Solo or Team?
My original intent had been to do the walk on my own, giving
me time to think and reflect. Telling people of my plan was a way of making it
more real and helping me commit. I did not expect anyone to be crazy enough to
want to do this with me.
There are advantages to walking on your own: go at your own
pace; no-one else to consider in planning; plans are more fluid and easier to
change. Counter intuitively you can also be more engaged with the people you
meet – many travel in isolated bubbles of two people.
There are also disadvantages: no-one to moderate your pace;
plans are often better for discussion and challenge; a shared experience does
have more meaning
When Simon told me the PW had been on his bucket list for a
while it made sense to team up. He wasn’t put off by the walking south option.
He was mildly concerned about the backpacking aspect and the carrying of a
heavy load, as he put it: ‘day after day’. I promised to come up with some
options.
Splitting the Journey
An army marches on its stomach, and the same is true of
happy hikers. Reduced weight carried makes happy hikers happier hikers, so it
makes sense to try and organise the walk stages to get us to an evening meal –
or at least meal ingredients – towards the end of the day. As well as a
motivational target it means not having to carry unnecessary food. The meal
stops are not frequent, but it was possible to plan for 15ish miles a day on
this basis and this is what I sold to Simon. And with more daylight, and
walking on from the final pub/meal of the day, it would be feasible to limit
the mileage fairly easily. With short October days this doesn’t work, so the
plan looks something like this:
Day 1 14 miles to nowhere. Self sufficient
Day 2 14 miles to Bryness with pub
Day 3 15 miles to Bellingham. Meal
option and resupply
Day 4 20 miles to Haltwhistle. Meal
and resupply.
Day 5 13 miles to Knarsdale with pub
Day 6 14
miles to Garrigill with pub. Alston for lunch and resupply
Don’t
want to hit this on a Sunday as hardware shop for fuel is closed
Day 7 15
miles to Dufton with pub
Day 8 16 miles to Middleton in
Teasdale with pub and resupply
Day 9 18 miles to Tann Hill, a pub
Day 11 16 miles to Horton in Ribblesdale
with pub, resupply early in Hawes
Day 12 15 miles to Malham with pub
Day 13 18 miles to nowhere. Self
sufficient, resupply midway at Gargrave
Day 14 18 miles to Heptonstall. Multiple
options
Day 15 16 miles to Carriage House, a
pub, and Marsden nearby for resupply
Day 16 13 miles to Bleaklow and self
sufficiency
Equipment: The Basics
The key to keeping weight down is to not take anything you
don’t need, and be ruthless as to what your needs are. My target is for a 10kg
pack weight. We both agreed that we saw cooking as an essential – adds to the
weight but adds to the morale
Rucksack to carry everything 1.90 kg
½ a tent (because there are 2 of us) 0.77 kg
½ a stove and pans 0.35 kg
½ a bottle of fuel 0.23 kg
Sleeping bag 0.80 kg
Camping mat (very basic ¾ length) 0.13 kg
1L of water 1.10 kg
Fork, spoon, and cup 0.10 kg
Compass and Whistle 0.04 kg
Penknife 0.07 kg
½ guidebook and 1 map 0.26 kg
Scourer and Detergent 0.08 kg
Phone 0.24
kg
Total Basic Weight 6.07
kg
I might be challenged on the essentiality of the penknife,
but it is useful for opening bottles of wine and is my sharp blade for food prep
purposes. The guidebook is also open to challenge and I will review nearer
departure. Further refinement suggests we only need to depart with fuel for the
first 3 days -we can resupply in Bellingham. This saves 150g each – a marginal
gain?
Note no plate – we use the pans to eat from
A torch might be a good idea!!
Equipment: Clothing
Minimalist thinking would suggest a wear one/wash one
approach to clothing. I’m still juggling
with the clothing options, but my list covers: waterproofs, 2 x fleece (thin
and v thin), 3 t shirts, 2x2 pairs of socks (thick and thin), 1 x spare
underwear, hat, gloves, 1 spare hanky, shorts, toiletries, dry bag and weighs
in at 2.35kg.
Running total 8.10kg
Note no spare trousers. Perhaps too many socks and T shirts.
But T shirts are very light and wet socks are very miserable. Spare clothing
also doubles as a pillow, and I am pondering a 600g fleece upgrade for more
warmth and softer headrest. I will take a literal and metaphorical temperature
check nearer departure.
Equipment: Food
Food is a tough one to evaluate. If the planning works we
would only have to carry evening meal ingredients for two of the days.
Breakfast ingredients will fluctuate as they are replenished and then consumed.
For most days we only carry one day’s lunch. There are 6 days where we must
stock up for 2 days lunches and only for the initial leg to Bellingham will we
set off carrying enough to cover 3 days.
My thinking is porridge for breakfast – slow release oats,
fast release sugar, dried fruit and dried milk. Doing my sums I think that
requires 110g per person per day. Have included weight of storage containers
for milk and sugar – these are more averse to damp and need protection.Lunch will depend on what we find, but for the critical 3 day leg 1 I’m going to go for date and walnut loaf with butter for added energy. It keeps for ages and is energy rich. In training one 700g loaf kept me going for 3 lunches. Add 125g butter (I like it thick!) and a couple of hundred grams of chocolate and lunch is covered.
For 450g per person I can put together a couscous with Bolognese sauce meal for the evening.
So we depart from Kirk Yetholm with 1.9kg of food each
making a total weight of 10.0kg. Sorted! And as I keep reminding Simon, this
includes a litre of water which we won’t be carrying all of the time. And if
it’s cold and wet we will be wearing more of our clothes rather than carrying
them.
At Bellingham we must resupply all breakfast ingredients
(split 2 ways = 850g each), lose dinner, and only carry one days lunch. My
calculations tell me our food weight is now 1.4kg each for a pack weight of 9.5
kg. Space for some souvenirs
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