5 Day Hike.... Advice?

[copper_head]

Heh all,
I am intending to walk a trail in yorkshire that runs for 79miles from Hull to Filey (the yorkshire wolds way) in october, it is pretty easy going terrain but i am having trouble packing for it, im sure there have been threads of this nature before but your advice would be appreciated .
I always take too much stuff so if anyone can think of things I need to leave out (or add?), I am going alone
Anyway this is my kit as it stands:
DD Hammock
Cold weather sleeping bag
Closed Cell sleeping mat (to line hammock)
Web-tex Basha + Ropes
Medium Billy Pot
Carbon Steel Knife
Folding Saw
Hexi Stove
4x 1ltr Canteen
Lock Knife
First Aid kit
Tikka headtorch
Small sharpening stone
Fire pouch, with tinder etc
Firesteel
Waterproof socks
Ventile Jacket, rain pants, and gaiters
Cutlery
Crusader Mug
Wooly Hat
Gloves
2x Changes of clothes
extra socks
extra midlayer
Food (was thinking of going with ingredients and actually cooking rather than rat packs)
Brew kit (most important of all )
Maps (+case)
Compass
'survival tin' with chem tabs, spare compass, couple of LEDS you know little odds and ends
Small bag of toilteries
Travel Towel

 

[BushTucker]

Hi

Mobile phone, emergency bivvi bag,I dont think I would take a hexi stove for 5 days!, personally I would rethink that one.

Wooly hat( oh, you got that ), spare batts, small radio ( as you are going alone ), camera, spare compass ( if you dont already have one in your survival tin.

Don

 

[copper_head]

Well I got a swedish army trangia I could take instead of the hexi.... but its alot more weight and the billy pot isnt as good, but yeah would definatly have to take extra hexi blocks. But I am loth to take my gas stove, kinda takes out the fun out of it. But your dead on with the phone, had forgotten about that.
God so much stuff!

 

[BushTucker]

Well I use a trangia in pref to my gas as i find them hard to rely on from past mishaps, it only weighs about a kilo I think, hexi blocks are wasted on me as i find when i want them they have released them selves from the safe harbour of there packaging and got crumbled in the bottom of my bergan.

I take mine whenever I go out and I find that in a good rucksack you would barely notice any difference, today I used it for a walk around my local area, I carried the trangia and 22kilo of other stuff for 13 miles. Yes I know pepes are gonna say what the hell had you got in there but i am trying to get fit again and carried a couple of house bricks to weigh it a bit,lol

 

[benp1]

are you going on your own? if you're going with someone else then you can prob share the load with some things

are you ok hammocking on that trip? are there places to do it on the way? or planning on doing it stealthily?

 

[copper_head]

To Bushtucker; thanks mate thats one decision made, I will go with the trangia and leave the othwer billypot. Alas for my new hexi stove

To Benp1; Yes I am going alone as my normal bushcart buddy cant get the time off , and yes I will be hammocking as I have always used bivvies in the past and only just got my DD, there is much woodland in which to camp.

 

[BushTucker]

I think you have made a wise choice regarding the hexi, besure to take extra meths preferably in a stonger container then those clear bottles it is sold in, I have had one crack on me.

Wish I was closer sounds a nice trip.

Don

 

[copper_head]

thanks, looks like ill be dusting off my battered old Sigg bottle

 

[Long Stride]

Did a three day walk last week around my local area.
Covered around 15km a day which was dictated by water sources. Differing terrain – roads, moorland, forest and hills.

Kit I took in a 65litre Rucksack.

Tarp
Ground Sheet
Bivie Bag
3 Season Sleeping Bag / Liner
Rollmat
Wash Kit
Map + Compass
Spare set of clothes
Waterproofs
Gaiters
Wooly Hat
Shemagh
Jumper
Norgy top
Trangia + Hexi Cooker
Meths
Zebra Billy Can
Small Mess Tin
1L Bottle + Metal Mug ( Dutch)
2L Flexi Bottle
Puritabs
Food
First Aid Kit
Poncho
Head Torch
Folding Saw
Frost Clipper
Small survival kit
Mobile Phone


I carry a Trangia + Hexi Cooker as I prefer the trangia but like the speed of the Hexi cooker at times.

Remember if you are going in October the days will be shorter so less daylight.

I suggest that you plan your food/menu per day before you leave and take another days worth as well incase you have to hole up somewhere due to bad weather/unforeseen occurrence.

As you are going out for 5 days it might be a good idea to do some route cards.

They are usually used for Hillwalking but they are a good way of planning and timing a route day by day. Copies can also be left with some one that would miss you if you do not check in or return on time. If you are interested just Google " Route Card ".

Just some suggestions

Be safe and enjoy youself

 

[Dougster]

I always take a couple of paperbacks I won't mind giving away in a zip lock bag. On those early nights - in your hammock and warm sleeping bag - they will be a joy. MOst modern phones, if you take a handsfree, have a radio and for not a lot of money you can get a solar charger

Purely out of making life a mite easier I put a compass keyring on my jacket zip - makes life easy sometimes and camelbaks - backed up with a hard bottle mean you are more likely to hydrate and therefore feel better in yourself.

Have a great time and don't forget to post pics!

 

[Doc]

You are probably fitter than I am, but it looks like a fairly heavy outfit. I like to keep the pack under 13kg if possible. I would not be surprised if your current kitlist is pushing 20kg.

I'd suggest:
One knife not two
minimal extra clothes rather than 2 changes of clothing
spork not cutlery
Are 4 litres of water really needed?
Do you need to carry 5 days of food or is resupply en route an option?
Dehydrated food not ratpacks
Steel mug is handy as a cooking vessel, but as you already have a pot, maybe a lighter mug?
One compass not two
Do you need gloves in England in October unless you get cold hands or need them for handling hot pots etc.

At meets everybody brings loads of kit, as they do not have to carry it far. If you are on a multi-day long distance trip like this, the weight really does matter.

 

[copper_head]

Hi all thanks again for the advice;
To Long Stride: Thanks for the comparison, very helpfull (at least theres someone who carries more than me ). And yes route cards seem like a good idea, altho I will admit its not exactly the most remote location for the most part.

To Dougster: yep good plan hadnt thought of the entertainment side of things, I think books are more my thing a radio's a bit noisy for me. But yeah i reckon I'll take the new mears book (when it eventually arrives)

Anyone got any thoughts on food? I am planning to take things like premixed bannock, rice, pulses, dried sausage (chorizo etc), a good chunk of dry cure bacon (Nessmuks' expeditionary pork, thanks BCUK for that one ) and I have a little Nalgene cook set that i keep herbs and spices in. Obviously all this takes time to prepare a meal from but its the sort of trip i want, the last time I went out it was all ration packs, and they are not pleasant!

I guess I'll be taking chocolate and some sort of emergency ration (probably one of those horrible things up there ), and im gonna and try to forage what I can recognise....

 

[copper_head]

To doc; well your right about the steel mug, but im not sure if i can manage to bake in it but certainly worth thinking about, and yeah with regard to the clothes I reckon I could do the old dry set wet set thing and just have an additional mid layer. Im not sure about water 4kg is alot, but well i tend to get very thirsty when im hiking and I hvent done all this walk before so not sure about the availability of water.
And your right I dont need two knives, thanks

 

[commandocal]

I always overpack too I would prefer to have too much than too less because i always miss something out - rat packs are awesome cannot beat them if you have a variety! :yikes: what is the walk called please i would be intrested in doing it one time

 

[copper_head]

Heh Commandocal! Nice to see a local lad , the Yorkshire Wolds Way runs from the humber bridge north along the wolds, via market weighton and pocklington then veers east from fridaythorpe and finishes on Filey brigg. Have a look; http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/YorkshireWoldsWay/

 

[addo]

Hi copperhead, good luck with the walk.
Im planning to do the ridgeway walk down to avebury as soon as im fit enough 5-6 days 85 mile, so this thread has been quite usefull. Ive been trying to drag friends along for ages but they keep changing their minds, so I might be on me own.

 

[copper_head]

heh addo, well glad to hear im not the only one bonkers enough to 'go solo' , im quite looking forward to it though should be quite a challenge. The only downside is if something is left behind i can only shout at myself . I will post pics etc and let everyone know how it went.
BTW www.historicaltrekking.com is a great site for trail recipes

 

[spamel]

4 litres isn't a lot of water, you could get through that in a day. It is a lot to carry though. That's 4 kilograms straight away, or 8.8 pounds for the oldies! My suggestion would be to carry one or two max, but take a collapsible bottle of some sort if you have it to fill up with just before setting camp for the night. Knock on a farm door, or a house out in the sticks, be polite and ask if you can fill up. Nine times out of ten you will get a friendly positive response. Be thankful and you will leave with your water stocks replenished.

Failing that, look for troughs for cattle. Hold the stop cock in position and then bail the water out by scooping with your hand. bail out a lot so that the water level drops enough for you to get your bottle under the outlet without the water from the trough touching the bottle opening. Fill up, and be on your way. These are ways my Dad taught me to do things whilst camping as a youth, and as he spent his childhood in Hull, and I was born there, you can see that it is a simple way of getting water even in Hull!

Good luck with your trip.

 

[copper_head]

thanks for the advice, thats a good trick with the cattle trough. But certainly im not adverse to asking people for water, but well im trying to get as far from the rest of the world as poss , but ho-hum thats not always easy in pastural britian, lol

 

[Chester`C]

Well hell another lad from Hull were all coming out of the bushes now just got back from the woodlore and need somewere to stay on a night so if you know any good spots then would appreciate a nod in this direction as for the wolds way nice choice

Kit wise take a Mil bag and carrying so much water won't be an issue so long as you can source a supply, toiletries got them but how are you going to dig a hole?

Food I'd probably re-supply every day its not as if you'll be walking 2.5 days in one direction and then turning around there are plenty of little villages en route it'll be cheaper than buying rat packs also tastier a bit of dry pasta and chorizto etc

1 change of clothes your day wear and a tux for evening dress

or your day/wet wear and a change being your dry/evening wear

waterproofs and plenty of layers you can take em off but you can't put them on if there not there as it may well be cold on the night but red hot during the day while your hiking and this pocket book to read