“In omnia paratus”

As mentioned in my last post, I was expecting a couple of items in the post for my upcoming Big Walk. Both arrived over the past few days. One is a luxury item that I regard as an essential part of recording my forthcoming experience, the other is simply to keep me warm.

Three Points of the Compass has used an Olympus Tough TG4 on my past few walks, be they short or long. This has proved to be a fantastic camera and is still going strong. With wrist strap, battery and SD card fitted, it weighs 252g. Though annoyingly, it requires a proprietary charge cable to be also carried, adding a further 49g to pack weight.

Sony Cybershot DCS-RX100M5. A truly portable compact camera

For this little adventure of mine in twenty days time I decided that the quality of the photographs I take is of greater significance than before so decided to step up in camera quality and use a Sony DSC- RX100M5. I want the best possible memories so I am taking the best possible camera I can that is still relatively lightweight and of small dimensions. I won’t bore you here with the detailed specs but important to me amongst a number of desirable features are the build quality, the 1″ sensor, 20.1 Megapixels, 24-70mm F1.8-2.8 lens, fast focus, capability to film in 4K and its small size. Oh yes, and you can charge it with a standard USB/micro USB cable.

The camera comes with a fixed Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 24-70mm lens

I have made no great weight advantage by switching to this camera, with the thinner wrist strap fitted, and battery and SD card, the RX100M5 weighs 298g. I do wish it had some degree of weather protection like the Olympus Tough, but no, it isn’t going to take kindly to precipitation. If it is wet and I want to record something, I shall have to put my RugGear RG730 phone in to action. That is IP68 and pretty much laughs at any sort of punishment.

Black xoac VX07 X-Pac camera pouch from Tread Lite also has a water resistant zip

I normally keep a camera in my packs hip belt pocket but have decided to offer a little more protection for this camera. It shall be kept in a poly ziplock inside an 18g camera pouch fixed to the shoulder strap. This is made by Tread Lite and is yet another recent arrival with the post.

Olympus Tough TG4 and Sony RX100M5. The two cameras are very different beasts when pulled in to action. Image taken with RG730 rugged phone

On many an occasion, I have finished a day’s hiking in the rain, tent up and climbed inside with soaked through trousers. It is important, nay, vital, to get out of those wet clothes and warmed up. Sometimes climbing inside the quilt is required. Like most long distance hikers, Three Points of the Compass carries a puffy jacket. For this upcoming trek I am taking a synthetic jacket, the Rab Xenon X Hoodie. I don’t like to rely exclusively on down in the UK. We frequently have wet weather for days on end and even with the hydrophobic down available today, and my Katabatic Palisade quilt is stuffed with it, synthetics will still handle a real soaking much better. I have decided to add to the jacket and take a pair of trousers with synthetic insulation. For these, I turned to one of the best suppliers of down and synthetic clothing I have come across- Peter Hutchinson Designs, or PHD. A week after my order, a package arrived at Mrs Three Points of the Compass’s work place. If she was expecting a sweet little gift, she was probably disappointed.

The large size of the mailed order initially caused my heart to sink. No worries, the contents were barely compressed

Insulated Sigma trousers from PHD

The Sigma trousers from PHD are fairly simple in design. Inner and outer fabric is black 15 denier MX. The insulation is provided by Primaloft Gold 60gsm edge stitched synthetic filling. There is a chunky draw cord at the waist, elasticated ankles to keep the draughts out and the only pocket is a small inner security pocket to the right of the waist. The trousers themselves weigh 360g and also came with a 16g stuff sack but I’ll be able to find something lighter than that to keep them in.

I haven’t used them in anger yet but am more than confident in their usefulness. I had previously wondered if I might simply replace my lightweight (174g) Rohan Ether town trousers with these but have decided not to for now. It may be that further down the trail I decide they can, but the warmth of the Sigma trousers is such that I think they would prove too uncomfortable for that purpose

So how am I feeling as my walk approaches? With less than three weeks left, I must confess to a degree of trepidation. While excited and really looking forward to the off, I am suffering twinges in the back, foot pain and am left wondering if recent manual handling at work and arthritis linked to recent weather are to blame or I really am a crocked old git that won’t make it a hundred miles down the coast. But, I have prepared, I should not be surprised by much that I encounter in the first month or two of my walk, in the words of the Latin phrase quoted above, I am…

“Ready for anything”