On the road again...

On the road again, Its the end of the world as we know it? this blog is getting quite musical isn't it?

What happens if you have to travel a distance to get to your planned bug in location?  Are you close enough to make it back in a few hours?  Would you be able to travel without attracting attention?

I spend three days a week studying at a college 26 miles away from my front door, my plans post fail are to lock myself up in the house and hope to ride out the storm, after which tine either the flesh eating zombies have killed each other off, or the authorities have restored law and order.

But how to get back home if the brown stuff hits the spinning thing while I'm at college?

The answer is a variation on the bug out bag called a "Get Home Bag"  As the name suggests, inside it has everything you will need to get home.

The main thing you need to do when working out what go's into your "GHB" is look at the terrain you will have to cross, is the road network likely to be able to cope with the extra traffic, or will you have to travel on back roads and cross country?  Will you have to cross any linear obstacles that will
be hazardous?(Rivers, M Ways etc)  Is there any areas that you will have to avoid due to higher risk such as inner city estates or high risk industry like a nuclear power station?

I have looked at my own routes, always try and work in three, and decided that for the country I will be better off on foot, and for this reason, the "GHB" is very similar to my Bug Out Bag.  The large axe is replaced by a tomahawk head inside the bag, and the warm sleeping bag and hammock is replaced by a British army DPM Basha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basha_(tarpaulin)  bivi bag and a lightweight 2 season sleeping bag.

This wont be a very comfortable trek home, but I have deliberately sacrificed comfort for weight so I am not over encumbered and can make it home as quickly as I can.  Food wise their are some SIS energy gels http://www.scienceinsport.com/sis-products/sis-all-products/sis-go-plusnitrates-gel-60ml/ and Fuzion freeze dried food https://www.fuizionfreezedriedfood.com/default.aspx
 along with a small jetboil (http://www.jetboil.com/) stove and brew kit, along with a pair of hydration bladders and inline water filter.

The full rundown of kit again looks very similar to the bug out bag, but is even more streamlined, with weight and discreetness(of the bag itself, a 45Ltr green Tesco own brand rucksack, and the shelter kit being designed to not be seen inside woodland) being at the fore front of my mind when I organised it.

So of all the stuff in the bag, I will have food, water, shelter and Navigation 2 Laminated OS Maps, pens and a compass), no trapping supplies, no fishing kit, just what I think is the bare minimum to get back home.