www.steveslongwalk.org

KIT REPORT

The following kit was used during my 1,200 mile John o’Groats to Land’s End walk that took place between 13^th July and 9^th October 2009. The route largely avoided roads and included The Great Glen Way, The Pennine Way and the Cotswold Way. The trek is fully described in www.steveslongwalk.org

Sleep System

Comprising:

(1) Therm-a-Rest Ridge Rest mattress

(2) Therm-a-Rest NeoAir mattress

(3) Mountain Hardware Lamina 20 sleeping bag

For a trip lasting 3 months where I expected to be wild-camping for much of the time in varying weather conditions, I needed to be confident that I would be warm, dry and comfortable. To ensure this, I was prepared to carry a little more weight than I might for a short trip. You will notice that I carried two Therm-a-Rest mattresses, the Ridge Rest and the NeoAir. The reason why will become clear shortly.

(1) Therm-a-Rest Ridge Rest mattress

The Ridge Rest is a superb mat. The ridged profile ensures a more comfortable sleep than with any ‘flat’ closed-cell foam mat of similar weight. My Ridge Rest is slightly lighter than the specified 400g because I have sliced off the un-ridged sections at each end, meaning that it is now 2½” shorter than the standard 6’ length, but easier to roll up. I am 5’ 11” tall but don’t find the reduced length noticeable.

My method of packing is to wrap the Ridge Rest around the tent, itself packed in its stuff-sack, and then strap the combination to the top of my rucksack. I prefer not to stow the tent it inside the rucksack as it is often wet. The Ridge Rest protects the tent from being caught by brambles and overhanging branches, and now looks quite ‘battle damaged’, but still functions perfectly well.

Pitching a tent is easy when conditions are dry and wind-speeds low. It is during wet and/or windy conditions that I find my packing arrangement most helpful. The Ridge Rest and tent are detached from the rucksack first and the rucksack placed upon the Ridge Rest to ensure it won’t blow away. After quickly erecting the tent the Ridge Rest and rucksack are placed inside, quickly followed by me. Further rucksack unpacking can then be done at leisure within the protected environment of the tent.

The reverse procedure applies when breaking camp on wet days, with the rucksack being largely packed whilst still inside the tent, and the packed tent and Ridge Rest being strapped on last of all.

Therm-a-Rest NeoAir mattress

Whilst the Ridge Rest is more comfortable than a conventional flat closed-cell foam mat, for the best sleep I find I need another layer of padding, especially if the ground is hard or lumpy. In the past I have used a ¾ length self-inflating mat placed on top of the Ridge Rest, a Multimat Adventure Superlite Compact 25 - generally equivalent to the slightly lighter ¾ length Therm-a-Rest Prolite 3, but half the price.

The idea is that the Ridge Rest provides the essential thermal insulation from the ground and self-inflator the extra padding from shoulder to hip that I need for comfort. The indestructible Ridge Rest also protects the self-inflator from puncture and, should this occur, ensures a minimum level of insulation and comfort.

The Multimat is 25mm thick inflated and weighs 390g. The most annoying feature is that my sleeping bag slides about on it so that, if I am on a slope, I find myself shoe-horned into the lowest point of the tent by morning.

I was delighted when Cotswold Southampton provided me with a Therm-a-Rest NeoAir to replace for the Multimat. With an inflated thickness of 63mm, a weight of 260g and a non-slip surface, the specification is hugely better than the self-inflator. The material of construction appears thin so my only concern was, ‘Would it be reliable?’ Cotswold gave me a puncture repair kit as a precaution but, happily, I didn’t need to use it. As a ¾ length mat, it took just a few minutes to blow up. Note that even self-inflating mats need a few puffs of air to fully inflate.

In summary, The NeoAir is a vast improvement over my previous use of a self-inflatable. I’ll never travel without it again.

Mountain Hardware Lamina 20 sleeping bag

When choosing a sleeping bag it is important to consider both the temperatures and the humidity conditions. The often wet UK climate steered me towards a synthetic sleeping bag rather than one filled with down. Although the latter may be lighter for a given level of insulation, its performance falls dramatically when wet and I would have no way of drying it.

Thus, I started to look for the lightest synthetic bag that would serve me for UK summer and autumn temperatures. I quickly homed in on the Mountain Hardware Lamina 35 sleeping bag, with its +1°C minimum comfort rating and weight of 1.02kg.

I blame Cotswold’s Ben Jones for persuading me to ‘upgrade’ to the -7°C

Mountain Hardware Lamina 20 sleeping bag even though it was 250g heavier. I went along with his advice and, in retrospect, agree with him. The extra level of insulation ensured that I was cosy at all times - even when the bag became damp after a string of wet days! Furthermore, I feel confident that with a silk liner or perhaps by putting my lightweight summer sleeping bag inside (which it is roomy enough to take) I could sleep comfortably at much lower outdoor temperatures.

Steve Hughes

18 Dec. 2009