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Meindl Burma Lady Pro MFS

Many many years ago I found the best boots in the world.

At the time they set me back the princely sum of £154, well, they should have. I was fortunate enough at the time to be working in a Blacks store whilst at university and with my discount they cost around £120.
Absolutely well worth every penny, I don’t even remember having to wear them in. Straight into my DofE (Duke of Edinburgh Award) Gold expedition and then a few expeditions for other Bronze, Silver and Gold expeditions.
Unfortunately whilst I was doing a Wilderness First Aid Course someone thought they would be helpful and dry my boots out for me after the river rescue session – next to the fire. Right next to the fire. Cue slightly shrunken boots which for my flipper feet is not good (I’m not even a good swimmer!!?)

No matter, thinner socks exist and worked for me beautifully, right up until two friends of mine said “Snowdonia in January, coming?”.

I still have all my toes, it just didn’t feel like it at the time.

So, new boots needed, I saved up to buy my replacements.

But! Alas!

The Burma Pro had been discontinued, replaced by the Meindl Bhutan. And they just didn’t fit me as well and so I resisted buying them – again and again.

Still, I wanted to find my perfect boots again. Meindl assured me that the fit of the Bhutan was exactly the same as the Burma Pro but my feet just wouldn’t believe it.

I tried many different brands and styles, the Salomon Quest 4D GTX for example(I am a serious Salomon supporter); beautifully comfortable, really supportive on the ankle, fully waterproof, but the traction just doesn’t compare. Clambering down a route I have done many many times before – with others who have slipped – the Salomons suddenly slid out from under me and I tumbled. Dusty, breathless and with adrenaline coursing through my veins I was somewhat thankful for the rucksack on my back that both caught my fall and stopped me rolling off the ledge.

The secret to Meindl’s amazing grip? Research, they searched high and low, they spoke to the experts. The experts being Ibex.
The Ibex, sure footed and seemingly able to defy gravity with their ability to not just climb but happily stand on near vertical surfaces. So Meindl included the Ibex “hoof technology” in their Multigrip sole.

underside of Meindl boot with zoomed in sole section
Vibram Multigrip Sole

 
After having gravity defying grip, it’s hard to tolerate anything else.
But, I found some!! I am the proud owner of a brand spanking new pair of Meindl Burma Pro Lady GTX boots.

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T shirts available!

Keep your eyes peeled!
Lacey.Camera photos have made it onto t-shirts.

To find your favourite picture printed in a more eco-friendly way on a 100% organic cotton tshirt head to mops tops.

More new photo t-shirts every month!

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Pasties

Save me from this babble (jump straight to the recipe).

 

So, one of the things I miss the most is sausage rolls and cornish pasties (infact I haven’t been to Cornwall for about 15 years, and part of me dreads going back because if I can’t watch a sunset with a pasty it will just be wrong! Anyway back to the matter at hand…).  One particular day I woke up having dreamed of cornish pasties – I kid you not – and ever the eternal optimist I thought, how hard can it be?

Essentially I have maxed out the levels of foolish I can reach. But I thought,  it’s only me eating them so even if I have to stick them in the blender to save my teeth let’s give it a shot. 

Let’s just say, I was surprised. Even me, the burner of salad (that’s a story for another day) has managed to create edible cornish pasties!! (the first time anyway… the second attempt I forgot to set the timer).

 

Slightly pale, surprisingly tasty gluten free pasty!

  ****For the gluten-free shortcrust pastry:

1 tsp xanthan gum
300 g gluten-free plain flour (extra for dusting useful – though I did forget the first time!)
1 tsp salt
1 large free-range egg
50 g unsalted butter (I need to try it with a veggie oil to make it dairy free).

 

**For the filling:
3 medium sized potatoes
half of a small swede
1 medium onion (I used red)
300g of beef steak (diced/chopped)
salt and ground pepper to taste
thyme
parsley (this is my favourite herb, you will notice it crop up alot)

……………………………………..
To make the pastry:

SIEVE (I cannot stress enough how much quicker and easier it makes the next bit – please learn from my mistake and save yourself a lot of time)  the flour, salt and xanthan gum into a bowl.
Place the butter and 130ml water over a low heat and bring to the boil, then allow to cool briefly.

Beat eggs in a separate dish and then stir into the flour. Slowly add in the warm butter water bit by bit till it gets doughy. Squish together with your hands (it will stop sticking to you eventually, promise!). The dough then needs to be put in the fridge, cool dough is nice to work with, warm dough is sticky, gloopy and horrible! (Either clingfilm or an airtight tub works, a tub is easier to open and close so you can leave it in the fridge).

Pop greaseproof paper on a baking tray (it does not need to be cut exactly to shape… sorry TSB 😉 )

Put baking tray in the oven and preheat oven to gas mark 4/180ºC/350ºF. 

Now for the filling…..

Dice the beef and mix in a bowl with 1-2 tablespoons of gluten free flour, salt and pepper and mix well. 
In a different bowl dice the potato, swede (and any other random vegetables you think might work…. I found a tin of peas) and finely chop the onion. Add salt and pepper and herbs and mix.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough (I rolled with greaseproof paper on top as it kept clinging to the pin and crumbling) to about 0.5cm thick, use a small plate/saucer to cut around to give you the perfect circle.

Pop your filling on just one side of the circle.
Brush beaten egg around the edges (a clean… paint brush worked brilliantly). Slowly fold the pastry circle over the filling – I tore so so many, so be gentle. It helps to squish the filling with a spoon a bit – and fold the edges over each other, squeeze them to seal them.

When on the baking tray brush over the tops with more beaten egg (you might want to brush with more egg halfway through – mine didn’t go brown and crispy, they stayed as pale as me).

30-45 mins depending on your oven. Or what mood your oven is in! Batch 1 took 45 mins, batch 2 took 30mins. Same oven different day.

And there we have it, edible(!!!) cornish pasties! 

Thanks for reading! Pictures to come soon.
 

 

 

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Mooncup – Sanitary Product

  • Ceaseless.

The one word to describe student season as a volunteer coordinator.

Overwhelming is perhaps another. New face after new face, name after name, a barrage of allergy and medical records to remember, months spent wading through risk assessments.

Day after day, month after month, on the road living out of a backpack many miles from civilisation.

Amazing

Exciting

Unforgettable

 

So many exciting memories and yet the main thing people ask me about…

…(apologies to the squeamish among you reading this)…

…my period.

“How did you last 5/6 months without shopping?! Half of your backpack must have been sanitary towels / tampons?”

“How did you dispose of your *things*?”

“Wasn’t it embarassing sharing accommodation with guys during your period?”

“How did you hide your used *things*? Were there proper bins?”

To sum up, I packed maybe one pack of tampons and pads and gave them all to various volunteers. I always carry tampons in my first aid kit anyway but not for monthly use. I never had anything solid to dispose of and half of the guys I travelled with didn’t know, and the others couldn’t care either way as long as I had access to sugar and thus didn’t attack them…

How was it so easy?

The Mooncup

My most important travel companion. Essentially the mooncup is a medical grade flexible silicone “cup” that you wear internally instead of a tampon.

100% reusable, easy to clean, easy to change, easy to use.

Discreet (takes a bit of thoughtful planning the first time for finger cleaning… undo the water bottle lid first!)

Bizarrely I found I had less cramps as well – it truly is the gift that keeps on giving! Psychosomatic? I did wonder but others I have spoken to found the same to be true for them.

I love the convenience – Have an inkling that your period is going to start – because lets face it who really knows what day!? – Just pop in the cup. If it does start, great you are prepared, if it doesn’t no harm done.
“Why not just use pads for those uncertainty days?” I HATE pads, I find they crinkle up and chafe. Especially in 40+C humid temps, pads and hiking are certainly not friends!

Reusable means you don’t have to keep buying either, so it saves you money in a much shorter time than you would think.

But most importantly.

No landfill. 

I know reusable pads are now increasing in popularity, but for me the moon cup is still top of my list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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An unexpected turn of events

So, I’ve been asked to be a project co-ordinator for a series of volunteer projects for a travel company situated in South Africa. Well I said I wanted to spend more time there…

It looks like I am to head out around April 2011, and return to the UK in November. As for 2012, rinse and repeat!

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And so it begins…

Friday the 13th and I fly into Johannesburg Airport – unlucky day for some, but it has brought me home! And as there was no one next to me pleasuring themselves on the plane (a reference understood only by my accompanying travellers last year), it was already a good trip!

Arrival went without a hitch complete with installing 40 people onto minibuses ready for our drive to Swaziland.

So, with window down and feet on the dashboard it is time to roll!

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That time of year again

So here we are, 6 days until I once more fly to South Africa and 54 days till I fly back. If I come back. It would appear that popular consensus involves me not returning, the reasons why are quite widespread and range from being kidnapped, to marrying a millionaire and even faking my own death so that I can stay in the bush and live with the Gorillas or a pygmy king – the creator of that story has yet to decide on an ending.

I am essentially ready to leave, although I am yet to pack. It is truly bizarre, I excitedly wanted to pack months and months ago and now the time is looming I can’t be bothered to do it. This will end in the inevitable last minute packing that I do so well… resulting in me having to buy an exceptionally expensive toothbrush at the airport.

I think this reluctance to pack is based upon the fact that I still have planning left to do. I have my anti-malarials, I have had my Hep A booster (meaning I don’t have to worry about it for 20 years) I am in the process of completing my cholera vaccination (don’t let the intially sweet taste lull you into a false sense of security – this makes the polio one taste nice!) and so have another nice cholera bascilli drink to look forward to the day before I leave – nummy num num!

I do not however at current have a transfer flight to the airport for my return flight, I do not have my flight in the middle of my journey planned and I have not yet sorted out my Rand. But I am sure it will all be alright on the night, after all it does not matter how carefully you plan things in Africa – plans change.

Africa always wins.

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Superfeet insoles – not just for your feet.

Please people, take better care of your feet!!
 
Friends of mine despair at me as they have picked up a bad habit of mine, staring at peoples feet. Please do not think this as being some sort of fetish. Instead it is merely an observation regarding how many people should be wearing corrective insoles in their shoes.
 
Lots of money is being wasted every year on physiotherapy for problems caused by supination and pronation of the feet (feet that roll outwards or inwards, also known as collapsed arches for pronation).
 
Ugg boots are a fantastic demonstration of these, how many people do you know who no longer walk on the soles of their boots, but instead are walking on the sides, or half-on half-off and don’t notice? Converse and ballet pumps offer an even clearer view of this. These soft sided shoes allow the foot to assume its ‘natural’ position which is a large cause of pain for many people after prolonged durations of walking/being on their feet.
 
I love superfeet insoles. I work in retail and have done for many years, this means A LOT of time on my feet.  Unlike standard insoles which are just for cushioning, these insoles line up your ankles, knees, hips and as a result your back too.
 
I find that I stand taller, my hips no longer hurt, I no longer easily twist an ankle and my lower back no longer twinges every time I pick a sock up off the floor.
 
By slipping a pair into my converse I can even wear them for hours without feeling any aches or pains underfoot.
 
 
Low volume for dress shoes/converse, less rigid ones for approach shoes, and deep ones for my walking boots. All of my shoes now contain superfeet. The shoes that I can’t get them to fit properly have left the party. It just is not worth the discomfort.
 
Is it time you tried?
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Wilderness Medic 2

My, what a long weekend! But a fun one filled with new friends who are just as outdoor obsessed as myself.

I have just completed the Wilderness Medic 2 course with Wilderness.
Unlike normal first aid courses where the vast majority of time is spent sitting rigidly in a classroom and reading badly written notes on an overhead projector, we had fun. Yes we still had the formal teaching, but it was done outside. Instead of the usual impatient, impassioned instructor we had 3 very patient, professional and extremely enthusiastic instructors. Nothing was too much hassle for them and they put up with all the teasing and banter that our group of 11 could throw at them.

So, I hear you ask, how was it different from normal?
Well, as any outdoor people who have done a standard first aid course know – almost everything you learn is irrelevant. In the outdoors there is often no mobile phone reception, there are no phoneboxes, there are few passersby, small injuries can quickly become fatal, there are no ambulances and helicopters aren’t always available even if they could reach you. The majority of time when there is an incident in the great outdoors or a wilderness environment it is down to you, there is no quick fix, you can’t just walk past and hope someone else will find them – and if you did, could you really live with yourself afterwards?

Each day was split up into sections, in the morning we had breakfast cooked over an open fire (with the biggest packs of bacon I’ve ever seen) followed by a morning session of teaching – all hands on. Then it was tea time (kettle over open fire), then another teaching session and more hands on work, we were shown how to make stretchers, neck braces and splints from only what we would normally carry. We also learnt how to make emergency shelters although that is normally part of a different course.

Practical scenarios are the order of the day. All too easy it is for the things you have learnt to go in one ear and out the other but on this course that is impossible. Walking through the woods you suddenly see him – unconscious, bleeding, cold – all too easy it is to forget that this is make-believe. Then the adrenalin rush starts as you try to remember everything you’ve learnt, thoughts of hypothermia, fractures, CPR, shock trauma e.t.c. swimming around your head. Then all of a sudden the mist clears and you know what you have to do, surprised at how much you’ve managed to learn already.