Gear Review - Exped Ultra pillow and Kovea Spider stove

A couple of new camping items that are small but perfectly formed! 

Exped Ultra Pillow

For all of my camping life so far, I have made a pillow out of my fleece tops and jackets folded into a stuff sack. Why on earth would I need anything else, I always wondered. However, I have been struggling to make a pillow deep enough with this method to be comfortable with a new air mattress which is a short length but quite thick. So I bought this pillow just for that purpose but decided to test it out on a winter camping trip with my usual, full length mattress. Oh my, what comfort. Never again will I make a pillow out of fleece tops!

The Exped Ultra pillow is supremely comfortable but barely noticeable in the pack as it folds up into a tiny package measuring approx 12cm by 7cm by 3cm. It weighs only 55g (on my scales including the stuff sack). It has a soft outer fabric that is very pleasant on the cheek and inflates quickly with just a few breaths. It deflates easily and packs back into the stuff sack without a struggle. It stays firm all night and I found that this medium size fits nicely inside the hood of my sleeping bag so there is no risk of it sliding off the mat during the night. It cost £27 from Tiso. 

Kovea Spider Stove

On cold winter camps when the temperature slips below zero, it can be painfully slow to get my usual canister mounted, three season gas stove to work. For years, I have put up with gradually coaxing it into life in the mornings by warming the canister repeatedly inside my sleeping bag whilst worrying that I may never get my porridge that day. So finally I bought this four season, remote canister stove.

On the first test in a temperature of minus seven celsius, it worked very well and I was never in any doubt that it would deliver hot coffee and cook the porridge. The stove has a pre-heat tube which helps it to keep working in colder temperatures. A lot of remote canister gas stoves are quite heavy and bulky but not this one. It's really very compact for what it is. With the legs folded away and placed inside its stuff sack, it weighs 185g and measures 13cm by 9cm by 3cm. It's very easy to unfold for use and to then pack away again. 

It boils water as fast as any stove that I have used and I'm really happy with it. I did notice that being so lightweight, the legs are a touch unstable as you unfold the stove but they are perfectly firm on the ground once there is a pot on top. Also, it did struggle to use the dregs of an almost empty canister but that's easily solved by always taking fuller canisters when using this stove. It cost £46 from Mercator Gear.

Here is a photo of the pillow and the stove with a spork in shot for size comparison.

Cairngorms - Pathfinding

I am a lover of maps and can spend hours of an afternoon gazing at my Ordnance Survey collection spread out over the floor. To me they are a work of art but incredibly practical as well. They hold wonderful secrets in the landscape features that they represent as I try to imagine what the places are like in real life that are set out in miniature on the sheets before me. Often something in particular on the map catches my eye such as a footpath that I have never walked. So it was back in autumn, when spotting a couple of paths new to me, led to an October backpacking trip to Glen Tromie in the Cairngorms. 

The first path I wanted to find headed across the hills south from Ruthven Barracks just outside Kingussie. Footpaths on maps are tenuous things as the dashed line on the map may no longer be visible on the ground if it's a route that's not well used in modern times. This path is part of an old military route connecting Blair Atholl and Calvine to the south with Ruthven Barracks. Luckily it started right opposite the barracks as a good farm track, initially crossing a field of cows and passing a ruined house before ascending heathery slopes. As we gained the top of the rise, the other reason for coming here came into view - the beautiful golden colours of the Glen Tromie birchwoods. 

A narrower path left our track and descended sharply into the glen. We marvelled at the colours as we dropped steeply through the trees and enjoyed the atmosphere of this path which felt secretive and little visited. At the bottom we joined the main track in Glen Tromie. Croidh-la, a small but dramatic hill, rose above us here and was our objective for the next day. First I wanted to find another new path that climbed its north shoulder from the glen. The start of the path was a wee bit tricky to find but once located, it was another good path that climbed gently up through regenerating woods. Here the trees were barely taller than us but the display of colour was no less beautiful. 

The path eventually gained the low saddle in the ridge. I was familiar with the the rest of its course as this was the point where I had joined it from Gleann Chomhraig to the east to climb Croidh-la last year. But the hill would have to wait for the next day as at the end of October, the light in Scotland is already fading by late afternoon. Instead we pitched the tents at the river, watched the sun sink and listened to the incoming sounds of evening.

Next morning, we rejoined the path up Croidh-la and enjoyed the walk to the top. This little hill has become a favourite of mine. The path along its shoulder is so pleasant to walk, especially where it passes through the young trees. And the top affords uninterrupted views of the bigger hills all around. As we descended, the sun made an appearance for the first time of the trip and showed the best of the autumn colours all around us. 

We took a different path back to Kingussie, using the newly laid section of the Speyside Way from Tromie Bridge. It reminded me how the footpaths on our maps are always changing and there will always be new paths to find.

Fact File

Start/finish: Kingussie
Public transport: Edinburgh/Glasgow to Inverness train
My route: Walked the B970 to Ruthven Barracks. Just before the car parking spaces the track heads south into the hills where the start of the new path for the Speyside Way is signed. The track crosses green fields initially to a ruin then continues on heathery slopes. Just before the top of the rise, a single width, firm path leaves the track to the left and this descends to Glen Tromie. A good way down, it branches and we took the fainter left branch to avoid the lodge and exit the woods at the bridge over the river. Walked down the main track and after about 1.5km after the river turns away from the track, the path up Croidh-la begins. There is a very small cairn to mark it though we didn't walk quite far enough to spot it on the way in. For the return leg, we walked back over to Glen Tromie then down to Tromie Bridge to pick up the Speyside Way path back to Ruthven Barracks.