Anyone coming along to the Backpackers Club lightweight festival bash this coming weekend? This is a great day out, or make a weekend of it, and is the gathering place for the UK's lightweight and ultralight backpackers. There will be trade stands, lots of new gear and bags of chat. To be held in Ashford-in-the-water in the White Peak, Derbyshire. The main Fest will be on Saturday but Backpackers Club members will be congregating from Friday evening through till Sunday. Hope to see lots of you there...

Are non-members welcome?

Anybody driving up from the Southwest?

John

Yes indeed, non-members are more than welcome.

I'll be there. I'm usually a solitary backpacker, but I thoroughly enjoy these gatherings such as Kendal/Fort William/Keswick Mountain Festivals throughout the year. The Outdoors Warehouse won't be exhibiting at the festival which is a shame as since Winwood Outdoor closed their shop, Outdoors warehouse is the only shop I know of that sells ultralight gear. I must admit at being a little dissapointed that their ultralight section seems to have been taken over with Ruff Ware dog accessories. I'll be trying out my Terra Nova bivvy tarp, the initial outing at Sprinkling Tarn was... breezy. I'm really looking forward to the weekend, and hope the event continues and grows in the coming years.

Oh dear, I hadn't realised that Winwood has closed. What a pity...

Winwood closed their shop, but they are continuing on-line. I think they are looking for new shop premises.

That's good to hear Mike. Ian Young and his staff offered excellent service to their customers. I have bought several items of ultralight gear from them that you simply can't get from other gear shops. All credit to them for sticking their necks out and offering an alternative to other gear shops that just seem to be clones of one another. I was hoping that they were still operating on the interweb.

Yeah. I lke winwood and will continue to use them. Glad to here they are still in business.

Hi, it's Ian from Winwood Outdoor, thought I'd better post to firstly apologise for not getting to the Backpackers weekend. Up until the last minute we intended to go but we had a little ill health in the family and couldn't make it. Sorry about that, we'll be there next year.

Also like to explain the shop situation. We closed the shop in Keswick for various reasons mostly due to rent increases and an unforgiving 15 year rental agreement, but also because our web business was doing much better than the shop. We still have a warehouse just outside Keswick from which we run the web business. If anyone wants to come and see our lightweight gear then they are more than welcome to come and see us at the warehouse, the directions are on this page:
http://www.winwood-outdoor.co.uk/acatalog/Winwood_Outdoor_Sunset_Hill_Keswick.html
If you give me a call, I'll make sure I'm there to go through things with you.

I realise how important it is for people to be able to come and see the lightweight stuff because sometimes it's difficult to make a decision from photos online. That is one of the reasons why we decided to keep our business in Keswick so that people could still come and see us when they are in the Lakes, so please give us a call if you have any questions or want to see anything.

Hope that explains a few things.

Ian

Thanks, Ian. Good to know you're still around and good luck with the online business.