Challenge gear

Until now I've seen only two gearlists for this years Challenge. There have been years everybody was blogging about their gearlist complete with milligrams but lightweight gear is normal and accepted nowadays. Tarps, trailshoes, helium filled backpacks : you name it, they take it.
I do try to replace 'heavy' items with lighter alternatives but you won't find me sleeping underneath a tarp. A Dutch woman is running (!) LeJog at the moment and had a very unpleasant encounter with a toad..... crawling on her face in the middle of the night. The tarp was immidiately exchanged for an Akto.

The total weight of my rucsac, including 4 days food, will be just a little bit less than 13 kilograms (28.6 lbs) : the lightest I've ever had for a multiday backpacking trip.
I will not bore you with milligrams.

Theo's list :

North Face Lodestar 70 rucsac

Hilleberg Akto

Mamut Butterfly sleeping bag

NeoAir Xlite matras

inflatable pillow

Campinggaz Bluet micro stove

Campinggaz CV300

Pan

potcosy pot

potcosy pouch

Pocket knife

spork

walking poles

Satmap Active 10 gps incl ortlieb a6

6 AA batteries

4 AAA batteries

Geko 201 gps

Compass

Whistle

Small torch

headtorch (Xenos)

Samsung photocamera incl. ortlieb a6

ortlieb mapcase with a4 printouts

survival blanket

drinking bottle

bottleholder

p-zipbag

crocs

foldable sitmat

Karrimor drybag 2lt

Bever drybag 20 liter

Sea-to-summit drybag 20 liter

Sea-to-summit drybag 20 liter

Sea-to-summit drybag 2 liter

Eagle Creek chestpouch incl.plastic karabiners

snowgrips

Personal care

First aid kit

Tick remover

Paracetamol

Toothbrush

Toothpaste

Earplugs

Toiletpaper

Sportstape 3 m

Showergel (mini bottle)

Spare glasses with case

bandage

binbag

duct tape

Iron wire

Clothing etc.

j-cloth

flanel

4 pair of socks

2 Odlo underpants

Fleece hat

3 magic towels

North Face goretex trousers Paramo Alta Jacket Scarpa sl3 leather boots

1 synthetic longjohns

1 Icebreaker Skin 200 t-shirt 1 Icebreaker Skin 200 long sleeves 1 Icebreaker midlayer 3 handkerchiefs windstopper gloves 6 pair plastic gloves outdoordesign gaitors Food and drink

3xadventure food en 1xknorr dried pasta 16 mueslibars breakfast/lunch cereals  with white raisins and 70% chocola incl.ortlieb a4 15 teabags

Personal

Mobile phone ID, cards, drivers license, money, etc. Diary + pen I've sent two parcels with food and batteries to Fort William and Dalwhinnie. In 5 days Í'll be taking the ferry from IJmuiden to Newcastle. It's getting close now.

Pre-Challenge practice

I was able to get 2 days of work so I could do some proper training for the Challenge. Of course when I say 'proper training' I mean walking a reasonable distance on the flat instead of going up and down. There simply isn't much up and down in The Netherlands.

Last monday my wife drove me and the dogs to the nearest forest and kicked all of us out of the car. I left my wife, confusing the dogs whom to follow but after a couple of minutes of running back and forth they stayed with She Who Has To Be Obeyed. Traitors !

Bussumerheide

Two weeks ago the minimum night temperature was as low as     -10 C. but on sunday the max day temperature reached an incredible +23 C. At 8.45 am on monday it was already warm and feeling very humid. My rucsac contained most of the things I will be taking with me on this years Challenge.
A nice variation of wood and heath made for good progress in the morning.

Ancient neolithic burial hill - 4000 years old

At 11 am it started to rain but nothing serious. It was dry again at noon.
A nice and dry looking tree trunk looked like a suitable spot to have lunch. Ten minutes later a woman passed and asked if I hadn't been troubled by hornets. The treetrunk hosted a hornets' nest the previous year. Luckily for me there were none left.

great spot for lunch - a (former) hornets' nest

After going through more wood and some estate farmland I reached the former airforce base Soesterberg. This base has lost its function and buildings and runways are now being demolished to return the area to nature.
It also marked the end of walking in peace and solitude. The machines made a lot of noise and a busy A-road and motorway had to be circumnavigated.



German storage bunker from a 37mm Flak site

At 4 pm I reached my intended camping spot although it took me another half hour to locate the spot precisely. Wildcamping is illegal in Holland but there are some places where 'wildcamping' is permitted. This way of wildcamping is called 'paalkamperen', pole- or post camping. The only utility is a pump for pumping up groundwater by hand. The distance covered was 32 km.

'Paalkamperen' near austerlitz

At night the air was still and my Akto had considerable condensation on the flysheet.
I must admit it has been a long time since I slept in a small tent and I'm not as 'bendy' as I used to be.
The NeoAir Xlite airmattress was comfortable and didn't make much noise when turning from side to side. I also used an inflattable pillow, one with a hollow in the middle. It deflated a little during the night and that caused some necktrouble the next morning. A solution is needed before the start of the Challenge.
The forest had been full of singing birds the previous evening and the singing started again at the first sign of dawn. An early breakfast led to an early start at 7.30am. The route back home was slightly more to the west and 1km shorter making a total of 63 km in 2 days.
My feet felt good although the last 5km on tarmac wasn't too pleasant.


A beechlane, almost a mile long.





I had to go to work again on wednesday but felt wonderfully good and strenghtened.

Let's hope the infamous third Challenge day will be equally good.

 





Gear : Therm-A-Rest NeoAir Xlite Regular

A couple of days ago it was my birthday so I thought it was a good idea to buy me a present. I needed a replacement for my leaking Exped Down Air 7 mattress.
I visited BeverZwerfsport , a Dutch outdoorshop, to test the T-A-R NeoAir Xlite Regular. A very light mattress at 350 grams compared to the Exped at 900 grams. I've been happy with the warmth and comfort of the Exped 7 - I'm a sidesleeper - and thought I'd give the NeoAir Xlite a try in the shop.

My hips didn't touch the floor, even when deflated a bit for softness, but it's a bit 'noisy' when turning from one side to another. I don't mind. I'll be using earplugs.
Couldn't test the warmth but the R-value is stated as 3,5. I'll have to do some fieldresearch for that.
I left my cash at the shop and took the NeoAir home. I was happy.