I will be crossing some amazing wild and open countryside, including the Monadhliath and Cairngorm mountain ranges, and you can see some details of my ‘intended’ route here.

On my walk I will be carrying a SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger which will transmit my current location to a satellite, every 10 minutes, and my progress will be recorded. You can track my progress on one of the following maps: (the map on 1 an 2 below will show properly once tracking starts and the last map, 3, will be set up shortly)

1. My personal map on the Social Hiking website. This map will also show the occasional tweet and possibly a podcast or two, mobile signal permitting that is! Also, if I manage to set it up in time, this map will also show my intended route in a different colour.
2. A group map on the Social Hiking website, showing me and other walkers on the TGO Challenge.
3. Another group map showing me and yet more walkers on the TGO Challenge.

I do not intend to blog as I go so this may be my last post until near the end of May. My online activity will likely be only on twitter, @bryanwaddington, if you would like to keep in touch. You can also email me via the Contact page if you don’t have my email address.

Keep your fingers crossed, for all the ‘Challengers’, so we have good weather, a safe crossing and no midges! (well, not many :)

Best wishes

Bryan

More information about Rab TGO Challenge.

Blog posts in this series:

1. TGO Challenge 2012 Preparation – Part 1
2. TGO Challenge 2012 Preparation – Only 120 days to go!
3. TGO Challenge 2012 Preparation – Dornie start it is then!
4. TGO Challenge 2012 Preparation – My route is in!

Snowdon at dawn from Moel Siabod

In my Trailstar I have tended to sleep with either my feet or my head by the door. If you look into the Trailstar from outside then my bed is on the left hand side if I am sleeping with my feet by the door and on the right hand side if I am sleeping with my head by the door. I tried the inner in these two positions and also across the back, opposite the door, which is another possibility.

In all three positions it was easy enough to raise the netting by clipping the bungee cord at the ends either straight to one of the Trailstar hooks on the inside or by rigging up some dyneema from which to suspend the inner from.

Feet by the door
The inner by the feet is suspended from one of the Trailstar side clips and at the head end I rigged up a bit of dyneema to attach the shock cord of the inner to. The dyneema went form the hook in the apex of the Trailstar to one of the side hooks with a loop part way up to attach the shock cord to. I thought I would need the height but in hindsight I could just as easily take the dyneema from the side hook to the centre pole and the inner net shock cord will hang from that.

Across the back
This was straightforward, the inner simply attached to the Trailstar side hooks without any need to some fancy rigging, simple. One photo shows the inner without the feet end being suspended showing that there is not really the need to suspend the feet end!

Head by the door
Lastly, these photos show the inner positioned with my head near the door. I tied some dyneema from an inner hook to the door pole and suspended the inner from that. this worked fine but with the possibility that in the event of rain some water may find it’s way along the dyneema and so onto the inner net! The last photo shows me inside the inner net for scale, I am 5 foot 9 inches tall and of slim build.

Conclusion
Even though I have not actually slept inside this inner yet I can honestly say that it seems as though it will do the job nicely and I will be able to keep the midges and ticks (and locusts!) at bay while sleeping comfortably in a bit of space. I am very happy with this inner so far and will take it on the TGO Challenge as it is without any modifications. One problem I did come across was that with the shock cord at the head end being internally adjustable, if you had too much shock cord inside then it is going to dangle in your face so the thing to do is to have as little inside as possible to start with and then tension it from the inside a small amount if need be.

I wanted something small and light that I will use only when there are midges about and at other times I will just use it as a groundsheet. I wanted to be able to place it in different positions inside my Trailstar depending on the terrain (how many times have you pitched your tent only to find you didn’t realise how uneven the ground was right where your inner tent has to go), the weather and my mood! Its an inner that I can use under a tarp too or just on it’s own if I was bothered by midges and confident of no rain!

So this is what we came up with. Sean made a great decision to have the zip go all the way down to the ground sheet which, as you can see in the images below, allows ease of getting in and out but I can also easily make a cuppa first thing in the morning. The tensioner at the head end is adjustable from the inside and the sloping ends allow it to fit under the Trailstar more easily (something I have not tried yet!)

It weighs in at 240g at the moment, with the stuff sack and generous amounts of shock cord.

Much appreciation to Sean for pulling the stops out to get this to me this week. I am looking forward to trying it out this weekend ahead of the Rab TGO Challenge.

Here are some photos and a quick ‘walk around’ video:

– Harold B. Melchart

Saturday 10th
It had been a lovely day visiting family in North Wales, the weather was pretty good. By early evening, as I started my short walk up to my overnight wild camp, a beautiful sunset was beginning to form. It was taking me a while to walk the couple of miles, I was trying to Social Hike and had started tweeting, and I kept stopping to look at the sun setting over Anglesey and the Irish Sea, it was lovely.

It was getting dark pretty quickly now so I got a move on to get up to my camp. I pitched my Trailstar just off the main track. I decided, for testing purposes to pitch it in a low configuration and set the centre trekking pole to 100cm. The Trailstar went up beautifully first time. Nice and tight, low to the ground and the door was low too. This made getting in and out a little tricky and the headroom inside was restricted but the wind was shed really well and the shelter was rock solid, very comforting.

Sunday 11th
I had a cold night, a very cold night. I seemed to be awake alot but I did get a solid three hours between midnight and 3am. This was my first night under canvas in my Western Mountaineering Summerlite sleeping bag and unfortunately it is not warm enough for me as I sleep cold. There is nothing wrong with the bag at all and it always get rave reviews but I sleep cold and it just wasn’t warm enough.

The cloud descended overnight and I gradually lost the views of the lights of the North Wales Coast during the early hours of the morning, it looked like I was in for a cloudy day and no views.

The plan for the day was to walk west along the North Wales Coastal Path to Llanfairfechan and then head south into the mountains as far as Drum. Then retrace my steps off Drum and cut north east back to Penmaenmawr where I had left my car.

I was up and away early, walking by 7.30am. It was lovely to be up and about that early, even though it was very cloudy. I wondered why the North Wales Coastal Path took the route it did when there were more direct routes, but it soon became apparent that it was designed to give you some lovely views as you descend off the hills and then back up the other side.

I followed the North Wales Coast Path to Llanfairfechan, past some nice houses that had tremendous views, and then started the climb to head into the hills. Next stop was the pylons that cut through the landscape. There is something interesting about pylons and I took a few photographs.

I stopped at the pylons to make a cuppa using the Pocket Stove Ti and a meths burner. I’m just trialing using meths at the moment to see how I get on with it. It can be a bit of a fiddle to use and tricky lighting without one of those flint and steels but I did manage to get the meths lit in the breezy conditions and enjoy my cup of tea.

Refreshed I continued my walk to Drum. As I approached the summit I suddenly realised that it was getting a bit brighter and the sun was trying to shine through clouds. Every now and then I could see small patches of blue sky and I became hopeful that I would get the odd view between clouds from the top.

I got more than I hoped for. Almost at the summit and I suddenly walked out of the clouds into glorious warm sunshine, it was beautiful. I sat on the summit for some time and soaked up the sun. The views came and went over various parts of the landscape stretched out before me, and I tried to capture the atmosphere in a photograph or two. I also sat my camera on a rock and let it taking video the cloud as it gently billowed and drifted as it revealed the landscape.

Just off the top of Drum, in the saddle, the ground was quite boggy with pool of peaty water. These pools were making a funny noise. As I got closer the noise stopped then I realised they were full of frogs (or toads) and loads of frogspawn. I couched at one of the pools for a while hoping to catch a photo or some video but they knew I was there and did not reappear. The walk back down the rest of the way was a bit of an anti-climax as I walked back into the cloud. It was rather dull until I was nearly back at the car and saw a few patches of sunshine again. the descent was but a bit tough on my knees and I was thankful for my trekking poles.

It was a great day out and lovely to get a wild camp in, even though I was cold. I’m looking forward to the next wild camp in a few weeks – in a warmer sleeping bag!

Route – a few details

• I will start in Dornie on Friday the 11th May … and finish in St Cyrus on Thursday 24th May.
• I will walk a total distance of 184 miles (at least ;) … with a total ascent of 9,096m.
• The greatest ascent in one day is Day 2 at 1549m and the least ascent in one day is the last day from North Water Bridge to the coast at 164m
• There will 13 nights under canvas (well, silnylon!) with no bothies or B&Bs.
• The remotest, and highest, camp is Camp 5 on Carn Gearresith (GR NH 628115) at a height of 720m.

Thanks to everyone who has helped with my route, either directly through emails, phone calls and even twitter, or indirectly through me having read one of your TGO Challenge trip reports, it is very much appreciated.

Gear
I have bought a few more bits and pieces since my last post. The most interesting is perhaps The Pocket Stove Ti from backpackinglight.co.uk. I quite like using solid fuel tablets and I’m currently playing with meths stoves so this little stove could work out to be rather useful. Plus I can light a few twigs and have a camp fire too whilst trying not to set fire to the landscape! … but thankfully I don’t have a self destructing Jetboil Sol Ti !

Fitness
My fitness is improving, slowly, although I keep having problems with my knees. This is not a new issue but a lifelong problem. Aside from that I think I will be ready for the Challenge and in any case I am going to do it regardless :) so if I am seriously struggling I will just have to adjust my route a little to deal with it. The goal is to get to St Cyrus, to compete the Challenge, and have a thoroughly enjoyable time, and as determined as I am to follow the route I have planned (more or less), it will sensible to shorten the route slightly and make it to the finish if necessary.

Blog posts in this series:

1. TGO Challenge 2012 Preparation – Part 1
2. TGO Challenge 2012 Preparation – Only 120 days to go!
3. TGO Challenge 2012 Preparation – Dornie start it is then!
4. TGO Challenge 2012 Preparation – My route is in!