Stefan Durkacz

Recently I wrote about making the move away from gas canister stoves towards other, less environmentally unfriendly fuels, at least for use outside winter. I bought a Trail Designs Sidewinder ti-tri stove , which can be used to burn wood, meths, or solid fuel cubes. I did a back garden test in wood-burning mode, which I was very pleased with. Today I wanted to try out the meths burner, but also the final piece of the jigsaw: a pot cosy. I made the cosy from a kit from backpackinglight.co.uk . The purpose of the pot cosy is to keep the contents of the pot at a simmering temperature. The food therefore continues to cook when off the stove, saving fuel. The flame on simple meths burners can't be adjusted like a gas stove, so can't be used to simmer anyway, making a pot cosy essential if you plan on doing anything other than boiling water to add to dehydrated meals. I want to limit my use of expensive dehydrated backpacking foods on the Tay watershed walk so needed to get to grips...

One of the ironies of planning a major backpacking trip in Scotland is that my preparations have turned me on to the outdoors possibilities on London's doorstep. During most of my years in London, the commuter belt was just somewhere I whizzed through on the train on the way to Scotland with my hiking kit on board. During a short spell when we lived in Hertfordshire a few years ago I got to know the local back roads very well by bicycle, but walking never occurred to me. Maybe it's because I got into walking growing up in Scotland, where it's almost invariably summit-focused: walking as a means to an end rather than an end in itself. The need to build up walking fitness can't be met by sporadic trips to Scotland though, so I've been forced out into Kent and Sussex to sample what's on offer, and I like what I've found. Trail walking in a landscape with little variation in elevation is so different to hillwalking. Navigation is surprisingly difficult! Waymarki...

What are you supposed to do with spent gas canisters? Throw them in the bin probably, but that doesn't seem right. As I assumed that canister gas would be my fuel of choice for the Tay catchment walk I did a few internet searches on how to recycle them, and ended up more confused than before. The bottom line, if there is one, seems to be that putting empty canisters in with other metal for recycling, isn't advised. The canisters are highly pressurised and need to be safely punctured in some way and any remaining fuel removed before they can be recycled. I even read on a US forum someone advocating puncturing the canister with a knife, then smashing it flat with a rock. I won't be getting up to any of that malarkey this summer. My gas stove is a Primus Eta Paclite. It's fast, fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly as gas stoves go, and essential for cold winter conditions. For the Tay catchment walk, though, I decided it was time to branch out and try something diff...

Planning a first long-distance walk could be described as a huge learning curve. But a curve suggests a smooth and straightforward progression. Really it's more haphazard than that. There is much to learn in many different fields. (Mountain) hares are set running in all directions in pursuit of expertise: gear, navigation, weather, fitness, nutrition, logistics, route planning... Everything needed to be safe and successful, serious rather than half-arsed. Things that reams are written about and careers built upon. Perhaps 'growing a tree of knowledge' is a better way of putting it (pretentious though!). Something complex but coherent. Making the decision to do this has revitalised many semi-dormant passions and interests. I'm amazed at how I'm suddenly able to find the time for these things, although on paper having less time than ever before, between a full-time job and children. If you want something enough...! It may not be as core as safety and survival, but ma...

This is the last of the Christmas holiday write-ups. I did the walk before Hogmanay but cleverly forgot to charge my DSLR camera's battery. It was a great day for photos though. Figuring something is better than nothing, I used my six-year-old mobile phone instead - camera a whopping 2 megapixels! It took a while to find the lead to download the pictures. I didn't miss the weight and bulk of my usual camera though (a Sony A200). Nice pictures but a proper brick. For the big walk in May I'm starting to wonder if a smart phone with a top-notch camera might be better, as well as serving other purposes. To the walk, and this was a stolen day, taking advantage of a brief weather window, whilst staying with family in Glasgow. Heading west out of the city towards Greenock on the M8 always seems an odd approach to the hills. It's post-industrial central belt much of the way until the bigger houses and more genteel streets of Gourock. Then the Clyde estuary ends and the sea begi...

Sometimes you have to read between the lines to get the point. The Scottish Highlands aren't just a collection of isolated big-name mountain groups, an impression you can get if you stick to guidebooks and Munros. They are in fact a stupendous continuum. Between the constellations of Cairngorms, Nevis, Torridon and the rest, there is much dark matter: the unseen stuff that gives it weight and form and holds it all together. Imagine Dalwhinnie as the tip of a triangle. Follow the left-hand side down Loch Ericht to the bottom left corner around Rannoch Station. The base of the triangle follows lochs Rannoch and Tummel to the confluence of the Tummel and Garry rivers. Glen Garry and Drumochter form the right-hand side of the triangle. The topmost angle hosts a few Munros - the Drumochter group, popular of course but relatively unloved. Beyond these, there is some of the roughest, wildest and least-visited country in the Highlands. The forecast was for one good day - crisp, sunny, brig...