I had no experience with using walking sticks before this walk. They felt strange to use in the beginning, but now it feels strange walking without them.

The Black Diamond walking sticks come in three sections. They can be collapsed using two flick lock mechanisms on each stick. Practical when travelling in a car, bus or train as they can be fastened to the side of the rucksack. Their length can be adjusted to any length up to 140 cm.

The sticks have steel tips which is good in hilly terrain. I also brought a couple of rubber ends for walking along roads. They quickly wore out. A clever Chinese man made me another pair out of the rubber from a wheel. These will last for the rest og my life.

The walking sticks help in many ways. Walking up steep sand dunes, walking down steep hills, checking the depth of water in a river, and how hard the surface under the river is. If extended all the way, they can increase the length of your jump when traversing small rivers. They are handy to keep dogs at arms length. Two or three times so far I have used them to whack dogs to prevent an attack. Right now the ground is covered in snow and sometimes ice. The walking sticks give me the two extra legs I need to walk confidently in places where I wouldn’t dared have walked otherwise.