It's always quite a sad moment when we go on our travels to leave home and our dogs. Even more so when it's an extended trip. Do they sense it will be a lengthy parting or is it just us assuming so? So we left home at first light and are thankful to our neighbour […]
The week before an extended trip is always fraught with packing chaos. What to take, what to travel with etc. Made even more complex because our trip is to the other side of the world In a land of ice and snow. Will come after just emerging from a Spanish summer! We have 23kg hold […]
Spent a few hours today thinking about a tent for Patagonia. Don't need expedition tent as only out for 3 days max at a time. Given ferocity of weather in Patagonia it needs to be very strong to withstand the winds. It's a weight x comfort x performance equation. Eventually settled for the single skin […]
At the end of October 2025 my wife and I head back to the town of El Chalten in Patagonia. Its a place we have visited on six previous occasions. This time however we shall not be venturing onto the vast expanse of the southern Patagonian icecap. Instead, we shall be enjoying the delights of […]
It's August and it's bank holiday. In the cities, towns and villages of southern Spain people are fighting their annual battle against the searing heat. Bank holiday weekend might offer some relief but the beaches will be packed, the rivers walks choc a block with people littering the environment, only the mountains can offer the […]
The "Arista de las Campanitas" from Cerro los Machos to the very summit of Veleta is a superb scramble/easy rock climb with a distinctive alpine nature. We did this last week in the hot sun, the ridge never falling below 3000 meters. I guess, grading wise, it would certainly be a grade 3S scramble but […]
The reality is that my life in the past 5 years has been slowly evolving to more self sufficient lifestyle. Hobbies and projects that I have been interested in have been moving me naturally towards a more self reliant future. These projects include: Solar electricity and solar hot water Developing a local mesh network Getting […]
I previously wrote a post about Discovering Long Range Radio Communications LORA" detailing my interest in establishing a local mesh network. At the time I had a choice of using either Meshtastic or Reticulum. Since these early days I have moved from Reticulum network stack to using relatively new mesh software called Meshcore. But why […]
Index Backpacking in the Pyrenees – the 3000 Ibones Arrival in Escarilla First look at Baños de Panticosa Day walk to the Refugio Respomuso 2150m Storms! Durston Mid-X 2 Tent Review Crossing Borders Return to Spain Vegetarians in Spain * The Road Trip South Backpacking in the Pyrenees – the 3000 Ibones Not many english […]
N.B This blog post is ongoing and will be added to as I continue to develop my own LORA Networks I first came across Long Range (LORA) radio communications as a form of passing messages when I encountered Meshtastic, an open source, off-grid, decentralized, mesh network built to run on affordable, low-power devices. Meshtastic is […]
