Spoilt For Choice

The toss of a coin decided my weekend; dutifully north to Newark to buy spares for my campervan, temptingly south to Complete Outdoors in Hemel Hempstead where I could check out their excellent selection of Paramo gear, or simply east to Thetford Forest for walks with Holly, my Border Terrier who will be 11 tomorrow. Hemel won both flips, at which point I wished I had said "Best of three" because I wanted Thetford Forest to win.

Arriving in Hemel, I couldn't resist the silky charms of a Paramo Adventure Light Smock and easily convinced myself that the Brasher Supalite II GTX boots had to be mine because my older version of Brasher Supalite GTX's need resoling - I'm going to send them to LSR for repair. With campervan and debit card groaning I made it back home with my treasures and daydreamed of backpacking whilst I did some tentwork (tentwork as in housework).

Last year's Shangri-La 1 and this year's Terra Nova Laser Competition have been aired.

My waterproof Montane Litespeed Jacket and Featherlite Trousers have been washed and reproofed. It's not something I've done before so I'm keen to feel the results.

Now I need to flip the coin again to decide which tent and waterproofs to take on my next outing.