After the France Trip.

[Selous]

Hi well as some of you know I stated on ‘Our French Trip’ some of our Items where great others ok not so & not used & in some cases not used.

I am now looking at items to remove or because of not needed so or could I could carry some fresh foodstuffs like fruit & veg & limited dairy.

I am seriously looking at changing the Omega 350 for a 250, & keep the 350 for car camping, (never done that!), the 350 wait is 5kg easy to pop up in a few min, there was plenty of room in the sleep area too.
http://www.vango.co.uk/range/omega-250-350-450.html

My Coleman multi fuel Feather light cooker worked a treat, we used just under 1 800 mil bottle of fluid Coleman’s own, (we of course made T & C but seemed to mostly eat, lightly in the day then the plate of the day was enough till morning), we did cook some meals as trial & keep cost down, I placed that in a MSR fuel container & took a 2nd as a just in case.
http://cascadedesigns.com/en/msr/stoves ... es/product
Along with the MSR whisper light not used, although a sturdy little cooker Jeanette prefers lighting the Coleman, do I remove the msr & keep the 2 metal containers or just 1, (as a backup I also carry a small funnel & some clear tubing to syphon off fuel if we ran out & or on further afield trips)

The pots & pans we used where the MSR Quick 2 cooking system folds away very tidy works a treat
http://cascadedesigns.com/en/msr/cookwa ... em/product
& a Alpine cook set was given to me, (no longer used by a camping mate),
I added to the set a longer chef’s knife, from Tesco, otherwise as is & was used, I thought quite a nifty little bit of kit rolls up quite small & the salt didn’t dampen!! Also took some small bottles (5 or 10 mil) with olive oil was up liquid & liquid washing detergent.
http://cascadedesigns.com/en/msr/cookwa ... et/product

As for sleeping we used 2 Expied 7 down mats & 1, 2 season down bag & 1 3 season, (Jeanette), down bags both with 100% silk liner, no problems there, any fool can be uncomfortable, & needing sleep when riding is paramount on par to eating correctly.
Head Torch, 2 sets KFS 1 camping fold a way quick dry Towel me 1 Megga sized quick dry towel Jeanette.

My personal gear
1 pair of Merrell Chameleon Sandals/shoes these fold flat & I have had these for years; don’t think they make them anymore! (These are the only other foot where I took) you can wear them & they look like shoes. & you can remove the back have a shower wearing them if need be they dry out very quick.
4 pair socks (1 pr worn)
Ditto Undies
Ditto T Shirt (1 EDZ for riding)
2 Fleece tops Ditto
3 Pair trousers, these are lightweight cargo, style (when really hot wore them instead of bike trousers.
Wash gear (Shower gel), shampoo, no soap. (we shared, own tooth brushes of course!)

Jeanette
1 pair of Merrell sandals/shoes, similar to mine she loves them
4 pair socks (1 pr worn)
Ditto Thongs & 2 Bra
Ditto T Shirt (1 EDZ for riding)
2 Fleece tops Ditto
Woolly jumper for early eve, she feels the cold far more than me)
Sarong, for going to shower or when hot & not riding wanting to wear around the camp site (V Versatile),
3 Pair trousers, these where Jeans, (when really hot wore them instead of bike trousers.

I load the bike up
Left pannier all cooking items.
Right pannier 1 sleeping bag & mat 1 pair of merrals shoes/ sandals.
Otleibe dry roll bag on the back with all clothing, other sleeping bag Mat legal bike stuff (have to carry, light bulbs etc) all our clothing was put in our own Otleibe dry bag.

I am thinking of throwing out 1T shirt & 1pr of trousers as not used this then gives
1 pr worn, 1 pr dirty/ washed 1 pr for at end of day to be clean ditto with t shirt.
Of course T & Coffee was purchased out there, but then carried, along with milk sugar.

I know when Jeanette, passes her test it would make things a bit easier, in the mean time
I would be interested on your comments .

[Diesel Pete]

As I am new to taking a pillion along, stuff like this is absolute gold.

Cheers for taking the time to post.

[herman]

Cheers for that, it made me analyse what I take, about the same as the pair of you on my own! A couple of Qs.... what do you wash clothes in? sink at campsite? I carry pegs or bulldog clips for hanging stuff on windy days and some of the off road style trousers are well vented, smart and armored so I cut down on casual wear and carry another set of riding gear. B)

[Selous]

Cheers for that, it made me analyse what I take, about the same as the pair of you on my own! A couple of Qs.... what do you wash clothes in? sink at campsite? I carry pegs or bulldog clips for hanging stuff on windy days and some of the off road style trousers are well vented, smart and armored so I cut down on casual wear and carry another set of riding gear. B)

Hi Herman lol most camping sites I stayed at have washing machine(s) & have sinks so you can wash your 'smalls' :whistle: by hand. I did forget to mention & carry a few (12) pegs & the Rok bungee straps my bag on the back is long enough for a makeshift cloths line, or just the local fence near our tent :whistle: note (my towel on fence)

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[Selous]

As I am new to taking a pillion along, stuff like this is absolute gold.
Cheers for taking the time to post.

NP mate, can always pm me as well if something springs to mind.

[tiger800xc]

Reading your post puts my mind at rest as we have a simular list ready for our trip at the end of June.

The only difference is that we have the vango 450 and it's just too big as we are going to be moving on every other day, so we have started looking at a smaller lightweight tent that we can still keep all our gear in too.

great post thanks

[Selous]

Reading your post puts my mind at rest as we have a simular list ready for our trip at the end of June.

The only difference is that we have the vango 450 and it's just too big as we are going to be moving on every other day, so we have started looking at a smaller lightweight tent that we can still keep all our gear in too.

great post thanks

Your welcome, I found the 350 a great tent we had so much room in the sleep area me Jeanette, 2 sleep bags & 2 exped + whatever we used for pillows.
That is the Only reason I going to get the 250, smaller & lighter.

I only used 1 of the 2 doors (with the insect door, the other could be opened but just had to step over) & whenever I pitched the tent I put the 2 panniers in front of the other door next to that the bag then working around the tent riding gear & near the entrance door shoes when coming in or out.

I attached the little ground sheet, but not by the door we came in (folded over) so if it was raining we could step in the tent with our boots /shoes on remove them & then walk on dry bit other tent & mud was not put everywhere.

btw my tent is the 2011 version the little ground sheet has a fold up bit by both doors.

A tip for putting up the Tent really quickly.

lay tent out temp peg the back (sleep area, 2 end corners) of the Tent
put poles through.
back to sleep area the 2 guide ropes (attached to vent)pull & temp peg out, (this pulls the tent up), go to front of tent pull all out whole tent is almost up in 3 min max.

I leave the sleep area in, as we where moving round every so often I asked Vango will add info from them here for you, including packing away.

From Vango

Hi , Bert.
You can leave the inner in place, and if you are it is best to leave the inner door partially open to allow air to escape.

Thanks for your mail.

It just takes practise and patience to fold the tent back into the case. The following steps should assist:-

· Lay the inner on the ground and fold it in half, lengthways
· Fold it in half again and compare to the Width of the tent bag, to ensure its fit
· Hold flysheet by grabbing the roof and lay out flat
· Fold in each outside edge into the centre and repeat this until it is roughly the same size as the inner, Fold from the roof / closed edge of the tent to the open end to allow air to escape.
· Put fly on top of inner and role both together as tightly as possible, all the time flattening it down and letting the air out until it is small enough to fit into the case. alternatively you can fold the fly until it is the right size for the case and place it in and then do the same for the inner and place it on top of the fly in the case or in the other part of the case. .

as long as all the air has been pushed out of the fly and inner it will comfortably fit in the bag.

Hope some of the above is of use for you

[big al]

Hi Selous. Did the same thing a couple of years ago when I went camping, took too much kit thinking that I would use it but never did, so when I came came back left all the kit I didn't use out for the next trip, and subsequently have done the same thing ever since. Now I only take what I use. and if I haven't got it I probably don't need it anyway.
Cheers.
Al

[Flanners]

A good post for me as a newb.

I have sports bikes but tiring of that style of riding and want to have a few 'adventures'.....So

I pick up the GSA next Monday, with your post I have now ordered just under £400 worth of gear from The Outdoor Shop (great savings!).

[Selous]

A good post for me as a newb.

I have sports bikes but tiring of that style of riding and want to have a few 'adventures'.....So

I pick up the GSA next Monday, with your post I have now ordered just under £400 worth of gear from The Outdoor Shop (great savings!).

Good for you, hope you enjoy your adventurs, yoy are what you make it,
Remember to take lits if phots and post them on the forum, along with your ride report.

Do tou have any idea where you want to ride to?