Scottish National Trail Gear List

There was considerable interest on my last post about the changes I was making to my kit for the SNT. A few people were curious about my whole gear list so I have taken screenshots of my excel sheet below. All weights are in ounces and any thing that is different from my normal pack is highlighted in green.

Things to note aside from the changes in rain wear that was discussed in the last blog is the addition of another spare pair of socks. Given the consistently wet ground conditions and lack of ability to dry in the cool, damp air, I thought this was sensible.

Big change here is the tent which is adding a decent amount of weight, but necessary for staying warm and dry in the driving Scottish winds. I’ll be using a 20 degree Fahrenheit (-7C) sleeping bag which should be just about adequate for the conditions I will be faced with. Not described in the screenshot above, but my pot is 800mL. I find this is more than enough volume for solo camping as you’re never adding more than 400mL to anything and with the displacement of the food there is still enough room at the top to avoid spillage.

Only real change under electronics is the need for a UK outlet adapter. Other than that, things have remained the same. On the Kindle I have downloaded Bill Bryson’s, Notes from a Small Island, which very appropriately describes his move from America to the United Kingdom in the 1970’s. Additionally, I have also downloaded his book, The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island, which elaborates on the same topic as above and was only published in 2015.

As far as miscellaneous items, it’s always a good idea to carry a compass in the backcountry, but is rarely necessary on trails like the AT and PCT. Without a compass here, the SNT would not be possible. Additionally, map weight will depend on which section I am in as I have broken it into pieces so I am not carrying all of the maps (21) from the beginning. When Lucy or other friends meet me along the way, i’ll arrange to swap my maps out.

No change to the medical kit. Although maybe I’ll leave the sunscreen given the weather lately… I also might add a few more water purification tabs to combat the low lying water areas where sheep populations are plentiful and only filtering will not suffice! Total weight is just over 15 pounds (variable depending on which map set I have), so I’ve managed to add about 4 pounds to my baseweight. I’ve literally lost sleep over this weight addition but after careful consideration and crunching lots of numbers, all of these changes and additions are necessary to give me the best chance of success in completing this walk.

If anyone has any questions about my gear or the intricacies of hiking a long trail in general, I would love to hear them! Still slated to begin walking next Monday, so this will be the last post before beginning. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy following along with my long, wet, cold, and windy walk to reach a remote lighthouse on the Northern tip of Scotland.

Peace,

Handy Man

Glasgow, Scotland

September 15, 2020