New Valley Hills

What worked and what didn’t?

The list and weights of my stuff

• First up what didn’t work.
• I didn’t use the Shokz headphones at all. Wasted weight carried. I thought I’d have times on trail I might be bored, or have downtime at camp, so I’d loaded up on audiobooks. I wasn’t bored while walking as there was so much to see and listen to, and I was cream-crackered at camp so fell asleep as soon as the basics had been covered – eat protein, do stretches, set up tent, shower, do laundry, eat meal, make bed, prep for morning.
• Trail map – used once, wasted weight carried.
• Guidebook – used continuously and annotated daily, though part of me wished I’d scanned it into the phone and saved the weight.
• I didn’t need 12 tent stakes. There was so little wind max I used was 6.
• Tent guy line extras – fear of strong wind made me bring them. Not used once.
• Just before the hike I broke the phone charge port, meaning I had to carry a heavy QI wireless charging pad. Fix phone and carry just a 10cm cable next time numbskull!
• Mascot – while it nice to have a reminder of home, did I really want to carry that everyday? Take a photo instead doofus!
• Two fuel canisters? Come on – one was enough.
• Waterproof jacket not used, but glad I had the insurance. It rained heavily twice, overnight thankfully.
• Why was I carrying so much food? There was a blessed shop at least daily.
• Dropping all that would’ve been 4.5kg off my poor feet.
• I did walk 321,152 steps with all that crap on my back.
• I washed worn clothes every evening using Dr.Bronner’s soap carried in a dropper bottle. I found it fine for cook pan, body and hair washing, but it was only OK for clothes. I had better success in Tuscany with Sea to Summit Biodegradable Travel Pocket Soap Dry Leaves.
• A battery pack of only 5,000mAh was not enough to avoid phone charge anxiety. Next time I’ll bring two 10,000mAh.

I did drink a lot of water, somedays 3.5L. Starting every day with 2L might’ve seemed overkill but in my mind it was essential in the heat.

• What did work?
• The Durston X-Mid 2P Solid tent was great – loads of space inside meaning no creepy crawlies getting into my stuff overnight. Several campsites had ants or mosquitoes. Having a hiking pole tent means you use your walking poles as tent poles, saving the weight of carrying tent poles.
• The Durston Kakwa 55 size medium backpack was great. Really comfortable apart from when fully loaded with 16.6kg. I reckon some more training walks at that weight will fix me up better for those heavier days.
• Cumulus 360 custom quilt was great. I didn’t use the straps to fix it around the sleep mat as it was slightly too warm for 12C nights.
• Nemo Tensor Insulated Long Wide sleep mat was lovely. As a rotisserie side-sleeper my sore hip was cradled comfortably if I deflated it slightly
• Exped Flexmat Long Wide sleep pad was used as a seat, and it protected the inflatable mat. I didn’t find a bramble thorn in it once after pushing through undergrowth – it’s carried on the pack exterior due to its bulk – I got used to checking it for spikes before each use.
• Groundsheet was really needed due to no mud or rock surfaces in high wind to abrade the tent’s underside, but as it attaches to the tent it’s no hardship apart from the slight weight to carry it.
• I use Nuud anti-odorant on my armpits. Fantastic stuff! Applied every 3 days it allows me to sweat without the bacteria smell usually associated with sweaty pits. I like it so much I have a referral code for you saving you 20% off your first order and me 10%. https://prz.io/bp8aGGJHv
• The Aarn universal balance pockets are used to carry the days’ supplies on my chest. No rootling around inside the big backpack for guidebook, phone, snacks, lunch, lip salve etc. They are useful, but are a right fiddle to attach, then take off before removing the pack I’m in two minds whether to continue to use them. Though the ‘balance’ feature worked well – by putting weight on my front they move my centre of gravity meaning I stand up straighter, not having to lean forwards to counterbalance the backpack.
• All of the worn stuff worked really well, apart from the footwear. Apart from my fingertips everything was protected from the sun with at least UPF40 clothing, therefore no suncream needed! Which I can’t stand – I end up a sticky, grainy mess by dinnertime.
  I did last two days without heel lift and insoles, with no noticeable ill effect. I’ll continue walking without them to see if they’re not needed. The insoles cost £40 a pair and last a few hundred k, while the slightly shorter right leg has been fine for the first 54 years of my life. Wearing oversize underwear prevented inner thigh chafing which I’ve had in the past with tighter pants. Y-fronts keep my junk held up, so no chafing there either.
• The sun sleeves really work when there is a breeze to wick away perspiration. A couple of days it was windless and very high humidity, which didn’t really work for them, though I kept them on for the sun protection.
• Carrying a micro washing line, along with a tiny bottle of liquid soap, plus having clothes designed for quick drying, meant I could wash all worn clothes every evening and have them dry before bed. Putting on clean(ish!) clothes each morning felt lovely.
• Having camp clothes and shoes was a blessing. I won’t go without those.
• The thermal longjohns were overkill for the temperature, but they kept my skin off the plastic sleep mat which made bedtime comfortable.
• The pillow arrangement worked as well as it could given my propensity to shove it outta bed in my sleep. The case was filled with clean, dry clothes and then the blue buff went over everything to provide a bit less slipperiness to the affair.
• Speedos were a luxury. I’m so glad I had them when I found out campsite on day 7 had a swimming pool. I was half tempted to swim in the river, and did see plenty of people doing so, but pollution fears put me off.
• By design I used four 500ml water bottles instead of my usual bladder system. It worked well, so I’ll consider not using a bladder on thruhikes in future to save the weight.