Kit Casualities

There have been a few kit casualities so far:

Mick's sleeping bag liner was, I think, the first. It was already tired at the beginning of last year when I resewed the seams and this year age got the better of it. When Mick's foot went straight through the fabric in week 1, it became a liner with two entrances. Fortunately, we never go on a big walk without Backpackinglight's number to hand, and they came to the rescue once again with their excellent and prompt service.

Then the strap fell off Mick's watch. We found a jeweller just before "what time is it" became too tiresome.

In an incident involving stony ground and a foot misplacement, Mick managed not just to bend one of the titanium v-stakes, but to break it. Learning from last year (where we had a spate of peg losses), at least we had a spare this time.

In common with his sleeping bag liner, Mick's gloves were perhaps also a little too old to start this trip, and gradually the falling-apart-at-the seams got too much for me to think it worth patching them back up. They've now been replaced.

There's a bit of a 'Mick theme' going on here, but when the end came off my Pacerpole, they were in Mick's possession. I've been in touch with Heather and Alan at Pacerpole who have popped a new tip in the post. I'll be performing surgery on the pole at Easter, until when my one pole will have to wear a ferrule at all times.

Mick's Icebreaker t-shirt then went missing in action. We think (hope) that it's still at his brother's house. A stop-gap synthetic replacement has been bought today.

As if all that wasn't enough, Mick's mini-gaiter started falling apart at the seams yesterday. I don't know what he's doing with all this stuff to make his seams keep parting company! A stint with a needle and thread sorted that, and Mick didn't even object to my having used pink thread.

That's an awful lot of casualities in 2.5 weeks. Hopefully the casuality rate will slow!
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