EVERYTHING I TOOK ON MY COAST TO COAST HIKE

Welcome to the most bloggy of all the adventure-related posts… A packing list! In this article I’m sharing everything I took on my UK coast to coast hike.

These gear list posts are always super interesting to me, and I know from my own research before doing the hike they can also be very useful for those planning their own adventures, so here I am adding mine into the mix. They are also an interesting way to reminisce; an opportunity to look at an adventure from the point of view of the things that made it comfortable – or not.

Over the next few hundred words I’ll be sharing what I wore, what I carried in my day pack, and what was in that massive red duffel bag I paid Sherpa Van to cart around for me.

In the main, I’ll not be going into loads of detail of individual items – although I’ll link out to reviews where I’ve written them (some of those are very old!). But at the same time, where I have a potentially useful comment to make on a particular bit of gear, then I’ll be sure to share it. If you have any questions about anything here, drop a comment below and I’ll get back to you.

A Note on My List

A word to the wise. This is a list of what I took on the hike, along with a few notes on what I think about that when I look back over my kit list all this time later. This isn’t necessarily a kit list for your hike – it might be useful research but don’t take my word for any of this.

I’m also not putting it here to receive your (congratulatory or critical) judgement on whether I should have packed any differently… you know, in case that’s why you came here today.

Please just see this for what it is – a nosey into what I took with me to help me hike the UK coast to coast a couple of autumns ago.

The Full Coast to Coast Story

If you want the full story of my UK coast to coast hike, and I really hope you do, it’s a nice little adventure story told in a chapter-a-day style – worth your time I reckon, then it’s best to head over to my adventure journal series. This one is just about the stuff.

On Using a Baggage Transfer Service

I spoke a bit in my days zero and one adventure journal posts about how we chose to use a baggage transfer service to help keep us light and comfortable when hiking the coast to coast. Using Sherpa Van allowed us a bit more time and comfort out on the trail, and made our hike more fun.

That extra time and comfort came in a few ways. Only having to carry day packs (albeit my larger day pack so I had warm layers, plenty of snacks, and my Jetboil for lunchtime tea), meant the high routes were more doable, thanks to not having the weight of camping gear on our backs. In theory, it also meant the miles would be less arduous on the knees and hips, making recovery each night quicker, and therefore helping us to hike happy every day for two weeks (200 miles is a very long way!).

It also meant we could carry a few luxury items for our overnights. I say a few – I filled my 90-litre red duffel bag, which I would hand over to Sherpa Van, with all kinds of added extras I definitely wouldn’t have taken if I was carrying my own stuff. It was still under the allowed 20kg weight limit, but was certainly full. I mean, I’d paid for it (£122 total for the two weeks), so why skimp?! You’ll see through this post what those luxuries were, but as an example, think a pair of trainers for the evenings and a lamp for inside my tent; nothing crazy, but items chosen carefully to make a difference.

Justification

It’s weird. Even all this time after my UK coast to coast hike, I feel I have to justify my use of a baggage transfer service, or at least explain that decision. For some reason, there’s this odd assumption that carrying all my own gear is the only way long distance hiking becomes “a real adventure”. You know, that there is “a right way” to be on the trail.  

Of course, that is ridiculous. It’s not like Sherpa Van transported me between each campsite. I still had to walk all the miles, up and down all the hills, and through all the bogs (read about Nine Standards Rigg), myself. But I guess that’s part of sharing adventures on the internet for all to read; there will always be some level of imposter syndrome that comes with that. I’ll just link to this very old post about “What is Adventure” and leave it at that.

The Trailblazer Coast to Coast Guidebook

My chosen guidebook for the coast to coast hike was the version published by Trailblazer, written by Henry Stedman and Stuart Butler. There are so many to choose from; at the time of looking this one came recommended to me, so I went with it. The pages include lots of useful descriptive text, route maps with added hints and tips, and notes on places to stay and eat. It did its job very well indeed.

I spent hours in the run up to this hike studying its pages, using it alongside other information online and from friends to help us plan our itinerary. That amount of study wasn’t entirely necessary, I know that, but I find reading this guidebook and using it to plot and ponder a hugely enjoyable part of the getting ready process. Preparing for an adventure, even just dreaming up adventure ideas, is exciting in itself; the pile of guidebooks on my bookshelf help to fuel that flame.

While it added a bit of weight to my day pack, I chose to carry the guidebook on the trail. Jenni and I made looking at the following day’s description part of our evening routine, to help us know what we were in for, but also to make sure we didn’t miss any of the interesting sights along the way.

If you are looking to do the coast to coast, I would recommend the Trailblazer guidebook. I can’t compare it to other guidebooks, such as this one by Cicerone as I only used the one, so if you’re about to take on this hike, it’s worth having a look around to find the best one for you.

What I Hiked In

Okay, now you know that I didn’t carry all this stuff on my own back – other than on the journey home (read about day 15), and I’ve said a few words about the guidebook we used, let me take you through the actual kit I carried – starting with what I wore.

The clothes you wear to hike in are the main thing. You have to be comfortable when walking, or walking is going to be a pretty rubbish activity for 14 days in a row. And for me, that comfort came in a selection of tried and tested clothing that I was very used to wearing when out on the trail. I didn’t have any new clothing with me, in fact, some of it was really quite old and worn out, and I actually got rid of a couple of the items as soon as the hike was done.

I had two complete hiking outfits with me, and in the main I alternated day by day, making use of hand-washing facilities and drying rooms where available to give things a freshen up.

My Hiking Outfit

My walking trousers of choice for this were the ever-popular Craghoppers Kiwi Pro Stretch, which I wore with one of two tees; either my mustard coloured Isobaa merino tee, or my old grey Adventure Queens tee. For a mid layer, I had either my very old and well-worn blue merino wool top, which was so holey by the end I didn’t even take it home, or my a-bit-newer grey Craghoppers Nosilife thin sweater.

On my feet, I wore my 1000mile or Bridgedale Trekker hiking socks, some days with liners, and some days without, with my Meindl Bhutan hiking boots. I recently wrote a long-test review of those boots after over three years of wear, which is worth a read if you’re wondering about what I think of wearing leather class B hikers like these for a long-distance hike in the UK.

I also wore a comfortable sports bra (a blog post on sports bras for hiking coming soon…), a pair of microfibre bikini briefs from M&S (I’m yet to spend good money on hiking knickers, just can’t see the need when M&S do decent enough microfibre ones in packs of five), a buff, either my lightweight baseball cap or my beanie hat depending on the weather, and my sunglasses when needed.

Wet Weather Gear

Talking of weather, I also wore my The North Face Vanadium waterproof jacket, a really great and reasonably packable Gore-tex shell, my Berghaus Deluge waterproof over trousers, my The North Face Thermoball puffy coat, since retired, and one of two pairs of gloves I packed. Oh, and my Berghaus Glacier gaiters, which were a must on a small number of days, but I only wore when absolutely necessary as I just can’t stand feeling that restricted!

When not needed, all my waterproof bits and bobs were all stuffed inside dry bags in my day pack so they were easily available should I need them – I carried them each day, even if the forecast looked okay.

My Day Pack

I chose to carry my 40l Osprey Tempest day pack (rather than my usual 20l version) specifically to give me space to carry my Jetboil Flash stove each day. There is something particularly wonderful about a lunchtime cup of tea when hiking long distances, and if Ray Mears tells me to carry a stove rather than a flask, I’m going to listen! Jenni used the 30l version of the same pack, which was certainly big enough, but I didn’t want to buy new and the 40l wasn’t overly big for this purpose.

The Osprey Tempest is genuinely a great pack series, and I’d highly recommend it. I now have three, having very recently got the 24l version to replace my very (very) old green 20l one (which I really should throw away, but it’s hard to part with great gear!). I used a 2-litre bladder in the external hydration pocket, could attach my walking poles – an absolute must – either on the back or using the quick access loops on the straps, kept small essentials and snacks in the hip pockets, and made use of the mesh pocket on the front for quick access to my maps and jacket.

Everything was packed in dry bags. I have a bunch of these Lomo ones, they are lightweight, work well, and offer good value for money. My only complaint is that they are all red, making content identification a little harder than it would be if they were all different colours. But given that they are much cheaper than other leading brands, I am happy to live with that!

All the Useful Things

Inside my day pack, other than the afore mentioned Jetboil Flash stove, I also carried a bunch of random but very useful things…

I made sure I had easy access to a little battery pack and cable, my multi tool, Vaseline for my lips and anywhere else that needed it, my wallet, and phone. My guidebook and maps for each day also came with me.

My lunchtime kit included a mug, spoon, tea bags, powdered milk, packet soup, and heaps of snacks. I had a small water bottle in addition to the water bladder so I had water easily available for a brew; if you’ve ever tried to pour water from a bladder into a pot then you’ll know why I did this. My small PACMAT Patch, a little square of waterproof fabric picnic blanket, also came with me – and is my number one must-have item for any day hike. Seriously, buy one.

Safety wise, I had a compass, head torch, first aid kit complete with blister plasters and pain killers (and Imodium……). My toilet kit included loo roll, wet wipes, hand sanitiser, and a few bags so I could pack out my waste (I really do need to get a Kula cloth) – and a handful of 50p and 20p coins for public loos.

To round things off, I had a tiny microfibre towel (this one) so I could dry my feet if I found somewhere for a mid-hike paddle, spare hiking socks in case my socks got soaked in bogs, a spare buff because they are useful in every way, some gorilla tape, and a small notebook and pencil.

Overnight Gear

Moving onto my overnight bag, for which I used my large The North Face Base Camp duffel – a superbly resilient waterproof bag that has shown it can deal with pretty much anything I have thrown at it over the years. It’s massive, holding up to 90-litres of kit – and boy did I fill it up! Let me take you through everything I managed to squeeze inside, starting with my camping gear…

Tent

My tent of choice is the Vango Banshee. It’s such a great little tent. I’ve got the two-person version, which has enough space for me and all my gear to live in comfort, without feeling cramped or hemmed in. I can sit up in it, can arrange my kit so I can get to everything without feeling like I’m having to move things around all the time, and even have just enough space to make a cup of tea in the porch if it’s not nice outside.

I completely trust this tent; I know it will keep me dry in heavy rain, that I’m not going to get condensation inside, and that it stands up to wind. It’s not a top of the range tent by any means, I chose it because it seemed to provide the best value (I paid less than £100 in 2017, the latest version is £145 from Go Outdoors) to weight (2.4kg all in) to spec ratio for what I could afford at the time.

I can’t deny that I’d love to have an opportunity to compare it with a lighter tent at some point, one that is free standing. In the meantime, I’m very happy to keep getting the Banshee out for trips like this – whether I’m carrying it myself or using my or someone else’s wheels to carry it for me.

Sleeping

My sleeping kit included my OEX Fathom EV 300 synthetic sleeping bag and my Alpkit Dirtbag sleeping mat (I did the coast to coast hike before I got my new Robens duo but still have and rate both of these items). Given that it was autumn, I also had my silk sleeping bag liner (the old version of this one from Decathlon) to add a bit of comfort rating to my bag.

I had two luxury items as part of my sleep system, seeing as I wasn’t struggling for space. The first was my Thermarest Compressible pillow, made from memory foam offcuts, which meant I didn’t have to sleep on a lumpy dry bag full of clothes. The second was my family-sized PACMAT waterproof picnic blanket, which I stretched out inside my tent to provide another layer between me and the ground. Both provided added comfort at night, and were very much appreciated.

Also because I had space, I took my small camping lamp so I didn’t have to rely on just my head torch when I was inside my tent. This made the dark evenings and mornings much easier to deal with as I had plenty of light by which to sort out my gear and write my journal. It was also doubly helpful as my head torch failed on the second night, so it provided a backup light until I successfully managed to poke the head torch in just the right place to persuade it to work again. I’ve since replaced it!

You can find out more about how I keep warm when camping in this old post which features most of the same gear I took on the coast to coast hike.

More Clothing

In addition to the two hiking outfits mentioned above, I also packed a bunch of other clothing. I mean, of course I did – I could! All of this went in one of my packing cubes at the bottom of my duffel bag, I am a big fan of keeping bags organised, so everything had a place, which made it easy for me both to pack and to find things.

I took a complete set of clothes for the evenings, a real luxury on a long distance hike. That was a pair of comfortable trousers (my Columbia Buck Mountain trouserts, which I’m gutted they have discontinued), a tee, a thick fleecey hoodie, and a pair of fluffy socks. And then I also had a set of clothes I would use as my pyjamas – I said I went all in – which consisted of a pair of thick thermal leggings and a baggy long-sleeved tee.

Apart from the hiking clothes I mentioned above (and of course that second hiking outfit was in this same packing cube), I also packed a thin long-sleeved base layer I could use for layering on cold days. They say you pack your fears, and this was one of those items.  

I Could Hike in Everything

I should perhaps note that I could have hiked in any and all of the clothing I packed. This was an important back up to cover some of the what ifs that had been bothering me in the run up to the coast to coast hike – you know, what if everything got soaked, I ripped my trousers, or something I’ve worn for miles and miles already turned out to be much less comfortable than before. I didn’t need to, but I could have done. And should I do another hike in this way again, I would make sure I followed that same rule.

The remaining space in my clothing packing cube was filled with as many pairs of hiking socks and microfibre briefs as I could squeeze in. In all I had four pairs of decent hiking socks and five pairs of knickers, plus a second bra, which I don’t think was bad. I’m used to packing up to around this number for any length trip away and washing as I go along. Given that we camped at a few YHAs and other places with washing and drying facilities, this was plenty, and I could definitely have managed with fewer and still felt clean on the trail.

Extra Footwear

Not carrying my own kit meant I could branch out my luxury items into things I really wouldn’t get anywhere near if I had been… shoes! When hiking the West Highland Way, I packed a cheap and flimsy pair of flip flops as my evening shoes, primarily so that I had something to wear in the shower at campsites and in hostels, but that also doubled up as something to get me to the pub for dinner so I could leave my hiking boots off for a few hours each evening.

On this trip, though, I went all out. I had a pair of Salomon hiking trainers AND upgraded those flimsy flip flops for a pair of adidas Adilette slides. The latter were perfect for slipping on as soon as we reached camp to air my feet as I put up my tent, as well as for wearing in the shower, while the former were great for our evening walks to find food, which were sometimes 20-minutes each way.

As with all my clothes, I could have worn my trainers to hike in if I’d needed to, I might have been packing all the things I felt I needed, but I was careful to makes sure everything was as useful as possible.

Cooking and Eating

We ate out most of the time, which was a rather lovely way to make our way across the country – but that wasn’t possible (or sensible!) for every meal every day. I didn’t pack a full camp kitchen, but could fend for myself when needed. Together with the Jetboil Flash stove, mug and spoon I carried in my day pack, in my duffel bag I had a second gas canister, and a long spoon. I also had a tea towel so I could wipe things after using them in order to pack away quickly.

Food wise, I carried four Firepot meals for when we couldn’t get dinner elsewhere in the evenings. These are my favourite easy camp dinners, made in Dorset as complete meals before being dehydrated as a whole and packaged up – it’s really no hardship eating one of those.

I also had a few instant porridge packets, heaps of snack bars (think Kind, Naked, Cliff, you know the sort of thing), nuts and dried fruit, chocolate bars, and sweets, which I used to stock up my little snack bag in my day pack (along with whatever randomness I fancied from shops along the route, of course).

And for drinks – teabags, powdered milk, hot chocolate, and packet soups.

And the Rest…

As I had the space and the weight available, I took a full wash kit – now that’s a luxury for a long distance hike! I had a shampoo bar, soap, moisturiser, deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste, a brush, loads of hair bobbles, and my ever-favourite foot cream, which should be in every hiker’s kit bag. I also went armed with both sun cream and bug spray, just in case. Knowing I didn’t have to skimp on my towel, I took my reasonably packable but full-sized Tesalate towel with me.

I took a chunky battery pack to charge up my phone overnight, an elasticated washing line to hang up my smalls, spare batteries for my head torch and lamp, a bunch of freezer bags and some heavy duty bin liners to keep things dry, my little cork ball (something like this) to help me stretch out my feet and massage my legs, a loo roll to keep my day pack supply topped up, and some tape and string for any emergency repairs.

Finally, I had a folder with the rest of my printed maps (thanks to my OS Maps app subscription), so I could put the right ones in my day pack each morning.

Overpacked or Underpacked?

Okay, you will have certainly got the message here that I did not pack light on this hike, far from it. That’s completely fine – I didn’t need to. I most certainly overpacked. I mean, I used every single thing I took with me, so there was no wasted space as such. But I could certainly have managed with less. Much less.

And I have managed with less before, and I’m sure I will do in future. On this occasion, though, to walking the UK coast to coast, this is how I chose to do it.

Were there other things I wish I’d taken? No, I think I got it about right. I don’t recall wanting anything else, didn’t buy anything other than food on the trail, and didn’t have to call in any kit favours from Jenni or anyone else.

How about you? If you were hiking the coast to coast in a similar way to me – using a baggage transfer service, how would you pack differently?

If you have any questions about any of the outdoor kit I mention in this post, please do drop me a comment below and I’ll get back to you.

Read all my UK Coast to Coast Adventure Journal posts.