What to do next week? Week of hiking!

lauz45

From monday to friday I am doing a 5 day expedition with my colleagues/friends, for the Duke of Edinburgh gold award through my job.

We're going to be hiking for 8 hours a day carrying a heavy rucksack (and it is really heavy!). I've got ration pack breakfasts like muesli with milk that you add water to, boil in the bag beans and sausages, porridge etc, which aren't exactly low cal, but for snacks i'm having one protein bar a day like SIS Go! bars, Clif bars and that kind of thing, which are around 200-280 cals each. Lunch is a tortilla wrap with a tin of weight watchers tuna mayo (about 230 cals), and dinner is a pack of supernoodles (500 ish cals) because they are lightweight, easy to prepare, and the ration packs are horrible, and about the same cals anyway. I'll also have an energy gel or isotonic drink mix with water once a day. They give us ration pack desserts like sticky toffee pudding, but they aren't nice and they're really high cal, so i'll leave them behind and take some nice dark choc for a treat.

So i'll be easily having way over my usual 1200cals a day, but all that hiking will be burning squillions of calories, so is it worth worrying about my food intake? I'm not going to be able to have any fruit or veg all week, which may be a good thing as we only get proper toilets at the campsites in the morning and evening lol :laugh: I will take some dried fruit with me, but i've got to pack as light as possible. We carry 2 litres of water with us whilst walking aswell.

Last time I did a 3 day trial expedition in July I didn't lose any weight at all! I'm taking a battery pack for my iphone so will try and log everything onto MFP anyway, will be interesting to see if I have lost any weight at the end, my new scales will have arrived by then :happy:

islandnutshel

I hiked the west coast trail, (Canada, B.C.) through Mountains, bogs and beaches, for 7 days and lost 2 pounds. But I came out the other side running. My body was a different machine. I was so proud of myself, I didn't care about not losing. These trips are what I am doing this all for. Enjoy every minute, and take care of your feet.

lauz45

Thank you! It will definately kick start my fitness, I was in agony last time because my boots turned out to be a bit too small and my feet were so painful, my toe nail went black :frown: bought some nice new ones with a Vibram sole that fit a lot better, and taking some red tiger balm for my sore shoulders and calf muscles, hopefully i'll be well prepared!

I'm hiking here: http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk

islandnutshel

Break those new shoes in ASAP. I love wilderness camping, I haven't been able to do it because I can't sleep on the ground with my back issues. But early september I am going to the north end of the west coast trail so that I can hike in on day trips. Have a great time.

canstey

I wouldn't worry about counting calories because you won't know how many you are burning. Instead listen to your body and eat more if your body is indicating it isn't getting enough fuel. Also depending on your current fitness and experience doing that much hiking, you could end up gaining a fair amount water weight from all the damage you will do to your joints and muscles. Your body will retain the extra water for repair and lubrication and after your trip you may end up losing several pounds rather rapidly as your body heals back to 100%.

lauz45

Thanks I'm quite looking forward to it actually! Even though I was reduced to tears last time at one point, climbing down a ravine with my feet in agony and my rucksack unbalancing me at every step as it's taller than me! I kept thinking I would fall and wreck my ankle but luckily i've got great friends who helped me down. There shouldn't be any steep sections like that where we're going this time.

I've worn my new boots in quite a bit and wearing '1000 miles' socks which are brilliant for preventing rubs and blisters. Thanks canstey, i'll make sure I measure myself when I get back, that will be a better indication than the scales then!

I've got to keep the group morale up as some people really aren't looking forward to it! Our work are actually forcing us to do this for our apprenticeships, so i'm going to make the most of it and enjoy it as much as I can! :happy: Positive mental attitude!

islandnutshel

I would love a photo or two. I'll send a friend request

lauz45

I've accepted you thanks, i'll be sure to take lots of pictures, taking my old digital camera so will have plenty i'm sure! Now to pack...

lauz45

Just to update, at the end of day 3 the expedition was cancelled, we were jumping for joy we were so happy! Monday was fine, bit wet but not much walking, just pitching our tents, working out our routes, and settling down. Tuesday was pretty dry, walked 12.5 km, and had a nice fire in the evening which we sat around toasting marshmallows

Wednesday was one of the worst days of my life! We were walking for 10 hours straight in torrential rain, rucksacks were really heavy, we were wearing full waterproofs but we were soaked to the bone, all my underwear was wet, my boyfriends dry clothes in his bag got soaked, we got lost twice on top of the moors, we scrambled down this ridiculously steep mountain ( which I admit was fun, everyone kept slipping and it was hilarious - or was I delerious at that point?!) and we had 4 with existing injuries who were struggling. We were about 1.5km from the campsite at 6:30pm when the organiser phoned us and said they were cutting it short and they would try and get us home tonight. Thank god! I had visions of drying to pitch a wet tent in a wet field in high wind and sleeping in a wet sleeping bag! It was soooo cold...an hour later we were on a coach home. Our work were looking after our keys for us and we couldn't contact them, so none of us could get our vehicles, so we were put up in a Hilton hotel for the night and given free pizza (at that point, I really didn't care about my diet!). Apart from sore muscles we're okay now and we passed the qualification anyway

Here's some pics when the weather was decent..





Lucky i'm short! Cropped everyone else's heads out but you can see how wet we were!

astridfeline

what a fantastic adventure! You will remember this for a long time. Love the pics, someday I'd like to do a walking tour around Britain. The kind where the support vehicle takes your luggage to the next B&B, of course!

islandnutshel

Thanks for the pictures, I was wondering how you were doing. The scenery is beautiful. This may not be the warmest vacation but it will be a fantastic story and memory. I hope you enjoyed your well deserved pizza. No sense letting calories get in the way of life.

lauz45

Yep at least I spent it with some great friends If the object of it was team building then it definately achieved that, we all worked together to map read, take bearings, help each other get our rucksacks on, get the stove going for tea, and helping each other when we fell over/fell in rivers/had to stop for minor pains!

I would have taken more pictures if the weather had been nicer, what a shame! Here's a few more from the second day:



Not sure if this sheep was injured?