Gram counting

Gear in grams

I'm now going to talk about LEJOG gear with the fanaticism of a prepper reviewing shiny new kit. I said I wouldn't do that but that was when LEJOG was a year away - now there's less than 3 months to go it's time to dispense with the existential bullshit and analyse operational data. Which means gram counting.  

Background: I am a thru-hiker not a "pure" bushcrafter or wild camper. Thru-hiking is a useful term from the US; it means an end-to-end hike (starting and finishing a trail in one season as opposed to hiking it in shorter sections). The UK needs updated terminology, so consider this a push in that direction. Bushcraft is a catch-all term for wilderness survival skills; fire making, shelter building, foraging, natural navigation, hunting, etc. While bushcraft skills can be useful, particularly when hiking light or ultralight with minimal equipment, it is not the primary focus of the thru-hike. Wild camping means camping in a spot of your choice. For the vast majority of people who cannot or will not get permissions this is a useless term in England and Wales where there are trespassing laws and minimal open access land. The appropriate term is illegal camping. To thru-hike across England this is inevitable. No, you say, it is perfectly possible to camp on permissions and designated camp sites from Land's End to the Borders. Yes, I'm sure it is - providing you have the time, energy and resources to hike from campsite to campsite to permission to open access land. For me, this is simply not practical. The emphasis is on distance and efficiency. And that means camping where it's most convenient and gram counting the gear. In the words of Henry Rollins, "Go long, go alone, go without." My aims are simply to maintain a decent daily distance at my regular 3 MPH pace and 7 to 8 hour days preferably in one go to maximise rest within each 24 hour period. That's what I can maintain and that's what I'm training for. Now, the gear:

The Big Three:

1) Granite Gear VC 60 rucksack (Long) plus frame, after trimming =  839g

 - 1 trash bag liner = 23g

Total: 862g

2) Sleeping gear:

- 10 metres of cord = 24g

- Additional DD superlight cord = 24g

- Mosquito net minus stuff sack = 178g

- Xero 200 down sleeping bag plus stuff sack = 738g

- SF Bivvy bag minus 14g stuff sack = 319g 

- Thermarest plus stuff sack = 326g

Total: 1,609g

3) Shelter: 

DD Superlight tarp (small) minus stuff sack = 262g

6 x MSR Groundhog stakes = 88g

Total: 350g

Big Three Total = 2,821g

Clothing & wet weather gear:

- Clothing plus Exped drysask = 1,134g

- 2x Trekmates ankle gaiters = 69g

- Hat = 81g

- Soft shell gore-tex jacket = 417g

- Euroschirm umbrella = 220g

Total: 1,921g

Hygiene & medical:

- Hand sanitiser 50 ml plus container = 59g (this weight will reduce after use)

- Medical kit plus small Exped drysack and spare laces = 155g (this weight will reduce after use)

- Avon factor 50 sun cream 50 ml plus container = 60g (this weight will reduce after use)

- Dove soap bar = 99g (this weight will reduce after use)

- Miniature toothpaste 25 ml plus container = 36g (this weight will reduce after use)

- Half a toothbrush = 6 grams 

- Miniature deodorant = 27g (this weight will reduce after use)

- 1 toilet roll = 105g (this weight will reduce after use)

- Travel towel = 146g

Total: 693g

Accessories:

- 3 plastic food bags for the trail mix = 4g x 3 = 14 g

- Osprey 3 litre reservoir = 297g (empty)

- Whistle = 7g

- Black Diamond 2017 spot headlamp plus 3 AAA and headband = 90g

- Nokia 130 mobile phone/FM radio/music player = 70g

- Earphones = 9g

- Phone charger = 46g

- Camera plus battery and soft case = 174g

- Spare camera battery = 16g

- Charger = 156g

- Cotton strip = 40g

- Notepad + 2 biro refills in a plastic food bag = 42g

- Miniature clipper lighter minus metal guard = 10g

- Victorinox SD penknife minus miniature metal keyring = 20g

Total: 991g

Grand total/heaviest base weight: 6,426g*

Food:

- Trail mix = 1 KG 

Water:

- 3 litres/3KG**

Maps:

Note: I've divided the walk into 6 sections; the first/longest has been completed and will be used as the example here. These will be posted home when used. 

- 11 cut down 1:25,000 scale O/S Explorer maps from Land's End to the Severn Bridge inside a clear plastic map case: = 440g 

Total food and water on heaviest load = 4,000g

Heaviest base weight plus food, water and full section of maps = 10,866g

(134g below maximum target weight of 11 KG)

Note: I'll be adding insect repellent at some point; Avon Skin So Soft with pure citronella oil mixed in should do it. 

* A note on fluctuating pack weight. Say I put my pack on in the morning and supplies are fully stocked. The pack weighs 10.8 kilos at the start. This quickly decreases as I consume water and food. I walk all day, drink all 3 litres and eat 500g of trail mix. At the end of the day the pack weighs 7.3 kilos. Add to this the toothpaste I used in the morning, the suncream I protected myself with, the maps I sent home in the post, the soap I washed with, the alcohol wipe and plaster I needed for a cut, the 2 ibuprofen I took for aching feet and the sleeping pill I needed to get to sleep early. Suppose I visit the undergrowth, use up half a toilet roll, use some hand sanitiser. My pack now weighs 7.2 KG - I've used another 100g. This is an important point: pack weight is variable. It fluctuates dramatically during the day. My 10.8 KG load is only 10.8 kilos for about half an hour or until I take a drink of water and eat some trail mix. My base weight also fluctuates. If I use about half of my Ibuprofen, hand santitiser, soap and other consumable items, the base weight decreases. If I use all of those consumable items, it is significantly lighter. Therefore for the sake of accuracy weight readings need to be considered as operating within a maximum and minimum value range and the 10.8 kilo pack is in reality much lighter for most of the walking day.

** Yes, that's a lot of water. I'll be walking in mid summer. It'll be hot. I'll need to drink a lot. I've tried hiking with 1 litre in mid-summer and was left gasping. Never again. 2 litres and I'm running out too quickly for comfort. 3 gives me the insurance I need to push on in mid-summer for 8 hours. Stopping every 5 miles to hunt out a resupply or purify ground water is out of the question. The weight of water disappears quickly on a hot day.

Lastly, that's the grams counted as accurately as possible at this stage. No doubt the above gear will be pared down even further over time. Things will be reduced or removed, and added as necessary. I'm training with between 10 and 11 KG and I'm returning from my training walks with a pack weight of around 7 KG.  That'll have to do.