A final piece of equipment that will be important for us in the exceedingly hilly south west country is walking poles. The poles take the strain of the walking on hill terrain and I find them useful for both up and downhill. When you are carrying a heavy pack they are particularly useful for taking the pressure off of your knees which can be put under a lot of strain. I have light-weight poles, but Jo recently purchased ultra-light poles that I am casting envious eyes over. Watch this space!
With only a few days left before I leave on a nine-week adventure, I thought people might be interested in what I need to sustain me. Since we started our walk all those months ago, the contents of the rucksack has changed substantially with different gear and certainly much lighter than when we started out. We no longer carry as many clothes as we did and many of the little luxuries we carried have found their way in to waste bins in various parts of the country. The other major change is that most of our equipment is now ultra or super lightweight, easy to care for and, where clothing is concerned, able to be worn for much longer periods before a change is required. Things like t-shirts and underwear have morphed in to an extremely light merino wool product that is often the choice of serious explorers because it can be worn for long periods. I have read reviews of the t-shirts being worn for months on Artic expeditions and still not giving off odour. Don't be confused by the wool label, these are a very modern product that in no way resemble your wooly jumpers! Because they are light in weight, such items can be washed and dried very quickly and I have seen the t-shirts dry in an hour. We use both short and long-sleeved varities, as well as short and long-legged pants. Marino long johns and long-sleeved t-shirts are great for keeping you warm in the tent on cold nights. Gloves, hats, socks and even our new fancy pillows (2.5 ounces) are also lightweight. One of the drawbacks with the equipment is that it is expensive so we make the changes over time to spread the cost. We recently both invested in a new pair of Merrel flat running shoes to use as camp shoes. Up till now I have used a pair of what were called light yacht shoes. The new Merrels are half the weight of them again. Even the heavier items of equipment have been reduced drastically from the ones I remember carrying as a young man going camping up the Greenside or down to Loch Lomond. For cooking we use a piece of equipment called a Jet Boil that operates off a small gas bottle. Because it is a contained system, it can boil a half litre of water in two minutes and can also be adapted to operate as a general cooker to cook food. We carry one ultra-lightweight cooking pot that is used mainly for rice / pasta / cereal dishes. As much of the food we use is dehydrated, re-constituted in the bag, the quick boil time of the Jetboil means that in the morning or late at night, we can have hot food and drinks with in minutes of waking / arriving and, it is extremely useful during the long, sometimes exhausting, sometimes wet days to be able to quickly make a brew. With the instant coffee sachets we carry, already with milk and sugar, a nice hot cup of javva can re-invigorate you for another five miles. With the average cup of coffee costiing close to a couple of pounds now in shops, it is much cheaper for us to make our own. The tent we use is a Hoolie 2, with poles and tent pegs weighing in at 2.45 kilos (5lb 6ozs). With only two poles, ground and fly sheet attached we can have it up in about eight minutes, fully pegged. It is a spacious tent, with a porch area for storing equipment and dirty boots, albeit you cannot stand up in it. Complimented by super lightweight sleeping bags and sleeping mats, we are guaranteed to be 'snug as a bug in a rug'.
A final piece of equipment that will be important for us in the exceedingly hilly south west country is walking poles. The poles take the strain of the walking on hill terrain and I find them useful for both up and downhill. When you are carrying a heavy pack they are particularly useful for taking the pressure off of your knees which can be put under a lot of strain. I have light-weight poles, but Jo recently purchased ultra-light poles that I am casting envious eyes over. Watch this space!
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