. It's not my fault I'm ill and they have to had a shorter walk because of that. But they just don't care. Bud, Barney and Strider just wouldn't make good nurses or doctors.

Let's get the main beef for todays blog, companies that don't respond to emails. And I will be naming and shaming.

The Saturday after The Outdoors Show I sent an email to Honey Stinger UK asking if it was possible to get a sample of the flavours they do. Now I was very interested in these as they would be a great addition possibly to the menu for the TGO Challenge. At over a quid each they are not cheap. So I think before purchasing enough of them for 2 weeks it was fair enough to ask to try the different flavours. Before commiting hard earned cash on them.

I have not heard a single thing from them. And yes I have been checking my spam filter (I learnt my lesson from Mapyx, who to give them credit did keep on trying and trying to get round my spam filter and finally did). Even a "we don't do that sort of thing" would of been more welcome than a wall of silence.

Next up is another US company (but this time solely in the US) , Pacific Outdoor Equipment. I emailed them asking what they would recommend from their product line as a replacement for a 3/4 length ultralite therm-a-rest. Not a word from them either.

What is it with these guys that it seems so hard to actually respond to an email? How do they stay in business with such crap customer service.

Well all I know is that I won't be using their stuff or recommending it to others.

Finally I want to end this on a happy note, Liverpool beat the scummers 4-1 ^__^  That has cheered this ill person up no end ^_^

Check out the blogs of Emma, Sian and Sarah from Trail's Fitness Academy.
As some of you maybe aware Trail have been running a Fitness Academy for about 4 months or more now. They chose six members of the public to get (to use the words off the Trail forums) "some top end mountain training and nutrition tips".

Previously I had just dismissed them as "flogs" or fake bloggs. I'd heard about the video clips on YouTube and had equally been dismissive of them as viral marketing.
After speaking with Matt from Trail at the Outdoors Show I was convinced once more to revisit the blogs that three of those "volunteers" are writing. He reassured me that these were real blogs, even citing one as critising Trail and saying hurtful things. Which I have to admit got me interested. Just what was this person saying?

So I posted on the Country Walking forum asking the bloggers to contact me. Sian and Emma did, and very kindly answered some questions via email.

I've tried several ways to present the replies I had, but I wanted to be fair, and not put on any skew to the replies. So how I've presented the replies unedited as underneath each question seemed the best way of doing it.

1. How much experience of the outdoors had you before starting the Trail Academy?

Sian: "didn't have too much experience of the outdoors (well not recently anyway) prior to the academy"

Emma: "I've always been a big fan of doing things outdoors (grew up on an East African beach). I really got into hill walking and long distance walking in the UK about 3 years ago and focused mainly on getting out and about at the weekends around the South Downs. A year ago I signed up to join a team to do the Caledonian Challenge - 54 miles of the West Highland Way in 24 hours. I absolutely loved the training - any excuse to get some mega days of walking in over the Spring and the challenge itself was a total squeal. It's no small undertaking, but the scenery was incredible and my memory of the pain didn't seem to last very long. I realised I'd taken a place among the ranks of the hill walking community in the UK, which started my true love affair will all things mountainous."

I did ask Sian a further question on this "You said you had little experience before you started, just how little?"

Sian: "when I say little I mean little. Apart from about 10 years ago when I was in army cadets. I hadn't been near a mountain since and the November issue of trail was the 1st one I had ever bought!"

2. What sort of support do you get from Trail, ie training, gear, etc?

Sian: "trail are great, we were sponsored by blacks and I also had a child carrier from MacPac. We get help from GT and also a personal trainer. They are always willing to help.We have as much contact as we want - we can send him emails or through Trail and we get the updates in the Magazine and on the website. Ir's really down to us though"

Emma: "The Trail team are awesome. We get lots of support from them in terms of day to day help - they have a nutritionist, a fitness expert and their whole team to help us out with tips and tricks as we need it. They are always on the end of a phone or email to answer any questions about nutrition, gear, routes or any training questions. They have also so far arranged two mountain meets for the whole team where they take us out and teach us some of the essential skills. We had an awesome weekend in Snowdonia in Feb with a group of four mountain leaders who taught us an incredible amount about mountain safety, navigation and skills like scrambling. I can't fault them in their support."

3. How independent do you feel from Trail in your blogs?

Sian: "Now a few months in - feel quite independent of Trail - we all chat about lots of different stuff but obviously Trail is why we are there"

Emma: "Very. I set the blog up on my own and they have chosen to use it in their editorial and to promote it on their website ect. They get no say at all in what I write up and I basically use it to keep them up to date on my progress. Of course, my family and close mates are all obligatory readers :) I've had some great reaction to it from readers across the globe and have been very pleasantly surprised at the number of people who seem to read it - mainly Trail readers methinks. I've also got a load of vids on YouTube, which is linked to my blog."

4. Are you going to keep the blogs going once the Academy has finished?

Sian: "I will most certainly be keeping my blog going as most of my events start from now onwards"

Emma: "Absolutamundo! The Trail Fitness Academy has really opened my eyes to how much fun can be had in the mountains and I learn something new every time I'm out there. One thing that we've learned from Trail's fitness expert is to set goals and I've already got a couple of things in the calendar for when the programme has ended. I'm planning to do a half marathon in September and a fell run in October. I also rather fancy the MLT. I'll keep the blog going as part of the motivation and also as a way of keeping me in touch with other mountain-crazy folk."

5. How aware of other outdoors bloggers are you?

Sian: "I only knew about the other trail academy recruits until I saw yours"

Emma: "I'm always looking for new ways to 'pretend' to work so the more blogs the better. I look at the other 2 Trail Fitness Academy blogs reasonably often, but I'm a HUGE fan of the forums on the Country Walking website and other places like the Fell Running Association. I find them an incredible way to exchange ideas, have a laugh and keep in touch with other like minded peeps."

6. Do you read any outdoors blogs?

Sian: "only the other recruits until now"

Emma: "Some - I've been checking yours out and also Sarah and Sian's from the Fitness Academy. I'd love to find others though. Where's the best place to look?"

7. What next after the Academy?

Sian: "got the 3 peaks challenge in September and then a few ideas up my sleeve for next year!"

Emma: "A million things. The Academy certainly won't be the end of my mountain exploits. I think the goal of the whole thing was to get 6 of us hill fit and hill confident so that we can begin to enjoy all that the mountains have to offer on our own. They have very much done that and I've already developed a serious love of climbing (indoors for now, but planning to have a crack at outdoors as soon as possible) and also for running, which has made a huge difference to my enjoyment of hill days because I'm so much fitter as a result. This is another sport I'd love to migrate into the mountains. Now that I've got the skills and confidence, there's no holding me back."

I did ask Sian "So the 3 peaks you are doing is that Ben Nevis, Snowdon, Scafell Pike. How much have you researched this? Did anyone at Trail point out to you to check if the charity is complying with the guidelines for this event?"

Sian: "I am organising the event myself and have joined the 3 peak forum. I have spoken to other people who have done it and just been given the 3 peaks challenge book. I scour the internet"

I also asked Sian "What do you think of the other blogs you have come across?"

Sian: "I find the blogs interesting and funny. I like the way that they can give you an insight into the person. Sometimes you can also see the competitiveness!"

My final question to Sian was "One of your fellow Academy bloggers has been critical of Trail on her blog, have you had a similar experience or have you been more than happy with the coverage?"

Sian: "Trail have been good and I can't really complain about them. they have given me an opportunity which I would never have got otherwise."

I think Trail should be applauded for what they have done here, they have given Sian and Emma support and more important encouraged a love of the outdoors. And that love of the outdoors comes across in the answers that were given.

Having read the blogs and spoken to them via email, I do feel maybe I was a tad too sceptical. And that is my loss. Sorry girls for being a paranoid old git.

And a final quote from Emma that puts me in my place after I told her about OutdoorsMagic and the weekly column "I love outdoorsmagic. I've not spotted yer column yet, but I'm clearly not looking hard enough."

Is that the same as "Weird Darren who?" ^__^

Well saw the doctor this morning who prescribed some antibiotics, along with the following "I'm prescribing these but they probably won't make a difference as it is most likely viral. Try taking sudafed as well" !!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF!!!

Anyway while waiting for the prescription to be done I thought I'd resupply my walking first aid kit. It's very basic, anything more complicated and I wouldn't know what to do anyway.

So I've topped up with some Ibuprofen as an anti-inflamatory, some paracetamol,and some antiseptic wipes.

Already in my first aid kit where:

30ml Prevent "Natural insect repellent" Spray

10 Prevent "Natural insect repellent" wipes

micropore tape

2 7.5cm x 4m bandages

5 safety pins

3 6mm x 75mm Steri-strip

hayfever tablets

1 5cm x 5cm melolin wound dressing pad

long strip of elastaplast (cut to size)

5 assorted elastplasts

tick remover

I think that covers everything I can handle myself, from insect bites to small cuts.

Just come across these on a Backpackinglight.com forum post, LevaGaiter™ ultralight lanyardless scree gaiters . What do people think? Is this the ideal accessory to use with Inov8's or trail shoes in general?

Definitely worth thinking about for the Challenge.

Which reminds me I'm still not settled on what I am going to do for river crossings. Once I am feeling better I will try out the Sealskinz I have as an option. Then it will be, do I wear Sealskinz and trail shoes, or just put on the Sealskinz for the crossing. BUT if my feet are going to be damp anyway why bother taking the shoes off in the first place?

These decisions are so complicated when you start to think about them.

One of the hardest things for me this week has been walking the dogs. With this flu or "man flu" it has made the walks SO hard. The walks have been shorter in distance, so not very satisfactory for the muts. And yet due to the coughing, and constant needing to stop and recover from the coughing fits a lot longer in duration.

Everything I have done this week has been in super slow-mo mode, with plenty of breaks to recover.

This has been the worse cold/flu I've ever had. The only rest bite from it is if I don't speak and I don't move. And then I may get a whole 20 mins without coughing.

For the record I have been coughing so hard at times I've been gagging and even sick. Knowing this fact you should be able to follow my routes with the dogs this week without me telling you which paths I took.

Tomorrow is a definite visit to the doctor to get something to control this. Which will make Nan happy, as she has been telling me to go the last couple of days.

This and the other stuff going on at home, it has been a shite week for sure.

On my wonderings this morning (inbetween coughing up what's left of my lungs) I came across the Paul Davis blog at Hike-Lite (Paul you need to update more often) . Whilst browsing through his entries I came across a piece he wrote last May entitled "The attitude of magazines in the UK to Lightweight Gear".

Paul wrote:

"Most good lightweight products are optimised for low weight and the compromise made is reduced features and often higher price. If the design is good, comfort and durability will remain good. Rucksacks are a good example where heavy rucksacks are often overengineered and bristling with features that look good in the shop. Lighter rucksacks dispense with useless features and are made strong enough for practical use but not so that they are indestructible."

After reading this I just thought what a good reply to the recent comments/critism that has been made in the podcasts from Gregory and Lowe Alpine.

Paul also discusses in the same piece what should count as a lightweight tent, and I agree with him that 1.5 kilos or below is lightweight. But then you can tie this in with his last posting (you really should post more often) "Renewed interest in Tarps in the UK", where he says "The problem with 1.1KG is that it is much the same as recent ultralite dual skin tents." Which is a very good point, especially if as Paul points out you are only carrying trekking poles for use with the tarp. But if you take away the trekking pole weight because you would of had them anyway you have a shelter that can be upto 50% lighter than an ultralight dual skin tent.

But I think Paul also sums up why most UK hikers use a tarp when he finishs with "But in my opinion the benefit of the tarp is the connection it gives you with nature rather than a saving of weight."

So here I am sitting here with "man flu" (have I mentioned that I'm suffering?) looking over the road at the allotments opposite.

Over in the allotments is a rather large woman somehow being supported by one of those folding chairs sitting next to her allotment having a fag.

I'm not slim (15st 10 lbs currently) but she is bigger than me. Surely she should be exercising more and smoking less?

As I crawled round on the walk with the dogs today (These walks are taking so long as I have no energy and I'm coughing so much). I decided to play with my tarp (partially Aktoman inspired and partially the idea had been playing around in my head, coincidence? Or Aktoman reading my mind?).  While I was setting up the tarp Strider decided to have one of those mad moments that dogs have where they run around like a maniac bouncing off objects. It was just this time Strider ran straight into the guylines for the tarp and brought it down. Two tent pegs went flying, thought to be lost for ever. One of the lost ones was a little titanium jobbie that Bob sells, and the other was one of the Alpkit ones.

By the time I had reset it up, an old man and his dog stumbled across me and the dogs. We chatted briefly and it turns out he used to live in Fort William, and he too had just recovered from this "man flu" which had lasted a few days for him as well.

 left, Strider trying not to look guilty, and Barney looking as innocent as possible.

By the time I packed up I was able to find the Alpkit tent peg (being red helps), but the titanium one, not a chance. So I'm miffed about that at the moment as well. I was so knackered after doing this one config I couldn't do another (maybe next time), but 5 minutes of coughing the left lung up where worth it.

Below all you need to make a home.

Look at that living space...

But until Bob releases his vidcast of all things tarp (which I can't wait to get my hands on), where can you find info on how to put up a tarp?

Well there is "The Ray-Way Tarp Book" by Ray Jardine. Which I don't have but will try and get hold of. Online Ray Jardine has this rather useful page detailing his patented "The Ray-Way Two Stick Pitch". Now Ray uses and shows how to use a butterfly clove hitch to attach the guy lines to the tent peg. I myself prefer to use a tautline hitch, which allows for adjustments to be made easily. There are some videos at this link. Podcast Bob showed me this knot last September what a great gift to be given.

For ideas on ways to put up a tarp but no step by step, there is the gallery at Bob's place for some ideas. Or if you have the book Lightweight Backpacking and Camping from Backpackinglight.com there are photos and a write up of various tarp configurations.

I think this gift I was given recently sums me up nicely at the moment.

Ok so can some-one please explain to me how a meeting of those carers responsible for my wife's care, be a meeting without the main person doing that caring (me) being invited, involved or even told of the meeting. Let alone told what was agreed or said? That was before (ie like last weeks super secret meeting), now I'm allowed along if my wife agrees to it!!!

I will be the one expected to take the main burden of the caring when everything goes tits up. YET I have no right to have a say in all this?

The mantra is "home treatment", which basically means shit all over the patients partner. Let him do all the work, take all the resposibility for the care, and have no say in it all (see bit above about meeting).

I know I'm grumpy, and probably made even worse by this "man flu", which isn't clearing up yet. Think I've started on the left lung now, having hacked up the right one. So hopefully tomorrow I can dose myself up enough to get me back to work Thursday.

Well I wrote that bit yesterday.

But today I'm ranting even further, credit card company A is going to trash my name with the credit agencies for a late payment (which it is, and I'm not happy with that as the actual balance is being transfered to another credit card at the moment).

Now where do I get to trash their name and effect their credit rating for them paying out month in month out to a fraudulant use of my credit card? A company is taking monthly payments against my card, which I have told them was never given permission to do so verbally or in writing. Yet they still insist in paying them each month. Apparently they can't stop it!!

They even issued me with a new card and number which they assured me would stop it. Did it like feck. Their other response was to get me to fill in a long form, which one of the first questions is how much are you claiming for? !!! How can I answer that until they stop paying out each month? Or am I meant to fill in this form monthly for ever more? Plus it takes SOOOO long for them to make a decision in the meantime they would still be paying out to that company!

Feck it I'm naming and shaming Marks and Spencer &More Credit Cards are crap. They let people steal from you and charge you interest on it as well.

When you inform them that the theft is happening they do nothing about it. So you want to get rich get some-ones &More credit card details and keep billing them each month. M&S will do feck all except pay you the money.

Being ill has really made me grumpy...

I can see how people go postal.

My Personalised Google Homepage reminded me today that it is 45 days now until the start of the TGO Challenge.

I look at that and think OMG!!! That is so soon. Did Alan think this when it started to get close to him starting his LEJOG? I can't remember I think I did read something about it.

But then due to current background life events, 45 days seems so far away. While fighting off this deadly "man flu", there has been other stuff happening at home, which threatens my whole going on the TGO Challenge. And it is these other events that are so frustrating. Just when you think there is light at the end of the tunnel, it goes dark again. Back to square one so to speak.

Sitting here sipping a lemsip between coughing fits, is giving me too much time to ponder things. Hopefully I will be well enough to go back to work tomorrow.

Well after reading on an OM thread that some people don't like blogs and don't read them as they don't like the personal side of them. Apparently some prefer photoblogs (! - maybe they just find reading so much harder than looking at pictures, not everyone is a reader you know) or reading trip reports only.

How the comments made were answering the original question about the change to format for the weekly blog round up I don't know.

But I digress as I was going to post about my pathetic walking of the dogs today. Well not too much as this part will probably wind them up anyway if they were to read my blog, but they don't read blogs so I'm safe ^_^

I've been off ill today this cold/"man flu" (which as we all know is the worst kinda flu known to mankind) is really taking it out of me. Drugged up on lemsip and which ever soothing tonic for chesty coughs I got this morning I managed to slowly walk the dogs. Well they do have to be exercised no matter what.

It wasn't easy I sounded like a sixty a day man, hacking up a bit of his lung every five paces. It was slow going but still with rest stops and taking it slow managed to give the mutts a sort of walk.

It really was a bad day to be off ill from work. Today has been a glorious sunny spring day (criminal to be in the office), but I've not been able to enjoy it.

To make it worse, Bud decided he wanted to be playful and jumped up at me to play. Only in doing so pawed me in the family jewels, hard. So not only did I have to finish the walk off leaving bits of lung behind, but also in complete agony.

Anyway I hope you enjoy the piccies I have attached to this entry.

Barney and Strider:

Below proof of woodpeckers:

Above a bit of most likely army waste (a solid fuel burner)

Above a piccy with Bud in to prove he was with us today.

And an oldie from last year to show the varied wildlife we come across on our walks (a mole with a poo on it's head)

PS Hope you all got the Bill Hicks reference in the title of this entry, and Little Chicken I know which photos you like today ^_^

Was talking to Stef the other day and he suggested maybe we should have one of these later in the year. I agree with Stef it's a good idea.

Earliest I'd be up for one would be July, after spending most of May away I don't think I will be allowed out to play before then.

So what do my fellow bloggers think about it? Whose up for it?

PS My new addiction is Buttercup cough syrup ;)

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted anything today.

Well  not much has happened really in the world of the outdoors or on the Challenge for me.

Cameron's blog is back up after he had to dig deep to up his bandwidth limit.

I've started work on a posting for this blog that will hopefully see the light of day next week. It all depends on if the people I'm trying to contact actually get back to me, and then answer my questions.

I've been catching up with todays blogs ready for Fridays coverage of blogs and podcasts. Which reminds me if people have any feedback on the two columns please contact me (whitespider1066@hotmail.co.uk or via the OM website). It would be nice to know what people think.

Stef has been contacted by a young lad looking for people to do a LEJOG with him next year, with the aim to raise £1000 for NSPCC. I'll start covering the blog and link to it once it starts to build up some content. At the moment it is in VERY early stages.

There have been some great postings on the other blogs and well I'm not going to give you a preview, read my column on OM this Friday.

Oh and finally George has a story of why you shouldn't join the Backpackers Club at the Bellingham meet in April, or if you are a member why you should not attend. Try and guess why that is...

Roman does a fantastic response to yesterdays blog entry of mine on drysacks and rucksack covers.

The only drawback of the BPL.com group test is that it does not cover the Exped bags. But it does give me an idea for testing the ones I have. If I get bored at the weekend I may try it.

One comment made (can't remember if it was the group test or Roman) was that of water in the bottom of the rucksack building up. Now if I remember correctly a suggestion in one of the lightweight books was to put a small hole in the bottom of the bag to allow drainage. Great idea which I plan to implement once I can get the courage up to do this to the Lightwave.

I certainly don't rely on a rucksack cover to keep my gear dry, but on a combination of cover and drysacks.

Well today I've been having a pleasant exchange with Martin Banfield about dry sacks.

It all started off innocently enough with a reply from Martin about not being able to make The Outdoors Show, but to keep him informed of any must have gadgets for the TGO Challenge. Naturally I replied saying how good I thought the folding spork was.

Martin said it wuld be interesting to observe what people are using on this years crossing. Which I totaly agree with, seeing what gear people are using and how, is always interesting. And I may just have to compare notes with Martin at the end of the Challenge.

It was then that Martin started off a discussion about dry sacks when he mentioned that he was going to have to replace his waterproof rucksack liner as it leaked at the weekend.

I quickly fired off a couple of quick questions about his current bag and if he used waterproof covers. Which then went to me pointing out that I use Exped drysacks, and a rucksack cover. I then used a standard get out clause "to be truthful I've not had them really tested in "really" wet conditions yet. Nearest I came was some showers/rain on a walk between Franham and Guildford. And I had the rucksack cover on then as well. So everything was remaining dry anyway."

So Martin came back with "I use a 'nylon waterproof' liner flogged through TGO magazine in 2003/04 - weighs 100gm and is pretty huge - maybe 80 litre size. I generally put a standard flimsy plastic liner inside the 'waterproof' one. That's another 75gm. ...
I've never used a rucksac cover - they are a recent invention that I've thought a bit pessimistic and poncey, and if I add up all my backpacking days I'd probably have had to put up with the extra weight for about 90% of the time. (However, I must admit that on Saturday night the damp patch by my bed was probably damper than it would have been if I'd had a cover.) So whilst my present system is ok for day walks, I think further investment for backpacking may be a good idea, but is it to be the 40litre drybag (117gm) or the perhaps more substantial 'pack liner' at 185gm? Or shall I put a new Dalesman grey plastic liner (50gm) in each of my 3 food parcels and, starting off with 2 new such liners, replace the most damaged liner after every 3rd or 4th day. And do I get an exped 5 or 8 litre dry bag for my Rab 400 as an extra precaution....another 50gm or so....and do I get the heavier bags anyway for hut to hut trips where weight is not really an issue?....
http://www.needlesports.com/acatalog/Mail_Order_Dry_Bags_141.html seems to be a good provider."

I've responded with the following: "I have to say if I hadn't got a rucksack cover with a 25l Berghaus FreeFlow 2 5-6 years ago I would maybe never of even thought of using one. But I have to say I did use it and found it worked (except it was silver and made you look like you were on a space walk or something).
... I do have a drybag for the 400 tho', I got mine from backpackinglight ...I have to say I use drybags all the time now. Day walks, backpacking etc.
And I have a variety of sizes. They are so handy. Main size I use is 35-40 litres, but I then use smaller ones for other things like sleeping bag, down jacket, dry clothes etc."

I thought it was interesting to see what the different views are on this subject. What do others use? Do others find rucksack covers useful or just a waste of money? I love the fact Martin knows down to the gramme what each of his options are, it's certainly more than I do. I couldn't tell you how much the Exped Dry bags weigh. I'm in awe of people that have all that info at hand. Me I chuck the stuff into a rucksack and just weigh everything. If it is round the 8-10 kilo mark I'm happy. Maybe with that attitude I'll bever be one of those 5 kilo or less hikers.

I also think the emails show how no two people are the same on their approach, neither is right or wrong. And at the end of the day it is down to what works for that person. The link that Martin provided does provide a good list of the available options on the Dry Bag front. And I'm sure that if you hunt around you will find other options as well. Particularly ultralight options that weigh less than a fart.  But then again would they be up to the rough and tumble they would get in a rucksack?

Thanks Martin for such an interesting email exchange today, I've really enjoyed it, and inspiring and providing some of this posting.

Well it's game on again. Thanks to Aktoman I'm going after a press pass for Harrogate. It has to be done, this event needs to be blogged.

I've done the initial registration form they have on the site, so let's wait and see how things progress.

Happy Mothers Day to:

My Mum,

My Nan,

My Aunt Barb

and Kate

You guys are the most important women in my life, you mean so much to me, you love me for who I am no matter what.

Thank you so much, and I hope you all had a great day.

Love the Weird One ^__^