Last weekend part one: gear

Last weekend I went with some members of the Dutch Naturfreunde for a hike. The goal was the hike 25 km a day and to sleep in the open air.

When I got at the starting point I soon found out that I was the only one who used a daypack for this overnighter.

I used a Vaude Allalin 24 as pack, not the most suited pack but this is the one I got.

To sleep I used a Dutch army bivi bag, witch is great, its made of Gore-Tex so it breaths very well. But the major down side is it weight more than a kilo!! I have a Coleman 2 person tent that weighs less. I'm looking to replace the bivibag with a Alpkit Hunka or a homemade.
Inside the bivibag i used a Lafuma warm and light 600 down bag. The sleeping bag is excellent. I have used this bag at the Fjallraven Classic in 2008 and last year on the Hadangarvidda and count less weekend trips and never waked up because I was cold. Inside the sleeping bag I using a poly cotton sleeping bag liner. I will replace this liner very soon for a silk one. And I slept on my short Neo Air. Under neat my Neo Air I used a closed cell foam mat because I'm afraid to puncture my Neo air. I sound stupid I know. The closed cell foam mat is also nice luxury during breaks so I'm willing to carry it with me.

For footwear I used my Inov8 330 terrocs. Which were great. The only downside was that my feet goy really hot and I got a heat rash on my left feet. I blame the socks not the shoes. I will try different socks next time and I hope the rash was a one time event. The Inov8 are really comfy and this was the first time I walked great distance in them.
Clothing, I was wearing noting special cheap zip off trousers and a merino wool base layer. When I got windy or colder I used my soft-shell jacket.

Biesbosch Trip report

The last weekend of May some me and some friends went for a canoe trip to the Biesbosch.



"The Biesbosch is one of the largest national parks of the Netherlands and one of the last freshwater tide areas in Europe. The Biesbosch consists of a rather large network of rivers and smaller and larger creeks with islands. The vegetation is mostly willow forests, although wet grasslands and fields of reed are common as well. The Biesbosch is an important wetland area for waterfowl and has a rich flora and fauna. It is especially important for migrating geese". Thank you wikipedia!

But we didn't go for the geese migration but we went for the beavers. Hmm that sounds kind of wrong. We did spot some beavers but every time we went for the camera the beavers disappeared.


This is the best picture of a beaver we got.

But thankfully we say a lot of proof that they where realy there.


A great benefit of a canoe is that you can take a lot of gear and you don’t need to carry it on your back. So after a long day of paddling there where some nice cold beers and a nice bottle of wine to accompany the dinner. Later around the campfire there was a some Beerenburg.

The next day it was time to paddle home.

The Biesbosch is nice national park with al lot of small creeks and I definitely will go back someday.