preBellingham

Getting ready for the Bellingham meet. I'm still keeping Saturday night free, and will either be at the Brown Rigg camp site or off somewhere in Kielder Forest. See what's what.

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Trying out the dehydrator that came on Tuesday from QVC - making some beef jerky. Seems simple enough for my chuck-it-all-in 'style' of cooking. £2.60's worth of thin cut beef has filled two 13" diameter drying trays when sliced and soaked.

The dehydrator doesn't have a timer on it, so I've cunningly rigged it to one of those timer switches that plugs into the wall-socket. Set for 8 hours, it'll switch itself off at 2am. Hopefully. If not, I can use the results to make some wargames buildings.

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Amazon delivered a bundle to a neighbour for me, I'll take them (and some other books) down to Bellingham...along with some snacks.

• "Lighten Up!: A Complete Handbook for Light and Ultralight Backpacking" by Don Ladigin (link)
• "Lightweight Backpacking & Camping: A Field Guide to Wilderness Hiking Equipment, Technique & Style" edited by Ryan Jordan (Backpacking Light) (link)
• "Backpack Gourmet: Good Hot Grub You Can Make at Home, Dehydrate, and Pack for Quick, Easy and Healthy Eating on the Trail" by Linda Frederick Yaffe (link)
• "Trail Food: Drying and Cooking Food for Backpackers and Paddlers" by Alan Kesselheim (link)

All look like they are packed with interesting facts and hints and tips. I need a new bookcase - or rather, I have an ingo that has some empty wall-space that would be suitable for a narrow bookcase. Hmm, I'll be passing Ikea-Edinburgh on the way to Bellingham. I'll have a skeg round their site.

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Poor BG caught Lymes Disease from a tick. Unlucky, Stef :( He was such a nice chap too. Hmm, I'll need to fumigate the sleepmat he sent me on - which might be at the Sorting Office just now. I came home to find a "we called, but you were working" cards. I'm supposed to wait until 10.30 of Friday, but I'll be at work, so I'm up for some anarchy - turning up only 20.5 - 21 hours later to see how long it takes for someone to correctly file an undelivered packet.

It sounds petty, but I've seen the haradrin at the Sorting Office refuse to even go and look if a customer dares to come in a few hours early. Of course, she may know that the delivery people didn't have time to sort yesterday's undelivered packets and they are all in bags all over the shop. Or whatever the technicalities of it are.

If it is the Insul Mat Max Thermo Lite sleeping pad, and I get it on Friday, I'll take it to Bellingham (sorry, I'm stating the bleedin' obvious there). Some good photos from BG - oops, just found his email from Monday. Strange that his 'long' packs smaller than my 'regular' mat. Hey ho, all part of life's rich tapestry. I'm looking forward to comparing it with sleeping on the 3/4 length ThermaRest. If you don't get a good night's sleep, I found that it knocks you out for the next day.

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And then the Ben Starav group the weekend after with Simon Parke. We're meeting in the Kingshouse. I suppose I should wear a pink dehydrated carnation and carry a copy of TGO so he'll recognise me.

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Drive to/from Peterhead this morning was brightened by swathes of yellow oil-seed plants that have bloomed over the Easter break. Very nice.

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Quote heard on Radio 4 on Monday: "We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us." Winston Churchill. Seemed apt.

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And on the topic of Radio 4, their excellent "Open Country" programme was on Kinder Scout, and included a discussion about the 1932 Mass Trespass. (Link to site, with 'listen again' feature).

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Craig from Fast & Light popped up on SkypeChat to say that the Montrail Namches are almost here. Jacket's already in. Great stuff.