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2 day walk in the Hope and Edale valleys

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I did my first self contained two day walk over the weekend.

 

It was a trial for doing longer walks with multiple night stops, test the gear, make sure we'd thought of everything etc...

 

Started from Hathersage (cafe for breakfast) at about 1030 on Saturday, walked along the river to Hope, up Lose Hill, along the ridge, down into Edale Valley and along to Upper Booth where we pitched at about 1700 after an estimated 15 miles.

Cooked on our stoves (ration packs), and then walked 2 miles back to the pub in Edale for a few pints, then back again for about 2200.

 

Up at 0800 after a very cold night (lesson learnt, bags aren't good enough for <5C, should have stayed fully dressed), next lesson was that one man tents suck, the weather was fortunately lovely, but if it had been raining at any point we'd have been very miserable.

Breakfast, strike camp and we were walking again for 0930 - up Jacobs ladder, made a mis turn on Kinder and back tracked to Kinder Low, then around to Kinder dropoff (I think I've got that name wrong, the sheer cliff on the Manchester side), then through the peat bog to the descent into Edale. The peat bog is pretty nasty, no path and lots of very wet, sucky peat. The descent is a scramble which wasn't pleasant wearing a 25kg pack and feeling pretty knackered by then.

In the pub for 1430 to get burger and chips and on the 1530 back into Sheffield.

 

So, I need a better bag, a bivvy bag and to ditch the tent, and a larger tarpaulin. I don't need 3 torches, just one will do, I don't need as many pairs of socks, and I should trust the forecast and not carry waterproofs when it isn't going to rain.

 

Good fun though, and my mate should have some awesome night shots of tree silhouettes and the tents illuminated by torches.

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Sounds great. I might do something like this over the bank holiday!

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Sounds fab good on you :)

 

I agree with you about the torches (did you accidentally take three or on purpose!?) but you should always take waterproofs no matter what the forecast.

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I took 2 in case 1 failed, and then stuck a head torch in as it might come in handy (it did). In hindsight, the head torch on it's own would have been enough.

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25kg. !

Your a better man than me.

I've thrown money at it over the last 2 years and got my 2 night kit weight down to just over 8kg.

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I think my pack alone weighs nearly that much (empty I mean).

 

What do you take, I'd be pretty keen on reducing my pack weight, ditching the tent will save me 2kg straight away (allowing 500g to add a bigger tarp and extra bits).

 

We had more stoves/pans than we needed, for the future we could plan better and take at most 1 between 2 of each.

 

I could do with a better sleeping bag (and this one was new), although maybe a matt would have kept me warmer, I was sleeping directly on the floor, which might have been a mistake!

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I'm into lightweight wild camping, so nothing that isn't essential gets packed.

Basics are -

35lt pack 800gr

1 man tent 900gr

Down sleeping bag 1kg

Cook kit 1 pan that contains home made meths stove, windshield, titanium spork coffee, powdered milk etc 400gr

Sleeping mat and tiny pillow 800gr

The rest is basics like toilet roll, trowel, headtorch, candle lantern, water filter, first aid kit, spare socks, wooly hat to sleep in etc etc.

That's my winter weight, for summer it'll come down by 2 kilos or so.

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That's not that different to my list, although you've not included any food (each rat pack weighs in at 300g) or water (1 ltr is a kilo).

 

You also didn't include any waterproofs?

 

My tent is 2.5kg, that's a big difference though straight away, but I'm going with a bivvy bag and tarp next time, so that's cut.

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Usually i wear my waterproof trousers, the venting is so good wearing them in hot weather isn't a problem, my jacket will either be worn or strapped to my pack, if the forecast is good i don't take one.

As for water, i never carry more than 800ml and collect as i need with the filter, good route planning is a necessity, though you can even collect water from a puddle. : )

 

Food, usually it's freeze dried, so very light, my other pack food is pot noodles, though i decant them into a bag as i don't need the pots, plus it saves on bulk and rubbish to carry out.

I'm not a big eater and ofter only have an evening meal, food for two days will be way less than a kilo.

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25kg. !

Your a better man than me.

I've thrown money at it over the last 2 years and got my 2 night kit weight down to just over 8kg.

 

8kg,gosh my sleeping bag weighs that:hihi: so thats where im going wrong.

 

I carry a basha,trangia stove,58 pattern bag + food and lots of beer.:D

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Not sure about wearing the waterproofs, I'd zipped my trousers off last weekend and was walking in shorts. It was 20 degree's.

A kilo of food for 2 days sounds about right, I took 1.2kg, but brought one rat pack home.

 

I'll have to weigh each bit as I pack and work out what I can cut.

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.....

 

Up at 0800 after a very cold night (lesson learnt, bags aren't good enough for <5C, should have stayed fully dressed), next lesson was that one man tents suck, the weather was fortunately lovely, but if it had been raining at any point we'd have been very miserable.

Breakfast, strike camp and we were walking again for 0930 - up Jacobs ladder, made a mis turn on Kinder and back tracked to Kinder Low, then around to Kinder dropoff (I think I've got that name wrong, the sheer cliff on the Manchester side), then through the peat bog to the descent into Edale. The peat bog is pretty nasty, no path and lots of very wet, sucky peat. The descent is a scramble which wasn't pleasant wearing a 25kg pack and feeling pretty knackered by then.

In the pub for 1430 to get burger and chips and on the 1530 back into Sheffield.

 

So, I need a better bag, a bivvy bag and to ditch the tent, and a larger tarpaulin. I don't need 3 torches, just one will do, I don't need as many pairs of socks, and I should trust the forecast and not carry waterproofs when it isn't going to rain.

... and a better squint at the map first so you can plan to do the really steep bits going uphill instead of down, as it's easier that way round :thumbsup:

 

One of the walking group's very first outings was trampling round the scenery surrounding Edale, and I remember telling one member he's welcome to do the walk HIS way round, but I'd see him half way round and back at the start, as I've no intention of climbing DOWN this bit *prodding finger at map* ;) ... he did it the sensible way round in the end :D

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