The Road goes ever on and on; Down from the door where it began;
Now far ahead the Road has gone; And I must follow, if I can;
Pursuing it with eager feet; Until it joins some larger way;
Where many paths and errands met; And whither then? I cannot say.

[JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]

Wednesday 3 June 2009

Twenty Four Big Puffs

“Twenty four big puffs, very comfy but sounds like crisp packets” was my brief report to Mick when I took delivery of his new Thermarest NeoAir Medium.

The inflation took me two stages, as I had to recover from the dizziness in the middle. I then gave it the obvious comfort test and it seemed … well remarkably comfy.

All being well he’ll be trying it out this weekend.

Not that he’s turning into a kit monster, but there was another parcel for Mick yesterday. I noticed at the weekend that he’s worn though the inner of his Sealskinz socks (which have always leaked anyway), so it was time to get him a replacement.

Many people seem to sing the praises of GoreTex socks (whereas nobody seems to sing the praises of Sealskinz (although to date, with many miles on them, mine have been absolutely fine)) so I ordered a pair of Trekmates Amphibians.

I didn’t test those out for him, and hopefully the weather forecast will be wrong, meaning that we’ll have a perfectly dry walk on the weekend, with no bog at all, so they will remain untested. Wishful thinking?

3 comments:

  1. Ahaa! I'll be v. interested indeed to learn what you think of those new socks. Those are the ones the bloke who does the ultra-lightweight stuff in TGO mentioned a while ago as working well with trail shoes, right? Eddie, is he called? Hmmm...

    *trots off to look up the article*

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  2. Have had a pair of trekmates for a few years now and they have proved ideal; especially when I have had water slopping around inside the boots themselves. Feet and socks have remained dry.

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  3. Well Mick did get to wear the socks for a few hours (would have benefitted him if he'd worn them on the Friday too, but for reasons unknown he didn't). Obviously far too early to give a proper opinion of them, but he can confirm from the first try that the rather baggy fit and resultant creasing didn't cause any problems in use.

    Mick decided to go for a pair after talking to Derek & Ellie on the Challenge who reported very good longevity from theirs.

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