What an adventure you will have! I truly envy you!

Regards, Vince

Excellent point. I was wondering about that after I'd made the recommendation. Of course make sure all blades are in checked-in luggage and not on your person when flying. I would think the "tightened" mini-RSK would be OK in customs, but you can't go too wrong with a good SAK.

If it helps, the pivot screw is a Torx T10. The clip screws are Torx T6.

Also don't forget that the Ritter PSP has a scalpel blade, hooks, pins ... in it. The PSP should be packed in checked luggage too.

The Bic lighter can't go on the plane - buy a lighter locally.

It's illegal in England to have any knife, regardless of size, in a public place unless you have an excuse ("I'm a chef--see the corkscrew").

> It's illegal in England to have any knife, regardless of size, in a public place unless you have an excuse

No excuse is needed to carry a penknife, which is defined as a non-locking folding knife with a blade shorter than 3 inches. Alas, even the mini-RSK is not a penknife because its blade locks, and the full sized RSK is also too big. "Hiking" may or may not be an acceptable excuse.

What would you be planning to cut with it? I am not familar with the route, but I wouldn't rely on being able to cut wood for camp fires. I gather you can walk it staying entirely in hotels and Bed&Breakfast places. In Britain you are rarely more than a few hours walk from civilisation.

Edit: in fact I see now that fire-lighting is forbidden on this route.

There are several online resources, eg:
http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/PennineWay
http://www.thepennineway.co.uk/
http://www.jbutler.org.uk/e2e/pw/index.shtml

> Very good map of the hiking area - know how to use it with your compass. Mark your map with
> UTM coordincate grids.

In the UK you should use the British Ordnance Survey Grid - OSGB. Don't buy a map which doesn't have it already marked. Most maps are published by the OS or derived from their data. You can buy online.

I wondered about that too as I wrote my response, but I haven't traveled outside the U.S. since I've had my GPS (should have brought it to Taiwan once, but didn't). Thanks for the correction.

Here is a very good link to information on the British coordinate system:

http://www.gps.gov.uk/guide1.asp

It appears to work similarly to the UTM grid system.

Is there a "standard" source of UK maps - something similar to the USGS in the US?

I'm going to join with the chorus recommending that you don't do this; in fact, I'm really surprised everyone hasn't said this to you.

The most important part of being "equipped to survive" is knowing what you're doing. It doesn't sound reasonable or realistic to attempt a long arduous hike in poor weather if you've never gone hiking before.

There's some good advice above. I'll add that hiking is not simply walking. Good hiking has a lot of technique and that makes all the difference between having fun and being miserable. You need to learn how to dress, how to layer your clothing, how to "break in" your feet as well as your boots, and you need to slowly work your way up from short day hikes to being able to tackle 17 days of arduous terrain in poor weather.

There are many books you can read and Backpacker magazine usually has good info, but there's is no substitute for doing it yourself!

> Is there a "standard" source of UK maps - something similar to the USGS in the US?

The Ordnance Survey. My previous post has a link to their website with more info.
This page has something of their history and their relationship with the government.

Thanks! Do you know what coordinate system is used in the rest of Europe? I'm thinking specifically of France and Germany, since my company has offices in those countries.

I'm afraid I don't know.