“What
to leave in, what to leave out.”
The title of Tim O’Brien’s great book about the Vietnam War
- “The Things They Carried”- says it one way. So does rock singer Bob Seger’s hit song – “Against
the Wind”:
“I’ve
got so much more to think about now.
Deadlines
& commitments,
what
to leave in, what to leave out.
I’m
older now, but still running against the wind.
Packing for a long-distance walk today is sort of like setting off
on a sea voyage was in the old days, before UPS and instant web connection
to the Amazonian world of next day shipping can bring anything you need or
want right to your front door and took away the need to plan ahead for what
you needed “out there”. We’ve had a fair amount of experience packing for long walking
trips on the Camino de Santiago and last year for the Cotswold Way walk, but
there’s always something new out there from REI or Backcountry.com that bears
looking at as we plan our trip.
Actually maybe it’s not what you think you need but
more a matter of packing to have with you remedy for what you fear may
happen to you. Sure, I know we’re going to England and yes, they do have pretty
much anything there that we have here, but you never know. So we pack what we
fear and that seems to be that I fear gravity’s pull more than anything else.
My 81 year old legs and cardiovascular system are in pretty good shape but
still- those hills and river valleys can be tough and the miles seem to stretch
cruelly by the end of the day.
We’re having our Osprey 33 liter backpacks moved ahead by
taxi daily from one town to the next while on the South Downs way but we’ll still
have to lug them around airports and on trains during the trip. The Osprey
Wasatch 12 liter packs will be our daily backpacks and will use them to carry
our rain gear, lunch, 2 one liter water bottles, emergency medical and repair
stuff. They’ll be our airplane hand-carry and the backpacks will be carry on so
that we avoid luggage problems.
Joan’s also concerned about gravity but has the additional fear
of not looking good at day’s end or when we’re tourist-ing around London for a
couple of days on our way back home in mid-July, so she’s bringing a set of nice
(light weight) “dress up” clothes too. Me, I’m grubbing it out with my hiking
clothes –clean, yes, but still nowhere near as nice as my beautiful wife will
be sporting.
Joan also is a tiger on cutting weight down and has been
working hard at the gym and by using Lose It, a wonderful nutrition and calorie
tracking app to shed some of those winter pounds. She’s lost 20 pounds and
feels great. However, since it’s only been 5 months since her knee replacement
and shoulder rotator cuff surgery, it’s been hard to get in the training miles. Me- I've been holding steady at 170 pounds for over three years, down 85 pounds from my "fat" days five years ago.
We are now doing 8-10 mile walks and have thrown in some
hill work too, but some of our days in England involve longer stretches (12-15
miles) between towns on the high chalk escarpment of the South Downs National
Park. We have therefore adopted a world-view built around the fact that we’re
on a “walking vacation” and that there are two words involved there. So if the “walking”
part of a day gets too onerous and the poor old body just says "no" at doing
another mile, then we'll switch our mind-set to the second word – “vacation” – and
call for a taxi to meet us at the nearest road junction and take us on to our destination.
No guilt, no pain and no worries!
So here’s Sam’s packing list:
| South Downs Way Walk (17 days) | |||||
| Backpack to Carry Daily | Weight (Oz) | Number | Total Weight | ||
| Crocs (size 11) -Post-walk wear | 6.2 | 2 | 12.4 | ||
| Darn Tough L-size wool hiking socks (pair) | 3.9 | 2 | 7.8 | + Wear 1 | |
| Ex-Officio Tec undershorts | 3.7 | 2 | 7.4 | + Wear 1 | |
| EMS Teckwik L-sleeve T-Shirt | 4.1 | 1 | 4.1 | ||
| REI S/S Sahara shirt | 6.4 | 2 | 12.8 | ||
| REI L/S Sahara shirt | 8.1 | 1 | 8.1 | ||
| EMS Convertible Hiking pants | 13.5 | 1 | 13.5 | + Wear 1 | |
| Marmot PreCip rain jacket | 13.4 | 1 | 13.4 | ||
| Marmot PreCip rain pants | 13.8 | 1 | 13.8 | ||
| Nylon sleep/swim pants | 4.3 | 1 | 4.3 | ||
| Patagonia Nano Puff warm jacket (L) | 11.0 | 1 | 11.0 | ||
| LL Bean Light Fleece PullOver | 10.8 | 0 | 0.0 | + Wear 1 | |
| Osprey Talon - 33 Liter Backpack | 29.0 | 1 | 29.0 | ||
| Toilet Kit | 4.0 | ||||
| comb | 0.5 | 1 | 0.5 | ||
| PFS 50 sun screen | 2.0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| tooth paste | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| toothbrush | 0.5 | 1 | 0.5 | ||
| Big pins for clothes drying | 0.5 | 4 | 2.0 | ||
| Pole Repair Kit (tips,straps, etc) | 3.0 | 1 | 3.0 | ||
| Repair Kit (xtra laces, rubber bands, zip bags) | 2.0 | 1 | 2.0 | ||
| Outdoor Research Seattle Sombrero (Rain) | 3.4 | 1 | 3.4 | ||
| Ooutdoor Research Ultra-light Baseball Cap | 1.9 | 1 | 1.9 | ||
| Vaseline (small jar | 2.2 | 1 | 2.2 | ||
| Toe Spacer/BandAids | 0.5 | 4 | 2.0 | ||
| Rx Meds (20 days supply) | 2.0 | 1 | 2.0 | ||
| Non-Rx Pills (Tylenol 650; 1/Day) | 1.0 | 1 | 1.0 | ||
| Spring Hill Windproof Beanie | 0.8 | 1 | 0.8 | HiValue Stuff | |
| Headlamp | 2.5 | 1 | 2.5 | British Pounds | |
| Osprey Wasatch 12 Liter Pack w/Hi-Vis cover | 25.4 | 1 | 25.4 | US Passport | |
| Zipper Wallet | 3.0 | 1 | 3.0 | SD Way Personal Cards | |
| Stuff bags for gear in pack (Sea to Summit,etc) | 0.1 | 4 | 0.4 | ||
| SmallJournal/pen | 1.9 | 1 | 1.9 | ||
| Trailblazer S. Downs Way Guidebook; AZ Map | 12.6 | 1 | 12.6 | ||
| Emergency pack(1) | 1.0 | 2.7 | E/Pack (1) | ||
| Sunglasses; reading glasses | 1.5 | 2 | 3.0 | lipscreen | |
| Reading book (nites,plane/train) | 4.0 | 1 | 4.0 | compass | |
| 0.0 | whistle | ||||
| HiValue Papers & Money | 1 | 3.8 | duct tape | ||
| 0.0 | toilet paper | ||||
| Total Carry | OZ | 221.2 | |||
| Pounds | 13.8 | 81% | of max | ||
| Max. Wt. | 17 | ||||
| (10% body wt.) | |||||
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