The packing list!
You can’t expect to live out of a rucksack for 1500 miles without giving some thought as to what goes in it!
So, listed below, is a warts-and-all list of absolutely everything that I carried (some of it was accumulated along the way, like the extra batteries and the spare iPhone 5s, which I got when my 4s started boot-looping near Street).
Backpacking purists will probably be gasping in horror as they read this list, because it is, I admit, not very weight-economical. I wanted to make sure that I had backups of key bits of kit in case they went wrong, and that added a lot to the weight. And, it has to be said, there wasn’t much I didn’t use and which I would definitely leave behind if I did it again.
The starting weight was about 38 lb, and at the end it was nearer 50, largely because of the extra batteries, food and water I carried in the remoter parts of Scotland. It’s wonder I didn’t come back looking like Charles Atlas after lugging this lot 1500 miles (in fact I think that for a while after I finished, I looked more like the Hunchback of Notre Dame!).
If you’d prefer to do your gasping in private, there’s an excel spreadsheet you can download and peruse off-line at your leisure. Just click the button below:
Packing listAnd if you want know what this lot looks like unpacked and packed, see the photos:
My rucksack was kindly provided by Fox’s of Amersham and I chose it mainly because of its low weight. It was a Lowe Alpine TFX Kibo 65, which met my needs perfectly because, as well as being light, it was reasonably capacious without being gigantic (which I’d have been tempted to fill with yet more stuff) and it was nice and simple. I hate rucksacks with millions of pockets, which inevitably lead to you forgetting where that vital piece of equipment you need in an emergency is hidden away. I did line the whole thing with a large “Ortleib” dry-sack, which was tough and never punctured, and absolutely impervious to rain. And very heavy.
The “warts and all” packing list.
Titter ye not…
| Asus 10″ windows 8 touchscreen laptop |
| Soft case for laptop |
| Short multi-plug iphone USBadapter |
| Apple big to small adapter |
| Golite Eden 1 tent |
| Karrimat |
| Long Drybag for karrimat |
| Strap for karrimat |
| iPad mini w/ VR software & maps |
| Overboard waterproof case for iPad |
| BS drybag for repair kit |
| Black cotton thread |
| Water purification tablets x 30 |
| Midge night light |
| Tick remover |
| Sewing kit |
| Good luck charm Steve judge |
| Whistle |
| Compass |
| Thick lace |
| Spare sewing kit |
| Skin closures x2 |
| Pack tissues |
| Dioralyte x3 |
| Pairs thin laces x4 |
| AAA batteries for head torch x4 |
| Leatherman |
| Pen |
| A4 paper sheets x3 |
| Small freezer bag |
| Credit Card |
| Cash £200 |
| Clear Duct Tape |
| Rubber band |
| BS drybag for toiletries |
| Flannel |
| Toothbrush with cover |
| Small freezer bag |
| Small toothpaste |
| Razor |
| Dental floss x2 |
| Earplugs |
| Small shower gel |
| Paracetemol |
| Head torch |
| BS drybag for electronics |
| 12000mAh Anker Li Ion batteries x5 |
| Long iphone cable (large) |
| iPhone headphones |
| Small drybag for headphones |
| 5 way USB charger & plug x3 |
| Spare 64GB micro SD card |
| Micro SD adapter |
| EE dongle |
| iPhone 5s (got when 4s failed but not used) |
| iphone 5s case |
| iphone 4s |
| iphone 4s case |
| 4 way USB hub |
| Nationwide e banking device |
| USB to Ethernet dongle |
| SD card reader for iPad |
| O2 dongle |
| mouse |
| Car USB charger |
| Scarpa Vortex boots |
| Long sleeve Icebreaker (evening) |
| Craghoppers long btrousers (evening) |
| Sealskinz socks (day) |
| Sealskinz socks (evening) |
| Icebreaker pants (eve) |
| Icebreaker pants (day) |
| Icebreaker T shirt |
| Merino buff (eve) |
| Cotton buff (day) |
| Icebreaker shorts |
| Icebreaker L fleece |
| Icebreaker XL fleece |
| Rucksack waterproof cover |
| Sun cream |
| Antihistamine cream |
| Gel bars x4 |
| 2 litre Platypus bottles x3 |
| Spare whistle |
| 0.5 litre Platypus bottle |
| Shoulder pads pair in freezer bags |
| Ortleib big rocksack liner |
| Leather belt |
| midge net |
| Goretex over-mitts |
| Scouts Neckerchief |
| Touchscreen gloves |
| BS Drybag for medicines |
| Ibuleve gel |
| Antibacterial gel |
| Antibacterial wipes |
| Beconase |
| Paracetemol 8 packs x4 |
| Ibuprofen 8 packs x4 |
| Rennies 6 packs x4 |
| Compeed medium pack |
| Comb |
| Dry-sack rucksack for sleeping bag |
| 4 seasons Snugpack Chrysalis 4 sleeping bag |
| Silk inner sleeping bag |
| Glasses case |
| Glasses |
| Dry sack for spare clothes |
| Dry sack for evening trainers |
| 2x carrier bags for trainers |
| Merrell ultra lightweight trainers (eve) |
| Primus billy can with lid in bag |
| Buff to wrap gas cyliner |
| Gas cylinder stored in billy |
| Primus Gravity II EF stove |
| Primus dry back for stove |
| Spork |
| Thin gloves for burns |
| Dry sack for coffee |
| Plastic bag inst coffee |
| Plastic bag dried milk |
| Cape Wrath Trail guide |
| Spare Overboard bag for iPad (no strap) |
| Thermarest Neo Air (short) |
| Platypus hose |
| Flags |
| Lowe Alpine TFX Kibo 65 rucksack |
| Milk shakes and sports drinks 4x500ml |
