The art of soloing

[Steffan]

All this talk of trailers and sidecars the size of tankers, makes me wonder if the art of solo touring isn't getting lost in the rush to carry loads of gear?

Steffan

[niblue]

I tour on a solo (even 2-up) but even with hard luggage there is very little room for beer...

[Andy M]

Seen plenty of solo tourers on my travels since the sun came out. The lost art of packing light would be the best description. Why the heck would you cram two people, throwovers, a tank bag, a roll sack and TWO rucksacks on a CBR600 and then wobble about the peak district? I'm guessing you carry all the kit to a hotel and dump the kit and I'm seeing the day 1 and day 7 people? Can't be fun to actually tour like that.

Andy

[robG]

I'm wondering if as we get older , we need a greater level of comfort ,therefore more stuff . When I first started touring with the Memsahib,{1990....  }we had a packing routine second to none .Two hard panniers and everything else on the rack .What didn't fit wasn't taken.No rucksacks , not even a tank bag .
If anything ,with the advances made in kit ,it should be easier to travel light .However.................

Rob .

[guest18]

Those of you who have seen my homebrew throwovers will know that I can pack light when I choose 
But as has been said, it can be nice to add some creature comforts sometimes...

[guest7]

I've got a picture of my GB at the Dutch rally and all that's on it is my leather throwovers (quite small) and a small courier bag strapped to the back of the saddle, but since then I have definitely lost the knack of touring light.

However, the packing for this weekend's trip was a good effort, but the need for comfort still bulked up the luggage:

Thermarest mattress (lightweight - packs small)
German army folding mat (stops the T'rest getting punctures)
2 season sleeping bag with a fleece liner
Ripstop 'basha' (I bungee this from the bike to the ground to sleep under)
Tripod stool
Mess tin cookset
Svea 123 stove
folding windshield
Dehydrated pasta and sauce meal
little medicine tubes containing coffee, sugar and whitener
Tin opener, knive/fork/spoon set
thermal mug
headtorch
bag of clothes in an Exped dry sack - this doubles as my pillow.

This is the best I've managed for ages on a solo, but of course Simon Morgan still had less than me and seemed to manage just fine.

The bloke camping next to us just got into a sleeping bag and lay on the ground 

Cheers
GC

p.s. Simon was admiring my Svea stove and we agreed that it really does deserve its reputation as a back-packing classic and so I told him he can have one of my spares. They are a lovely little thing to use and it's the only stove I have (apart from the much larger and bulkier Optimus 111) that I trust to perform every time.

[robG]

Oh lord! It was only  a matter of time before he started on about stoves .

Don't forget the tins they come in GC ,I can't wait .

Where's Smudge ,he'll be next ,no doubt 

Rob

[guest7]

Here's a scary image:

[johnr]

if you want a small and simple stove. go on youtube and type in penny stove. its literally a stove made from a beer can, and fuel aside(meths) costs nothing.

[Richard]

Well I just invested in a gas conversion for the pretend Trangia I got at Baskerville Hall a few years ago.  The Dogz Bollox it is.

Otherwise I use a Swedish Army Trangia or Tatonka burner with the mock Trangia if I'm not in a hurry.

I have too many stoves.

Volcano Stove, 2 Hobos, army hexy in the emergency kits.  More if I think about it.

Richard

[002]

Cant fault the Optimus 111.....my favourite ! 

My Primus is good water boiler....but a bit loud !!!  Like a Jet Engine when its up to speed.

Jethro

[niblue]

I generally use either a Jetboil if I'm solo or a Pocket Rocket if there are two of us.

I've dabbled in making my own coke-can meths stoves as well, and sometimes use one of those when travelling really light. I've tried various designs (including ones using smaller red-bull cans) and all were quite easy to make and worked pretty well. They're quite slow in comparison to the gas stoves though. I tent to use an Alpkit titanium mug to double up as a cooking pot and, with a small fuel bottle, a light windshield and a spork it's a very light set-up.

I've got a tarp & bivvy bag set-up that I have used very occasionally:

However more often than not I use a tent - the lightest tent I have only weights a kilo anyway so the tarp & bivvy set-up doesn't save much weight.

[guest7]

I've dabbled in making my own coke-can meths stoves as well, and sometimes use one of those when travelling really light.

The story goes that the origin of these home-made meths burners lays with the fact that Trangia never really sold in the States. Whereas in europe every backpacker has used and/or owns a Trangia, the US lightweight brigade had no access to factory-made meths burners and so made their own.

GC

[niblue]

The story goes that the origin of these home-made meths burners lays with the fact that Trangia never really sold in the States. Whereas in europe every backpacker has used and/or owns a Trangia, the US lightweight brigade had no access to factory-made meths burners and so made their own.

Could be. I've got a couple of Trangia's as well (doesn't everyone?) although these days it's pretty just the pans that I use (with the pocket rocket). The mini-Trangia, at £20, is still great value for a small, light and complete cooking system.

In comparison to the Trangia burner the coke can stoves are significantly lighter but a lot less sturdy, so need care when packing. They do boil water faster as well, but still not approaching the times for a good gas stove.