Me and a friend walked the canterbury loop of the north downs way between canterbury and wye between the 3rd and 6th of jan, didnt take many photos but here are the ones from my phone when it wasnt either peeing with rain or i was too tired to take any:
This was a tester trip for the two moors way next year and so i probably had too much kit, but apart from too many clothes and extra food i dont really see what else i could have ditched. Here's what i took:
Waterproof coat
Waterproof trousers
3 base layers
3 mid layers
2 pullovers
3 sets of underwear
3 pairs of socks, including sock liners
Balaclava
Warm gloves
3 litres of water
Solo trangia and 500ml of fuel
fork and spoon
3 litres of water
food
lightweight groundsheet
bivi bag
snugpak sleeper extreme sleeping bag
basha with pegs and guy ropes
Inflatable pillow
Head torch
hand torch
book
first aid kit
wash kit
spare waterproofs
knife for prepping firewood
woodcarving knife
swiss army knife
book
maps
binoculars
compass
wallet, phone etc.
This little lot added up to be much heavier than i had anticipated, my pack easily weighed two stone and was a real pain when trying to get over stiles etc.
I think i can ditch the hand torch, two of the knives except for the swiss army knife, half of the food that we took ( we had nearly two times as much food as was neccessary) and maybe one set of clothes, though i do like having a dry set for the evenings. Aside from that i think maybe look into a lightweight tent rather than the basha- but again i like the versatility you get from a basha.
I also had problems with my sleeping bag which i found to be just too tight to sleep comfortably in, i'm looking at either a 58 pattern bag instead ( heavy!) or maybe an expanda panel for the snugpak?
The walk itself was quite nice but i dont think it was intended for people wildcamping as we were, there were few places for it and they werent a days walk apart. The signage was pretty good and the path well trodden though some of the trails were so chewed up by quad bikes and offroaders as to be nearly impassable. Also the wind when walking along the cliffs at dover was unbelievable!
any recommendations regarding kit would be great, during this walk we managed about 11 miles a day, which is less than we had anticipated at about 13-14 miles a day even with the heavy pack weight.
This was a tester trip for the two moors way next year and so i probably had too much kit, but apart from too many clothes and extra food i dont really see what else i could have ditched. Here's what i took:
Waterproof coat
Waterproof trousers
3 base layers
3 mid layers
2 pullovers
3 sets of underwear
3 pairs of socks, including sock liners
Balaclava
Warm gloves
3 litres of water
Solo trangia and 500ml of fuel
fork and spoon
3 litres of water
food
lightweight groundsheet
bivi bag
snugpak sleeper extreme sleeping bag
basha with pegs and guy ropes
Inflatable pillow
Head torch
hand torch
book
first aid kit
wash kit
spare waterproofs
knife for prepping firewood
woodcarving knife
swiss army knife
book
maps
binoculars
compass
wallet, phone etc.
This little lot added up to be much heavier than i had anticipated, my pack easily weighed two stone and was a real pain when trying to get over stiles etc.
I think i can ditch the hand torch, two of the knives except for the swiss army knife, half of the food that we took ( we had nearly two times as much food as was neccessary) and maybe one set of clothes, though i do like having a dry set for the evenings. Aside from that i think maybe look into a lightweight tent rather than the basha- but again i like the versatility you get from a basha.
I also had problems with my sleeping bag which i found to be just too tight to sleep comfortably in, i'm looking at either a 58 pattern bag instead ( heavy!) or maybe an expanda panel for the snugpak?
The walk itself was quite nice but i dont think it was intended for people wildcamping as we were, there were few places for it and they werent a days walk apart. The signage was pretty good and the path well trodden though some of the trails were so chewed up by quad bikes and offroaders as to be nearly impassable. Also the wind when walking along the cliffs at dover was unbelievable!
any recommendations regarding kit would be great, during this walk we managed about 11 miles a day, which is less than we had anticipated at about 13-14 miles a day even with the heavy pack weight.
