Kit

Firstly I'm not going to go on and on about what state of the art kit is a must to use, what I am going to do is explain why I've chosen certain items.

Rucksack
I've Chosen to use a 50 Litre Osprey Atmos. Several of the guys I go walking with regularly have smaller Osprey rucksacks, and I have been very impressed with the quality.

When I was inspecting my current rucksacks I found that all of them had some form of problem, frayed straps, loose stitching etc. Most of these are repareable, but I wanted a bag that I could rely on. I'll be walking hundreds of miles, and I'll be far from any chance of a replacement, so A repair wich may break is not ideal.

OK, so the £105 price tag is'nt cheep, but its roughly the going rate for bags of that size anyway.

Jacket
After Christmas I bought myself a Paramo Alta2 Jacket, mainly as they were on offer. Several Years ago I bought a Fuera jacket, and I was very impressed with it. Unfortunatly it went missing on a train a few years ago.

Layers
As I all ready have a relatively new jacket I have decided to go with Paramo for the majority of my clothing, reasoning that my Paramo jacket would work best with Paramo base layers, fleeces etc. The stuff I have in mind are the Paramo Taiga Fleece, Paramo Mountain Pull On, and Paramo Torres Smock.

I'm not sure yet wether I'm going to go with the Paramo trousers or Cragghoppers Bear Gryls Survivor Trousers, along with a set of Long Johns and Over trousers so I can customise the warmth/waterproof as and when the weather changes.

Tent
I've been unable to decide for certain whether to go for a small 1 man tent(The Gelert Solo) or a 2 man tent(Coleman Cobra 2) I'v run a list of pros & Cons for both, and they are about even, so I'll take the each on a different practice weekend and decide once I've spent 3 days living in and carrying each. At the Moment I favour the coleman as It will allow me to get dressed inside, and considering it will be towards the begining of winter that will be a very major benefit, however, I pay for that by almost doubling the weight of the tent.

Sleeping Mat
I'll be using A Therm-A-Rest sleeping Mat I picked up on the continent a few years ago. Once inflated it is pretty comfy, and blocks the cold from the ground quite well.

Socks
I've gone for Bridgedale Endurance Trekkers, they feel like a nice mix of wool, and for ome reason are reletivly thin compared to more tradidional walking socks. Another major advantage these socks have is that they are currently available as 2nds for £6. I've tried them on a few walks allready, and they are very comfortable over the sorts of distance I'll be covering on the main walks.

Undies.
This is another area wear I've not made up my mind. I've been told that cycling shorts are best for endurance events, but at the same time, a pair of briefs with vasaline on the inside of your thighs have alsoo been recomended. As I've not done any multiple day walks before I'll be trying each out on the practise walks.