CheapTents Outdoor Gear Blog

Let’s you and I take a little trip down memory lane. In the last 2 or 3 years we’ve had some of the worst winter weather on records for the UK. It has been so bad that many people have complained to both us and other companies that they didn’t receive an Christmas Gift orders in time for the celebrations, due to delays in delivery by Royal Mail and Parcelforce.

This year, as we did last year, we are advising all of our customers about which dates they should order by. This is to ensure the best chance of receiving the products in time for Christmas.

• Christmas Presents and Special Offers from CheapTents.com!
• Upgrades to CheapTents.com Online Store
• Bob Kinnaird appointed as Head of Scotland’s National Outdoor Training Centre

When ‘PoleKitty’ left a comment on a post we wrote in February about the Gear needed to climb Ben Nevis,  the name made us wonder if it was spam at first. We soon realised it wasn’t as we watched in awe at the sight of Kat pole dancing at the top of Ben Nevis, as part of the 3-Peaks Challenge. The video is below.

Once we’d watched the video we decided to contact Kat to find out more about this rather odd celebration at the top of Ben Nevis. We wanted to know what had driven her to do it, and if there was any other mad outdoor stunts she had done. Here is our interview with Kat ‘PoleKitty’ Humphrey, outdoor enthusiast & extreme pole dancer!

• Tom Buckley Completes Mammoth Charity Trek!
• Tom Buckley Charity Trek across the UK
• The Extreme Stroll Around Manchester

Camping is like a great adventure, you can never be quite sure what you’ll find over the next log, river or on the way up a mountain. But for beginners it can be met with trepidation and worry, the not knowing for some gives an adrenaline boost, but for novices to camping it can be like butterflies in the stomach. Usually this comes about through stories which have been told by friends or family, or maybe that they’ve read online.

Today my post gives our Top Ten Camping Tips for Complete Beginners, and it does what it says on the tin.

• The Family Camping Checklist 2010
• Guide to Buying a Tent
• Which is the best tent for you?

The news that Lady laid three eggs in her nest at the Loch of the Lowes Reserve is a huge tonic for her fans and for the Scottish Wildlife Trust who all feared that illness would bring an end to this Iconic Osprey’s life.

Lady’s love affair with the Loch of the Lowes Reserve has seen her repeatedly summer at the Loch in the last twenty years and almost single handedly (shouldn’t that be winged?) help to re-establish the numbers of Ospreys in this country with almost 50 chicks hatched in her life time.

• Cairngorms National Park Enlarged
• Pembrokeshire: Best UK Coast Path
• Scottish Natural Heritage Provides Eco-Camping Tips

This week, April 11-17th, is Tick Bite Prevention Week. It sounds like it should have a lot more attention than it does, but maybe that’s due to the upcoming royal wedding taking the shine off it, or maybe its just people don’t like to think about being bitten by Ticks.

A Hiker found this Tick - from andylangager Flikr

Despite the lack of attention it’s getting from elsewhere, both ourselves and CampingNinja care enough about our readers/users to give this some real attention, just as we have previously on this blog talking about Prevention of Midge Bites.

• British Waterways’ Wildlife Survey 2010
• How to Avoid Blisters
• Louis-Philippe Loncke Versatile Explorer Interview

This weekend news headlines read “man falls 1000ft from mountain”, the mountain in question was Sgurr Choinnich Mor, around 5 miles east of Ben Nevis. The climber in question was Adam Potter, an experienced climber from Glasgow.

Sgurr Choinnich Mor, The Aonachs and Bealach Coire Easain - Source Flickr by pamilne

At 2.30pm on Saturday, just moments after reaching the summit Adam began to fall. As his friends looked on in horror Adam tumbled down the mountain 1000ft, approx 300m and 1/3 of the mountain’s height, glancing off 3 craggy outcrops. As he tumbled off each outcrop Adam must have felt almost like he was flying as he plummeted.

• Climber and Urbex Legend Stepping Lightly : Exclusive Interview
• Climbing Restrictions to Protect Birds
• Khumbu Challenge is Under Way

According to the Federation for Sport at Altitude (FSA) , skyrunning is

Running from the sea to the sky, from the plains to the earth’s highest peaks.

Outdoor sports such as running, biking, skiing, duathlons, triathlons which are undertaken at altitudes above 2000 m are collectively known as Skysports. Typical locations for Skysports are The Alps, Tibet, Nepal, Kenya, Colorado, Mexico or

anywhere that the sky and mountains meet.

And there was me thinking that Skysports was about watching football, rugby or cricket on a widescreen LCD TV at home or down the pub.

• Nokia Coast to Coast Adventure Race
• Nordic Orienteering Championships 2009
• iRoc Race: Run, Cycle and Orienteer on Durham Downs

Last year we brought you an exclusive interview with John Loader from the RSPB highlighting the charity’s campaign to further protect and raise the awareness of birds of prey, we reported on the campaign and how successful it had become raising people’s awareness.

Amongst other advantages of having birds of prey in the eco system, John showed us how birds of prey helped local economies by bringing tourists to an area. In this year of cuts, doom and gloom it is nice to be able to share the success story of the Galloway Red Kite Trail where humans are working with nature, and poignantly the red kite being one of those birds of prey we highlighted with John Loader.

• Cairngorms National Park Enlarged
• Mountain Biking in Wales: Coed y Brenin
• The Lady Of The Loch – A Love Affair With Scotland

The size of the Cairngorms National Park has been enlarged by one fifth. The park itself is relatively new, being set up in 2003. Since its establishment there has been an increase in the population, the number of businesses and the economy within the national park area. There has also been a decrease in unemployment. The new, extended boundary means that Highland Perthshire has now been incorporated into the national park.

The Cairngorms National Park now covers about 6 per cent of Scotland. With an area of 4,528 sq km it is twice the size of the Lake District National Park.

• Pembrokeshire: Best UK Coast Path
• Bob Kinnaird appointed as Head of Scotland’s National Outdoor Training Centre
• The Lady Of The Loch – A Love Affair With Scotland

Which on-line walking route planners are the best? In the second part of our guide we are reviewing five websites that include walks in particular regions of the UK. In this particular review we are going walking in the city with Walkit.com.

• Walking Northern Ireland Route Planner Review
• Green Bridges: Hiking in the Future
• Walking North Wales – Route Planner Review