New kit and other exciting goings on...

45 days and counting! It really is feeling rather close now. I spent the last couple of weeks up north seeing family before I head over to The States, which was awesome. It was strange leaving to come back to Cornwall: in reality it will be no longer than usual between now and my next visit, although the scale of what I will accomplish before hand makes it seem like a lifetime away. All in all I'm feeling ready; physically, mentally, financially and kit-wise. The last thing I have to do is pay for my insurance policy.

New kit!

My kit list is now complete! Very happy that I've got enough clothing e.t.c. for the cold start and the base weight is bearable. My on-going stove saga was finally resolved- I've settled for an MSR Whisperlite International liquid fuel stove with a Primus Eta pot. It's fast, efficient, will work on a variety of fuels, and more importantly will work fine in cold temperatures. It also happens to be the stove I used in Scotland and Iceland so I'm happy with how it operates.

Tilley hats are the way forward!

The 6 weeks-ish of non-stop rain here in Cornwall have led to some pretty vivid flashbacks to my exceptionally soggy week in Iceland last June. Undoubtedly there will be days on end of rain on the trail, although I don't really fancy seeing them from within the eVent cave that is my jacket's hood: It would get pretty claustrophobic and depressing after a while. This is where a Tilley hat will come in...

Tilley hats are a very water resistant, super comfortable and versatile piece of headgear. I'll be donning  a medium brimmed hemp hat for my hike. It will keep the worst of the rain off admirably during the down pours, and shade and breath nicely to keep me cool on those hot humid days. The main thing that sets a Tilley apart from any other hat is its insane durability! They are pretty much impossible to break:If it can survive repeated journeys through an elephants digestive system I am happy that it will serve me well out on the AT.

For anyone considering hats, they are definitely worth a look:

http://www.tilley.com/Hats.aspx

Camera!

I've always used a pretty basic point-and-shoot camera to capture my adventures. For this one, however, I wanted something more rugged that can take photos at a higher quality. I think I've found my ideal camera in the Nikon AW110. It's waterproof down to 18m; so will definitely survive the rain; and shock proof to 2m so won't break so easily when I undoubtedly drop it. It also has GPS with a world base-map, electronic compass and barometric altimeter (Gucci!). I wouldn't usually ever bother with this but it will be nice on this occasion to know where about the copious amounts of photos of trees and sunsets were taken.

Still getting used to it at the minute but there'll be more to follow in the gear section, for those who are interested.


Apologies for the rather dis-jointed and rambling nature of this post; there's a lot going on at the minute!