The Offa’s Dyke Daily Coin Toss
When I came up with the idea of the Offa’s Dyke coin toss, a simple way to decide who would carry the slightly heavier share of the joint equipment, I really did not expect the level of interest (and sympathy) it later generated on Twitter!
The concept was simple…
When we made the decision to take a single tent to share – we had to decide who would carry it. To make it as quick as possible to pitch, the tent broken down into three parts – the fabric part (inner and outer attached together), the pegs (lightweight titanium ones) and the poles. We also had a joint stove (including pot), a gas canister, and a few other bits (tiny pot of washing up liquid etc).
This could be split into two loads – the fabric part of the tent (about 2kg) and everything else (about 1.5kg). I didn’t really like the idea of just taking it in turns – one of us would bound to feel hard done by! So I decided that we should take it in turns to choose and flip a coin to decide the heavier load bearer- surely it would work out about 50/50 ?
Day 1 – I won
Day 2 – I won
Day 3 – I won
Day 4 – I won
Day 5 - I won: Hmm 5 days won in a row so far – Alex was starting to be unimpressed: “Settled into morning routine,get up,wash,dress,breakfast,lose the coin toss,carry the heavy bag.Set off.”
Day 6 – I won
Day 7 – Alex finally won his first coin toss, but his luck didn’t last…
Day 8 – I won: “Considering today is the hardest day, quite pleased @winkysmileyface lost the coin toss. He sees it differently.”
Day 9 - I won
Day 10 – I won. By this point accusations were flying around that I have a “special” coin which is why I keep on winning! “It’s rigged I tell you, it’s rigged.” (@Pete_Knight)
Day 11 – Alex finally won again!
Day 12 - Alex won.
Day 13
Day 13 was our longest day, so we decided to try something a bit special… this audio file explains more about the coin toss on the final day and features a re-enactment of the final Offa’s Dyke coin toss!
That gives me a 77% success rate – so glad we didn’t just take it in turns 
