backpacking – Three Points of the Compass

Gear chat: lightweight solar panels

Relying on solar panels while backpacking in the UK is ambitious. Three Points of the Compass looks at his three lightweight solar panel options from Lixada, Duragadget and Link Solar

Gear

Trail talk: Huzzah!- new notebooks delivered

Three Points of the Compass welcomed a recent delivery- a stack of notebooks waiting to become trail journals. A look at their respective merits

ditty bag

Knife chat: Adding functionality on trail with Leatherman accessories

Leatherman produce a small range of handy accessories that may mean a repair of specialised gear can be carried out on trail

art

Art on trail: a lightweight fountain pen

An easy alteration to create a good quality yet small and light fountain pen for use while backpacking

books

A hiker’s library: Knots

One or two books on knots and their uses on the hiker's bookshelf will not go amiss. These are mine and there is not a bad volume amongst them

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

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

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?

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

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!

Gear

Knife chat: breaking down the Victorinox Midnite Manager

While theVictorinox Classic is one of the most popular choices […]

Gear

Knife chat: breaking down the Victorinox Classic

The majority of backpackers frequently choose one of the excellent […]

Cooking

Knife chat: Opinel knives

French manufactured Opinel knives have a long history- they celebrated their 130th birthday in 2020. These are ideal lightweight knives for backpacking

Cooking

Gear talk: Kovea Spider

As the temperature creeps down, it is time to use a gas stove admirably suited for winter use- the Kovea Spider

Gear

Knife chat: A ‘best-seller’ from Gerber- the Paraframe Mini

Gerber have released a number of different Paraframe models over […]

Gear

Knife Chat: is this the most practical minimalist knife on trail? The Deejo 15g

Not a lot is required of a knife for 99.9% […]

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