It’s here! Leaping two by two down the institutional staircase of Wandering Man’s workplace in a blur of excited anticipation I headed off to the Porter’s office where the prospect of a new technical dawn awaited. Here it was at last. Part birthday present, bigger part boy’s toy indulgence, just a few minutes away lay the promise of perfect navigation. The Garmin. It had arrived.
The modern informed traveller is well served by the outdoor pursuits industry in the provision of ‘technical’ kit suited to whatever form of activity he or she could wish to undertake. Most of us would image that ‘technical’ refers to things with moving parts, but these days the word refers to anything that does not resemble a hair shirt. From underpants to overpants, anoraks to ankle socks, basic clothing has been reimagined using the kind of hi-tech metaphors previously reserved for sports cars and computers.
Passing beyond the world of wicking and waterproofing, there are then the truly technical experiences of portable navigation, power and light. A person’s basic hydration needs can be met through gadgets for water filtration and purification, not forgetting eco-soap assisted ablutions. You can choose any number of ingenious ways to boil your carefully filtered and cleaned water in a vast array of utensils, pots and pans. Once all that is over, sleeping presents no impediment to comfort via pages and pages of pads, mats and bags catalogued in a confusing litany of appeals to divest us of our wallet contents.
For Rose and Wandering Man, the key objective in packing was to reduce the weight of our bags, so that they came in as near as possible to the 10kg we had carried two years ago. However, during that previous wander, each evening Rose and I were able to arrive at well appointed hostelries that we had booked some months before. The ability to shower and wash our ‘technical’ clothing meant we could carry a minimal number of outfits. This year the guidebooks we had managed to consult let us know quite clearly that such facilities would be few and far between; as in absent. With a choice between increasing our weight of clothes or becoming riper by the day, we chose the polecat option.
Two sets of lightweight walking outfits later, we surveyed our additional requirements. Clearly, we would need clothes to travel in to Nepal and to wear whilst mooching about in Kathmandu, where we were scheduled to spend a day each side of our walk. Consequently, some non-technical underpants, trousers and shirts made their way into our bags, plus of course a pair of smart brogues for evening wear.
Evenings. Will it be cold? Will it be windy? Where will we be sleeping? Such questions exercised us mightily, particularly the issue of sleep. A sleeping bag liner or a sleeping bag itself? Self-inflating pad or traditional Karrimat? Some online accounts of the wander suggest that bed bugs are likely to be a less than pleasing constant companion in certain environments. So a sleeping bag it was then. Tied tightly at the neck.
Many companies that sell levitra no prescription , will ship the medicine in a confidential package. These medically prepared pills contain extracts of natural herbs and purchase generic cialis view for more are hence less detrimental to the health with lesser side effects. One major problem with this one is very common and very annoying to them. best viagra price The reason for the cheap rate of the cheap sildenafil medicine treats the person in such a way that we are on the constant lookout for a better deal.
The weight began to mount up. And this was before we considered the vexed question of direction. How will we know where to go? I had read a throw away line in that very first Guardian article we read, about a ‘GPS unit’. What precisely did the writer mean by a GPS unit? Being old school, I am never happier than when stooped over a traditional paper map attempting to shield it from the driving Yorkshire rain. A GPS? Why was such a thing necessary?
Of course all boys need their toys. Hence the excitement and anticipation of the special delivery. As is always the case, of course, the reality never attains the expectation of the build up. Unpacking the unfamiliar device, I soon discovered that it needed charging up – a process that took up around the next 18 hours, leaving me ample time to chew my nails and consult a myriad YouTube videos of varying worth. Just what was the difference between a route (pronounced ‘rowt’ apparently), a track, and a trip? Uploads and downloads of TOPO and ‘Birdseye’ maps? It was a totally different language and world – literally. And it weighed a ton.
Much perseverance later, including a few practice walks and the device was starting to open up its secrets. However, a prodigious user of electricity, the device would be of little use without battery back up. Short of carrying a solar panel with us, the only solution seemed to be to purchase yet more tech, this time a pre-chargeable battery pack. One more trip to the online tech store later and this next piece of ‘vital’ equipment arrived. This weighed another ton. Between them, this real tech seemed to weigh more than all the other pretend tech of clothing and anti bed bug sleeping equipment put together; and it had cost only marginally less than the airfare.
With our 10kg limit well and truly consigned to the aspirational dustbin, more stuff went into the rapidly bulging packs. A water purification system, never previously used, dragged from the back of a cupboard. A ‘lightweight’ multi-fuel stove and fuel bottle. A pan for boiling water. Cup and bowl. First (and second) aid kit. Torch. Torch batteries. Protein bars. Bog roll. Wipes. Camera………….
Remember that lot next time you play Dr Foster went to Gloucester.
