What's up?

There's plenty going on at the minute, or at least it feels like it, not that you know it from the lack of posting on the blog.

First off I added another digit to my age on Sunday and I'm now a stately age of 24. Being the serious athlete that I am, and attempting my first marathon over arduous terrain in less than a fortnight away I certainly didn't give in to my friends' requests and spend the evening pretty much eating meat, returning to alcohol after 4 weeks of abstaining and getting clean wrote off my face.... oh wait :(

At least after the hangover cleared up I was still in possession of a couple rather nice gear acquisitions, in particular a pair of Inov8 Mudroc 290's and a Terra Nova Laser 20L pack. The 290's will replace my dying 330 O's which have served me well and probably should have been retired sooner. The Terra Nova Laser 20L will takes it's place as the smallest volume pack in the stable and will enjoy duties of running, day hikes, lightweight overnighters and mountain marathons.

Elsewhere, I'm finally getting back down to the Mourne's for an overnighter! I was supposed to be away this morning and would have got a couple nights in before the weekend, but got called into work, so the plans got pushed back 24hours. No major issue, and it's given me and my walking partner another day to find kit which has decided to hide itself in the darkest corners of our households. The weather is supposed to stay rather nice so maybe I'll just take shorts and a vest with me?

Final preparations are also being put to next weeks Wednesday Evening Event that myself and my friend Jenny are planning and organising on behalf of Lagan Valley Orienteers. It's the 6th of the series and will be ran in Belvoir Forest Park in South Belfast, anybody that's even remotely interested in orienteering, curious to see if I'm a bit of a douche, or in the area should drop in for a wee run/walk, and you will find all the necessary details HERE.

And finally (and most importantly) the real countdown has started for the Mourne Way Marathon that I am going to attempt to drag my ass round. A week and a half remains until the 26 miles of fun. In part the main purpose for heading down to the Mourne's tomorrow is to reconnoitre(I love that word) the route before running it, as well as just finally getting round to returning for a night. Starting to get quite excited/nervous about it all, and I'm hoping that I won't be embarrassing myself to badly on it.

Deeper into exposure

This blog continues to move further into one more focused on photography than the outdoors (who likes to stay in their box anyways?), but I haven't forgotten my roots and there is potential for a couple days away either this week or the next which will hopefully materialise into something.

Instead of a couple nights in the hills I've had to settle with a couple days orienteering here and there, my continued running schedule (which continues to lose out to socialising) and my photography.

So to the photography.

After reading a thread on talk photography about using welding glass stuck on the front of your lens as a 10 stop ND filter, and seeing some of the results, I couldn't not give it a go. Both the "welding shade" and the Kood (Cokin P Fit) filter adapter (to which you add the welding glass) can be picked up from your favourite auction site for a couple of pounds each.

The welding shade is a dark, black looking piece of glass, as one might expect, and casts a green tint across any resulting images. Although you can fix this green tint by adjusting the white balance in Photoshop or whatever processing software you're running, it's obviously best to try and sort it as much in camera if possible. For me this involved using the Olympus "One touch" custom white balance, which took rather more than one try to get to work, but was relatively painless. From what I've read on the thread other camera users should have a similar ability to set a custom white balance, as is shown in this image created by Sean Taylor.

I attached the shade to the filter adapter with some blue-tac and put some insulating tape around the edges as they were a bit sharp and then went off to see the results of adding five pounds worth of glass and aluminium to my camera.

60 seconds F/3.5

120 seconds F/4.7

They're hardly the most inspiring photo's but give an insight into what is possible with a bit of patience and some cheap welding glass, five pounds all in isn't too bad for a bit of fun.

Composing the picture, adding the filter, taking the image and then waiting for the noise reduction to complete all adds up to make quite a time consuming process, but one which definitely looks worth pursuing.

I think the waterfalls might be getting another visit soon.

Pancake Day

Irrelevant of faith I hope everyone got to enjoy a yummy pancake or five today!

North Face vs. South Butt

The incredulity of this story forces me to reblog Lighthiker's post on the matter. For those that didn't see the post on Roman's blog, The North Face has decided to file a lawsuit against The South Butt, a parody clothing line ran by 19 year old Jimmy Winkelmann. An extract from the San Francisco Business Times:

The jackets, shirts and shorts sport the “anti-North Face” logo and South Butt's mantra is “Never Stop Relaxing,” a spoof on San Leandro-based North Face Inc.’s motto, “Never Stop Exploring.”

Winkelmann offered to sell his business to North Face for $1 million but later withdrew his proposal after the case drew international publicity and boosted sales, the suit alleges. Now he plans to expand the manufacturing and sale of the clothing nationwide by spring 2010 and wants to sell the apparel on college campuses

Those in charge of TNF mustn't have a sense of humour, how could you not raise a smile reading through some of the ranges of clothing?

Soft Shell Jackets - Cafe' Series - Because you deserve to look good at the coffee shop - a sign of serious commitment to relaxation!

The South Butt Fleece Jacket - Mall Series - Nothing better for a visit to the mall, market, or even the occasional visit to your econ lecture.

Aside from admiring the balls of this guy who is taking on a "$7 billion plus powerhouse" the fact that he can still have a joke in his legal response to their lawsuit is just brilliant. From the response (the complete version is here):

North Face has … elected to depict the commercial undertakings of South Butt … as piracy, evoking not intellectual property issues, but crimes on the high seas.

Plaintiff’s products are perceived as being largely consumed by those who have little to no interest in living an adventurous lifestyle, but, rather, are interested in acquiring Plaintiff’s products for the status and/or notoriety they receive from being seen in Plaintiff’s expensive apparel and accessories.

I'm sure it's probably quite clear that I would agree with the above paragraph.

Surely TNF would be a lot wiser to use its time stopping the manufacture and importation of fakes rather than this? I hope Jimmy comes out of it al right and deciding to fight a large corp. doesn't cost him too much!

Hopes for the future

Things have been pretty crazy since the turn of the New Year, but I finally have time to actually type up some things ............ which is nice.

Reading other blogs some sort of assessment of the year gone seems appropriate and setting some targets for the new one that is here also seems like a pretty good shout.

The year gone...

Well the highlight has to be walking the Ulster Way, 600 miles over 35 days, with more than half of them walked solo. Having company was a great change to being on my own, but the time spent alone was also time to be savoured. Anybody that hasn't had the chance to spend a continuous amount of time on their own, walking or otherwise, doesn't seem to get how being on your own for so long isn't boring or could even be enjoyable, but it was certainly both. Solo walking makes for a very simple existence; with no need to please anyone else or make compromises on route choice or where and how long to stop or even how far to walk, and as such is very satisfying. I don't think I found myself on the walk but it certainly gave me thinking space and helped put some things into perspective.

My first Mountain Marathon and hitting the 4 highest peaks in Ireland also make it quite high in the highlights of the year. I think the 4 peaks was a bit of a one off but I wouldn't say no to another mountain marathon; its like orienteering on steroids with a camp in the middle, and that's a good thing! Pushing yourself as hard as you can makes for a sense of achievement that's hard to beat, even when you are filthy, sore and tired as a result. It's funny how there's nearly always more gas in the tank if you want something enough, mind over matter and all.

I had a couple of nice overnighters in the Mournes, one of which was spent with the guys from NI Wild which was a nice change of pace from the usual solo ventures. Its good to finally see a NI specific forum out there and that it is actually steadily growing!

The year to come...

Setting out a list of things I want to achieve could be dangerous, I might actually stick to them and achieve something! Clearly more outdoor adventures than last year would be nice, however finding a clean month to spend in a tent might pose problems. I think I'll have to settle with more frequent and shorter duration.

Its easy to get blinkered and return to the same spots again and again, and a bit more exploration of the Mournes will be scheduled in, however I'm hoping to get to a couple other Mountain ranges this year. A couple days around Carrantoohil, Mweelrea and Lughnaquillia will hopefully make it into the calender at some stage, and maybe somewhere on the mainland.

I'll probably regret writing this later, but a marathon of some description will be ran this year, if nothing else writing this will force me into training and stop avoiding it. I think the Belfast Marathon at the start of May followed by the Mourne Way Marathon in the middle of June will be the choices, hopefully my legs will carry me the 26 miles of both.

A return to Mourne Mountain Marathon is a no brainer really, and an entry to one or two on the mainland might also have to be made if my knees can take the punishment, too many choices for punishment!

Taking some inspiration from Ray Jardine's 24 hour trips and Kate's seemingly endless number of overnight bivouacs, I think a couple of simple overnighters might be necesary. A couple of nights shacked up overlooking Belfast from Redburn Forest or Cave Hill sounds like a good plan, as does a few along the Coastline, there is no reason not to.

Hopefully in between trying to be a marathon runner and a mounatain marathon runner I'll have time to run a few more orienteering courses than last year, maybe some of the NI mountain running races and get to a couple of the NI Wild meets.

I made passing comments about getting to walk Lands End to John O'Groats this year, however I'm pretty certain I won't have the 2 months (at the very least) to walk it. 3 months seems like the norm and I don't know if I would want to do it any less, looking back at the Ulster Way a journey of this length is definitely something to savour and not rush. If I was to have the time to go walking for a month, I thing the South West Coastal Path has quite a good chance of seeing me on it.

Realistically if I achieve half of the above I'll be happy, but the main effort will lie with entering running and hopefully finishing the marathons. The SWCP is a long shot but something I would love to have the time to do.

I know it's a bit late, but..... Happy New Year

A very belated Happy New Year to everyone that stops by here from time to time!

Its great to know someone out there is reading this drivel, and hopefully something you've seen has been useful or entertaining to some degree.

Ulsterwalker is in its eighth month and hopefully I and the blog will still be here next year, I might even get the seasonal greetings out on time!

All the best to all those that are stopping by or passing through.

Go in peace and may peace be upon you.