Reality check?

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This weekend will be our first practice walk for the trip – the plan is to walk approximately 20 miles to a campsite near Ely, camp in the tent overnight, and walk back to Cambridge on Sunday. This will give us a chance to try out things like shoes, rucksacks and the tent for the first time, and to see what walking this kind of distance with kit will be like. Having only been camping a few times before, and not really in the last 7 years, I’m feeling a little apprehensive about this weekend. I can’t remember the last time I’ve walked this sort of distance with kit (likely around 10-12 kg), so have little idea exactly how easy or difficult it will be. The plan to walk 16-20 miles each day for 3 weeks on the trip around Scotland seems achievable at the moment, mostly because I have no idea what I’m getting myself in for!

This trip should give an indication of how challenging things will be, even though the Scottish hills may be a little more challenging than flat Fenland terrain. Fingers crossed it won’t be too much of a reality check…and for good weather this weekend!

-Heley

Receiving advice about camping equipment

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I’ve been asking around for advice on what camping equipment to take. I already had a good idea of what I wanted, but still have areas where the load could be lightened. I’ve sent e-mails off in all directions, but the first two companies to get back to me are The North Face and Backpackinglight.co.uk

I asked The North Face about whether there was any tent re-sealer that they would recommend. They sent me a very polite “copy and paste” e-mail in reply apologising for the trouble I’ve had with my tent and outlining their warranty coverage. They go on to discuss how I should get in contact with my dealer… etc., etc.

My question was how best to re-seal a North Face tent. Ahh well.

I had a distinctly different response from the very helpful people at Backpackinglight. Not only do they have hundreds of hours of podcasts that I’m downloading and listening to, but they quickly replied to a series of questions I had about their gear.

After their advice to use meths, rather than gas, I have to have a quick rethink of the food strategy. The problem with gas is getting hold of it, or carrying enough canisters to last 3 weeks. A lot of smaller camping shops have closed; however, hardware shops and some petrol stations sell meths. I’m not used to cooking with meths. It’s not as simple as gas; you can’t just turn the meths off and pour it back in the bottle. Heley and I have plenty of time to work out exactly how much meths we need to boil enough water for two cups of tea though!

For filtering water we’re also looking at the Travel Tap, or Aquapure Traveller, both are much lighter than my MSR Water filter, and it sounds like either are suitable for use in highland streams. It helps that we can take 2 of them for less weight than the MSR Water filter.

We had been thinking about sharing one set of walking poles; however, at Backpackinglight they are really keen on the use of walking poles. They claim that “using poles will reduce the accumulated stress on the feet, legs, knees and back by an estimated 8,877+ kg (31,500+ lb) per mile.”  Given the state of my knee I think I’ll probably be using two poles then!

Our shared kit list and my personal kit list are now pretty much complete; we just need to buy the kit. Heley still has some way to go organising her clothes etc. It’s all a little heavier than I’d like, although it is possible to save a fair bit.

So far the shared kit is around 9.5 kg. I’ve got 5.5 kg of personal kit, so we are already up to 15 kg before taking into account spare batteries, food or water. Replacing the tent and not taking the water filter would save 1 kg. There are some luxuries that can be cut if we want to save another 1 kg. After that it’s looking a little more difficult to cut without spending money.

You can have a look at some of the kit we’d ideally have over here.

Hitting The Hills: provisional date and pre-trips

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We’ve finally pencilled in a few dates for when we want to go walking:

  • 16th – 17th July: Go for a walk through Cambridgeshire. This is our first overnight trip, and the first night Heley and I will have shared a tent, so we’ll be finding out what we’re letting ourselves in for.
  • 3rd – 7th August: We’re off to North Wales for a few nights. This will be our main gear test, and where we find out if we can actually walk the sort of distances we’re promising to walk.
  • 25th August: The start of our trek around Scotland. It’s a date that seems to be rapidly approaching.

We’ve got a couple of other important dates noted down. There’s a DC Boxing presentation evening on the 22nd July, Heley will be off on the kickboxing summer camp from 14th-21st August, and around the same time I hope to be in Greece visiting my girlfriend.

Cambridgeshire is one of the flattest counties in England, so it’s going to be difficult to organise many comparable walks to those we are going to experience on the journey. We should be putting a fair few miles under our belts before the 25th August, so if you see two crazy people walking around Cambridgeshire with rucksacks on, it might be us.

Tarps and Leaky Tents

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Yesterday we tested our The North Face Tadpole 23 tent with a hosepipe. It survived pretty well, apart from at the seams, which were quite happy to let water through into the tent. Not to worry, we still have plenty of time to get things fixed.

Actually, we are looking at two options:

  • Re-sealing the tent.
  • Selling it and buying a new tent.

For a new tent we’re looking at either the MSR Hubba Hubba HP or the Big Agnes Copper Spur UL2. The reason for looking at a new tent is that either of the new tents would be over 500 grams lighter and have 2 doors.

The North Face Tadpole is a great little tent. It has slightly more headroom (looking at the measurements) than most tents, it seems robust, and it will be waterproof again soon.

The main problem is that it only has one door. With two of us getting in and out of the tent it may be a bit awkward, particularly in bad weather. The other issue is that being very narrow at one end, it is perhaps a little cosy for two people sharing for three weeks. That said, two of us fitted quite comfortably in there, and we did manage to squeeze a third in for a laugh. It helped that none of us could be described as chunky.

Whether we replace the tent is likely to be a decision we make after testing it in the field. A hosepipe and one sunny afternoon are hardly comparable with wet, windy weather in the Highlands.