Review: MSR Miniworks EX water filter

I’ve covered a fair few wild edibles in the past on this blog and where as I do enjoy going out collecting these plants I usually take them home to cook in a “normal” kitchen with taps. 

I wanted to talk today about stripping things back a little and heading more in a survival / wild camping direction. At the right time of year I don’t think I’d have much trouble surviving for a few days, even a week or two foraging for my sustenance however clean water would always be a bit of a worry and carrying 2 litres for each day I would be out would be rather weighty. Things to be concerned about when collecting water are chemicals, toxins ,pesticides, bacteria, protozoa, cryptosporidium and waterbourne viruses. This is where the MSR Miniworks EX comes in.

The Miniworks has a replaceable carbon ceramic filter, good for 2000 litres and with 0.2 micron filter size will get rid of all of the above apart from the viruses. For the viruses I’d suggest a using a chlorine tablet after you have filtered the water and if you are not a fan of the flavour, filtering the clean water through the Miniworks again should remove most of the pool water taste. 

Weighing in at 16oz / 450 grams some say that it is a little on the heavy side but when you think about it, it is only a quarter of the weight of your daily water needs. The Miniworks is completely field maintainable needing no tools to take it apart and just a little 3M scrubbing pad to clean the filter. On the base of the Miniworks there is a little red calliper which when able to fit over the removed filter indicates that its time to replace it. Replacement filters cost around the £40 mark but you do occasionally see them cheaper. 

The filter is operated by a hand pump which includes an Airspring Accumulator and when completely clean will deliver a flow rate of a litre a minute. It is ideally suited to the MSR Alpine 1 ltr bottle which will screw straight onto the bottom of the Miniworks. Together you have a great little set up to extend your adventure time in the wild, keep you and small group hydrated and at £77 from Webtogs won’t break the bank!

When compared to its rival the Katadyn Hiker Pro which comes in at around the same price with a similar cost for the replacement filter I would certain chose the MSR over the Katadyn as the latter filter is only good for 900 litres so less than half that of the MSR.

For more reviews like this why not check out Outdoor Gear Review 

Wild Swimming, or swimming as I like to call it

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DAY THREE: Seven-mile river swim

On a hot day in August I set out to swim down a stretch of the Ouse.  We began our journey at the same spot where I slacklined across the river a couple of days earlier.  It was the hottest day of the year so far with promised highs of 32c so the time was ripe to carry out this plan.

I have been following the adventures of David Cornthwaite for some time.  I can only dream of the endeavours he’s undertaken, he always completes a journey of a thousand miles in various forms of self propelled transportation, but of most interest to me is the thousand mile swim he began on the 10 August 2012 down the Missouri river.  As Britain is only 600 miles in length I can’t really compete with the amazing adventures he’s had but I had some fun pretending on a 7 mile swim down the Ouse. 

Neither my girlfriend, Alice or I boast to be strong swimmers – in fact Alice decided to sail the river on a rubber ring.  I had done a couple of mile long practice swims in the weeks before and had found it pretty tough, especially as I had pulled the tendons in my hand falling off the slackline a couple of days before, but I was up for the challenge - safe in the knowledge I could use Alice as a life raft when necessary.   

We slipped ungracefully down the muddy banks into the water and were greeted by dozens of bright blue Damselflies flitting about on the surface of the water, in a courtship dance, which was a nice distraction from the Baltic temperature of the river.   It was quite shallow at this point, so Alice had the advantage, floating off on her rubber ring.  I tripped and stumbled in an ungainly fashion through the knee-deep water, trying to avoid submerged tree trunks.

Eventually, the river deepened and I got to do some proper swimming.  We were treated to the sight of hunting kingfishers and a swooping buzzard along the way but despite this I couldn’t distract myself from the fact that I would have been much more comfortable in a wet suit.  Several times we hauled ourselves out onto the bank to warm up in a patch of sunlight, once disturbing a herd of Roe Deer, before plunging back into the icy depths.

The hardest obstacle to overcome was a complete blockage of the river from a fallen down tree, this had amassed a twiggy scum and was impassable.  We were forced to swim back up river and clamber up the bow of a tree straight into a bramble bush to circumnavigate the blockage.

We completed the swim in six hours and the last of the 7 miles was spent with me lying across Alice on the rubber ring for warmth.  We were greeted by our one-man rescue party at the pub, who had a jug of Pimms and bowl of chips at the ready. 

Whilst we enjoyed our swim and like to think of it as an epic adventure ,we can only dream of completing the amazing journeys undertaken by David Cornthwaite.  David and us started our swims around the same time, but the difference is that he’s still swimming a month later and is aiming to raise a million pounds for charity in the process.  If you would like to find out more about him and donate to a worthy cause visit www.davecornthwaite.com.