'It was so hot last weekend 25 degrees and we were drinking approx a litre per hour'
Just a thought. That is a lot of water; electrolyte replacement would be required as you would be flushing them out so much. Although the major risk is in taking on lots of water in one go.
I live in California and often go through 4L in a summer day. Its too hot to walk so I'm biking and only notice the sweating when I stop/slow but the water bottles go down so quickly, I pick routes which have a water refill point.
I agree you have to look out for electrolytes but the problems do not occur in just one day. It takes 2+ days hard hot work for your electrolytes to drop til it causes the problem, assuming you are well nourished in general. I was expecting it to manifest as cramps but it was just lethargy / mild paralysis, which is rather worrying as that compromises your ability to keep moving to get out of difficulty. So its only when I'm expecting to do say a weekend 2 day in hot weather do I pack the fizzy pills. I also found an energy bar with some electrolytes which means I'm less likely to get into difficulties.
I'd reckon very few OM will know about electrolytes, thanks for reminding us.
Lee Robert wrote (
see)
A lot of people reckon a water filter is totally unnessary in the UK, and i can understand there viewpoint but I carry a katadyn pocket filter, which is I think is the heaviest filter of its type at over 600g. However because I have it with me I feel more comfortable carrying far less water, these days its very rare I carry more than 1litre, a muddle puddle can re-supply me so horses or courses I'm carrying less weight although my base weight is heavier.
I was told the Lakes' streams water were good drinking water, and drunk from it, picking clear fast moving streams, but once I filled, drunk, kept climbing the valley, found a dead sheep in the stream and I was sick for 2-3 days after. Since then I always pack water and I've come close to buying a filter to lighten the load.
. I like the robustness of the pocket filter and a stated life of 50000 litres it actually works out decent value (although the prices have risen loads since brought mine). Would I buy it again, prob not, I'd try a millbank bag and get a uv pen thingyamajig. The drinksafe filter looks great for its weight.
