Hilleberg Akto

Yesterday we called in at one of the big camping shops in Heilbronn. I'd wanted to see a Hilleberg Akto when I was looking for my new lightweight tent recently. All the reviews I'd read rated it highly. It's large enough to fit one person comfortably and someone my height can easily sit up in it. The porch area is large which is great for cooking or storing a backpack or muddy boots. It has a single pole and can be erected inner and outer simultaneously in less than five minutes. It's made of a very thin lighweight material that is also extremely weather resistant meaning it should stand up to quite ferocious storms. 

When I decided to buy the Vango Helium 100 instead there were two things that swung me: the price and the weight. At around #400 it's really expensive - in the shop yesterday it was priced at just under €500. As they are made by a small company and don't change much from year to year they are not like other tents which can easily be picked up for half price or less at the end of each season. The plus side to this (the man in the shop explained) is that you can always buy spare parts if the need arises. Even if you have one of the earliest tents from circa 1971 you can still get parts. The other downside to the Akto however, is the weight. Although it's sold as a lightweight tent it weighs in a 1.6kg. A few years ago this would have been considered extremely lightweight, but not anymore. My new Vango is around 1.2kg and the Laser Comp is lighter still. They are both reputed to be as sturdy in bad weather. 

The man in the shop was extremely helpful and although he knew I wasn't about to buy one he still erected one for me so I could have a proper look. It was even better than I'd expected. The single pole erection is similar to the Vango. It felt really spacious when I sat inside and I was impressed by the porch size. I really like the idea of having one but I wouldn't use it for walking with because of the weight and my other Vango is fine for when I'm travelling with the car and don't need to worry about the weight.If I did happen to have a spare 400 quid though, it would be a nice luxury addition to my growing collection of outdoor sleeping options.

Below is a picture of an Akto from the Hilleberg website. 

Cycle panniers and computer

A quick shopping trip to Lidl in Germany yesterday resulted in my acquisition of a pair of panniers and a cycle computer. The panniers seem pretty good - I wouldn't plan to use them for an end-to-end cycle tour of Africa, but as I'm only planning on local cycling at the moment they should be fine. It only cost €10 for the pair so I really couldn't resist. I can't take them in my backpack to Prague next week, so I'll have to wait till the end of the summer to get them as then my brother can bring them in his empty suitcases. 

The computer was only €3.99 and apparently does lots of whizzy things like tell me how far I've gone, my average speed and how many calories I've burnt. So it should be fun to play around with. And it's small and light so I can take it with me when I leave here.

2012 Twelve March Review

1.  Floating in a floatation tank (I'm hoping to do this in London during the February half term)
 
2.  Reading at least 10 books from the BBC Big Read list (if I read 10 a year, I'll have the whole 200 knocked off in the next 12-13 years!) - I still haven't read any
 

3.  Taking at least one photo every day of the year (this will improve my photography skills, be a photo-diary of 'year in my life', and help me to learn to use my new camera) - not been very good at this either
 

4.  Coming up with a fitness plan and sticking to it (the start of my training for Kilimanjaro, though I may not actually climb it for several years yet) - nor this
 
5. Leading at least 4 of my own walks (good practice for my walking group leader's qualification) - I've volunteered to lead some walks at school as an extra-curricular activity, but this wouldn't start until at least September and may not actually happen at all
 

6.  Buying another house (need to get my finances in order first) - I've made a very limited start on going through my paperwork
 

7.  Learning to use at least 3 new pieces of technology or computer programmes (not counting my new camera) - nothing done here, though I'm getting slightly better at using Apple Macs
 

8.  Doing a writing course (depends on the length of the course whether I'd complete it in the year or not) - still haven't started this
 
9.  Getting at least one piece of writing published (paid or unpaid, as long as someone else makes the decision to publish it and it's not self-published)
 
10. Making a start on sorting out my photos (putting the prints that are currently still stuffed in packets into albums and getting all my photos scanned into the computer - no way will this be completed in a year, but I'll feel good even if I get started on it) - done nothing about this
 
11. Buying a car/van that I can sleep in (and doing any necessary conversions/adaptations) - I've bought a van and started researching conversions.


12. Getting into cycling (even if it's just short cycles along decent paths) - almost a step backwards on this one as the cycle rack I bought last summer won't fit on my new van (anyone want to buy an unused cycle rack for a hatchback car?)

Well, reading over my review I realise I sound rubbish! I don't even have the excuse of March being a short month. But my major achievement this month was buying my van and the whole procedure of looking for one, checking it out, buying it and sorting out insurance did take an awful lot of time. So I'll use this as my excuse instead. 

I'm writing this in Germany. I've only been here a couple of days and I've already done a few things I can write about in my April review. How much easier it is to achieve the things I want to do when I don't have to go to work! 

Ballooning

I've just checked my groupon emails and there is an offer on the London email for hot air ballooning. I missed out on this offer this time last year because I was in Germany and only checked my emails too late. I've still got a day and a half to apply this time but I'm not sure if I will. The price is #99 and supposedly this is half price. But when I check the Virgin balloon site #99 is the full price for a weekday morning flight in the North West anyway and it's only slightly more expensive for flights at other times and days. So I'm thinking I'll hold out and see if there are any similar offers on the Manchester email which would hopefully be cheaper.