Equipment

Introduction

The following tips are valid for the walkabouts and the bike tours. For the gatherings it might be more comfortable to bring a bit more. But if we have to carry the stuff on our back or if we push our bicycle up to a mountain... Get to know with me the fine feeling of needing very little things for living - this feeling of freedom and independence!
It is possible to walk durable with only 3 kg and a bit of clothes, food and water on the back and sleep outside:

• 1.0kg - rucksack
• 1.0kg - sleeping bag
• 0.4kg - isolation mat
• 0.3kg - rain protection
• 0.3kg - smartphone etc.

You can carry more, if you’re sure that you’re able to do it. But if you follow my recommendations, I’m maybe ready to help you, if the walk gets difficult for you.

Clothes

If the weather is cool, you wear all the clothes which you have about you. If the weather is hot, you have a few clothes additionally in your back. It’s suitable to use wool, silk or special fabric for outdoor, not cotton.

Food & water

Often we can find or buy food and water along the way so we don’t have to carry much. In the high mountains, there is not much food to be found, but mostly we find at least one water source per day. When we hike there, we mainly take dry food with us. Please eat on the tours only raw food.

Sleeping bag

There are down- and synthetic-fibre-sleeping-bags in many variations. Downs are better isolating in relation to their weight, but also more expensive and sensitive against humidity. Take advice! An ethical aspect: When buying downs you support the meat industry. Senseful is a light inlet from silk or egypt cotton, which you put into the sleeping bag. This lessons the wear of the sleeping bag, it's washable, good to your skin and additional isolating. I have 2 summer sleeping bags. In the cold season I put the inlet in a sleeping bag and this in the second sleeping bag. Sometimes I even additionally wear clothes when I sleep. But often in winter we sleep in warm caves.

Isolation mat

• Light and packable, but hard and less isolating: A foldable isolation mat from the army shop (about 5 Euro; only for hardend outdoor hikers in the summer)
• Better isolating and more soft, but more weight and more expensive: isolation mats which blow up by themselves. They are also more sensitive against stones, sticks and thorns.
• Compromises: I use a light (about 550g) cheap and rollable isolation mat.
• I suggest: Therm-a-Rest RidgeRest Classic, Reg, 400g, R-value 2.6 (that should be warm enough for our events), 30€.
• Unsuitable: air mattresses (lilos) are badly isolating and heavy

Rain protection

I like to use a poncho-tarp (approx. 2,2 x 1,4 m, 280 g). It's a fabric strengthened plastic plane with a sewed-in hood. It protects me against rain both during the day while walking and in the night while sleeping; it saves a lot of weight. For the night I tighten it over my sleeping place (how to build up); I don't have a tent.

• The cheapest tarp: a fabric-strengthened plastic plane from a bricolage market
  (2x 3 m, 700 g, approx. 5 Euro) Because of the missing hood you need additional for the daytime rain clothes. Gets holes after some time.
• The swiss company Exped offers good but also expensive poncho-tarps. We don't have much experience with them.
• Compromise: In army-shops you can find more poncho-tarps. Really waterproof is the
  rubber-poncho-tarp from the German army (Bundeswehr); 2,1 x 1,65 m, 950 g (instead of 280 g my favorite). It's more heavy but rubust, and if a thorn makes a hole you can fix it with bicycle repair kit. Look at Ebay for "US-Poncho", "Poncho BW" or "Poncho army".

UPDATE: We are not satisfied with any Nylon Ripstop poncho tarp; after some time using they're not waterproof anymore, even not the expensive one from Exped. If you need to buy one, we recommend to buy the cheapest one (700g, see above). We have made our own tarps with a very good and very expensive material (dcf) from extremtextil.de. Such a tarp has only 100g and is strong and waterproof! But as it costs more than 100€ for the material and some sewing work, I recommend it only if you need it frequently. You're welcome to watch our tarps on an event!

+ 5 strings (2 m) and 5 tent-herings for tighten up the tarp

Other stuff

+ Protection against midges: It's rare, so normally I don't have it on my tours. If needed, I use an old curtain with narrow meshes. The ends I put into my sleeping bag, the middle I tighten up with a string.
+ Clothes appropiate the temperatures. Not too much and no substitue clothes; in case of cold weather there should be ideally no clothes in your back pack! Your sandals or shoes should be used some times because of the risk of blisters; also there are special socks for hikers. Blisters are often a problem on walking tours.
+ A cotton bag and 3 opaque plastic bags
+ A water bottle, depending on your preference from carbon or plastic
+ Torch: light torch, preferably chargeable with USB.
+ Knife, spoon, tooth brush, comb etc.
+ Rucksack: You can find a rucksack which weights less than 1 kilo!
+ Smartphone or very light stuff for reading, as sometimes it might be nice to do something in the rests.
+ Passport for the frontier passing walkers (check the validity)
+ A free head with songs, love, light and longing for nature