Before t'internet - books!

Rog Tallbloke

Rog Tallbloke

Thru Hiker
I remember one of the tips from Derrick Booth that stood me in good stead was to kick a divot into the ground where your hip joint was going to rest. Worth knowing that when your mattress was a ccf karrimat. I remember how unaffordable thermarests were (for skint oiks like me) when they first appeared (pretty heavy too).
 
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Gpl23

Gpl23

Ultralighter
Chris Townsend's The Backpackers Handbook was my bible when I was a teen over 40 years ago. That's where I read it was okay to wear womens tights in your sleeping bag.
 
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old-skool-lite

old-skool-lite

Thru Hiker
Certainly freelance & most wrote for earlier mags too.

Later than TGO but a brilliant mag was Footloose. I still have all my bound copies. Cameron & Chris both worked on that mag before moving onto TGO. Based in Dunston up here in North East England. I have a brew from time to time with the owner.
 
cathyjc

cathyjc

Thru Hiker
I don't have a single book telling me how to "backpack". Never thought to look for such a thing.
I just went out and did it and worked it out for myself.
Have I missed anything ???
 
old-skool-lite

old-skool-lite

Thru Hiker
cathyjc said:
I don't have a single book telling me how to "backpack". Never thought to look for such a thing.
I just went out and did it and worked it out for myself.
Have I missed anything ???
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Not sure, but good for you. It's not rocket science - or never seemed to be back then. Now - I'm not so sure!

Before I read any of those & with no previous experience & little knowledge of the UK countryside (lived abroad a lot as a kid & parents not into the outdoors) I did a week on Dartmoor at 14 & the Pennine Way at 15 both with totally inappropriate kit. The summer I left school I hit the books ('cos I'm obviously not as bright as you) & spent the money from butt marking at Bisley & then a summer working for an uncle on decent kit. At 17 I was as well equipped as any adult backpacker I met. Nowt but criticism from parents for spending money on gear but a Grandad who told them it was money well spent.

I still enjoy flicking through those books now. Nostalgia.
 
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S

Stuart

Section Hiker
I'd like to read old accounts of walking , eg, the Pennine Way when it was still a quagmire in parts. Any recommendations?
 
cathyjc

cathyjc

Thru Hiker
old-skool-lite said:
Not sure, but good for you. It's not rocket science - or never seemed to be back then. Now - I'm not so sure!

Before I read any of those & with no previous experience & little knowledge of the UK countryside (lived abroad a lot as a kid & parents not into the outdoors) I did a week on Dartmoor at 14 & the Pennine Way at 15 both with totally inappropriate kit. The summer I left school I hit the books ('cos I'm obviously not as bright as you) & spent the money from butt marking at Bisley & then a summer working for an uncle on decent kit. At 17 I was as well equipped as any adult backpacker I met. Nowt but criticism from parents for spending money on gear but a Grandad who told them it was money well spent.

I still enjoy flicking through those books now. Nostalgia.
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"('cos I'm obviously not as bright as you)" - B*ll Sh*te. :facepalm:

I did have the advantage of being familiar with the UK countryside and a family who did appreciate the outdoors.
 
Rog Tallbloke

Rog Tallbloke

Thru Hiker
I got Derrick Booth's book as a present off my older sister when I was 14. But by then I'd been out on trips with a group of more experienced people I'd met on the Pennine Way, so I was learning my backpacking lore from them. There were some useful ideas in the book though. The wide mouthed plastic screw top bottle marked with an unambiguous 'P' being one of them. That and keeping it in the sleeping bag afterwards if temps were well below zero "or it will surely freeze by morning".
 
cathyjc

cathyjc

Thru Hiker
"Parade and Knave" - not in my vocab. (-Probably something to do with a sheltered upbringing...)
 
old-skool-lite

old-skool-lite

Thru Hiker
Saw my first tent with an enclosed porch & first padded hipbelt on the Pennine Way. The belt on my framed pack broke on 1st day so I did without. Leg wear was a pair of jeans & tracky bottoms as spares, Doc Martens, army puttees (binned at 1st opportunity), rugby shirt & socks, RAF sweater & my old man's hoodless Belstaf bike jacket. We did have a Trangia. Tent was some cheap thing from Exchange & Mart & a big zipped rectangular sleeping bag my parents had from caravanning days. No sleeping mat. Did it in 14 days. Didn't seem like any hardship at the time.
 
cathyjc

cathyjc

Thru Hiker
old-skool-lite said:
Saw my first tent with an enclosed porch & first padded hipbelt on the Pennine Way. The belt on my framed pack broke on 1st day so I did without. Leg wear was a pair of jeans & tracky bottoms as spares, Doc Martens, army puttees (binned at 1st opportunity), rugby shirt & socks, RAF sweater & my old man's hoodless Belstaf bike jacket. We did have a Trangia. Tent was some cheap thing from Exchange & Mart & a big zipped rectangular sleeping bag my parents had from caravanning days. No sleeping mat. Did it in 14 days. Didn't seem like any hardship at the time.
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Youth allows for all sorts of escapades. Important in evolutionary terms.
 
Jakey

Jakey

Trail Blazer
old-skool-lite said:
Saw my first tent with an enclosed porch & first padded hipbelt on the Pennine Way. The belt on my framed pack broke on 1st day so I did without. Leg wear was a pair of jeans & tracky bottoms as spares, Doc Martens, army puttees (binned at 1st opportunity), rugby shirt & socks, RAF sweater & my old man's hoodless Belstaf bike jacket. We did have a Trangia. Tent was some cheap thing from Exchange & Mart & a big zipped rectangular sleeping bag my parents had from caravanning days. No sleeping mat. Did it in 14 days. Didn't seem like any hardship at the time.
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😂 love it!

My effort wasn’t much better when I hitchhiked to Ireland when I was 16. Spent a couple of weeks hiking in the hills around the SW in jeans and Walsh trainers. I carried a beach towel for the whole trip.
 
Rog Tallbloke

Rog Tallbloke

Thru Hiker
Hardcore.

I had my dad's canvas Karrimor framed pack (he never used it), and my Ultimate tramp, bought with paper round savings and Christmas tips. And a forgotten brand 'Baffin' down bag (it was pretty good, but no hood). Small brass primus stove and army alloy mess tin. Too many clothes (ditched some). 'Britches' were cut down corduroys my mum stitched new hems on. Waterproof was some awful Berghaus neoprene lined sweatbox.
 
old-skool-lite

old-skool-lite

Thru Hiker
On Dartmoor we took it in turns with the one rucsac (old A frame) while the other carried the old army kitbag on their shoulder. Mileage was modest!
 
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