Sleep mat for a painful back

[Janne]

Well, for rubbing I still think the oldfashioned Tiger Balm, the original one, is the best.
Alcohol is best for internal use.

I do not know if I ever explained, my two lowest vertebrae are compressed since an accident during my brief mil career (aged 21), have now have arthritic changes there, bad ones. Stiff as a board.
Plus another accident, one 'last straw' one that helped to end the career, (age 22) dis my right knee.
Today, after the last op, I have not much cartilage left, and both meniscuses are perforated and severely shortened....

A damn wreck I am, and not even 59.
Had I still lived in Sweden I would have 100% disability pension.
Here I work 36 hours a week....
I last 3 days maximum carrying a backpack of around 10 kilos.

 

[Woody girl]

I recall Lidl sometimes has those blow up mats?
( I almost wrote 'dolls'..... )

Hah hah I'd need a blow up male doll they are all so ugly I prefer chastity!
I have aldi mat bought last summer identical to lidl. Very heavy and bulky. Not a backpacking mat for anyone that is less than very fit. Very cheap and floppy so not a great deal of support for the ancient boneage. Makes a great mat to sit at a picnic on though or as a knee saver inside the tent.

 

[Erbswurst]

This Quechua NH100 ruck sack has 30 litres Volume and weights only 510g !!!!!
It costs only 13 £.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/arpenaz-30l-hiking-backpack-dark-green-grey-id_8332414.html

If you would change to ultra light equipment and concentrate in the essentials it surely would be large enough for every thing you need!

Just take the calculator and count together what I recommended in the list in this thread! I guess you would reach round about 4 to 5 kilogram all together without food and water.

 

[Janne]

You recommend things you really do not need, so even lighter.....

 

[Woody girl]

Most of my stuff is already lightweight or as lightweight as is affordable and nessasary for normal use. I cannot afford to buy a whole new lot of gear and I dont want to. I buy stuff to last me years and some of it has done so and is still fine. I look after it well and expect it still to be usable on my demise where it will be passed to my grandson for his use. I still have my old esbit stove and army pan from the 70s and it's still working fine.

 

[Erbswurst]

Yes off course!
That are in my opinion the best ultra lightweight products, and I know that very experienced people use them.
But I do not own every thing of that list and I use far less stuff!
In summer times I could go out for a week end with a 400g Defcon 5 poncho, a hiking map that shows me the springs, perhaps a water bottle, matches, knife, toilet paper and bread.
I did it often enough!


20 litres volume and only 100g ruck sack weight would be the next challenge!

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/arpenaz-20l-ultra-compact-wp-id_8357283.html

But that must be packed really ultra light.
It isn't very tough and comfortable.
It is meant for really light stuff.

 

[Erbswurst]

I have some very nice old stuff, and I love it!
But I can carry it without any problems!
No Problem to carry 16kg for several hours.

And I am able to go out with nothing than a poncho during the summer and to sleep on a flat rock.

You have the problems with your back, not me!

 

[Woody girl]

Sorry if I sounded a bit off there Erbswurst. Didn't mean to. I appreciate what you are saying and it's fine information . I'm used to my kit and it works so it stays untill it doesn't. My mats are not working for this particular situation so I was looking for an alternative. If I could still have a car or a companion with a healthy back to help there would be less of a problem . Thanks for your imput my friend.

 

[Alan De Enfield]

Sorry if I sounded a bit off there Erbswurst. Didn't mean to. I appreciate what you are saying and it's fine information . I'm used to my kit and it works so it stays untill it doesn't. My mats are not working for this particular situation so I was looking for an alternative. If I could still have a car or a companion with a healthy back to help there would be less of a problem . Thanks for your imput my friend.

I may have missed it, but I have not seen a reply to the question if you intend to carry 3 days water & food or if you intend to restock daily.
If you intend to carry in 3 days water and food that will be 8-9kgs on its own (depending if you go for de-hydrated, or, 'wet' foods)

 

[Erbswurst]

See, I really try to help you!

The ultra light trekking community uses some very very cheap things. Like the 510g Decathlon ruck sack, bin bags as ruck sack liners, zipp lock bags, kitchen microfibre clothes as towels, supermarket bottles and so on. Even Tarps they source out of Ikea rubbish containers!

They think out of the traditions, they look at every thing they see, if it would work. They try it out and find a lot of stuff.

At the other side there aren't only poor students and old weak people, but a lot of people who are relatively weak, because they work in an office.

This people buy incredible expensive stuff, use it for one hike of four weeks and sell it after they found the next interesting thing.
In Germany the ultra light trekking community is absolutely academic. Money doesn't really count.
It is possible to buy such stuff as good as new for half the price.

The problem is, that if you own a lightweight equipment which is 25 years old, you can't simply change two or three single things to change the problem.

You have to concentrate in the real essentials, Janne is absolutely right, if he asks if a head torch is necessary. The answer for summer use is: NO !

But if you want to lighten the load from 7 kilogram to 4 kilogram, you simply have to save 40% of weight at every single part of your equipment.

Only that keeps you hiking!​

 

[Woody girl]

It's a good area to forage both land and rocky shore. I have enough dried food for two days. Porridge sachets for breakfast and a home made dried meat and veg for a stew for two evenings plus some boil in the bag rice brew kit peanuts and dried fruit and chocolate. I don't need masses of calories. My body type I guess. I'm used to breakfast and one meal a day normaly. I should be able to forage a meal each day... and the pub is only a mile and a bit away if all else fails. I'm a mouse size eater at best of times.! The main idea is to practice coastal foraging and thrive if at all possible. It's what I have least knowledge of and it's this year's challenge to add to my skill base..the less food I take the more it forces me to forage

 

[Erbswurst]

And an other point, I forgot:

There are several chinese firms, who copy ultra light weight equipment.
A lot of tents for example have clones from China. Perhaps not the same quality like US equipment, but very cheap.
And rich ultra light trekkers play with that cheap stuff around. They order it, because they want to see, if it really exists and will reach them.
They try it out, to compare it with theyr other stuff, and than they sell it in theyr forums.
The next buys it, plays with it for a week end and sells it.
In the end you can get an ultra light tent for 50€. And that, because it has 350g instead of 300g like the original.

People who can't leave the office count quiet addicted every gram. Really every gram! They sell the pegs of 12 g to buy pegs of 8 g each.

For a lot of people it becomes a computer game, a second hobby, related with the hobby trekking, but standing alone too. Exel calculation game!
To reduce 4685 g to 4473 g makes them glad!

For well known super stuff like the Gatewood Cape one has to wait longer, but after a while it comes along! For half the price and nearly new.

And the Gatewood Cape became a few gram lighter last year! I am convinced, that people will sell the old ones and will buy the new ones.

 

[Janne]

I never carry or have carried water while trekking in northern Europe ( incl UK), as you can find drinkable water everywhere.
It only takes one water purification tablet to make water fully drinkable.
Learn reading a map, see what is upstrems. Use the organ the Gods gave you to smell with.

I have never been ill from drinking purified or boiled natural water. I have been ill from eating at restaurants.

 

[Erbswurst]

And the most stupid is to carry a kitchen with stove and fuel and aluminium wind screen etc. around, dehydrated meals and whole the missing water on top of it.

That seems to be a very popular beginners fault.

Bread, dry sausage and cheese, chocolate and nuts are the far lighter option!

Before kathadyn developed the expedition filter nobody needed one in Germany.
I never bought one and I used the micropour forte tabs ONCE in my life.
I am hiking since 42 years.

It is really complicated to hike in Europe without coming along at houses, where I easily could ask for water.
Only in some mountains and in areas of Scandinavia I don't find them, but there I usually find fresh water, which I can drink without boiling it.

Yes in some areas we don't find springs or lonely lakes. For me a good reason not to hike or especially camp there.

In Germany I buy a map and choose the way which comes along at the most springs. In the most german areas a water bottle isn't necessary for an experienced person. And here during the summer it becomes far dryer and hotter than in Britain!

 

[Woody girl]

The simplest solution to water is a water to go bottle. You can fill it from a murky canal or puddle and out comes clear drinkable water. No messing about with filters and pumps. I have one and it is an excellent bit of kit. Blow all the extra stuff people use nowadays to purify water. Before that I had a milbank and purifying tablets but hated the taste they left in the water. Keep it simple . Know where your water source is and if you boil it properly you should be fine in most places.
I watched a you tube last night of someone with a water filter getting water with a filter and it still came out all stained with peat. That doesn't happen if filtered properly. If a filter can't take out peat particles it makes me wonder if it is effective enough. I'll stick with my bottle thanks. It serves as drinking water container too so you only need the one bit of kit.

 

[Janne]

All these filtration systems have one weakness. One drop of bad water on the wrong side of the filtering device, and you can potentially get sick.
I only used the tablets in UK and southern Sweden. In the northern Scandinavia, I drink it as the Gods made it.
The village where I go to, gets its water from a melt water lake above the village.
Was piped straight, 'raw' to the village, until a few years ago when European laws made them install a sand filtration system.
The lake is popular with seagulls and eagles. The odd tourist attempting to do some crazy 'extreme sport' falls down the mountain, and ometimes they can not find all of him/her.
4-5 years ago a couple of idiot tourists wanted to ski downhill, triggered an rock and snow avalanche. They found the bits of the last one around 8 months later.
Water is better than anything I have tasted. Think Voss fashion water, but better!

Our bodies are made for drinking 'raw' water.

Sediment is not dangerous, if peat it adds a flavor.
But for sure, a filter should remove them.

 

[Toddy]

The simplest solution to water is a water to go bottle. You can fill it from a murky canal or puddle and out comes clear drinkable water. No messing about with filters and pumps. I have one and it is an excellent bit of kit. Blow all the extra stuff people use nowadays to purify water. Before that I had a milbank and purifying tablets but hated the taste they left in the water. Keep it simple . Know where your water source is and if you boil it properly you should be fine in most places.
I watched a you tube last night of someone with a water filter getting water with a filter and it still came out all stained with peat. That doesn't happen if filtered properly. If a filter can't take out peat particles it makes me wonder if it is effective enough. I'll stick with my bottle thanks. It serves as drinking water container too so you only need the one bit of kit.

Our water comes from the Daer reservoir up on the Lanark moors. In the past when it rained heavily the water in the taps could be almost whisky coloured. Didn't taste off, or odd, and it didn't stain anything, just it wasn't clear.
Apparently straining out peat is incredibly difficult, it has to be settled first using alum which helps to flocculate the peat particles before it hits the screens.
Now the water is sparkling clear, but smells of chlorine at times
I think I rather preferred the peat to be honest.

M

 

[Woody girl]

Yes I hate the chlorine smell and taste. It's like drinking a swimming pool! I'm in the process of building a large table top filter from an old tea urn and a large stock pot. I only have to get the candle filters and drill a couple of holes in the bottom of the stock pot and I'm done. (Yet another of my crazy projects) why do I dream these mad ideas up? I'm sure it's been done somewhere at some point but I do love to make things. I look at something and say.. how can I use that for something else? I usually get an instant inspiration but it can take a few trys to get it right. I'm not an engineer so often my trial and error is more error and a great trial to my fevered imagination! . The tea urn still works so the idea is I'd to be able to filter the water switch it on and have hot water on tap. Mad idea huh?

 

[Toddy]

One of my friends filters her drinking and cooking water. She has a length of drain pipe fastened onto the end of a kitchen wall unit, and it's filled with activated charcoal. Water is poured in the top and slowly filters it's way down and into a jug.
Very simple, but very effective

 

[petrochemicals]

Drinking water ehh.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KXZY...&pd_rd_r=7a92740f-3568-11e9-9526-45b81b354d8f

More expensive, dont know whether id trust it or take the gamble. Bit thick warm and light. I already have a robems brima core, quite heavy but long and thick. Only used for a static camp. Remarkably hard when i put myself on it !

https://www.outdoorgear.co.uk/Robens-PrimaCore-90-Airmat-sku52161201.asp

After i purchaced it i found alpkit do one very similar for half the price

https://www.alpkit.com/products/dumo