A thru-hike needs preparation. Physical (and mental) preparation are the more obvious preparation. But gear and clothing also need to be prepared! I need to be able to work with the navigation on my watch, shoes we use need to be the right ones, and the clothes we bring need to be right for the weather we will face.
So how do we prepare for this? By hiking, and putting things to the test. And I don’t think you are ever going to be able to really prepare for 7000 km of hiking, yet we can make sure we are prepared for the 25km a day.
So the last couple of weeks we did a 25 km hike in the weekend, and used these to test our watch, shoes, socks, pants, to see if they work in different conditions.
The first hike was around Gouda and the Reeuwijkse Plassen. An area with lots of water and polder. On a bright sunny, yet chilly and windy day, we wake up to go on a hike.
We have a chaotic hour of preparing for the walk. A very feminine ‘what should I wear to this party’ kind of vibe enters our conversations while getting dressed. The GPX file still needs to be transferred to my watch, waypoints need to be put in, but I can’t seem to make it work. We both end up going for different layers of clothing, and I’m unsure whether my layering will be enough to keep me comfortable during this walk…
We enjoy our beautiful winterhike. I love my new beany, but I’m also greatful that I brought my fleece headband to put underneath it. I still don’t like my pants, because I think they are to short and ugly. But even though they are not really warm, with my rainpants over them, they will do the job. Luckily for me, our whole year will be one full of fashion-failures, so the pants are coming.
Mark is very happy with his thick gloves and hat (but jealous of my beany :-)) and still hasn’t made his mind up about pants.
Our new Injinji linersocks and decathlon hikingsocks over them are still winners for both of us. These pairs of shoes are also approved.
Second hike was a 25km round tour from Kijkduin to Scheveningen and back through the city of The Hague. The weather was a lot warmer; almost like spring! Again some changes in gear. I tried another pair of shoes, that were really nice! Mark was also very happy with his shoes.
I had another long sleeved shirt this time, which I also really liked. It’s on the ‘under consideration’ list to bring on the first part of our hike through Ireland and the UK, since it is still a bit cold in March.
We had a very enjoyable tour through the dunes along the beach and through the port of Scheveningen. We walked along the boulevard and into the city of The Hague. From there we made our way back through the city and the patches of dunes in the city towards Kijkduin. The was setting when we arrived at the car. Another body-, gear- and dress rehearsal done!