I planned to start to hike the Pennine Way early in the morning of 25th May 2016. Change of plan, I will now start early in the morning on 26th May 2016. My son and his girlfriend live in Edinburgh and they think they need to feed me before I set off!
I last hiked the Pennine Way North to South in 2011 and since then I have always tried to hike a new route. I'm hoping that, because I now know where I'm going, I may get a different kind of hiking experience? I am going to try to seek out new pubs and eating places on route and visit some old haunts as well. Tan Hill pub springs to mind.
I use a rain skirt these days rather than waterproof trousers and I hope I have now overcome its main weakness, the material flaps about in the wind and if its really raining hard at the same time I get wet knees. I plan to use the rain skirt in light rain, with my Marmot Precip, but if I have heavy rain I will use my Vaud Poncho on top. The Vaude Poncho also flaps about in wind so one of my wife's friends has sown a continous weighted hemline to it. I hope that this will solve this products design fault as well?
I am very hopeful about my Osprey Exos 48L, I have tried it out already on the Dales Way and it proved to be supremly comfortable, I hope it performs as well over a longer period?