Hilleberg Soulo on left with Vaude Power Lizard on the right
Well the remnants of Hurricane Katia, but the news casters love a headline. So very strong winds were forecast today.
This morning I set up my Vaude Power Lizard and Hilleborg Soulo in our nearest field and the wrong side of the very large hedge which separates the garden from our sheep field to see what if any issues there would be. Now anyone who lives in Lincolnshire will know that it can really blow here and hence, many properties have a big hedge to protect them from the wind.
I was interested to see in particular how the Power Lizard performed, because since making some simple modifications the weather has been rather benign each time I have been out in this tent.
Well I went out lunch time ( I was working at home today ) to see how they were getting on and they were doing fine. The fly of the Power Lizard deformed when a strong gust came along but the Power frame held firm and did not move. I put this down to 2 simple modifications I have made.
1. Getting rid of the silly fixed guy lines either side of the Power frame and adding Dyneema guys with line loks to get a much tighter pitch.
2. The 2 small Ti pegs supporting the small end poles have been replaced with 2 V-shaped Ti pegs, so the pegs don’t pull out in strong winds like today. This happened once when I was wild camping in The Lakes.
The Soulo as expected just stood there defiantly. The wind speed was not as strong as forecasted, with my anemometer mounted at 2 metres showing an average of around 30kph (20 mph) – Force 5 with gusts up to 50kph (31 mph)- Force 7. Not as strong as the “Look North” local news programme said at gusts of 54 mph in Lincoln. I guess the 750 trees I planted as a copse and a hedge along the south and west side of our fields, really must be acting as a wind break now they are maturing.
The winds were strong enough to bring down a large branch off a nearby Willow tree ( more fuel for the wood burner!) but not what I was expecting. I was hoping for higher winds to give it a more rigorous test, but I can say that in winds of at least Force 7, the Power Lizard is fine with my modifications. I have been in the Soulo in winds higher than today and have no worries about this tent.
Mark's walking blog 
It’s good to see how they cope when you are at home. I know i would rather take the Soulo if i was going north from now until next spring. I just wish i could get out any time soon.
Alan, I understand from your blog that you have shingles? Not much fun that, I hope you get better soon.