Iceland and Greenland hiking gear...

Morning.

 Well i have just spent the past 4 hours searching the web for a sleeping mat, yes 4 hours to find a piece of foam that i think should serve the purpose.

Having finally decided (Multimat expedition summit xl, was gonna go for the self-inflating then thought the extra £40/50 could be better spent)

But anyway, i thought i would request your help to save me hours more searching and prevent me from failing my next piece of coursework - and they said it'd all change when i started my degree...

Ok well, i'm off to Iceland, and now Greenland, in summer.

So think wet weather, cool temperatures, hopefully not quite sub-zero.

And preferably cheap but durable, I've almost spent a grand before actually buying all my kit so I dont wanna go blowing my savings before i even hit the airport.

Suggestions for...

Gaiters. (what and where to buy)

Food. (i'm thinking of taking a few boil-in-a-bag things just in case, but was wondering if anyone knew of any websites selling them cheap-o at the moment. I can't see why they would but it might be happening somewhere)

Mapcase. (i've read 'Ortlieb' on this website so i was wondering if anyone can suggest a website)

Torch ('bright and light' is the idea, any suggestions? I know a torch is a fairly simple thing but again you lot might have some good suggestions which i wont think of)

Thermos (again, quite simple but there might be whispers going round of 'Dont buy that one it'll blow up and leave you with 3rd degree burns')

 and lastly a more general thing;

 Rucksack ('best' website, cheapest/best variety if any such thing exists)

Ok so some of them seem kind of stupid to ask help for finding but if i dont post this on here i'm about to procrastinate my degree away looking for hiking equipment.

Any suggestions of what/where are greatly appreciated.

Feel free to suggest items being sold on this forum, i bought my tent from Chairman Bill after he suggested it so who knows, you may have exactly what i'm looking for (though that aint a promise)

 I am aware some of these things will have been discussed previously on here but even writing this is serving as procrastination.

Thanks.

Ashok. (yes i do have serious attentional problems when it comes to doing work)

hello, ashok.

what kind of hiking are you thinking of doing?  day trips, or long treks - it will make all the difference to some of the answers!

Gaiters 

Nameste Ashok

Seans got some gaiters for sale and you'll need something comfy on top of the foam mat.

Cheers, Mick

As for the headtorch, Ashok. If you're on a budget then the Alpkit Gamma's hard to beat.

If you're backpacking (which I presume you are), don't bother with the thermos. You'll have a stove with you anyway.

Se@n wrote (see)

If you're backpacking (which I presume you are), don't bother with the thermos. You'll have a stove with you anyway.

True, I hear that MSR reactors are good stoves however.

Now if I only knew where to find one going cheap.....

Sig's are a waste of bandwidth...

Food - you can sometimes find shops (both bricksnmortar and internet) selling off backpacking food cheap because it's close to 'best before' date, but I haven't come across any myself recently.

The Gamma are worthwhile especially as Alpkit has them back in stock and at a new cheaper price!

Gamma headtorch

Sig's are a waste of bandwidth...

As far as I'm aware (but willing to be corrected!) food is expensive in Iceland and everything is expensive in Greenland! So you may want to try and take as much backpacking food with you as you can.

Would advise against boil in the bag as it will weigh too much and is more likely to give you grief at customs (hopefully others will be able to advise about taking food in, but AFAIK if it's for personal use and stowed in your pack you should be OK in Iceland; don't know at all about Greenland -- I may be able to find out via contacts if needed).

Trying to find "close to expiry" discount food is likely to be hard -- dried food lasts a long time. I can think of one or two internet things I've come across where it's very likely the vendor actually has no stock. Best way to a discount is to buy in bulk!

chris is right - iceland do have a limit on how much food you can import, though I forget what that limit is.  but if you're planning to feed yourself for most of the time you should check.

EDIT:  just checked:  you can take up to 3kg free, but have to pay import tax on over that...

Whoa, thanks for the really fast replies.

I would check them all out now but as it's 3:13 i'll be going to sleep soon but in quick reply.

I have checked out some campsites and hostels and in the places i am intending on staying there are kitchens (so i can boil water and such like). And the thermos was more for bringing boiling water about and hot drinks for the times when it all goes wrong. However I am well aware i could prepare it  rather better (i.e. rent out cooking equipment and such like, but id prefer it if that was a last necessity)

 Posh Totty (nice name) I'm intending on doing mostly day hikes.

I'm gonna try out couchsurfing in Greenland, or else i may end up on a 5 night camp, which will be an experience.

S@ean, thanks for the link (those who suggested it).

I appreicate it and will check it out once this alcohol has cleared my mind.

Thanks agains to all of you.

Any more suggestions are greatly appreciated.

When I was in Iceland (5years ago) I bought supermarket/shop food to cook myself - wasn't that much more expensive than UK prices then, but restaurant/pub prices were much higher.

All the 'official' or commercial campsites  we used had a kitchen/dining space (like a hostel.  

If you're going to Greenland in the summer (not sure what 'coachsurfing' means) you need to take serious precautions against mosquitoes and black fly. I mean serious precautions. My experience is that a close-weave shell is good - the weave needs to be so tight that the beasties can't poke their mouthparts through. You must have long trousers and arms with closures at the ankles and wrists. Wear boots that overlap your trouser legs and, vitally important, a mosquito head-net. That leaves only your hands exposed. You can trywearing light, tight-weave gloves, or just use a DEET-based deterrent on your hands