Stoves and fuel...free and otherwise

Blimey! been ages since I last posted, but weather getting better days getting longer, so will be out and about at last.
Recently I built a small wood burning stove from an Ikea stainless steel drainer following the method most people use to make one, ie cut a rectangle out of it with a Dremel so you can push fuel in once it's going. Loads of vids on YouTube if you want to investigate further.

It works remarkably well, taking 8 mins to boil 750ml of cold water once a good bed of embers is established. I used 2 tent pegs to support my Alpkit Mytimug

Have now bent a clothes hanger to make pot support

 I was in an outdoor shop recently and saw this new bio ethanol gel fuel made by Fuel 4 ..

It can be used a substitute for meths in a Trangia/pepsi can type stove so I bought a £2.50 sachet to try it out...

I poured it into the dimple on an overturned pepsi stove I made ages ago, popped it into my Ikea burner, lit it and turned the timer on. It took about 9 mins to bring about 0.5l of water to a boil, not bad, no soot on the pot like meths and no smell either.  

                                 

Nice clean blue flame...

Verdict: handy to keep as an emergency fuel if no other free bio fuel (ie wood) available. 

Lakes bakes!

I cashed £30 worth of Tesco vouchers in for £90 of Youth Hostel credit what seems a long time ago, and realising that they were due to expire at the end of May offered a 'free' night in the lakes at Eskdale to my good pals the Jones Brothers.

We met up at Ravenglass in good time to unload, and move the cars to the station carpark which unfortunately isn't free anymore, but very handy for the beach.

We set off out to sea, almost getting to the bar when a chap waved us over having got out of his MOD Landrover...'you lot do know you are paddling in a danger area don't you?!' Of course we did; we were just poking our noses, but about turn and we went up the Esk, a lovely trip which I have only done as part of the annual Seaquest event. 

We got to Muncaster Bridge and carried on until the ebb, seeing Grey geese and their babies, listening to the warblers hidden in the reeds, but no otters or kingfishers unfortunately. I had never been past the bridge before due to the urgency of Seaquest, but look forward to doing it again.

Dave at Muncaster Bridge,

Scafells in the background..

We popped over to Wasdale originally planning to have a quick paddle, but it was really windy and choppy so we settled for a quick early bite to eat at the first beach and Dave went photo mad...

Ga just gazed..

Britains favourite view..

After settling in at Eskdale YH we ambled down to the Woolpack Inn, somewhat different from my last visit, but still highly recommended
The next day we were up early for an assault on Scafell from Wha House Farm with a return down from Foxes Tarn to Cam Spout and back along the Esk.  11.2 mls on the hottest day of the year, it was a hard long walk, but highly satisfying when we got back to the hostel    

Looking over to the Pike..it was very, very busy

Dave and Gareth on Scafell summit..sponsor: Tilley Hats.

After a shower we forced ourselves back to the Woolpack for dinner, cider beer and fun, making the most of the free wifi to take silly pictures, call the family on Skype [no phone signal in Eskdale] and even update Facebook (Dave = FB addict). We marvelled at the people with awful sunburn too. We were slavered in Factor 50 and nay a spot of redness!

A wonderful couple of days only spoiled by the knobhead who decided to make his bed up in our room in the hostel at 11-30 pm. A cyclist too. Ought to know better.