greetings from a newbie

“Just a quick hello to all the folks here on this site. I'm a newbie on the road and came along this site while i'm trying to plan my first trail in june.

This Site provided me with a loot of good starting points in how to think about my gear and even though scotland in june will be my first trail i'm looking assured to it.

I hope we all will have a good time here :)

greetigns fengor
P.S.: please excuse grammar errors since i'm not a native speaker. Although pointers as to what i am writing wrong are generally well received.”

“Happy February fengor! State/Country of residence? Gender? Age? Tell more about yourself!”

“well well ill try.

State: Saarland
Country: Germany

I'm male and 26 years old meanwhile. I have been wanting to take a trail in scotland for several years now but something always happened. But i decided that hthis year i will go no matter what ;p

So i started to surf around the web looking for information about backpacking and trailing since i prefer to not go unprepared in something new. And thats what brought me to this site. I overflew (quickly read) most of the beginners article and some had reaaly good points so i thought i should sign up and get to know the people on this site.

Well what else about me? Hmm maybe hobbies. I'm a lot into medieval reenactment and life roleplaying something that occupied me for the last several years. Musically i prefer rock and metal stuff from the 80s to now but i'm open enough to listen to all kinds of music depending on time and mood”

“Guten Morgen! Ist es Morgen in Deutschland jetzt? I am in California and it is 2:45am, so maybe not; wait, yes, it still is morning there. Three of my children took German in high school, my daughter bookmarked a free translation website for me. The translations are not good ones, but understandable at least.

If there is anything you want to know about me, click on my name and then go to my myspace where you can read all about me.

Everyone here is fairly knowlegeable about backpacking; ask all the questions you want. I just went backpacking with my youngest son, (13 years old), this weekend. We did 22 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail.”

“thx for the warm welcome and yes its barely morning atm (5 to noon actually). And regarding the question asking: i'll come back to it be assured ;)

Although i usually tend to try to read up information onmy own. Which by itself isnt a bad thing if i wouldnt tend to spend a day reading up on something that could have been answered with a quick question in 5min but hey i'm kind of a bookworm i guess.

Since i don't have much experience with long trails i think i willwrite up the list of the gear i want to get for the trip in june so that the moreknowledgable folks here might comment on it. I'll make sure to add links with englich description on the products where possible. The overall plan is to get some equipment that wont only serve me this year but in the years to come where i plan to go trailing regularly.

And since a picture says more than a thousand words: Here is a quick picture from a medieval fair some years ago (i had dish cleaning duty)

”

“A young man who does dishes! WUNDERBAR! ÃœBERWÄLTIGEND! Are you related to my son? It's possible of course. My maiden name is Renz. My son's biological father's last name is Berg. Chris does dishes for me, he has ever since he was nine years old. He is my oldest and he also backpacks. He has moved out now, he is 24 years old.”

“Well i have to say that i dont know of any relatives of mine that live in the states. But that doestn mean it wouldnt be possible. ;p

Dish duty is something that is shared in our group during encampments. So everyone gets to do it once in a while. Normally each member of our group does 1-2 duties a daylike dish washing, cooking, getting firewood, standing guard and other stuff)that way everything keeps organized and everyone has still lots of time for him/herself to enjoy the camp.”

“I haven't been able to trace my Renz relatives any further back than my great-grandfather. Henry Renz. I'm not sure where he was born, it's a very common name, not here, but in Germany I am told. He was married to Mary Elizabeth Noonan. . . but that's a long story.

Your camps sound like fun. I love dish duty on car camps, because my hands finally get warm! Standing guard is boring, I remember that from my time in the Army.”

“ah well guard duty isnt that bad since usually lots of people come by and you get to talk with them a bit.

But this year we are lying a bit low anyways (finally opens up some time for backpacking)and don't do so many camps as in the years before.

Btw has anyone experience with what kind of fuel is availabe in scotland? Since its my preferred area where i plan to go hiking mostly i want to choose my stove with that in mind.”

“I have no idea what fuel is available there, you'll probably want to ask Euro, she may know. Maybe you can "google" it. I find a lot of things that way.”

“thx i'll look into it”

“Last summer some folks from this board did a trip in either Scotland or Ireland, I can't recall which. You might search a bit here. If it was Scotland then there may be some helpful advice there.

Welcome aboard.”

“fengor what kind of fuel do you need?
I will be doing the West Highland Way in May.”

“i'm open for what kind of fuel i need since i'll get a new stove anyway but for selecting the stove i'd like to know what fuels are easily obtainable in scotland to select a good model accordingly. Since i dont plan to bring the fuel along but rather buy itin scotland itself (i'll arrive via plane near glasgow and dontwant to get into potential security hassles because of the fuel cartridge, besides the load i'm allowed to ake on the plan is limitedanyway so fuel is like food on the list of things to buy in glasgow to reduce the load i have to check in for the flight.”

“You're in good hands now fengor, hello and good morning euro! I'm going to go and hit the sack.

Gute Nacht

I know I know, it's not night time there, but it's my bedtime here, I'm working nightshift and my hours are all messed up.”

“Komm gut nach Hause und Schlaf gut Pamela :-)”

“night pamela and be sure to get a good nights rest. Sleep is important ;)”

“fengor you shouldn't have any problems getting fuel for your stove in Scotland. Esbit cubes or Campingaz cartriges may be a bit difficult to come by though. Use a stove with Coleman cartriges and you're fine. Also methylated spirit (Trangia cookers)is no problem.”

“thx euro ill keep that in mind :)”

“Good morning!

I bought a rucksack from these people.
Their site seems to have information about places to go in the U.K.

http://www.thegorgeoutdoors.co.uk/acatalog/index.html

There is a place that I would love to go.....
Triglav National Park in the northeast of Slovenia in the Julian Alps.
It has been called the "Yosemite of Europe" and does not seem to be over-trampled by tourists.”

“Willkommen, zum des Gespräches zu schleppen. Wo wohnst du in Deutschland? Vor fünfzig Jahren war ich in Stuttgart, von, dem ich weitgehend reiste. Deine Fragen bekanntgeben und ich tue mein bestes, um dir zu helfen. Wenn es die kleinen Twigs (Holz) vorhanden für deine Reise gibt, empfehle mich ich, den http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=13930&memberId=12500226 " target= " _blank " >Sierra Reißverschluß Woodburning kampierendes Stove. zu verwenden

Welcomely to Trail Talk. Where do you live in Germany? Fifty years ago I was in Stuttgart, from where I travelled extensively. Submit your questions and I will do my best to help you. If there are small Twigs (wood) available for your journey, I recommend using the Sierra Zip Woodburning Camping Stove.”

“Now...you used the personal reference "du" for a stranger?????? LOL”

“uhm...Marko...I think I have heard from that National Park. It's supposed to very, very beautifull and rich with wildlife. I also heard parts of it got quiet heavily infested with landmines. Maybe that's one reason why it's not over-trampled? Please get some information befor you go trampling ...or better, tread lightly!!”

“I live in the Saarland next to the french and luxemburgian borders. Regarding the stove i'm tempted to take either a Coleman F1-Lite stove or maybe for a bit ore the Primus Multifuel which would allow me to use more kinds of fuel ifi understood it correct.”

“Huh!!!!

I thought Slovenia was the part of Jugoslavia that had little or nothing to do with the conflict in the '90s.

The Serb trouble-makers were too few-less than ten percent of the population--and the Slovenes are a different ethnic group with no "dog in that fight".”

“problem with the translations is always that in english its always you no matter if "du" informal or "sie" formal is meant.

Personally i'm ok with the "du" since "sie" always makes me feel a bit awkward”

“LOL...I am sorry I speak only enough German (anymore) to get my face slapped in a Bar.”

“sorry....I just looked it up, the information with the landmines dind't belong to Triglav. It's another NP in the former Jugoslavia, that lay on the through way of marauding armed forces. No offence meant.
Enjoy hoping and stomping around Triglav.”

“I can't speak German other than to order in a German restaurant....all those worst...!

Anyway as we say in Western North Carolina..Hi Yall...Welcome to TT!!”

“You're right, XL400236. Sorry for the error. There are probably more. I should have just written it in the best German that I could muster. The translator programs are very poor.”

“Why not hike the Alps before Scotland, since they are in your backyard?”

“well, even if you have a very beautifull backyard at your home, don't you sometimes wish to explore someone elses backyard?

Real hiking season in the alps will not start befor June/July. The West Highland Way will give me a good workout to get fit for alpine tours in summer. Scotland is wonderfull. It's not my first trip to the British Isls.”

“the rough landscape of the scottish lands have much more fascination forme than the alps i must admit. besides i dont feel ready for a real mountain tour yet ;p”

“Picturing the Scottish Highlands makes me think of that movie --- "An American Werewolf in London" LOL

Beware the Lycanthrope!


(check that moon phase when scheduling your trip... VBG)”

“actually that movie was a favourite of my exgirlfriend ;p

But rest assured i'll be prepared *grin*”

“Sometimes I carry garlic... just because I like garlic, [G]


Or is that just for vampires? I forget...”

“garlic is for vampire. but its awesome stuff ;p

and part of the reason why i'm only seldom allowed to cook (too mcuh garlic) ;p”

“No such thing as too much garlic!”

“finally someone who understands me ;p”

“Hi Fengor, and welcome! Gemini is from Germany as well but now lives in the U.S. I believe she is in Germany at the moment dealing with a death in her family, but she'll be back.”

“sad to her. it is always a bad thing to loose a family member :/”