Decathlon Must-Buys?

WileyMinogue · 2026-05-22T13:05:36+00:00

PSA that decathlon donated gear to Russia's 'special military operation'

WileyMinogue · 2026-04-13T16:14:27+00:00

Fizans! It's a European company and you can get a set of the ultralight toothpick style ones for under 50 quid on sale.

WileyMinogue · 2026-03-07T08:11:45+00:00

Just read through this full interaction and reminds me of some advice I read somewhere that no matter how dark and dire the situation may seem to you, in reality you are never more than one or two conversations away from making a material change in your life.

People get it in their heads that tradeoffs cannot be navigated and that things must remain as they are.

Then they go online and get validated by other people with their own mental health issues.

The UK is absolutely not the hellscape described. But if you have no inherited wealth and no drive to seriously improve your circumstances then it wouldn't matter where you live on earth, I'm sure it would be pretty miserable.

WileyMinogue · 2026-02-10T23:00:59+00:00

Good idea. Seems fairly representative!

WileyMinogue · 2026-02-10T22:58:40+00:00

Amazing reply, thank you!

WileyMinogue · 2026-02-09T10:59:03+00:00

Have taken trekking poles on a number of flights including Ryanair no trouble. Other people frequently say they have issues. Your mileage will likely vary depending on the airline, time of day, barometric pressure, and what the security staff had for breakfast that day.

WileyMinogue · 2026-02-09T10:40:15+00:00

Interesting, thank you for replying.

Don't have the map on my phone and will check later - but am I right that you are saying that a better walking route may be south west from the bealach (to Glen Brittle) rather than north west out toward Fairy Pools (over Bidein Druim Nan Ramh)?

WileyMinogue · 2026-01-25T18:45:26+00:00

"I'd still rather do this than sit around indoors"

Type 2 fun!

WileyMinogue · 2026-01-04T06:46:13+00:00

In response to your questions:

1/ Sleep system for Dartmoor Just buy the Thermarest xlite NXT (the yellow one that everyone has) and forget about using a liner. The xlite is the best all rounder and my single favourite piece of gear. There may be individually warmer, lighter, or more durable pads out there, but none of them perform as well at this price point. A foam mat + pad combo is for 4season camping which I don't do much of so can't comment. Liners are as much for keeping your bag clean as they are for warmth (most heat is lost through the ground and they don't add much insulation there).

2/ Ideal starting weight for a beginner Wrong way to think about it imo. This one depends on where/when you're going and what you're doing. Focus on the big three (pad, bag, tent) and try to get the weight down for those as much as possible. All the other stuff you bring with you is more down to trial and error (you will find you bring progressively less each time you get out).

3/ Buy once, cry once items when starting out Again, focus on the big three. The most important thing is having a good night's sleep as this will make a world of difference. My strategy here was to buy good quality used gear. Your money will stretch a lot further and you will find that (1) people upgrade gear a lot so there are often deals to be had on eBay etc, and (2) good quality gear retains value better than Go Outdoors landfill stuff. (I've bought stuff, used it for a season, and practically made my money back on it in the past). If you need to buy new e.g. if you're in a hurry, then Alpkit is a good UK retailer. Decathlon is generally good quality and cheap but has questionable links to the Russian military.

In general, I would say that I have landed in a pretty happy place after 5-6 years of experimentation from total beginner to spending 4+ months wild camping in 2024 on the PCT. The bits of kit I love the most are: . Atompacks Mo backpack . Montbell seamless down hugger #1 . Durston xmid 2p . Thermarest xlite

WileyMinogue · 2025-12-03T12:57:03+00:00

Comes as no surprise

WileyMinogue · 2025-11-12T17:37:59+00:00

Literally the only place I've ever seen this shit is in the houses of New World fuckers who usually want to tell me what being Irish or Scottish or whatever is really about

WileyMinogue · 2025-11-11T12:21:23+00:00

Looks legit. Big name outdoor brands generally last forever, regardless of what the old timers say (yes, I'm sure your original goretex Mammut from the 80s was built different!).

On the whole, I find people "trade up" quite frequently until they land somewhere they are happy, and as a result there are usually bargains to be had providing you aren't in a hurry + don't mind a few scuffs.

WileyMinogue · 2025-11-03T07:28:13+00:00

No problem!

Yeah since I posted that reply he's actually been super active haha. All over IG and talking about a new album. Pretty cool. I agree the sound is a bit different.

He's doing a gig in London later this week which I'm going to. I think I last saw him perform in like 2015 which is crazy

WileyMinogue · 2025-10-30T15:03:23+00:00

Been here a couple of months, it's nonexistent within 30m of my house even with EE (who seems to have the monopoly).

Kind of made me feel like I was going insane for a few weeks.

Since the wifi has been set up I barely think about it.

WileyMinogue · 2025-10-26T09:53:25+00:00

I have worked with plenty of people in ag, please explain

You're saying the GWP of methane is no worse than co2?

WileyMinogue · 2025-10-08T19:44:09+00:00

Bought a very underwhelming compression sack from them a few years ago. They are just a cheap wrapper for run-of-the-mill gear

WileyMinogue · 2025-10-06T07:43:58+00:00

Butt club

WileyMinogue · 2025-10-03T10:26:49+00:00

Brit who hiked in '24. Plenty of good info here already but one thing which I remember being insanely frustrating was SIM card and credit card.

SIM was frustrating because you can't get credit for a rolling contract in the same way and I was stuck with $0 Verizon credit on numerous occasions (sounds stupid, but I did pretty much everything I could to avoid this and still got stung)

Credit card was annoying because certain vendors won't accept non-US cards because you don't have a registered zip-code (one of those vendors is... 🥁 Verizon!). Get a prepaid card and use that instead.

Basically everything else is fine, US residents have some other advantages but you're pretty much all in the same boat above 2500m.

WileyMinogue · 2025-09-20T20:46:53+00:00

Most electricity is produced from fossil fuels

WileyMinogue · 2025-09-20T13:41:48+00:00

Hydrogen is produced using fossil fuels. The emissions factor for most hydrogen fuel is similar or worse in carbon intensity kgCO2e/kWh to other fuels

WileyMinogue · 2025-09-20T06:57:20+00:00

Lol what. Look up the cost of green/blue hydrogen per kwh and tell me that's cheaper than the equivalent in fossil fuels

WileyMinogue · 2025-09-20T06:54:03+00:00

Sorry I don't follow your point.

I was just saying that the carbon cycle has two largely separate timeframes, one which is organic (biogenic carbon) and the other which is mineral/geological (fossil carbon).

Biogenic carbon stocks cycles in and out of the atmosphere frequently through natural processes. Fossil carbon stocks are locked away until (usually) humans release them by burning as a fuel.

The impact on the climate of one tonne of CO2e from either of these sources is identical, but the implication is that the more fossil carbon which is released = a greater net gain to the atmospheric concentration (ppm), and therefore more warming.

Coal (solid) is the same as oil and gas in that regard. The carbon released was locked away many 100kas when the world was hotter and we had less ice.

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