So what am I taking with me

“If you go out on the Appalachian Trail, you have to bring so much more equipment – a tent, sleeping bag – but if you go hiking in England, or Europe, generally, towns and villages are near enough together at the end of the day you can always go to a nice little inn and have a hot bath and something to drink”. Bill Bryson

Okay, before getting into this topic I just have to share. I’m less than 24 hours out from the start of my trip. One would think that one would be busy double checking all one’s gear, tickets, passport, etc…….. What am I doing? Fixing the refrigerator! The freezer drain has a design flaw which causes the drain line to freeze up periodically, which ultimately wreaks havoc on the overall system. One can usually ignore the issue for a significant period of time. But, ultimately the time comes to pay the piper and that, just my luck, happened to be today. I will not go into detail other than there is quite a bit of disassembly/reassembly involved. Good news is that it is fixed and should not be an issue while I am gone. So, on to today’s topic, equipment.

The first thing you need to know is that I do not camp….repeat I do not camp. My idea of roughing it is when the hotel doesn’t have room service lol. I guess looking back that is one of the fundamental reasons, probably, why walking the Camino struck a cord with me. Hiking without camping!?! you just cleared a big hurdle with me lol. While on my first hike with APOC I learned that there is basically a fundamental philosophical difference between hiking in the US versus European hiking.

Now, let me preface the following by stating that I am not an expert in this matter….In fact, I am just a little more than one step above a parrot, but that has never stopped me before lol. In the US, hiking has more of a “back to nature” vibe to it as the typical desire, because we are such a young country, is to try to go to places that have not been tainted by man’s presence. In Europe, people have been walking, as a mode of transportation for commerce and government for thousands of years and thus villages tended to develop around this form of transportation/commerce as there are very few “unspoiled by man” places in Western Europe South of the Arctic Circle. As I said, I’m a European style hiker.

Thus, in my 40L pack one will not find: a tent, cooking gear, sleeping pad, shovel or lbs of food. A typical Appalachian Trail through hikes pack usually runs anywhere from 30 to 60lbs my pack runs 20-23lbs (the amount of water being carried is the variable) So here’s the big reveal :

Inventory:

1-40L Back Pack                1-15L day pack          1- Duffle (To check Pack on plane)

Hiking boots          Hiking sandals        Trekking poles         1.5L Hydration bladder

1-collapsible bottle       Shaving Kit          Toiletries       spare glasses     travel locks

Converter plugs with charging cords for Iphone and Android Tablet   Selfie Stick

Laundry Kit        rosewood massager (2 types)         foot lubricant       bivvy sack

inflatable pillow   sleep shell   Quick dry towels   head lamp    water filtration

non-powered headphones      sunglasses   sun hat   3 sets of underwear (shorts, socks shirt, all quick dry (no cotton…ever) 1 set of uw is cool weather gear with leggings and long sleeve t shirt

2 dress shirts (1 long 1 short)    two pair of convertible slacks  leatherman (1 sharp blade for meat, one serrated blade for bread and one corkscrew (with assist) for wine (never know when lunch might break out)

rain shell   mesh bag   guidebook/map pilgrims credential

 

I have swapped out my shirts, socks and pack. Original  gear too heavy. Nice, but heavy

here I am in full kit:

Here’s my son Stephen with the old pack and trekking pole:

 

Again a good pack but weighs 3 lbs vs 1.4lbs for my new pack. Since I cannot carry on the leatherman or trekking poles I am checking the pack and carrying essentials in the 15L daypack. Interestingly enough, if push truly came to shave I could, in theory, get by with the 15L pack. Here’s a pic of the gear ready to go to the airport.

Next report from on the road.