Expedition Equipment

Expedition Equipment

 So its now April, its officially spring which means alot of people are starting to think of their next outdoor activity, it also means that Duke of Edinburgh expeditions and such like are going to start running properly again, this means lots of kit list, lots of choices and lots of money spent, money that could potentially be wasted, how? I hear you cry, think about how many people buy something use it once and thn either grow out of it, throw it away or wont do it again because something was uncomfortable, point of note here I`ve been in this position many many times whilst growing up, boots that dont fit was my biggest nightmare in one case resulting in a blister that covered my whole heel, it was that big I had to use duct tape rather than compeed to cover it.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of equipment but will concentrate primarily on the three most important pieces of equipment to buy;

Boots, Rucksack and Sleeping bag. 

Why are these the most important things to concentrate on? why not waterproofs or insulation?

its quite simple, unless you are very unfortunte you won`t be wearing your waterproofs all day but you will have your boots on all day so they need to be comfortable and supportive and no trainers will NOT be OK, rough ground and a heavy load on your back require ankle support, something not provided by trainers.

Speaking of heavy loads you will also be wearing your rucksack for anything up to six hours on your back so it must not only support the weight you are carrying but it must also fit properly and be comfortable, a badly fitting rucksack can cause back ache, shoulder ache, neck ache, make knee problems worse, potentially giving a poor nights sleep.

sleeping bags, hands up those of you who have heard tales of sleeping bags that don`t work...there is nothing worse than 8 hours of cold misery when your sleeping bag just wont keep you warm,  (there are a few tips I will give later that will make sure you get the best possible nights sleep you can) and as this can affect the next days adventure it is essential to get a good, well insulated, easily compressible sleeping bag.

So how much should you spend?
Allow me to answer a question with a question, how much do you want to spend?
I`m being serious just on those three item alone you could spend up to £900, yes really,

£500 for a sleeping bag, (arctic sleeping bag)
£200 for boots (summer walking boots, winter boots can cost up to £400)
£200 on a rucksack,

Thats the extreme end of course but gives you an idea of what you could spend if you really wanted to.

I will make clear right now, I don`t get paid to write this blog and is not intended to be a full review of each item, so what I will say is completely from the heart, don`t scrimp on these three item spend as much of your budget as you can on them, don`t borrow this equipment if you can help it, this stuff needs to fit you properly to make your expedition enjoyable and now with that out of the way, what would I recommend.

Boots

weather its your first time wearing boots or the 100th pair you`ve bought, spend time breaking them in, don`t go to the shop the day before and ask for a pair, its the quickest way to blisters and sore feet, most stores have a policy that as long as they are not worn outside they will allow you to bring them back if they don`t fit. be sure to have your feet measured as the "add half a size for socks" doesn`t always work, for example I have size 9 feet and only one pair of boots did I need to go up half a size (they were my winter boots so extra padding was required), you will of course have a choice of leather or fabric, the difference here is not in the waterproofing but in the weight and support, leather boots tend to be heavier but are more supportive where as fabric boots are lighter but not as supportive, although honestly it really doesn`t make that much difference.

When it comes to boots there are two varients to look at, mid Boots and full boots, mid boots tend to be softer, easier to wear, lighter, more flexible however they don`t offer the ankle support or weight baring of a full boot, whereas a full boot has more ankle support but takes longer to break in and is heavier, for a first pair of boots I would recommend full boots just for that peace of mind that it less likely  you will hurt your ankle.

The options I put forward here are by no means your only options so shop around and see what you can get, for this catagory I have set a budget of £50, £100 and £150 and I will start with full boots.




Peter Storm Brecon boots £49,

full leather and waterproof lining this boot blurs the boundary between mid and full while supple enough to be a mid it is also high enough to be considered a full boot.



Hi Tec Bandera currently £40 (usually £80)

if you prefer fabric this is probably your best option lighter and more flexible but still waterproof thanks to the lining.

for those of you who would prefer a mid boot the options to consider are


Peter Storm Camborne £40

as I say these boots do not offer the same protection as full boots but are more flexible and dont take as long to break in, these boot are however still fully water proof.

or



Hi tec Dexter £40

as above this boot is still fully waterproof but you do lose the support of the full boot

moving on to the £100 range, this is by far the most inclusive price range with the most variety of boots and brands as well as fit.


Peter Storm Snowdon £80

with its full full grain leather and waterproof lining this boot will keep your feet dry as well as offering considerable support for your ankle too.



Brasher country walker walking boot £99 (normally £120)

classic boots, very popular and for good reason, they never wear out, the only downside to Brasher is their naming policy which can get confusing, these are the country walker boots but also in the range are the country roamer, country hiker and the country trekker which are completely different.


Brasher Country Trekker, £99 (normally £120)

Essentially the fabric version of the boots above although more flexible

in terms of mid boots, ones I would recommend to look at would be,



the Berghaus expeditior trek 2.0 £100,

still fully waterproof but just remember that its not got the support



the Salomon mudstone £99 (originally £130)




Merrell Moab mid £89 (originally £125)

As you can imagine going up into the £150 range offers almost everything you can think of in terms of what you would ever need, with the exception of being crampon compatible

boots in this range to consider are

  
Berghaus Hillwalker 2 £130,

a couple of years ago Berghaus and Brasher merged into one company as such names of products switched round, these were originally the Brasher hillwalkers, which many people adored, the only thing that has changed is the name, the quality is still exactly the same, full leather fully waterproof and a proper classic.





SCARPA terra GTX £145

one of Scarpa classic boots, many people have started in these boots and stuck to Scarpa ever since again full leather with a Gore Tex lining.



Salomon Quest Prime £140

the quest range from Salomon has been around for a while so there is a pedigree when it comes to these boots, very solid for a fabric boot with Gore tex lining and a contra-grip sole

in terms of mid boots the option are as wide and varied as you could imagine, my pick from this range would be


the SCARPA  Bora £120, remembering that mid boots do not offer the same ankle support these boots make a nice compromise between comfort and support



the Salomon ultra 3 Mid £125, these would be my other choice for a mid boot, well priced in its range and very comfortable too.

and just as a little bonus if money were no object the boots I would go for in terms of a full boot would be




The Meindl Bhutan, £210 but just putting this boot will make you realise why this boot tops my list,

for fabric boots



the Asolo Flame (my actual boots) £150, snug fitting, comfortable, light weight, almost perfect for me.




Rucksacks

A well fitting rucksack is a thing of joy and can really make the difference between a painful expedition and a expedition to remember for the good times, whichever rucksack you buy make sure it at least has a frame inside it, a frame in most cases is two bars that run down the inside of the rucksack to help carry and distribute the weight, as you go up in price the frame can become more elaborate but will never be outside the rucksack itself. Also do not even consider a travel bag, these tend to be the bags that have a smaller bag attached on the outside and therefore end up upsetting you centre of balance considerably. As I already mentioned please don`t borrow a rucksack if you can help it, while one rucksack may fit the person you are borrowing it from it may not fit you properly, again as with the boots I will list the rucksacks that I would choose in particular price brackets but again please shop around until you find the rucksack you are happy with.

the budgets I will use are

£60, £100, £150 and £200

the reason I have started at £60 and not £50 is most of those at £50 do not come with a frame

amazon basics £49.99 (55l)

a basic rucksack with a frame a rain cover, the only issue with this is you wont be able to try on before it reaches you.



Vango Sherpa, classic bag that has been around for ages, fits most people,

in the £100 range the three bags I would consider looking at would be





the Berghaus Trailhead, £99 this is a bag that`s been around a while and has had a number of tweaks in its time to get it to the point where it is a highly respected rucksack.



Lowe Alpine Cholatse £85, check the price on this one as I have seen it for several different prices

in the £150 range the options for quality rucksack really open up.

 

Lowe Alpine Atlas £115, this rucksack is from a line of ruicksacks that can trace its heritage back to the 1960s, Lowe Alpine has always been on the forefront of rucksack technology.



Berghaus ridgeway £115, essentially a more advanced version of the Trailhead



Osprey Exos 58, £150, slightly smaller than the others I`ve picked but if you can get your gear in here you will not be disappointed,

in the £200 range you are obviously paying premium prices but trust me, just try them on weighted and you can see where your money will be going.

 
Osprey Atmos 65ag £190, always a favorite, always a winner



Gregory Baltoro



Mammut Creon Crest £192.95, being an "alpine" style backpack this has minimal straps on the outside to get caught on anything.

as with boots there are many many many options to choose from, so shop around for what you feel is best for you.

if it was a case of money no object the rucksack I would choose personally would be



Osprey Levity 60l, £240, a 60 litre bag that weighs less than a kilo....

Sleeping bags

you will find two types of sleepingbags for sale, synthetic and down, as a basic overview, down is warmer for its weight, compacts down smaller so fits in your bag easier and is lighter on the downside however if these bags get wet they lose all their insulation capabilities from which it is almost impossible to recover. synthetic bags on the other hand will lose some insulation properties but not all when wet, but these bags are heavier and bulkier and not as compressible, I would recommend synthetic for your first sleeping bag but of course this is entirely up to you.
As promised have a couple of tips on keeping warm in a sleeping bag,

firstly, sleeping bags reflect whatever heat you put into them so if you wear seventeen layers when you climb into your sleeping bag it will have no heat to absorb, less in this case is better.

buy a decent sleeping mat to go underneath your sleeping bag, a thick roll mat mat is good but doesn`t provide a lot of comfort, the other alternative is a self inflating mat, warmer, more comfort but requires maintenance. 

secondly, and this also goes with good maintenance as well, with the exception of your expedition do  not keep your sleeping bag stuffed in its stuuf sack as it will lose it insulation abilities over time.

I will stick to the £50 £100 and £150 and the first category will be synthetic, comfort rating is subjective and temperature listed is as a guide only,



Coleman North Rim, £49.95, comfortable down to -2, but bulky to pack away




Vango Latitude 300, prices vary, comfortable down to -5, bulky but not as bulky as above



Berghaus Transition 200, £50, comfortable down to 0 degrees, least bulk at of all on here

in the £100 synthetic range, my pick of the bunch are





Mountain Equipment starlight 2, £100, comfortable down to 0 degrees



Robens Glacier 2, £80, comfortable down to 0 degrees.

and now for the £150 range, if i`m honest the insulation in these bags is probably going to be a little too good however these bags compress down next to nothing .



montane MT prism, £150, comfortable down to 0 degrees, least amount of bulk



Mountain Hardwear lamina Z flame, £150, comfortable down to -7


Mountain Equipment starlight 4, £150, comfortable down to -7, very bulky

onto the down sleeping bags, as I mentioned these bag have to be kept dry otherwise they will not keep you warm.

I have to skip the £50 range as I could not find anything

£100



Vango fuse 2Degree, hybrid down, £100, this bag is a fusion of synthetic and down insulation and as the name suggests comfortable to 2 degrees




Kathmandu Pegasus, prices vary, comfortable down to 0 degrees

last but not least in the £150 range



Vango Venom, £150, comfortable down to 0 degrees, absolute classic of a down sleeping bag


Mountain Equipment Helium £150, comfortable down to zero degrees, another classic that hasn`t changed in years, because it really doesn`t need to.



Vaude cheyenne 200, £130, comfortable down to -3

as I said at the beginning this was only intended to be an overview of what is available in the price ranges, do some reasearch before purchasing and please remember what I said about getting a good fit for you.

please follow the link below to my website

www.lwbcfs.com









  

Micro travels day 2

Micro travels day 2

Tuesday

Another day, another micro journey and once again another list, this list

having been to Cambridge yesterday I obviously had to change the fifth choice on the dice, that done I once again rolled the dice and this time it came up 6, so it was off to Bury St Edmunds in the morning for me, 

I arrived in Bury just before midday and set off into the town centre, the Abbey Gardens were the first place I went to and spent quite a while wandering around the ruins, an interesting thing I didn`t know was that it was in the now ruined abbey where the Barons of the land swore an oath in 1214 to make King John sign Magna Carta, the basis of democracy in England,

with the Abbey Gardens explored I made my way into the town centre, during my wanderings I came across possibly one of the best discoveries, The Nutshell, the smallest pub in Britain, a mere 15ft by 7ft and just about enough room for ten or so people, so I decided to call in for quick pint because it would rude not to,

after I had my pint, I spent the next few hours wandering around seeing what else Bury had to offer until sadly it was time to make my back to the station and once again make my way home ready for the next days journey

Micro travels day 1

Micro travels

A couple of weeks ago a picked up a book called micro adventures by Alistair Humphreys, its a book that I would highly recommend to anyone, the basis of the book is that adventure is a state of mind and that it doesn`t take a huge amount of time, money or effort to go on one, with this in mind and not having much money I decided to go a few one day adventures to different places around the local area, this will be the first in a series of short blogs about these travels, to make this a true adventure I chose to randomise where I was going each day, to do this I chose six places with train stations and then rolled a dice to see where I would be going.

Monday

  

The Sunday night before I set off on my first journey I made a list of six places I haven`t been before the six choices were Woodbridge, Sudbury, Norwich, Lowestoft, Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds, if I`m honest I was secretly hoping for Woodbridge or Sudbury but that wasn`t my choice as I was leaving it in the hands of fate and fate would have to choose the furthest destination, namely Cambridge,

as I was in no great hurry I looked at the departing times from my local station and decided to catch the 9.50 train, which would get me to Cambridge around 12.15, however due to delays I didn`t actually get there until nearer 12.45, as I said though I wasn`t hurrying anywhere and the only time factor was the departure time of the train back, knowing I had about four hours before my train was due to depart I set off into the city to try and see as much as I could.

Originally being from the other major university city in the UK, I was surprised at how much the architecture of Cambridge reminded me of that place, the other thing that reminded me of Oxford was the amount of bicycles and university shops there were and how it seemed impossible to turn a corner without seeing one of these shops somewhere along that street, my wanderings finally inevitably brought me Kings College where a very famous picture, perhaps the most famous picture of Cambridge is taken and I thought as I was there, I might as well try and replicate it, however they wanted to charge me to enter so that put pay to that, until I wandered down another street and crossed the river Cam, where I got the idea to try and walk back up the other side, that was easy and Kings College soon came back into view with its famous church , however I couldn`t get as close as I liked as the Uni had cut off access to the side of the river I was on and wanted to charge entry, they don`t go to uni for nothing these guys! below is the best I could do,

some of you might be thinking there`s something missing in this picture and you`d be right, the river Cam, its actually in the middle of the picture and from this angle looks like it concealed in a little   ha-ha, with that done I walked a little further to look for a way back across the Cam and another picture opportunity arose 

with time running out I made my way back to the station to catch the train back home fired up and ready for the next days adventure.

Canoeing the Stour

Canoeing the Stour

 its been quite a long time since I wrote my last blog so I thought it was about time to do another, this time about something I haven`t done for a little namely canoeing, this is mainly because I don`t actually own my own canoe sadly, however I saw a leaflet in a local supermarket advertising canoe hire I jumped at the chance to get back onto the water.
as I would be on my own for the trip I agreed with the hire company not to do the full distance normally suggested, from Sudbury to Cattawade, but to go from Nayland to Cattawade, even this shorter distance would take me most of the day to complete, having put in at the Anchor Inn, I headed downstream, it took me a little while to remember what I was doing but eventually it came back to me which was just as well as the first part of the Stour was narrow and very overgrown requiring alot of manoeuvring between reed banks and overhanging branches and it would be this way for quite a while down river.

  

 eventually the river widened and became easier to navigate and the journey became alot more pleasant, after five kilometres of paddling I came to the first obstacle, Boxted mill, now a private residence, because the mill would at one time have had a waterwheel to power the machinery, it would also have had a pond to hold the water and a weir to control the flow, obviously I couldn`t have paddled down the weir and so had to portage around this, thankfully the owners of the land had thoughtfully provided a path to do just this but how was I to move a 16ft/40kg canoe by myself? by putting wheels on the bottom of course, I`m not kidding

  

 see wheels

having successfully portaged around the first problem I carried on my journey, a few kilometres later I came across my second problem, Langham flumes, again these were originally built to control the flow of water downstream, if I actually owned the canoe I was paddling I might have actually attempted to go down them in the canoe but as I didn`t I decided not to and portaged around it.

after this there followed a couple of kilometres of easy paddling, and fairly soon the bells from Higham church could be heard,

 this was soon passed and I was heading quickly towards Dedham. after another portage around Stratford St Mary lock

and paddling along the border between Essex and Suffolk I reached Dedham mill, where I once again had to portage around the weir,

 this is where the journey got a little difficult and I had to change my position in the boat from towards the back to the middle to give me more manoeuvrability around all the other boaters, usually called unfavourably (or Not) "rent a crash" or "rent a wreck" this was the hardest section of the journey and would last until I reached Flatford, if your of an artistic nature you may have heard of Flatford as its where Constable painted the Hey wain and involved yet another portage.

thankfully that would be the last of the portages and I was now only about an hour from the end of my journey, not far after Flatford came the potentially frightening Judas weir where the stour split and signs along the river warn you to "keep left at Judas weir", as it turned out, you couldn`t do anything but keep left as the weir had actually been blocked off by floating buoys and the water was barely flowing through it, but that wouldn`t prevent Health and Safety having their way, 45 minutes after passing the (not) very scary Judas weir I was reaching the end of my journey but before I did I had chance to try my hand at wildlife photography and judging by the result National Geographic should be on the phone any day now, 

  and so my day ended, I would recommend this to anyone wanting an adventurous but pleasant day on the river.

my thanks go to the Outdoor Hire Centre for the hire the of the canoe and for ferrying me to and from the centre 

   

  

Are We Not Teachers?

Are we not teachers?

Over the Christmas period of 2013 I, like many people, spent the time with various family members and had to endure the usual rhetoric of how my cousins were wonderful and brilliant and how two of them had been promoted within the schools that work at and how education should be something I should look into, to which I replied "I do work in education, alternative education" this was met with scoffs and general mockery of the outdoor education business of how it wasn`t real education and isn`t recognised officially or paid the same rate as teachers (funny how salary seems to be the be all and end all of a worthwhile job!) which got me thinking, are we not in fact teachers?

After all the industry I work in is called Outdoor EDUCATION, so with a title like that surely a little credit should be given, as it turns out no it isn`t, there is a saying in the teaching industry that "those that can do, those that can`t teach, those that still can`t teach, teach PE" well it seems that there should be another line saying "those that can`t teach PE, do outdoor education" it seems, certainly within the UK, outdoor education is seen as almost a non entity, something which can be mocked and ridiculed but lets look at certain facts.

There are those that say "outdoor education isn`t a real teaching qualification because you don`t need a degree to teach it." this can be true but what about teaching assistants? you don't need a degree to be one of those and for the record I hold a recognised University Degree in guess what...OUTDOOR EDUCATION, I`ll repeat that OUTDOOR EDUCATION, so there are recognised degrees in the subject of OUTDOOR EDUCATION, even if certain people don`t want to realise this. which will probably lead on to the next criticism of "yeah but its a mickey mouse degree like media studies or photography"...pretty thin argument considering both of those degrees are recognised by employers particularly media.

The next argument would probably be "we have to do both a degree and a PGCE to become a teacher" OK not going to deny this, what I will say though is once you have this degree and PGCE, which takes 4-5 years in total, how many times do you have to go back and completely retrain?...for us certain qualifications have to be completely renewed every three years otherwise we can`t instruct it anymore, so by the time you`ve got your teaching degree we`ve already renewed our qualifications twice.

"You don't get paid the same as teachers" again for the majority of us this is true, however there is a good argument for this situation and it was the labour government that brought in the minimum wage law, this law states that everyone has to be paid minimum wage but nothing was put in place saying people have to be paid above minimum wage meaning even if you have the right qualifications, skills and experience, and as outdoor instructors are still not recognised as teachers and therefore classed as "unskilled labour" (a point I will come onto later) we do not have to be paid above minimum wage, again from a personal point of view I am worth a lot more than that, £15000 for uni, £400 for Mountain Leader Training, £400 for Mountain Leader Assessment, £150 for climbing award training, £150 for climbing award assessment, 5 first aid qualifications between £50 and £500 plus countless other awards (archery, air rifles, cycling, high ropes etc) ranging between £100 and £200.

"What do you actually teach though?" little tricky to quantify this one I`ll admit, after all outdoor education instructors don't have a curriculum to go on or results tables to boast about, we do have our own personal results and we can link alot of these back to key stage work, OK our results may show 0 across the board for Maths, English and Science, but when we have a terrified child on the end of climbing rope convinced the it`s going to break and they are going to plummet to their death does this really matter? if however we can give that child confidence to believe that they are perfectly safe and that the rope can hold the weight of a minibus which weighs more than them, 3,500 kg as opposed to 80-90kg (Maths) and to turn around and enjoy the view above Ullswater where Wordsworth wrote Daffodils (English) and that even if they were to slip the friction through the belay device will hold them (Science) does this not teach them something even if its self belief?

“Yes but we teach skills for life”...allow me to answer this with a question, when was the last time you saw a child use algebra outside of a relevant space? or Pythagoras? or having an in depth discussion on the soliloquy within Hamlet? or discuss the application of non Newtonian substances beyond walking on custard?! and how many would actually be able to remember it? however ask the same people about the time they started a fire by doing nothing more than rubbing two sticks together and they`ll remember or the time they learnt to set a bearing on a compass both more or less irrelevant in the modern day for the vast majority of people but then again isn`t algebra… so the real question should be what is a life skill? for most people its all about the soft skills, being able to communicate effectively, work in teams, be effective leaders, take responsibility and organisational skills, skills that are transferable and visible and whilst it may be possible to teach these within a classroom environment, these skills can be taught far more effectively in an outdoor environment, particularly when its pissing it down with rain and everyone wants to get back inside!

“But we embrace alternative education we have a forest school within our school and we go on a outdoor camp every year…” Great! let me ask this though, how many of those teachers that do forest school or go on the school trips actually want to be there? why not get people in that actually enjoy doing these things or would it mean having to admit that we are teachers?

for the next part I will lay down a gauntlet, Outdoor education instructors are seen as unskilled labour, I challenge any teacher without outdoor ed training or experience to plan, prepare and execute an expedition, or to set up a rock climbing and abseiling session or canoe a river without any accidents or near misses, expeditions require a huge amount of planning and I challenge a teacher to sort out routes, access, escape routes, checkpoints, campsites, timings and bearings. when it comes to a climbing session I challenge an untrained teacher to set up a safe climbing system that won`t fail, to tie the correct knots, put the harnesses on right, I also challenge the same teacher to set up a safe but releasable abseil system so that the person abseiling is safe, the teacher is safe and all the lines are safe, trust me it ain`t easy to learn, when it comes to canoeing can an untrained teacher read a river so they know where all the dangers lay? or pick the best route through a section of rapids? oh yes these skills can be picked up but by the time you have done them you wouldn`t class yourself as unskilled anymore and as a final thing to think about, when schools are writing out risk assessments for classrooms are serious considerations given to death? if so by how many means? lets face it little Jimmy sat in the classroom learning Math is very unlikely to have that happen, unless its a freak accident,  but the risk assessment for most outdoor activities will have it at some point through a variety of means and what is the best way of minimizing the risk, having competent, qualified and skilled staff…(oops can`t say that we`re not “skilled” after all)

“teachers have to act as in loco parentis, instructors don `t” teachers act as in loco parentis during school hours, instructors are in loco parentis from the second the group arrives to the second it leaves again, 24 hours for up to ten days, how long are the kids at school again?...

Whilst I am not saying teaching is easy, I know it can be bloody hard, I am saying its time for a little bit of recognition and respect to actually come our way, all the arguments above have been said to me at one point or another and I have given the responses back, to which counter agruments have become thinner and thinner until straws have been clutched at, so its time for the education boards to man up, grow some balls and finally admit that we are teachers and lets us take our rightful place but then again they won`t listen to outdoor education instructors because they aren`t teachers are they?

Are They?

winter car preparation

Winter car preparation

          With Jack Frost spreading his icy grip slowly across the country the inevitable "traffic chaos" caused by half a centimetre of snow wont be too far behind, usually caused by drivers going far too fast for the conditions and spinning off the road, I will be spouting the usual rhetoric within the lines of this blog as well as some observations I have made along with some ideas and equipment for if you do find yourself stuck on the side of the road.

Driving and road conditions

          Most of the time arrogance is the number one cause of accidents in these conditions, having a 4x4 or traction control or a powerful engine does not excuse poor driving and doing 70 mph on an icy ungritted dual carriageway overtaking everyone is just asking for trouble and this is coming from someone who has owned a 4x4 and done an off road driving course, with the mass of a 4x4 once it starts sliding it take a lot longer to stop (unless you`re going down a closed off farm track with absolutely no one else around then sliding sideways under control becomes a lot of fun!) rear wheel drive only cars such as BMW and Mercedes Benz are more or less useless in icy conditions as the back end tends to slide around as no weight is over the driving axle creating friction so if you do own a rear wheel drive car be very careful as you drive and those mysterious dials in front of you with numbers saying 20,30,40 mph that are normally ignored, difficult as it is try and keep the needle in those dials as low as possible and don`t overtake that way we wont be laughing at you as we pass you on the side of the road. If the phrase "I`ll be alright I have ABS" enters your mind, think again, I`ll write this in capitals to emphasis the point ABS DOES NOT WORK IN ICY CONDITIONS! This is due to the computer needing to sense forward movement from the wheels to release the brakes and if your wheels are sliding then there is no forward movement to sense. to prevent sliding when you first pull away keep the revs as low as possible and use as high a gear as you can, most manual cars can pull away in second gear but it may take some effort without reving the engine too high, another trick that works is pulling away using only the idling revs of the engine, this does take some skill but it can be done and naturally keeps the revs at there lowest, when you are driving along select the gear up from what you usually drive in, so if you usually use 3rd in a 30mph zone use 4th instead, the engine may not appreciate it but it will keep the revs low.
          When it comes to road conditions plan your route and allow extra time, so if it takes you half an hour to get to work leave an hour before your due in, sounds obvious but guaranteed someone wont do it and end up in trouble. planning your route also means trying to use roads that will be gritted even if this means going slightly out of your way to use them. there is only a limited amount of grit available straight away to the councils so they tend to prioritise roads and although they don`t tell us these roads its not hard to figure out, motorways are first, the responsibility of which is shared by the councils the motorway passes through, then dual carriageways, then A roads, bus and lorry routes and then if there is any grit left some of the more minor roads, even if the road you are using is gritted plan ahead and keep in mind some of the hazards you will encounter, one of the roads I regularly use not only goes down a steep hill but also has a sharp corner at the bottom before going back up hill (John de Bois hill/bridge) which last year lead to an almost unwritten rule of one car attempts it at a time.

Equipment

          If the unfortunate does happen and you find yourself on the side of the road then you`ll need to have some equipment to try and get yourself out of the situation and some equipment if you can`t and need to wait for rescue, for all this equipment you`ll need a bag or box to store it in, 4 things you`ll need to get you out of the situation are a shovel, some salt, something to put under the wheels and a tow rope. The best shovel is a snow shovel these however tend to be on the big side so anything that fits into your car will do,
most people will recommend a bag of salt to melt the snow and ice which if you have space is fine, some people may not have the space to store this so a large pot of salt will suffice, you can buy commercial snow treads to put under tyres but you can also use burlap sacks or similar or even old carpet which will do the same job.

 the tow rope is to help pull you back on the road if someone comes along that can help and vise versa.

          If you can`t get the car back on the road you may end up spending some time in your car and this is when you really do need to have some equipment in the back of your car and be prepared to wait for help, if you intend to use the cars engine to keep you warm make sure that the exhaust pipe is clear at all times even if that means getting out every once in a while to clear it as a blockage may stop the engine.
       
3/4 season sleeping bag, the reason for this is because a car will intensify the cold weather and a 2 season may not be enough,

said I`d find a use for the Nanok

          Hat, gloves, thick socks and warm jumper.

          Ice grippers, to stop you slipping over when you are walking around I use Yaxtrax for preference.

          First Aid Kit, this should be in your car anyway.

          Wind up torch, why a wind up and not a battery powered one? because the cold will drain battery life quicker than normal (this goes for the car battery as well) and when you come to need the torch it may not work whereas with a wind up there is always power available at the turn of a handle.
          2litres of Water, this needs to be put somewhere near the centre of your equipment to prevent it from freezing.
          Stove, this needs careful consideration as there a number of things to think about, a gas stove might not be a good thing to have as gas becomes very inefficient and slow in cold conditions it also means carrying a gas canister around which could have an unfortunate affect in an accident, a petrol/diesel stove could be a better decision after all what does your car run on? however if you are not regularly going to use it can you really justify the cost? better than both of these are the Trekmates flameless kits or the self heating meal kits, these dont require gas or liquid fuel to run nor do they produce flames and are not susceptible to weather conditions.

          Food, If you choose to take your own food rather than rely on the self heating meal kits choose high calorific food to help you stay warm, warm drinks also need to be considered and this can be what you would normally drink however if you take milk or cream you probably will need to replace it everyday (obviously UHT and powered milk are the exception to this) for preferance I have Earl Grey tea, same as for all my expedition work, for the simple fact that no milk is required.
         Phone charger, although you can obviously get car chargers that run off the car battery this may end up draining your cars battery in the process, there are emergency chargers available on the market both rechargeable and battery powered and these are prefrable to in car ones      

         Book, yes seriously, keeps your mind occupied and helps pass the time while you wait for rescue.
           
         Another piece of equipment I would recomend is a 12 volt  tyre inflater, although it does have particular application and is required in one situation only, occasionally and ONLY IF you have spun off the road you can sometimes gain more traction by letting some of the air out of the tyres to get back on the road as soon as you have done this use the inflater to reinflate the tyres and when you are reinflating the tyres leave the engine running to avoid battery drain.

         One more piece of advise I would give is if you can, book some time on a skid pan this will give you the training to get you out of a spin should it happen.

Hopefully none of this will happen to you but if it does its obviously best to be prepared and if you follow the advise above it will make it easier for you and remember rescue services may be swamped with call outs so you might be waiting longer...best start on that book

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