Just when I think this year’s Challenge will be a low cost affair reality comes and bites me in the bum!
First up comes the Sleeper booking. How on earth people find those cheap tickets I don’t know. Anyhow, I suppose my single supplement birth means I won’t have to share with any other smelly Challenger!
I shall be nipping on the Sleeper Train at Crewe and heading for Inverness, if anyone else is going that way. I then have a few hours to spend in Inverness before heading to Stratchcarron and the bus. Breakfast and book/map shops I think. Email if you are in the mood for company.
Next problem. Gear. I was chatting to Colin Ibbotson yesterday. No I know that he’s a Yorkshire man — and therefore permanently grumpy — but he worried me. He’s convinced that this has been such a mild winter that midges will be a real problem this summer. Last summer I borrowed an inner nest from Colin for my Duomid. Perhaps this would be a good investment?
Then I decided to have a good look at existing equipment. The problem is my pack which is slowly falling to pieces, actually its not going that slowly now. The webbing side pockets are both torn but more worryingly the webbing is tearing where the back pocket clips onto the lid fastener. I was hoping this would last me another year but a close inspection suggested that this might be risky. I know things were looking bad when I returned from last year’s Challenge but I hadn’t realised how much the tears had increased during the rest of the summer.
So, it was on to the Mountain Laurel Designs Website. First thing I did was order an inner net. And then I found myself ordering an Exodus pack. And then the most ridiculously expensive cuban fibre stuff sack.
That’s it. The end. I shall have to make up for it by wild camping (or campsites) the whole way across Scotland.
Still, I suppose that is it for a file. The pack was nine years old!
I made a similar decision about the midges. I’m generally a tarp camper but for Scotland I’ve bought a shangri la 3 and a half mesh nest from ookworks. I really thought I only needed a few things when I applied…..
Which Exodus did you order, the blow up one or last years?
I’m booked on the sleeper to Inverness that gets in on Thursday morning.
I think there’ll be quite a crowd on that train from Inverness on Thursday morning!
I bought the 2011 non suspension version. I’ll see you in Inverness if not before. Where are you headed to off the train? I think I’ll aim for breakfast in the bus station cafe as that it probably more handy for most people. Sadly, the Sleeper Service has cut back on its little delicacies!
A crowd is good Laura, so long as they’re not sharing my cabin !!!
I too am heading for Torridon via Strathcaron on the train. Breakfast in the bus station, deep fried bacon it is then.
I will be with you!