South West Coastal Path – kit prep

The aim as ever is to carry under 10kg. Which includes the weight of the pack itself, tent, sleeping mat and bag, cooking items, clothes and miscellaneous items.

I am swapping my tarp for a tent. My hammock for a ground mat. My Kelly Kettle for a JetBoil MiniMo. My Arcteryx jacket for an army softie.

Tarp for tent – basically not enough trees! Plus a tent is better protection from the rain. I have bought a Vango Orion 200 (nominally two man in reality a one man tent). Quick an easy to put up. It is the heaviest item coming in at 2600g.

Hammock for ground mat – essentially the same reason again, not enough trees and you cannot put a hammock up inside a tent! In it’s place I have the awesome Trekology UL140. For just £45 it also replaces both the Hammock and my Thermarest. Tested out sleeping three nights on the floor at home, it stays up, 5 inches of padding seperating you from the ground and wide enough to stop you rolling off. I slept like a baby. This also means I can drop my DD Underblanket – so warm and toasty with a hammock, but on this trip just not needed. Another 957g saved.

Kelly Kettle for JetBoil MiniMo – this might be the best swap. I love my kelly kettle, but met Sama at Cabane Aygues Cluses in the Pyrenees, whilst i still had to get my Kelly Kettle going, she already had her JetBoil meal cooked and eaten, More on the JetBoil MiniMo on the path. Getting my hands on one of these was difficult, out of stock everywhere both in the UK and US. I managed to find Bazzle selling a new one on Facebook Marketplace which he had received as a present.

Dropping the Anker PowerCore – I took this to charge devices on the GR10, but found I did not need it. My Huawei P30 had plenty of power and never ran out once. 363g saved.

Arcteryx jacket for an army softie – basically I ruined my Arc’teryx jacket sliding through gorse down a steep mountain-side. I have replaced it with an army thermal softie. Excellent large ‘through’ pockets, side vents, shower-proof and long over the bum. And much much cheaper than Arc’teryx. Very happy. Comes in at just 100g over my Arc’teryx at 504g, but as I will mostly be wearing it does not impact pack weight.

Keeping my Enlightened Revelation duvet – this is probably my best trekking purchases ever. Expensive but worth every penny. I have a 20F/-6C, wide, regular length, weight 711g Revelation. It is so so light, but even in the cold Pyrenees it was too warm. Too warm always preferable to too cold though! Check out this guy’s video review of it.

All the above carried in my Osprey Kestral 28L pack weighing in at 1160g

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