My backpacking equipment

Equipment List

Below is a list of all the hiking equipment that I currently use.

Tents

My main tent is a North Face Westwind. This is slightly heavier for backpacking purposes than I would normally choose, but is large enough to fit my large frame and still fit another person in whilst still being very, very rugged. After sleeping in this tent for a few nights it really begins to feel like home. It is seen here without it's flysheet, which gives it a reasonably large porch area and much sleeker lines.

After my coastal walk I bought myself a Jack Wolfskin Gossamer tent for seventy pounds. This is far lighter than my Westwind tent which is the main reason that I bought it, but it is also less comfortable because of it. It is unusual for a lightweight tent in that I can fit my six foot two frame in it, and at a squeeze I can also fit my rucksack and all my kit in it as well. The downside of the low weight is that it has a mesh inner that allows gusts of wind that gets under the flysheet in, so this is not ideal for cold weather walking, but in summer it should be fine.

Sleeping bags

A North Face Blue Kazoo sleeping bag, rated down to -7 degrees Celsius. This goose down bag cost £150.00, and I also bought a RAB silk liner for it (at an extortionate 45 pounds!), in the probably vain hope of keeping it clean. This is definitely only for winter use, as it will be far to warm for warm nights.
An Anjungilak Kompact Lite sleeping bag. This bag is lighter than the above sleeping bag and is perfectly good for spring, summer and autumn use.
One Vango Nitestar 450 4-season sleeping bag. It is quite nice and very, very warm, although it does have a rather large pack size, though. I mainly use it when I am camping in winter with my car.

Stoves

I use a trangia stove by choice. I used the standard model for many years, but this was quite heavy and overkill for one person backpacking.
A few years ago I bought a mini-trangia, which is far lighter than the standard trangia and ideal for one person, but far too small for two people. It measures 150mm by 65mm, and weights only 320 grams for a 0.8-litre pan.
On my coastwalk trip I bought an MSR PocketRocket stove, which is an extremely light stove (3 ounces, or 86 grams). It uses IsoPropane gas rather than the mentholated spritis of the Trangia stoves, and boils water much quicker. The only downside is that it is not very stable, and has to be positioned carefully to prevent it falling over.

Rucksacks

A 'Craghoppers' Wild Places WP-70 70-litre rucksack with two active balance pockets. I purchased this after my old 'Outbound' rucksack disintegrated during my Pennine Way walk after many year's service. The Craghoppers rucksack is excellent, and has given me several years of sterling service. In my opinion it is the best rucksack design that I have ever seen for solo backpackers. It is seen here with the Westwnd tent packed up in it (the yellow item), and a Platypus tube trailing across the ground. Unfortunately it appears that Craghoppers no longer make this rucksack, which is a great shame.
A Macpac 80-litre Glissade, bought on 17th June 2006 as a fill-in for the Craghoppers rucksack, which is getting long in the tooth and is no longer made. This rucksack should fit all of my kit with ease, and is of a rugged construction that should cope with the rough and ready manner that I tend to treat sacks. There is a handy pocket at the front, that will be good for water bottles or maps, and has a floating lid that should give me some extra capacity. The harness is also adjustable, which allows it to fit many different back sizes comfortably.
A 30-litre Karrimor Hotrock 30 rucksack, which is ideal for day walks. If I have an expedition coming up then I tend to use my Craghoppers rucksack filled with gear on day walks to get me used to carrying the weight.

Jackets

My latest jacket is a large Berghaus High Trails I Jacket IA, which I brought for £199.00 in early November. This jacket is quite nice, and is a snugger fit than my Foraker jacket, and it also seems to perform better than the Foraker in wet conditions (it should be noted that my Foraker jacket is now quite old and worn, and hence this may not be a fair comparison. I use Granger's Extreme Cleaner Plus and Extreme Synthetic water-repellent spray to wash the coat.
I have a Lowe Alpine 'Foraker' jacket. Although it is only TriplePoint Ceramic and not Goretex, I find it an acceptable alternative. This jacket has seen many years of sterling service, and is now starting to wear out.

Boots

My most recent boots were four pairs of Scarpa Trek 2, size Euro 46, which I wore on the coastal walk. These were very good boots, and each pair lasted for 1,500 to 1,600 miles before the soles began to wear out unevenly due to my unusual gait.
A pair of Salomon X-Adventure 7 boots. These are extremely good boots on rough and muddy ground (better than the Scarpa boots mentioned above), but are terrible on long road walks, which I sometimes have to do on a backpacking trip. For this reason I prefer the Scarpa boots, which are far more multi-purpose.
To protect my feet from shocks, I put Sorbothane Shock Stopper insoles inside my boots - typically these last around 2,000 miles before wearing out, or longer than the lifetime of a pair of boots.

Trainers

Over the years I have had the following trainers, all use dfor general and walking use:

A pair of Saloman Niwot (colour Combat), size Euro 46. These were bought for my coastal walk, and wore out at about Glasgow (I only started regularly wearing them in Pembrokeshire). Again these have now worn out, and have been replaced with an identical pair as they were so good.
I have a pair of Merrell hiking trainers that are very comfortable, although strangely enough I discovered that they required more breaking in than my hiking boots! These have now been retired and are only used for pottering about in the garden or the gym.
A pair of Salomon cross-trainers, which I cannot remember the exact make of but have given several years sterling service.
A pair of Meindl Magic Men 2.0 in Anthracite. I am using these for day to day use, and will only use them for proper walks when they become shabbier.
Meindl V5 XCR, Granite colour, size 12, which cost me £70.00.

GPS

After much deliberation, I eventually picked a Magellan GPS Blazer 12, with which I had many hours of fun. This unit was very basic and had no PC download or upload capabilities, but it did what it did admirably well.
After the above GPS finally gave up the ghost on the first day of my coastal walk, I purchased a Garmin ETrex, which I have had few problems with, although I would like to be able to store longer tracklogs. I can foresee this GPS being replaced soon with one of the newer USB-enabled versions, which have longer tracklogs and battery life.

Camera

My main camera is an digital Olympus Camedia C8080Z, an 8.0 Mega pixels camera which has seen much use, particularly during the coastal walk.
My other camera is an Olympus MJU410 digital weatherproof camera, which I use as an emergency spare or when the weather is too bad for me to risk my digital camera. In particular, as it is lightweight I use it on long camping trips, when the bulk of the 8080Z is not practicable.
I also use a LowePro D-RES 25AW camera case, which I hang on the waist strap of my rucksack as I walk. This case has a waterproof cover, but in very heavy rain the bag can still get saturated.

Assorted electricals

Psion 5. I use this to store information and notes on walks when I am away from my main computer. This has proven to be very useful over the years and is an essential part of my camping equipment.
An Olympus Pearlcorder J300 Dictaphone. I use this to make notes as I walk which can then be typed up once the walk has finished. A nice piece of kit which is remarkably drop-proof.

Clothing

Trousers. I use some 'Craghoppers' trousers as my preferred walking wear. I currently am going with the Kiwi Trousers, which feature Craghopper's SolarDry fabric, which dries out quickly in the sun. I also have a pair of Kiwi trousers with zip-off legs, which can therefore be converted into shorts for summer walking. ;-) I also have a pair of Rab Treklite pants, large size, which are light (only 380 grams), but are stretchier around the legs, making the leg pocket less usable than it would otherwise be.
Socks. I use several types of socks. The most common are 1000-mile socks, and these work perfectly well for me. Ensure you get the walkers version of these socks rather than the thinner runners version. I usually wear my socks for an hour or so before I go on a walk as it appears to help reduce blisters as the seams move to sit on the right place on my feet. Recently I have started using Meindl Air Revolution anatomical socks, which seem to be performing quite well.
Hats. I have a couple of balaclavas that helps keep the cold out whilst camping (a thin one for spring and autumn, and a thicker one for use in winter). For general walking use I use an excellent Tilley hat. I can honestly say that this hat was a boon during the whole of my Pennine Way walk, except for the section over Laddow rocks where the wind kept on trying to blow it off. This hat is manly used as a sunhat during the summer, but it is also fairly good in light rain as well. This hat has now lasted over seven years of rough walking, and is still in very good condition.
Waterproof trousers. I currently use a pair of black Craghoppers Pakka Overtrousers, medium sized. These roll up into a convenient size in their own bag, which akes them easier to stoe in my rucksack and will hopefully protect them slightly, as I have often suffered from ripped overtrousers.
Boot accessories. I use Sorbothane Shock Stopper Double Strike inserts in my boots which seem to help prevent blisters from forming and my feet from hurting slightly.
Ruff. To keep me warm in winter, I use a Polartech Powerstretch Powertube.
Gaiters. I use a pair of Outdoor Designs Perma GTX Gaiters, size large.

Sundry items

Compass. I use a bog-standard Silva compass.
Two Leki Malaku Classic Walking poles. Walking poles are strange creatures, you either love them or loathe them. Me, I love them. Not only can they be used to help you up hills at the end of a long day, but (hopefully) they will prove invaluable for me if my ankle ever 'goes' when in the middle of nowhere. For more details on walking poles and their usage, click here. These poles are still in good condition after many thousands of miles of use, although I have had to get new tips for them once.
Food. What can I say? Kendal Mint Cake!
Water bottles. I have three main water bottles - two-1 litre and one-2 litre Platypus water bottle with a couple of drinking tubes, and one-1 litre bike bottle. The Platypus bottles really are godsends - the drinking tube system is nearly flawless and the bottles fold up to nearly nothing when empty.
Medical kit. I carry a standard backpackers medical kit, out of which I have removed all the syringes and replaced them with more plasters and Compeeds.
Inflatable mat. I use an inflatable mat to make myself more comfortable in the tent. I also have a standard rolmat, but I generally do not take that with me on a backpacking trip and only use it for extra padding when car camping.

So where does all this equipment lead? See here for details of my ideal hiking equipment - now, where's that spare 100,000 gbp?

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