Karrimor Hot Rock 25 litre rucsac. Single compartment climber's daysac with small lid pocket. Has a removable, closed-cell, foam back which can be used as a warm, dry seat. Has accessory patches on the sides but I also sewed on some extra buckles to facilitate the attachment of two Karrimor Standard pockets of five litres capacity each. One pocket contained water bottle, vacuum flask, tyre pump, and one or two spare inner tubes. The other pocket contained tools and spares. The main compartment was lined with a waterproof plastic rucsac liner.
Berghaus Blitz bumbag. Can be extended into 20 litre lightweight rucsac. Contained lunch, suncream, and other things which might be required during the day.
Hama Classic F-44 camera bag.
Nylon stuff sac containing waterproofs.
Mamut fleece-lined Goretex cap; Ron Hill two-piece Goretex running suit (very old and battered and was replaced in St Annes by a Freestyle two-piece cycling suit made from Pertex Aquabloc nylon fabric); Quiet Gear nylon gaiters; Mountaincraft nylon rucsac cover.
Two Berghaus ACL Polartec 100 long-sleeve zip-neck shirts; 2-pairs of Coolmax padded undershorts (Madison Bike Briefs made by Andiamo); Rohan Bags polycotton long trousers with Rohan webbing belt; 2-pairs thick socks (Bridgedale AT Leisure Coolmax); 2-pairs thin socks (Bridgedale AT Meraklon); Merrell Trail lightweight walking shoes; Trek Terry Back track mitts; Lowe Alpine Polartec 100M fleece gloves; Mountain Equipment Ultrafleece long-sleeve zip-front jacket; Croakies for keeping spectacles firmly in position; sweatband (never used because I always wore my cap).
Fred Perry cotton long-sleeve polo shirt; Rohan Globetrotters polycotton trousers; Rohan Globetrotters polycotton shorts; Marks and Spencer cotton underpants; Marks and Spencer wool and nylon socks; two Marks and Spencer cotton handkerchiefs; Clarks shoes; Lowe Alpine Polartec 100M pullover; sleepwear: Silking silk long-sleeve top and long underpants, and Helly-Hansen Lifa Super socks - I always wear socks in bed, don't you?
Contained in Eagle Creek toilet bag with three zipped compartments: one for towel; one for facecloth; one for everything else. Towel, 65x45cm (made by sewing together two viscose and polyester Wonder Towels from GO Travel Products Co); face cloth, 32x22cm (made from half a GO Wonder Towel); Braun battery travel shaver; comb; stainless steel mirror; soap in dish; 60 ml plastic bottle containing shampoo decanted from larger bottle; folding toothbrush (I use Crabtree & Evelyn); 50ml tube of toothpaste; 50m dental floss; packet of 50 dental sticks.
Travel Plus pegless clothes line; 125ml tube of Boots Travel Clean for washing clothes; 60g tube of Boots emollient cream for sore bottoms and relief from sunburn and wind-dried skin; 20gm tube of Boots antifungal cream for saddle sores; 30gm tube of Betnovate cream (a prescription drug for eczema - I am mildly allergic to oil and lots of other things); 30-tablet pot of Boots multi-vitamins and iron for those times I wasn't eating enough fruit and veg.
15gm tube of Savlon antiseptic cream; 5cm x 4.5m crepe bandage; 5cm x 5m open weave bandage; 5x5cm Melolin non-adherent absorbent dressing; 6.3x50cm strip of fabric Elastoplast; fabric knuckle plaster; two fabric finger plasters; 12-off 2mg Imodium diarrhoea capsules; 25-off Micropur MT 1 water purification tablets; small pair of scissors.
Wristwatch; nylon wallet containing cash, cash cards for current account and saving account, credit card (used only for making emergency telephone calls to my brother in America), BT phone card, spare passport-size photographs, toothpick, receipts from cash machines and B&Bs etc; spare pair of spectacles in hard case; 85cm silk square for mopping up sweat and covering face during lunchtime snooze; bright orange polythene survival bag; two safety pins always attached to outside of rucsac or camera case for pinning on drying clothes or for various emergency uses; nylon mesh shopping bag; 1-litre Sigg aluminium water bottle; 0.45-litre Thermos stainless steel vacuum flask.
Logbook (an A4-size hardback with 192 pages, ie 96 sheets); ten loose sheets of lined A4 paper; ten loose sheets of writing paper; ten envelopes; five A4-sized envelopes for returning guidebooks etc to base; ten 40x30cm re-sealable polythene bags for protecting logbook, guidebooks, maps, etc; ten 32x23cm re-sealable polythene bags for protecting maps in Maptrap; Bic ballpoint; Scripto clutch pencil; roll of Sellotape; 1-metre steel tape.
62-off A4 sheets from the Ordnance Survey Road Atlas of Britain, 6th edition 1994, scale 1:250,000. It is an A4-size spiral-bound, soft-cover book of 212 pages (including cover), ie 106 A4 sheets. I removed the binding, the town maps, and the gazetteer. I took with me the maps, the front cover with the index to the map sheets, the pages containing details of national and local radio stations, and the key to map symbols, a total of 62 A4 sheets. I kept these with me throughout the journey.
Approx one third of AA Illustrated Guide To Britain's Coast, reprinted with amendments 1987. This is a 384 page A4-size hardback book which covers the coast of Britain in strip-map form of various scales, with brief details of all the interesting things to be seen, whether natural or man-made. I divided it up into three sections and posted two ahead to be picked up en-route from a friend in Aberdeen and my father in St Annes. As I used up the pages of the guide I returned them to base with other guidebooks picked up along the way.
Handbooks for YHA of England and Wales, and for Scottish YHA. Paperback book to read in evenings. Copies of 8-page itinerary, and 2-page instructions and codes for use of pager, as supplied to family and friends.
Lefax 19x11cm pocket organiser containing: 29-off loose-leaf diary sheets for late April to early November (I had to add extra sheets to take me up to the end of December); 42-off loose-leaf notebook sheets for miscellaneous note-taking and also for producing neat copies of photograph details for returning to base; 5-off loose-leaf address sheets; cheque book; membership cards for YHA, CTC, Moulton Bicycle Club; CTC cycle insurance certificate and cycle record card; book of postage stamps; Filofax solar-powered calculator.
Map measurer; Bic ballpoint; Petzel Micro head-torch; Victorinox Picnicker knife (comprising: 9cm lock-blade; tin-opener; bottle-opener; corkscrew; reamer; two screwdrivers; wirestripper; toothpick; tweezers); two small packets of 10 paper handkerchiefs as emergency toilet paper, but never used; 100g tube of Uvistat factor-8 hypo-allergenic sun cream; packet of 24 Nurofen tablets; 2floz bottle of Repel insect repellent (never used); head-sized mosquito net from Survival Aids (used only once); two J-Cloths and one pair of polythene gloves for re-fitting chain with clean hands; small nail-clippers and nail-file; badge saying, Trainee Pensioner, given to me by friends when I took early retirement.
Lunch: sandwiches (or bread and cheese), tomato, fruit, chocolate bars, shortbread biscuits, etc. Small supply of individual teabags, coffee sachets, sugar packets, packet soups, muesli packets acquired at various youth hostels.
Contained in camera bag: Contax 139 SLR camera fitted with Sigma UC 28-105mm, f4-5.6 zoom lens; Hama miniature tripod/G-clamp; lens cloth; blower brush for lenses; four 36-exp slide films (I used a total of 18 films: 2-off Kodak 200ASA; 7-off Fuji 400ASA; 9-off Boots 200ASA); two W H Smith 10x7.5cm 32-sheet spiral-bound notebooks for noting photographs as taken; Bic ballpoint; emergency whistle; Silva Typ 3 compass; clip-on Boots polarising sunglasses; Praktica Sport 8x25 DWCF binoculars; Sony SRF-M903 AM/FM stereo radio with earphones; Mercury Minicall pager (a Motorola Lifestyle Plus); spare camera batteries; AA batteries for pager, headtorch, and shaver; AAA batteries for radio.