I nearly went for one of the Highlander sacks. They are pretty cheap but there’s only a 66 or 88 litre. I’ve always wanted a Karrimor either a 75 or 60-100 but the prices have been prohibitive (£130-£150 for a Sabre 75). Keeping an eye out on ebay, I saw my chance for a Karrimor Sabre 75. This one also had the 2 x 15 litre side pouches thrown in as well. These retail at about £36 on their own. I put my bids in in the vain hope that I might win. Imagine my surprise when I did win it and at only £89!

It was going to come from France, and again I was a bit dubious, but the lady selling it kept up great communication and emailed me when it was on the way. When it arrived, I was astonished that it had obviously rarely been used and even smelt new!

So here it is. I decided to put on the side pouches immediately and will probably leave them in. This potentially puts the capacity to over 100 litres if needed. The side compression straps keep the pouches in check and if they’re not being used, you can compress the bag to a very narrow size, in fact narrower than the Eurohike.

Opening up the side pouches and loosening the compression straps makes main area of the sack like a cavern! The carrying straps and hip belt are all padded as you would expect, and there’s a nice lumber pad. There’s no back length adjuster, but by playing with the various tension straps, you can get the bag to sit very comfortably on hips and shoulders. The lid has a large capacity as well and Karrimor obviously know that users would want to access this quickly. There’s ample room for first aid kit, waterproofs, fleece hat, face towel and a few emergency provisions.

The whole thing is very robust and should last a good while. It looks good with a double ‘chain’ running down the front of the sack and a few extra hanging loops. And…what’s this? A hidden zip pocket running all the way down the front of the rucksack. What will go in there? It’s very narrow…aha! The Granfors SFA fits in there a treat. This bag is just made for bushcraft and as you can probably tell, I’m extremely happy so far.

The test is in the loading and first of all, I checked whether the Vaude Ferret tent fitted in the main compartment. No problem there. Next I did a full load out for a week to ten day trip. There was still room for some more kit; however, I did sling the sleeping bag on the lower hanging straps. The bag was, of course, pretty heavy but it felt comfortable and well balanced.

Off to the woods then even though it looked like a downpour was imminent. On the way I came across a couple of Lapwings making use of the puddles on the ground. I set up the tarp and hammock and only just had time to play with another new toy (more about that later) before the heavens opened. Nothing to do now other than sit the rain out and have some soup. Unfortunately, the rain didn’t stop and didn’t look like it was going to, so I packed up and headed home. , I noticed as when I was at the bushmoot that the bottom of the hammock was wet. I traced this down to the hammock lines. I have heard that this happens in torrential rain and must think of a couple of ways to keep the hammock dry. Metal drip rings spring to mind. I will have to look at this at a later date.

The main purpose of the excursion was to test out the rucksack. So far a resounding success. Would I have paid out the full price for one? Having tried one out, I think I would have. What I didn’t realise was that far from being a major expedition rucksack, it compresses down small enough to be used as a weekend rucksack.

I’ll post again in a couple of days time. More kit?! You bet! Thanks for reading.

After a few days of downpour during the week, the weekend once again saw a bright sky with slight south westerly winds. The temperature was 6 degrees C . Again, just enough to make the fingers tingle if you weren’t moving about. I went to my normal woods with a couple of minor projects in mind. The first was to rig up the tarp again and think about whether it was big enough or not for hammocking needs.

During the recent bushmoot, I noticed that a lot of people had tarps about 3m x 3m. What I liked about them was that the tarp just reached the ground and still left quite a bit of head room, which was ideal for windy and rainy conditions. There seemed to be stacks of space for kit underneath the tarp. At the moment my tarp, which is a 2.5m x 1.70 Katmandhu is just long enough to cover the hammock, but the width wouldn’t really be suitable for really adverse weather conditions.

After rigging up the tarp and hammock, I weighed up the pros and cons of upgrading the tarp. What was in my mind was obviously more expense and the number of times I would use the tarp in adverse conditions. I had survived the summer downpours with no trouble. Even a 5-day expedition saw all of my kit under the tarp without getting drenched. I decided to defer the decision and prioritise the upgrade after looking at what else I needed in the new year. The project did get me wondering about drip rings, as I was sure that the wicking from the hammock rope had caused the dampness under my Thermarest and reindeer skin. I tried a couple of karabiners and they looked ok. In theory, this should work but of course I will only know for certain if I have some rain. But not today thanks!

The other mini project was to carry out the ongoing test with the Bark River PSK. I’m nearly ready to do a full review on this, which I’ll post in the New Year. I can say that I am getting quite fond of this little knife, and it now resides around my neck with the trusty Clipper.

I know some people who read this will baulk at this next item, enjoying traditionalist primitive methods. Conversely, there are some who like the more modern approach to bushcraft. I’ve often said that I probably fall into the latter camp with aspirations to become more traditionalist as skills improve but only up to where reasonable comfort allows. I purchased the Primus lighter in the photo on a whim not with actual fire starting in mind, but to light my trusty pipe. It turned out to be a bit more than just a pipe lighter when I thought of the possibilities of this item in emergencies (and of course when I was too lazy to light a fire or trangia stove with a firesteel.)

The blue flame burns at 1300C and is windproof. The butane fuel reservoir lasts for 30 minutes (plus) burn time and there’s a lock to keep the flame going without pressure from finger or thumb. It’s bit heavy perhaps, but at least you know it’s there. I’ve always used throwaway lighters, but this is a nice (non-essential) item is handy to have around.

A couple of interesting wildlife experiences this weekend. When plodding through the woods (not attempting to be particularly quiet) I flushed out what I thought was a pheasant, until I saw the flight pattern which continued low and winding through the trees. I’m still not 100% sure (as I’m sure I saw a curved beak) but it was most probably a woodcock. These birds have migrated (literally) from wading areas to the woods and make homes in brush and leaf litter. The other sighting was a silent, but slow and low fly-by of a sparrow hawk. I stood amazed as it approached from behind me at head height (I was standing) and glided effortlessly between a couple of trees at no more than three arms lengths away. A couple of wing flaps and suddenly it had accelerated to the top of a tree 50 yards away. I didn’t have time to get the binos out before it left the tree and headed out of the woods to the east.