First blog by Helen Lloyd from ‘takeonafrica’

Gareth    Clothing, General Outdoor     africa, Colin, cycling, Helen, photography

Helen Lloyd is one determined woman, and we at webtogs are priveliged to help her out during her African adventure over the next couple of years. For an overview of Helen’s journey and to appreciate her simply wonderful photography go to www.takeonafrica.com

Out biking round Dorset a couple of weekends ago, making the most of the unusually hot, sunny weather and I’ve had a revelation. Two in fact.
Firstly, I can’t believe I’ve participated in high-energy sports all these years, without having discovered merino wool clothing! Busting a gut pedaling up the hills with sweat dripping out of every pore and my new Icebreaker top stayed practically dry. With the amount I sweat, that’s certainly a major achievement and possibly a minor miracle. Best feature of all though is that it’s been left disregarded, unwashed in the corner of my room ever since and there’s not even the faintest hint of the all-too-familiar ‘festering sports gear’ stench, which as my house-mates will contest, can be rather overwhelming at times! This all bodes well for when it comes to cycling through Africa where the sun will be much hotter, I’ll be sweatier and washing machines will be fewer and far between. Reckon the ‘dash tank’ looks pretty good on too.
Oh, and the other revelation? There’s pure pleasure, with zero guilt, in consuming two magnums in a day when you’ve been out biking for six hours… Don’t suppose I’ll be coming across many ice-cream vans in the Sahara though.

Right, time for bed me thinks.
Helen

Blandford Shop re-opens

Gareth    Gareth, General Outdoor, Planning     Blandford Forum, Colin, Gareth, gear, Shop

Most of the people reading this blog will know Webtogs as an Online website and may not be familiar with the fact we have a shop in Blandford Forum thats run by Colin, our shop manager and uber guru mountain bikey action man. The shop has been on the go since day one as it has been important for us to get direct feedback from customers on products. It is however a rather small shop and Colin had been concerned that we were trying to be a bit of a jack of all trades. Keith (our buyer) on the way back from ISPO, started to chew the fat with Colin and together they decided the best way forward was to become a lot more specialised and focus more on footwear and boots.

Both these lads are of the get hands dirty brigade and so just 3 weeks later – they had completely changed the shop and refitted it. Last night James and myself, mosied on down for the grand re-opening. To say we were completely blown away by the change is like saying Karl Marx was a little to the left in politics. Gone was the cramped interior filled with gear left, right and centre, to be replaced by a clean, airy store focussing on boots with good local walking essentials (packs, socks, maps etc).

The highlight of the shop for me has to be the central ramp to ensure that people get a good feel for their boots on an upward and downhill slope, it looks frankly awesome. Colin and the gang have also been going through a training programme to ensure that the fitting service we offer is second to none.

The opening night was brilliant with lots of local people coming in to see the new style and attendance from the local press. All in all it was a cracking night and I very much hope that the shop reaps the success it deserves as we move in to 2009. If you are in the area, pop on down to 47B East Street to check it out or give Colin a call for more information on 01258 455544