A few changes have been made. First, I'm not taking the tent. Instead, I'll take my tarp with a bivi bag.
I was seduced by the net weight saving of 1.75lb. I've resealed the seams, as I was being dripped on during a recent rainy trip so now it's good as new. I've bought a pair of Pacerpoles, having been persuaded by good reports of them by others. I've had a pair of Leki poles for a while but one has seized up so that it's only any good as a tarp support.
The main tasks now before I go are:
1. Final check of the route. In particular, I want to make sure that I pass a food shop not less than every three days where possible. This will be mainly to buy food for lunches.
2. Identify places for resupply parcels to be posted to. This will be food (breakfasts and evening meals) and map sheets. No more than a week between these, sometimes less.
3. Assemble resupply parcels.
4. Print out maps.
5. Activate the Pocketmail for mobile blogging.
For anyone new to these pages, a Pocketmail is rather old technology and is a portable email device. It can send and receive text only messages. I shall post to this blog with it. It's supposed to work with any 'phone but I've never been able to get it to work with a mobile 'phone. Therefore, I have to find either a payphone or a landline. This isn't a problem. I'll activate it for the minimum period of three months. It's a bit clunky, weighing over eight ounces but the obvious alternative is a mobile 'phone that sends emails but I don't want to incur the cost of this (outright purchase or contract) and I find that getting a signal with a mobile 'phone is very hit or miss. I shall have a 'phone with me but it's only a very basic one.
The Pocketmail doesn't need regular charging either. It uses two AA batteries and a coin cell backup battery. All batteries last for ages. I bought the device on Ebay just before my Coast to Coast walk in September 2008 and used it daily for two weeks. The same batteries are in it now. I shall take spares. The coin cell battery is an unusual one and quite hard to find.
I was seduced by the net weight saving of 1.75lb. I've resealed the seams, as I was being dripped on during a recent rainy trip so now it's good as new. I've bought a pair of Pacerpoles, having been persuaded by good reports of them by others. I've had a pair of Leki poles for a while but one has seized up so that it's only any good as a tarp support.
The main tasks now before I go are:
1. Final check of the route. In particular, I want to make sure that I pass a food shop not less than every three days where possible. This will be mainly to buy food for lunches.
2. Identify places for resupply parcels to be posted to. This will be food (breakfasts and evening meals) and map sheets. No more than a week between these, sometimes less.
3. Assemble resupply parcels.
4. Print out maps.
5. Activate the Pocketmail for mobile blogging.
For anyone new to these pages, a Pocketmail is rather old technology and is a portable email device. It can send and receive text only messages. I shall post to this blog with it. It's supposed to work with any 'phone but I've never been able to get it to work with a mobile 'phone. Therefore, I have to find either a payphone or a landline. This isn't a problem. I'll activate it for the minimum period of three months. It's a bit clunky, weighing over eight ounces but the obvious alternative is a mobile 'phone that sends emails but I don't want to incur the cost of this (outright purchase or contract) and I find that getting a signal with a mobile 'phone is very hit or miss. I shall have a 'phone with me but it's only a very basic one.
The Pocketmail doesn't need regular charging either. It uses two AA batteries and a coin cell backup battery. All batteries last for ages. I bought the device on Ebay just before my Coast to Coast walk in September 2008 and used it daily for two weeks. The same batteries are in it now. I shall take spares. The coin cell battery is an unusual one and quite hard to find.
The food is now all ready to be parcelled up. Here is a rather bad photograph of some of it.
Pacer Poles are stunning and will serve you well. Good luck with the final things to do before the start of the big walk.
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