just completed another tweaking session!
Thankfully just the route spread sheet! should be more coherent and informative now.
I may use the spreadsheet to cost the walk as we go along, dont want to run out of funds!
I have also changed Alfies jacket and bought a Ruffware sun shower waterproof jacket, sort of goretexy and also has taped seems so his snugness should be improved, the original jacket is ok but as with most dog jackets it closes with velcro fasteners which are suffering from dirt so not closing too well!
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Saturday, 23 January 2010
The Donations button is now active, so anyone who wants to can! Notice the charge that Paypal levy is per donation of 3.4% of your donation + 20 pence. I tested this out with a £1 donation and 77 pence went to the charity, so with a £10 donation, £9.46 goes to the charity. The larger donation the better! ;-)
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Having spent so long over the past week working on altering the route I can safely say that my mental image of this walk is a bit bewildered!.
I know how far I'm going to walk I know where I'm going to walk I even have a good idea of how long it will take, I just cant help being overawed!.
This is good for respecting what we are are soon to do and good for honing the "Three A's way" machine but I just don't seem to get a good grip on the concept of walking this distance,
its like juggling jelly I know the constituent parts I know its form I can imagine doing it and completing it but one juggle too far and it could end up just being a mess on the floor!(?)
I would be interested if any other Lejog or Joglers past or soon to be know what I mean!
Andy
(Alfie knows what to do, curled up in front of the fire wise dog!)
I know how far I'm going to walk I know where I'm going to walk I even have a good idea of how long it will take, I just cant help being overawed!.
This is good for respecting what we are are soon to do and good for honing the "Three A's way" machine but I just don't seem to get a good grip on the concept of walking this distance,
its like juggling jelly I know the constituent parts I know its form I can imagine doing it and completing it but one juggle too far and it could end up just being a mess on the floor!(?)
I would be interested if any other Lejog or Joglers past or soon to be know what I mean!
Andy
(Alfie knows what to do, curled up in front of the fire wise dog!)
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Its funny, just when I think I have everything in place I have to change things!
so what's changed?
1, I decided to plan my nightly accommodation in advance rather than accept more wild camping,this meant i had to change .......(2)
2, the route! (I just had to fiddle!) still at least my walk is now more organised! :)
3, which also meant i had to redo a lot of the maps and the gps routes! ARRGGHHHHH!
4, Have got the charity link in place at last. :)
5, also changed my picture of the whole walk for a zoomable panable google map image of the walk!.
6, added a cheesie pic of myself to the "where am I?" Latitude widget.
7, Have my trip down to the start organised and accommodation booked for the night before we start. Thanks Mum and Peter.
8, still have to sort out the donations link.........paypal!
9, Kit has changed a bit more I have a new merino base layer top which should prove toastie, and my berghaus waterproof trousers have been replaced with newer but still the same design/ make waterproofs.
I do have to do a lot more walking training (nagging my self here!) and loads of work on the charity side of things.
other than that i think we're ready tho we still have 81 days till the start, seems like yesterday when I had 150 days to go! this time will fly!
so what's changed?
1, I decided to plan my nightly accommodation in advance rather than accept more wild camping,this meant i had to change .......(2)
2, the route! (I just had to fiddle!) still at least my walk is now more organised! :)
3, which also meant i had to redo a lot of the maps and the gps routes! ARRGGHHHHH!
4, Have got the charity link in place at last. :)
5, also changed my picture of the whole walk for a zoomable panable google map image of the walk!.
6, added a cheesie pic of myself to the "where am I?" Latitude widget.
7, Have my trip down to the start organised and accommodation booked for the night before we start. Thanks Mum and Peter.
8, still have to sort out the donations link.........paypal!
9, Kit has changed a bit more I have a new merino base layer top which should prove toastie, and my berghaus waterproof trousers have been replaced with newer but still the same design/ make waterproofs.
I do have to do a lot more walking training (nagging my self here!) and loads of work on the charity side of things.
other than that i think we're ready tho we still have 81 days till the start, seems like yesterday when I had 150 days to go! this time will fly!
Sunday, 3 January 2010
Its been a busy time, that's my excuse!
the blog has been thoroughly ignored for too long so its about time I posted an update!
training had been going great all through december till the inevitable christmas slackening of routine and of course belts!,so now into the new year its time to shake of the dust and get started again!.
Today Alfie and i had a nice gentle reintroduction to walking, with a quick 8.4 mile walk which according to the gps took us 2.29 hours with full pack, dont think i'd have enjoyed another 20 miler today even tho the cold crisp weather has been superb!
if I can get myself fit enough to maintain that pace all day i'll be able to travel up to 30 miles per day if the need arises and if the energy is available. :)
kit wise ive been making a few alterations and increased my pack weight to over 11 kilos, the coleman rucksack that i was planning on using was already showing signs of wear and tear after about 70miles of traing walks, so that has been replaced with a 55 litre rucksack from Blacks (£29!!! great price) which is so far an excellent piece of kit.
clothing now includes some sturdy montane (TM) trousers and micro fleece jacket which will do away with the need for a fleece jumper and a jacket, and for those cold wet days I now have sealskin water proof gloves, my platypus has been replaced with an MSR Hydromedary hydration system which should be more sturdy.
The Charitable side of our walk has shifted lightly, originally I wanted to raise funds for the autistic kids at Alderwood LLA , but having consulted Alderwood any funds we raise would have greater benefit if donated to Alderwoods prefererd charity Hart House, who look after kids with learning difficulties in Gambia, if we raise £700 it will enable Hart House to run for an entire month! guess money goes further in Gambia!
please follow the link in the right hand column for more details.
the blog has been thoroughly ignored for too long so its about time I posted an update!
training had been going great all through december till the inevitable christmas slackening of routine and of course belts!,so now into the new year its time to shake of the dust and get started again!.
Today Alfie and i had a nice gentle reintroduction to walking, with a quick 8.4 mile walk which according to the gps took us 2.29 hours with full pack, dont think i'd have enjoyed another 20 miler today even tho the cold crisp weather has been superb!
if I can get myself fit enough to maintain that pace all day i'll be able to travel up to 30 miles per day if the need arises and if the energy is available. :)
kit wise ive been making a few alterations and increased my pack weight to over 11 kilos, the coleman rucksack that i was planning on using was already showing signs of wear and tear after about 70miles of traing walks, so that has been replaced with a 55 litre rucksack from Blacks (£29!!! great price) which is so far an excellent piece of kit.
clothing now includes some sturdy montane (TM) trousers and micro fleece jacket which will do away with the need for a fleece jumper and a jacket, and for those cold wet days I now have sealskin water proof gloves, my platypus has been replaced with an MSR Hydromedary hydration system which should be more sturdy.
The Charitable side of our walk has shifted lightly, originally I wanted to raise funds for the autistic kids at Alderwood LLA , but having consulted Alderwood any funds we raise would have greater benefit if donated to Alderwoods prefererd charity Hart House, who look after kids with learning difficulties in Gambia, if we raise £700 it will enable Hart House to run for an entire month! guess money goes further in Gambia!
please follow the link in the right hand column for more details.
Sunday, 15 November 2009
back again!
just back from a nice 17 mile walk with full kit (alfie now sleeping!)
so i thought id try modding the blog some more,
Google latitude seems to be able to pinpoint my position on google maps when i access google maps from my phone i should be able to update and make my position visible to anyone who may want to know during the trek, this seems to be a handy and potentially life saving addition if everything goes tits up!
gadgets are good!
just back from a nice 17 mile walk with full kit (alfie now sleeping!)
so i thought id try modding the blog some more,
Google latitude seems to be able to pinpoint my position on google maps when i access google maps from my phone i should be able to update and make my position visible to anyone who may want to know during the trek, this seems to be a handy and potentially life saving addition if everything goes tits up!
gadgets are good!
Monday, 2 November 2009
Updated the blog today, spent about 4 hours weighing and listing my kit, and listing the major points on my route.
i daresay that i will change some of this as i get near to the begining of the trek but it will do for now.
Am quite pleased that my base weight is coming in at about 10.5kg. if i can shed some weight i will do as with food and water i'll be carrying about 15-16kg on the longer stages, ive not measured this out yet so its only a guess for now, but it seems a fairly sensible estimate and if correct well within my normal capacity for carrying on a long distance walk tho not in a 50 litre pack on a 1000 mile trek! will have to do some full pack walks to see how the rucksac holds out.
i daresay that i will change some of this as i get near to the begining of the trek but it will do for now.
Am quite pleased that my base weight is coming in at about 10.5kg. if i can shed some weight i will do as with food and water i'll be carrying about 15-16kg on the longer stages, ive not measured this out yet so its only a guess for now, but it seems a fairly sensible estimate and if correct well within my normal capacity for carrying on a long distance walk tho not in a 50 litre pack on a 1000 mile trek! will have to do some full pack walks to see how the rucksac holds out.
Sunday, 1 November 2009
seriously long day at the computer today, i Have been measuring and marking my approximate days ends onto my maps in increments of 17 miles, usefully google earth could import my planned gpx route in very easily so i'm certain that my measurments clicked into G Earth are reasonably accurate.
Google also made it easy for me to create an image of my entire walk which you can now see in the right hand bar.
Enough computer for today. time to feed alfie anyway :)
Google also made it easy for me to create an image of my entire walk which you can now see in the right hand bar.
Enough computer for today. time to feed alfie anyway :)
Saturday, 31 October 2009
as i have have the burner lit i thought i'd try out a little cooking :)
normal ultra light weight food is basic to say the least (in my experience!) so i thought i'd cook a pasta and dried peas stew with a little seasoning and a nice chicken breast (cut up)
ok not ultra light but during three or so months of walking pot noodle is gonna get really dull!.
Having already primed the stove (see previous post) I set the breast and rice and seasoning into half a pot of water and left it too boil.
After reaching a rolling boil i took the pan from the heat (used about 25ml of meths outside with no wind shield) and put my home made pot cosy on and left it to simmer off the stove.
30 mins later i checked the food and all was cooked still steaming hot!
OK heston blumenthal may not have been impressed (Bunny!!!) but this is wholesome and different camping food which Alfie thoroughly enjoyed! lol! Ruth had made mousaka for tea!
normal ultra light weight food is basic to say the least (in my experience!) so i thought i'd cook a pasta and dried peas stew with a little seasoning and a nice chicken breast (cut up)
ok not ultra light but during three or so months of walking pot noodle is gonna get really dull!.
Having already primed the stove (see previous post) I set the breast and rice and seasoning into half a pot of water and left it too boil.
After reaching a rolling boil i took the pan from the heat (used about 25ml of meths outside with no wind shield) and put my home made pot cosy on and left it to simmer off the stove.30 mins later i checked the food and all was cooked still steaming hot!
OK heston blumenthal may not have been impressed (Bunny!!!) but this is wholesome and different camping food which Alfie thoroughly enjoyed! lol! Ruth had made mousaka for tea!
I've been testing my cooking gear today!
a little experiment with my wee vargo meths burning stove and pre priming the meths seems to have worked wonderfully at speeding up meths evaporation and should mean i use less meths without carrying any more gear.
my method is simply to pour a tiny amount of meths into the lid my stove is standing on in the picture and light it, this then heats the meths in the stove and causes the meths to evaporate quickly thus causing little jets of flame to shoot from the burner and enabling cooking to start more rapidly.
a little experiment with my wee vargo meths burning stove and pre priming the meths seems to have worked wonderfully at speeding up meths evaporation and should mean i use less meths without carrying any more gear.
my method is simply to pour a tiny amount of meths into the lid my stove is standing on in the picture and light it, this then heats the meths in the stove and causes the meths to evaporate quickly thus causing little jets of flame to shoot from the burner and enabling cooking to start more rapidly.
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