Many thanks for the advice, I'll contact you later in the year to discuss alternative routes if we end up going if you don't mind, it's getting tricky to organise all the prep trips as my son is doing his A levels soon.

I used the katabatic quilt in the south downs trip and it was amazing, a bit cold at some point, but fine the rest of the night, the strap system works very, very well.
My son was cold with the Corus, and we both had merino layers, I might get him another katabatic.

I'm also very happy with the X-mid, we can fit 2 exped LW mats and it's super easy to pitch, I now just need to add the extra guylines for windy conditions.
I can fit the tent + groundsheet + quilt + merino layers in an 8L drybag!

bonzo_bcn wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2024 8:49 pm if you don't mind

of course not
Happy to help. I always have time for such planning nerdery

bonzo_bcn wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2024 8:49 pm both had merino layers, I might get him another katabatic.

If you plan to use eg. lightweight down/synthetic jackets/smocks you can use those to boost the sleeping bag/quilts too.

bonzo_bcn wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2024 8:59 pm I'm also very happy with the X-mid, we can fit 2 exped LW mats and it's super easy to pitch, I now just need to add the extra guylines for windy conditions.

Yeah, it's a good tent. True, it goes up really fast, quite a bit quicker then a classic mid and removable inner and with added guylines copes fairly well in windy conditions. Funnily, our's (about second batch of 1. generation X-Mid Pro) is too narrow for 2 wide (Exped) mats. I also added an array of pockets to the nets - left and right of the entrance, makes it very liveable.