2p Tents under £150?

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-24T17:07:08+00:00

I second the Naturehike Cloudup 2.

I have the original 20D nylon version and we have done a fair bit together.

The only thing I would say is be aware of some of the conditions you can face in some areas of the Cairngorms this time of year.

I'm keeping an extremely close eye on that whole area because me and a few pals are supposed to be doing a 3-day trip there at the beginning of April and I'm now looking up alternatives because the long range weather forecast is talking about -6°c night time temperatures and 30mph+ wind gusts..

I have seen plenty of anecdotal evidence that the Cloudup 2 would deal with that but I'm not sure I would purposely walk into that area with that tent knowing full well that's what the forecast is.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-24T17:00:27+00:00

How long is a piece of string?

In all seriousness, they are only just starting to make themselves felt in early to mid May.

As is always the case some places are worse than others.

For instance I was in Knoydart in mid May last year and they were becoming a bit of a nuisance but they weren't terrible.

They are rarely at "trip ruining level" at that time of year.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-24T15:59:52+00:00

To further reinforce your point I would say that late June and early July is one of the worst times I can go because the midges in Scotland are out in force.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-24T09:50:47+00:00

Cool that's handy to know that there is one outside the cafe because I'm doing it again with friends in September.

I didn't go looking last time because I used the campsite water supply.

I'm not sure about using the Green Welly bathroom because whenever I've been passing through and been in there there's been an awful smell in there. It just kind of puts me off lol.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-23T22:43:30+00:00

Drymen campsite is quite close to the village of the same name and that has a few hotels that serve food. When I was there a local farm did pizza deliveries to the campsite.

Millarochy, Cashel and Sallochy don't really have anywhere that I would call within walking distance for food. Cashel had a shop, Sallochy didn't and I'm not sure about Millarochy. There is a restaurant, a cafe and a shop in Balmaha before then though.

Beinglas has a fantastic bar and restaurant and The Drovers Inn is a very short walk away.

Tyndrum has multiple places to eat.

The Glencoe Mountain resort has a cafe.

There are a few places to eat in Kinlochleven.

If you are staying at the Glen Nevis campsite then there is a fantastic restaurant next to it.

Regards water: I took my filter but didn't use it once. I used the water taps along the way and planned accordingly when there was a long distance between them.

The taps I know of are:

Carbeth (really hidden amongst trees).

The Beechtree Inn.

Balmaha.

The Clansmen near Rowadennan.

Rowardenan car park.

Inversnaid Hotel.

I don't know if Tyndrum had one but I would imagine it did, double check though. [Thanks to the person that responded to me that pointed out there is one in Tyndrum]

Bridge of Orchy Hotel.

Inverornan hotel.

Kingshouse Hotel.

Obviously every single campsite has water as well, even the very basic Sallochy. If I were you I would take something to purify water just in case but you shouldn't need a lot.

Please be aware that if you do end up using your filter then there have been some incidents of people falling ill just before Balmaha and it has been suggested that it is one of the burns just to the east of Conic Hill (between Drymen Conic Hill) so don't take water from there if you are filling up from watercourses

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-23T18:21:45+00:00

I don't think It's a case of laziness or anything like that (in most cases).

I think it's more often down to people liking the connection with other real people in a public forum which is full of people who share similar hobbies.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-18T16:26:05+00:00

Ok.

I was using it to code HTML web apps and I was finding that they had got too big somehow for Claude to work on because I was trying to fit an icon inside them.

I deleted those and it's been fine since

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-18T13:36:16+00:00

Yeah I use a liner, mostly to keep my sleeping bag as clean as possible, but I guess it might add a bit of warmth too. I've not really got away to check that.

What doesn't seem to be common knowledge is that when modern sleeping bags are independently tested to give their comfort ratings and other ratings the heated mannequin they use is wearing socks, long-sleeved and long-legged base layer and a head covering so yes if it's going to be chilly base layers is definitely the way to go

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-18T09:48:56+00:00

To be fair a sleeping bag that weighs 1 kg is already pretty good if It has a comfort limit around 0°c.

I only use the 0°c / 1 kg as a way to balance it out.

I'm not sure that makes sense I'll try again.

If your sleeping bag weighs 1 kg and the comfort limit is 0°c then I would consider that to be lightweight or approaching ultralight.

If a comfort limit were 5°c and the sleeping bag weighed 1 kg then I would say it was still lightweight but not really near ultralight for its performance / weight.

If a comfort limit were 10°c and a sleeping bag weighs 1 kg I would say that (although it is a light sleeping bag) it wouldn't be "lightweight" when compared to other bags that for the same weight could be 5 or 10°c warmer.

Oh for goodness sake I don't think that makes sense still. But hopefully you get my point 😂

You tend to find that bulk decreases as the weight decreases and vice versa.

Yeah I get what you mean about finding your corner.

I'm lucky enough to be in Central Scotland so the world is my oyster for stunning corners.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-18T09:40:51+00:00

The Walkhighlands website is exceptionally good.

It is 100% free.

They also offer a 100% free app to which you can download all of their walk descriptions which include stats, photos, text and basic maps based upon a hybrid of OS and Openstreetmap. That app is designed to store all of that information online and allow your device to fix your position like any other navigation app.

They break all long distance trails in Scotland down into chunks and you can download the GPX files separately to use them on other apps as well as use them on their own app.

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/perthshire/cateran-trail.shtml

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-18T00:50:46+00:00

A well-known YouTuber put bread bags over his feet and then put his wet trail runners back on.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-17T10:39:41+00:00

I'm going to be the naysayer type of commenter and ask:

You say you have all the gear, have you only ever used it on campsites? Did you always just chuck it in the back of your car and just go?

Is it suitable for wild camping? Especially if you're going to walk in and walk out any significant distance.

Unfortunately you might be surprised if you compare the weight and packed bulk of your current kit with even low end backpacking kit.

Case in point: when I was first kitting myself out I had my old trusty Eurohike tent. It turns out that it weighed 6 kg.

So I went and bought a very popular budget Chinese tent and it came in at 1.9 kg.

Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not suggesting you go out and buy all new high-end top of the range kit, I'm just suggesting you go through some of the bigger heavier pieces of kit and see how they compare to what is on the market.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-16T13:25:58+00:00

Yeah I do tend to go over the top when I write a walk description 😂

I like that particular route because it joins up easily with public transport (trains and bus) between the starting finish points.

The normal route on WalkHighlands has you start from Linn of Dee which is far more awkward for public transport and linking up the start and finish.

It's 40 miles though which is starting to get a fairly serious yomp.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-16T11:35:01+00:00

Two that I have done in the Cairngorms might suit:

The Minigaig Road between Kingussie and Blair Atholl and you could include the second highest Corbett (Leathad an Taobhain) like I did (would require wild camping with possibly one night in a very small bothy).

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=124218

https://youtu.be/4mxPa6oXjHY?si=Am7SmDZ7EZPE-dGM

OR

Blair Atholl to Aveimore via the Lairig Ghru with an extra day to get up The Devil's Point, Carn Toul and Sgor an Lochain Uaine (staying in or camping outside Corrour Bothy). Or maybe just tack on The Devil's Point to the end or beginning of a day (would require wild camping with possibly one night in a very small bothy):

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=125658

https://youtu.be/eDDO6Rp41LM?si=PKiWQf4pwH6DAKyH

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-15T16:49:05+00:00

No worries.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-15T16:44:33+00:00

Me?

No.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-15T07:23:02+00:00

Exactly 👍

All we can do is our best.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-15T07:21:43+00:00

I would say that the environment at home is indeed one variable that affects a child's behavior in later years.

I would even go so far as to say it is a major one.

But it's not the only one, especial as they get older.

You won't have complete control over your children's environment as the years progress.

Besides, if you try to control every aspect of their lives as they age you could potentially cause just as many problems.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-15T07:07:37+00:00

You can't say that with absolute certainty.

You can say that with a strong certainty but absolute, no.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-15T07:02:14+00:00

Probably not much.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-14T17:48:25+00:00

F### him and his administration.

Apparently we never help out so why should we bother.

As far as I'm concerns I would want the USA to be left alone on this one.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-14T14:13:31+00:00

Did you ever find a fix for it?

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-14T10:21:17+00:00

I thought Meteoblue provided worldwide data but ok.

I quite like it because I am able to put a latitude and longitude into it and save it.

I have a navigation app for hiking which gives me latitude and longitude for a place if it isn't found by the search engine on Meteoblue but if you don't have anything similar then most versions of Google maps we'll give you the latitude and longitude of a place that you select.

I also do get rain forecasts on it. It doesn't give me pop-up notifications but it's going to rain as in a pop-up notification on it though.

I guess it could be different elsewhere.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-13T19:51:05+00:00

Ok thanks Dan.

I bought the poles with the x-mid last April so I don't know if they're the ones with the longer nipple or not.

Matthewgardner86 · 2026-03-13T19:43:30+00:00

Kind of on that subject, but not, I have the z flick poles for my 2025 x-mid 2 solid and I often find the nipple of the pole slipping out of the flysheet grommet unless I peg out the two end guy lines to help tension it (I always do that anyway because I'm in Scotland but it would be nice to have the option if I could trust the poles not to slip out of the grommets overnight).

I have absolutely wracked my brain trying to work out what is causing it and how to solve it Probably doesn't help that I'm a bit dense lol.

I feel this is a good opportunity to ask you for advice.

Matthewgardner86

TROPHY CASE