The Vault Regulars

Sunday, April 6, 2014

A pleasing weekend

Our weekend started with a very late night on Thursday. A late night for us that is. We didn’t get in until 1.30am Friday morning after going to see the fantastic Irish band Iona. We could go and see them every week the music is awesome. They have been around for a number of years and this last 12 months we have been lucky enough to see them twice.

They are playing in Finland in Keuruu in July. Now it would be nice to go there and listen to them.

We have also done 24km this weekend with full packs just to get the shoulders and back used to the additional weight for the Challenge. Its amazing how heavy 10.5 kilo weighs. You soon forget and its been a while since i carried that much. Sheila’s weighed 7k with food and tent, now i wish i could get mine down to that but i know i can’t make much inroad into it.

Another thing that quickly comes to light is the fact that the additional weight works your leg muscles  more and after 10k i felt like i had actually walked 20k. You also burn more calories and so regular food intake needs to happen. It all has to be taken into consideration or otherwise muscle strains could ensue. I will be walking with a full pack much more now.
So here are a few pics from our local walk.

 Park Tea Shop
 Cherry Blossom
 Jacob’s sheep
 Fungi
 The remembrance circle in Tandle Park


Dark looking over Chadderton and across to Derbyshire.

11 comments:

  1. Finland in July sounds great! :) Do contact me if you plan to come over here, it'd be nice to meet you both.

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  2. Hi Maria, Thanks for that. It would be nice to come to Finland to watch the band but i think its just a dream at the moment. We have much planned. If we get to a point where Finland looks possible then we will let you know.

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  3. Love the photographs Alan but you'll never push that trig over no matter how strong your leg muscles get. Is Sheila on the Challenge too?

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    1. Hi Gibson, No Sheila cannot get enough time off work to do the Challenge. She is doing a backpack sortie over Easter. Hence the rucksack at the very light weight of 7 kilo.

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  4. Your 10.5 kg is just about spot on with my own backpacking kit. I reckon Sheila can't be carrying cooking equipment with the weight down to that, or perhaps she emulates Shipton who was an instructor on my brother's Outward Bound course back in the 50s - he refused to sleep in a tent ("...too stuffy") and curled up outside under a boulder.

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  5. Hi Conrad, believe me she has got the cooking pot, cylinder and stove in there. She is using the TT Moment for sleeping and would definitely not do a Shipton. She could get the weight slightly lower if she wanted by ditching the inflatable mattress which is a full length version, for a foam one or a shorter length. The only thing that she doesn’t include here is her waterproof jacket that weighs around 320grams.

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  6. Al - You'll be fine.
    Just make sure your first few days aren't too big and you'll breeze it.
    :-)

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  7. Have you posted a kit list yet Alan, I apologise if i've missed it?

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    1. Hi Greg. No not yet. I may do it by photo and not a list, but there again i may change my mind or even do both.

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  8. Your new camera is working well Alan, keep taking those photos.Ten kilo is my average pack weight for most of the year. Winter the weight increases to around twelve kilo. That includes food and fuel for a week.Snacks and nibbles always seem to weigh a tad more. Essential though. Last Sunday,working hard over difficult ground, I got a bad case of the munchies. The 'just in case' bar of chocolate shoved in the lid pocket, was a most welcome item when I started flagging. Try including in your daily walks with a day sack and some added weight. Three or four litre of water or a few heavy tins.

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