CheapTents.com Blog Celebrates Its First Year!

Today marks the first birthday of the CheapTents.com blog! During this time we have published lots of gear reviews and interviews with outdoor professionals plus news and advice about camping, hiking, equipment and outdoor activities.

Best Ever Outdoor, Hiking, Climbing and Gear Posts!

In order to celebrate this achievement we have compiled a list of our favourite blog posts from the year. Some our posts are informative, providing useful information about gear, outdoor pursuits and travel. Some posts provide ideas about where to go hiking, climbing, cycling and mountain biking. The interviews with outdoors professionals provide an exciting incite into the adventures of people who take outdoors sports to the extreme and/or travel to the remotest parts of the world. And some posts are about things that are just plain daft! This brings me nicely onto…

If you go down to the woods today…

The bear sleeping bag was created by Japanese artist Eiko Ishizawa. It is certainly creative but not one that we would recommend for a camping trip to the Scottish Highlands, or to anywhere else for that matter!

Dreaming of Mountain Biking in Aberdeenshire

Continuing on the theme of daft, we like this post about mountain biking in Aberdeenshire. It started off as a strange dream and unfortunately did not progress much further. However, if I take my mountain bike up to Aberdeenshire in the future, I will know where to get some excellent off-road action: Kirkhill Forest Mountain Bike Trail.

Worst blog post ever? Nunataks!

Yes! This is the worst blog post ever, but it is Ryan’s favourite and it does make us chuckle. That says a lot about our sense of humour here at CheapTents.com!

So, what is a nunatak and why does make a bad blog post? It has something to do with an awful joke and an even worse artists impression!

Running the Marathon des Sables for Charity

From the “light hearted” to “not for the faint hearted”. The Marathon des Sables (MDS) is a 243km running race across the Sahara desert. You need to be extremely tough and dedicated to even think about attempting it. The MDS is the equivalent of 6 marathons in 6 days. Temperatures can reach up to 120 degrees. The terrain is rough, uneven, stoney ground and 20% of the distance is covered on sand dunes. You have to carry everything you need apart from water since it is a self sufficient race. It is commonly dubbed as ‘the toughest footrace on earth‘. In this post Andrew McMaster, tells us about his preparation for the Marathon des Sables 2009.

Interviews on the CheapTents.com Blog

Over the course of this year we have interviewed a number of athletes, explorers, adventurers, climbers and and outdoor industry professionals for the CheapTents.com blog. Firstly we must say a big thank you to all of these people who have given their time up to tell us inspirational tales and give us an insight into their lives! It is extremely difficult to decide which of the interviews are our favourites, but after much debate we have selected those of Paul Bride, Mikael Strandberg, and Dixie Dansercoer.

Paul Bride – Explorer & Outdoor Photographer

Paul Bride is an adventurer and photographer. Paul has travelled the world, going on adventures in India, Nepal, Canada and Vietnam. In this interview he tells us about his passion for photography and how he finds himself in places that he might not return from.

Mikael Strandberg – Legendary Explorer and Adventurer

Explorer and adventurer Mikael Strandberg has travelled by horse, foot and skis through Patagonia, West Africa and Siberia. Mikael spent much the time on these expeditions travelling through uncharted territories, meeting people from different cultures and whilst in Siberia, eating raw, frozen fish.

Dixie Dansercoer: Polar Explorer and Expeditionist

Both the Arctic and the Antarctic are the passions of polar explorer Dixie Dansercoer. Dixie will use any method to explore the extremes of our planet: from mountaineering to mountain biking, from running to powerkite-skiing and from sailing to wind- and kitesurfing. The latest project that Dixie Dansercoer is spearheading is called (Ant)Arctic Matters. This is a travelling expedition that aims to showcase the beauty of polar regions and in doing so, will help us to understand and protect these globally important environments.

Wild Camping – the law, and the pro’s and con’s…

From the inspirational to the informational, we like to provide useful resources for people who are going out camping, hiking, climbing, biking and of course, advice about outdoor kit. Whilst we have a good deal of knowledge and personal experience in these subjects, we do additional researching for our posts and always find out a thing or two.

The pro’s and con’s of wild camping post shed’s light on the advantages and disadvantages of wild camping, and offers debate on whether it is legal and acceptable. A useful read for anyone thinking of going wild or mild camping.

Where do the MSR Hubbas get their name?

And on the subject of outdoor gear, we like to recommend our favourite bits of kit, point out our favourite technical features and mention favourable third party reviews. There are some special questions, however, that require us to contact the manufacturer to find out some answers…like what on earth is a Hubba?

There are selection of lightweight MSR tents with Hubba in the name. The unique design of the pole system provides the answer. But there is more to this saucy post than the answer to what is a hubba.

Hiking in the Atlas Mountains, Morocco

And finally, this post about hiking in Morocco is a favourite mainly due to the photographs of impressive scenery in part of the world that most people would not normally think of going for a walking holiday. The combination of steep sided valleys, high mountain plateaux, remote villages and a completely different culture has put the Atlas Mountains on my list of places that I wish to visit.

Here’s to the Future

There are many other exciting, interesting, informative, inspirational and daft posts on the blog. Why not take a look through our history archives or search for topic that interests you – you never know what might find!

The first year of the CheapTents.com blog has been a success and long may it continue!