Alas, the delayed posting wasn't caused by a trip into the wilderness, a bridge being taken out by the recent gales and a forced week-long detour. So why the delay? I've a plethora of excuses at the ready but far less reasons. Came down with a cold last week and was floored for half the week. The extent of the physical training was some riding, continuing to add weights to the vest and an Irish dancing session. Started working out what food has to be prepared (since that much food will take a long time to dehydrate) and it looks like there'll be a crew of 5 or 6 for the Arthurs, then 3 or 4 after that.
What of the weekend then, did it bring a sudden increase in planning and activity? The cold loitered still, but faded enough to do a spot of manual labour, shifting and laying sandstone blocks. Started making some new weights as well, since I'm almost wearing all of those which came with the vest. Up around 6 kg now. Still noticing it, but that 1/2 lb a day seems a like a rate I can maintain fairly easily.
As for gear, I've been looking at what I have and I'm pretty much alright now. One potential problem is my sleeping mat. I have one of the early Exped inflatable down-filled mats, which is lightweight, packs down small, is the most comfortable comping bed I've ever used and I've never had a problem with it. Sounds perfect; what am I worried about? It was purchased in a batch of four. Of those four, all the others suffered catastrophic failure (when an exped goes flat it has absolutely no padding left, so any failure is catastrophic), only reaching around 20 nights of usage at best. At last count, mine's managed around 70. Now I'm hoping that's because I got the lucky mat and it'll make it clear through 100. The odds are against it though, and with 30 days of rough ground, I'm considering whether I can take the gamble. I haven't replaced it yet, but am looking at some options for doing so.
Well that's about it. No pretty pictures to accompany this time. So you'll have to cope with boring text.
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