Author Archives

Jools

UK backpacker, striving for lightweight while body gets increasingly heavyweight. Completed all of the UK national trails while fitting in local day hikes and other multi-day trails both in the UK and overseas. Walked across mainland UK on five month 2500 mile 'Three Points of the Compass' hike in 2018

Skill

Trail talk: knotty years

Three Points of the Compass is looking back on a lifetime of knots. Time to refresh familiarity and learn a couple more

Planning

Trail talk: returning to my ‘not-so-local local walk’

Three Points of the Compass recently took himself out for a days hike around the local hills, slopes, woods and fields- a 'not-so-local local walk'

Gear

Gear chat: Gossamer Gear Sit Pads

A glance at three of the removable sit-pads that Gossamer Gear have produced for their packs

knife

Knife chat: No.07 Mon Premier Opinel

No.7 My First Opinel is an affordable introduction for inexperienced young people to learn safe knife use

map measurer

Map measure of the month: Philips’ Universal Simplex

Philips' Universal Simplex is about as simple a map measure as it is possible to get- but it still works

Gear

Gear talk: HydraPak flasks

Three Points of the Compass is looking at his hydration system- do the collapsible HydraPak Ultraflasks have anything to offer?

Electronics

Gear talk: FLEXTAILGEAR Tiny Pump

FLEXTAILGEAR produce a lightweight rechargeable pump that removes the task of physically blowing up a sleeping pad each night

books

A hiker’s library: Telephone kiosks

There are a handful of books that cover the history and explain the different telephone kiosks to be found across the UK

knife

Knife chat: The Victorinox DofE ‘Pocket Tool’

The DofE Pocket Tool supplies a unique combination of tools alongside a 'child-friendly' blade

knife

Knife chat: First time ‘Vics’

My First Victorinox knives are an ideal stepping stone into learning correct and safe use of a blade

Gear talk

Gear talk: Altoids EDC tins- are they still a thing?

A bit of a dated concept these days, but there is still a place for an 'Urban Carry' Altoids tin

Trail talk

Trail talk: Telephone kiosks

A glance at a design classic- the telephone kiosk

Trail talk

Trail talk: “have you change for the phone?”

Mobile phones were not always the ubiquitous item they are today. Decades ago, we went out armed with either a fistful of coins or a slip of plastic...

books

A hiker’s library: The Great Divide, by Stephen Pern

In the 1980’s, thirty two years old, Stephen Pern fancied […]

first aid

Knife chat: Derma-Safe razor

The Derma-Safe razor is little more than a really (really) sharp folding blade- and it's ridiculously cheap too!

Food

Trail talk: food resupply

A look at food resupply strategy in the UK

Gear

Knife chat: Slim, attractive… No, not me, it’s the often overlooked Victorinox Excelsior

Victorinox still offer a much overlooked slim and simple knife in their 84mm range. This is the Excelsior

map measurer

Map measure of the month: the Radix

The Radix Map Measurer was invented by Louis J Petion. The simple pen-shape design is its greatest fault

ditty bag

Gear talk: Victorinox Mini Tools

In January 2021 Victorinox released a set of mini-tools, each of which can be wound onto the corkscrew found on some of their knives

first aid

Knife chat: Is this the best, lightest, sharpest, folding knife available? It bloody well might be!

Is the Nitecore NTK05 the best, lightest, sharpest, folding knife available for backpacking- it bloody well might be!

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