Category Archives: STORM Kettle

New! The Poppin Storm Kettle

A new product from the Eydon Kettle company, makers of the famous STORM Kettles we use on this site, the POPPIN is a unique smaller, taller STORM Kettle, specially designed to “Pop-in” your rucksack or whatever else you use to carry gear around. It look a beautiful object from the photos we’ve seen and we’re hoping to get to try one out very soon and will of course report back on it’s usage here if we do. It’s slimmer shape would be a great advantage as of course the traditional shape kettles have to be quite broad for the way the flames will shoot up the chimney, so having a higher chimney allows a full 1.5 pint capacity in a much slimmer product, we’d expect that is a real advantage even just for storing your kettles – I’ve got 4 different ones and they do take up a bit of space! But the proof of any pudding is in the eating of course, but so far this looks like Eydon have done it again after our previous favourite the “Popular” model (see video here) and like that the Poppin comes in a gorgeous and very practical matt black heat resistant paint coating, and they really look the business – the true “Black Billy” of Australian legend, from the old folk song based on the Irish tune The Boys of Wexford song: “With a swag on my shoulder, black billy in my hand, I travel the bush of Australia, like a true-born Irishman” – A classic bit of Irish irony in there I think – a wandering Irishman, in a dusty land, far away from his lush green homeland (see our post “The History and Romance of the Australian Swag“) Some pictures of the new product below – and it’s available from the website here

The tall, slim Poppin STORM Kettle


The new Poppin Kettle with Cooking Kit and Carry Bag

Good Ol’ Kelly Kettle

You’ll see the Kelly Kettle and Eydon STORM Kettle in use all over this site: If you haven’t already got one then we heartily recommend that you become acquianted with this fantastic piece of gear: perfect for river trips and camping. And if you are wondering where you can get one, we’ve provided this selection of Kelly Kettles, Ghilie Kettles and accessories from Amazon.co.uk:



Brewing up a STORM…

The STORM Kettle from the Eydon Kettle company has been getting good use all winter, keeping out the cold, but I’ve just cleaned it ready for Spring season and plenty more use. What a great piece of gear it is… I definitely prefer the black finish to the standard metal finish of most “Kelly Kettles”. I’m packing now for our first real canoe trip of the year, where we’ll be testing out an inflatable “Sevylor Colorado” 2-man canoe from Brookbank Canoes, as well as a new Red Old Town Discovery 158 so stay tuned. Some stormy and damp weather ahead which I hope blows through before the off-date… if it’s windy and cold then the STORM kettle will be pressed into service again, hoping for some Spring sunshine though…

Sevylor Colorado inflatable canoe:

colorado1

Snowbound in a Campfire Tent

The Campfire Tent has been getting good use during this winter snow: kind of a ‘Backyard’ test for a snowbound winter camp here. The campfire tent proving itself again – giving great shelter from strong and bitterly cold Northerly winds, whilst allowing the openess for cooking, observing nature and snowbound views, and generally ‘messing about in tents’! In this weather the views have been absolutely stunning and I haven’t missed a thing – including a huge shooting star one evening. I set up just before the snow came in 10 days ago, and after the main snowfall the roof of the tent had about 5 inches of snow weighing it down – that’s a LOT of weight, and happy to say the canvas, stitching, poles and guys all stood up to the test. The pegs have been completely frozen into the ground so they aren’t going anywhere, which has helped in the very strong winds we’ve had. Walking the fields all the activity of nature is written into the snow in footprints – from tiny mice trails and bird footprints, to thin and whispy deer tracks and big badger prints – all the activity you’d normally miss in the dark is recorded for the following morning.

Also here is a backyard test of a new “Hekla 30 firebox“ from Tentipi, a great bit of kit I’ll write more about in detail later.. The tent itself is from Green Outdoor and features in the Winter Camp story below. For now here’s the video: