All geared up!

Feeling incredibly grateful right now for all the support I’m getting for this adventure!

First of all, a huge enormous thank you to everyone who has sponsored me to do this hike and donated to Cancer Research UK. I really appreciate it, it’s a great cause, and the more sponsorship I get, the harder it will be for me to quit if (when) the going gets tough!

And I am also hugely grateful to Jen and Tom and all the other good folks at AtomPacks. I worked with Jen several years ago at Lyon Equipment. When she got in touch and offered to make me a custom-made pack, with colours and features of my choosing for my upcoming hike, I was really excited!

So in January I visited AtomPacks headquarters near Keswick, and had a great conversation with Tom, the owner and designer. He’s hiked the Triple Crown (Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide Trails) and his wealth of experience informs all aspects of the pack designs, with tons of thoughtful details. Jen filled me in on the fabrics (so many gorgeous colours!), then I went on my way with a pack to try out for size.

After much dithering over colours, and playing around with a brilliant pack-designer feature on the website, I finally got my spec over to Jen, and she rustled up the little beauty shown in the photos below. I can’t wait to get out on the fells tomorrow and try it out!