Ultralight backpacking along the South West Coast Path
When I recently walked the first 290 miles of England’s south west coast path, I learnt a lot about the equipment you should take, what you shouldn’t take, and what I really wished I’d brought along. The equipment list below is what I ended up with at the end of the walk. When I tallied everything up, I was stunned to discover that I’d slimmed my pack weight down to 8kg. Believe me, when it’s howling with rain and you’re cold and tired, every gramme (or ounce, if you prefer) counts far more than you’d imagine.
The stuff on the list below is what I’ll be taking along with me as I progressively walk the remaining 340 miles of the path. It’ll also serve as the basis for any long trek you might wish to undertake but you’ll obviously have to allow for the weather conditions you’ll likely encounter along your route. England may be wet but at least it’s consistently so and it never really gets too hot or cold in the summer months.
Below the list is a series of links to more detailed reviews and analysis of the equipment.
Ultralight Backpacking
If you take everything on this list your pack should weigh in at around 7-8kg (that’s around 17.5 lbs in old money).
To Wear
Hiking trousers – Incline Light Pants by Rab
Wool hiking Socks (Smart Wool)
Salomon lightweight hiking boots
Merino undies (Icebreaker)
Merino T-Shirt 150 weight (Icebreaker)
Rucksack
Osprey Talon 33
Spare Clothes
1 pair hiking socks
1 pair merino undies (Icebreaker)
1 merino base layer 260 weight (Icebreaker)
All washed as went along
Lightweight wool jumper (Barbour Essentials)
Waterproof trousers (Rab Drillium)
Paramo lightweight waterproof belay-style jacket (or Patagonia lightweight waterproof shell jacket)
Lightweight fleece (Patagonia)
Down body warmer or gilet (Rab)
Knickknacks
Camera
Phone (iPhone) – with Ordnance Survey app
Lightweight solar panel (Power Traveller) plus charging cables for gadgets
Garmin Fenix 7X Pro sports watch – lovely piece of kit and better than an Apple Watch Ultra 2.
Swiss army knife with scissors and tin can opener
Sunscreen plus lip sunscreen
Sun hat
Glasses and a lightweight case
Daily disposable contact lenses
Lightweight head torch (Petzl Bindi)
Oakley sunglasses in lightweight case
Kobo eReader – saved kilos by not having to carry books. Guides for each section of the path can be downloaded from here. Simply save the the section-by-section guides as PDFs and upload to the eReader.
First aid kit (plasters, 1 bandage, compression ankle strap/bandage, paracetamol and hay fever tabs.)
Ordnance Survey map of route.
Camping
Vaude Power Lizard ultralight tent (1kg)
Thermarest NeoAir mattress (400g)
Yeti Passion One Sleeping Bag (265g). Sleep in your clothes if it gets a bit nippy! For winter walking, I used the Vaude Featherlight 3 season sleeping bag (750g)
Inflatable pillow – wrapped up inside a fleece jacket makes a wonderful pillow!
Cooking
Snow Peak titanium cookset (950mls mug/pan)
Flint and steel (by Light My Fire)
MSR PocketRocket
Gas canister (100g)
Spork
MSR Mugmate coffee filter
Titanium plate/bowl – hardly used
1 packet of noodles
Miso for noodle soup etc
Tea (tiny pot)
Coffee (1/4 bag)
Salt/pepper/chili in a “Light My Fire” container – only salt used
Muesli or porridge (or ‘healthy’ cereal bars washed down with tea).
Honey and desiccated coconut/ground almonds for porridge or to add to muesli.
Pot noodle (highest calorie to weight ratio of any easy to cook food!)
Nuts and dried fruit.
Dark chocolate or halva
I generally bought food as I went along as pubs/cafes/shops are surprisingly common so never needed to carry more than a day’s supply of food. Such daily food consisted of hummus, bread, couscous, easy cook flavoured packet rice meals, fruit and bagged salad. Expedition Foods make great freeze dried ’emergency rations’ – simply add boiling water to the bag, shake and leave for ten minutes.
Camelbak water carrier – 2 litres (absolutely essential but often no need to fill more than half way as you can generally find taps or knock on people’s doors). Another source of water is to drink weak black tea made from stream water – but only outside of mining areas.
Washing etc
Hand soap in a box
Lifeventure lightweight towel
Toothbrush and paste (1/2 empty tube to save weight!)
Wet Ones
Floss
Razor and shaving cream (can easily do without)
Shampoo and conditioner (in small plastic pots).
Dry shampoo and hairspray (Aveda – tiny ‘holiday’ or sample containers)
Antiperspirant.
Didn’t take a toilet bag as too heavy at 260g (but do take the tiny velcro mirror they come with).
Vaude Power Lizard Ultralight tent
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