give us your money!!

yes that's right, give us your money, because with three weeks to go one of my course mates has decided that he too would like to spend a summer slogging his way round the south west coast path!

so as the wet/hot weather of glastonbury made me realise that i'm probably gonna be miserable for much of the walk, at least i now have someone to whinge at! sorry john...

but anyway, i'm straying off point, this post is supposed to be a begging post. so here goes nothing...

it's gonna be a long summer. it's gonna be hot. it's gonna be wet. it's gonna be windy. it's gonna be steep. our feet will get blistery. our legs will ache and our tummies will grumble. but not as much as we will. in short it's gonna be misery incarnate.

but when it starts to feel really tough one thing which will help to get us though will be knowing that we're doing this for something. and not just the grim sattisfaction of walking 630 miles in 39 days.

it'll be knowing that the funds we'll be raising will be helping oxfam to support people in the developing world. helping them to work themselves out of poverty. helping oxfam campaign for a fairer deal for those in need. helping the campaign to fix 'the system' which is crippling developing counties. helping in the fight against the climate change which (as a graduate of earth sciences, who has written dissertations on the subject) i couldn't be more convinced that we are directly responsible for. helping, in short, to deal with what i consider to be the two biggest problems which face our species.

we've set a ridiculously high target, one i don't honestly expect to meet. but it'd be nice to try.

if you can, please donate at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/jinniking even if it's not much, it'll help to keep us going when all we want to do is sit and cry*
 
jin x
17 days to go...

*i speak for myself here, i presume that as a boy john will not be crying

what does one eat when walking 630 miles in 39 days when everything must be carried on ones back?

wow, i'm really bad at this blogging thing. ah well. i reckon i'll get a lot better as i walk in the summer.

so how am i planning on getting my calories in for my walk? how many calories do i need to get in?

i found a useful article here, which reckons on a woman hiking for 7 hours a day needing between ~3330 and 4320 calories a day. thats quite a lot. and using their sums would mean carrying lots of food. i don't intend to carry all my food by any means.

here's a list of what i think i'll carry:

• ready brek or similar (couple of servings worth)
• museli (a couple of servings worth)
• cous cous (a couple of servings worth)
• pasta (a couple of servings worth)
• noodles (a couple of servings worth)
• flavoursome stuff in small amounts (bouillon powder/salt/herbs/spices/black pepper/dried onions)
• parmesan (good flavour to weight)
• cheese (better flavour, but i'll need less cos of the parmesan)
• coffee (few cups worth)
• dried milk (enough for museli and coffee)
• trail mix (nuts/dried fruit/biscuits)

• multi vitamins (because i don't expect i'll be getting enough fruit and veg all the time)
• glucosaminetablets (we have family history of joint problems)
• vitamin c/echinacea effervescent tablets (taste good as a squash alternative and can form the basis of rehydration drink with a small pinch of salt - and help to keep the immune system strong)

obviously that's not gonna be enough even for a week. the stuff i'm carrying is intended as backup for days when i'm not passing towns/villages/cities close to breakfast and dinner time/when i'm running low on pennies.

when i'm passing towns i'll be grabing food as i go. pasties and fish & chips will, i'm anticipating, play key roles in my main meals. i'll also grab fresh fruit and veg (snacking stuff like carrots, tomatoes and sugar snap peas) and biscuits and other high calorific density foods to snack on in the day. and frigg. i love frigg. and it's pretty much the same nutritional balance as recovery shakes.

i'll also stock up on my pack basics when i pass towns with proper supermarkets close enough by, and/or by calling on my family to send out care parcels to me at youth hostels/bring supplies when they join me.

i'll also be relying on my plentiful fat reserves, to save both pennies and weight.

so what do you reckon? i know some of the stuff seems a bit overkill, but i'm a foodie at heart and it's a long trip, so i want to carry enough that i can make tasty/slightly varied food. would you add anything to the list to carry? any other suggestions of good high calorie food for snacking in the days?

up next: give us your money!

jin x
33 days to go...

what does one carry when walking 630 miles in 39 days and everything must be carried on ones back?

so on my walk i'm gonna need to be prepared for everything most eventualilites, but not chuck in loads of stuff that 'dosn't weigh much and might come in useful' that in fact is pretty pointless and just adds to the weight of my pack unnecessarily. this is what i've come up with:

bag (osprey exos)
tent (terra nova laser competition)
sleeping bag (summer weight down - kindly lent by my friend bertie)
silk liner
sleeping mat (poe peak elite ac - hopefully - it's currently very delayed in the post)

waterproof jacket
windproof jacket (still working out if i'm gonna get one of these or just cope with shirt/waterproof depending on situation)
waterproof trousers (just in case)
warm top  (mainly for sleeping)
shirt (for sun/wind protection)
vest
shorts
tights (thermal for sleeping/compression for recovery)
boots (inov8 roclite 400 gtx - still breaking me in being broken in at the moment)
flipflops (for round camp and to air my feet - i think blisters will be my nemesis)
various socks (padded, support, twin skin, liners - so i have enough to keep them clean, and options depending on how my feet feel)
pants
sports bra
bikini (so i can swim in the sea to stretch out/combat the ridiculous tan lines i'll be forming on my one or two rest mornings)
gloves (windproof)
buff

pen knife
headtorch
iphone (to act as camera/ipod/video player/book/games console/gps/blogging device/mirror oh, and phone)
solar phone charger
heart rate monitor watch (possibly - i lost mine in a canyon in mallorca, but if i can scrounge one from somewhere i think it could be interesting to see the results)

pan with heat exchanger
pot cosy
gas
sparker
sponge/scourer
spork

washing line
soap (hopefully a 3 in 1 dish/hair/body type affair)
facewipes
exfoliating mit
suncream (planning on using reimann p20 - anyone have any opinions on this stuff?)
aftersun/rosewater
muscle rub

water purification tablets
rehydration salts
zinc oxide tape and gauze (to stop blisters)
blister plasters (in case blister prevention doesn't work)
burn ointment
vitamins
diclofenac gel
paracetamol/ibuprofen/diclofenac (if i can persuade the nice doctors to give me some in light of my recent knee issues and crazy walking plans)
plasters/ wound closures
diarrhoea tablets

and i think that's it.

what do you reckon people? have i missed anything that you'd be taking? do some things seem pointless? i really would appreciate thoughts cos it's not like i've really done anything like this before...
(please put any thoughs in comments below cos it's easier to find them on here than facebook when i come to pack!)

next up: what does one eat when walking 630 miles in 39 days when everything must be carried on ones back?

jin x

40 days to go... (really? oh. crap.)

baby steps...

most people when posting after a couple of weeks of not posting have to apologise for being crazy busy. but as most people who know my will confirm, i'm a procrastinator. my blog is one of my favourite procrastinations. lately i've not had much to procrastinate, hence, not much blogging. basically i've been lazy.

being lazy has been my forté of late. since bailing on the saunders all motivation has gone out the window. no great surprise there really. but...yesterday and today i actually headed out for my first solo hikes. yesterday was a baby hike as i got a little lost, today's was reasonable at just over 7.6 miles:

harford moor/erme valley hike

7.6 miles / 12.23 km

a good intro hike with a decent hill, just under half of what i'm planning to do each day on the coastal path, except the hills will be steeper, slightly shorter, but a lot more frequent.

i was planning on camping out on the moors last night aswell, but, well, putting it simply...i wussed out (why am i doing this again?!)... it was my first time pitching my new tent, and working out if my kit would keep me warm enough, so i decided i wouldn't mind a failsafe. that failsafe came in having my sisters house less than 10m from where i camped:

yes, it was her back garden, but at least i have christened the tent. and it was a lovely little tent. kept me cozy and warm all night. and just in case you need proof that i actually slept in it, here's a shot my sister took in the morning when she came to wake me up:

next post: intended kit list

jin x

45 days to go...