Cycling UK Forum

If its only in tent floor corners - a cool iron will rebind clear tape -
works for a bit. For long term - seam sealants McNett Seamgrip or
Easton urethane (on the outside seam).
For the tent fly - tape seems to hide crappy stitching and doesnt
stick for long esp. on ultralight fabric. If the adjacent PU coating
flakes off when you rub it - the tent is pretty much stuffed for
wet weather use.
More expensive tents have silicon coated flysheets - no taped
seams.
I once reproofed a favorite tent fly with a mix of paint thinner
and Silicon roof gutter sealant (lots of how tos on U tube) - was a
fair bit of work - a couple of washes to get tape and bulk of the
PU crap off. Dry - then thin coats on flysheet outer and inner - bit
thicker on seams.
Pros - totally waterproof, cheap, durable, water beads on surface
Cons - heavier.

For anyone else overweight at Narita - T2 has a extended hours post office (near to Uniqld). Small packet <2 kg posted to worldwide a bit less than Yen 2000. Check in will allow 5 to 15% extra no charge - creative carry on should help to lose any excess - bum bag, cargo pockets, airport shopping bag..

recent article on problems with solar and powerbanks http://bkhome.org/light/solar/index.html

A quick look on ebay turned up something similar http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6V-3-5W-Solar ... 4183ef9d54. I strung 2 together with a y lead from a dvd player. The only thing not charging was my crap ebook reader which kept turning off and on - I believe apple products do the same. My 2 panels were 550 yen each in tokyo - japan seems to be a good place to buy this kind of stuff as the chinese exporters test before shipping - def not true of hong kong singapore or uk IME

Original poster asked about use of Decathlon branded solar
panel for charging tablet/phone during camping tour.
Ive used solar over last 2 summers in Pyrenees.
2014 - 14W (4 A5 sized panels 700g) to charge netbook (from 20 to 100% battery in 3-4 hours full sun - outputs 18v or 5v USB).
2013 - 2X3W (5v USB 1200mA) for charging android tablet (3H)/bar phone (1H)+2/4 NiMh AA enerloop 2000mA batteries (2-4H).
1 need full sun
2 no intermediate battery pack
3 gadgets have to be off and out of sun.

Thoughts on the Decathlon panel:
1 overpriced (made in China monocrystalline sealed is USD
1.5-3 per Watt)
2 way too heavy if 900g
3 prob not water resistant
BTW China solar QC v poor - suggest
1 you test pre purchase
2 avoid sale/clearance
3 buy only monocrystalline (amorphous, flex thin film - dont last long)

I flew from El Prat last month - there is a sign on the door (when coming from the train) that doors are closed between 11 pm and 4 am - there were no flights leaving after my flight - 10.40 pm.

re camping in YHA grounds _ I belive Jordans YHA (S Bucks) still allows tents - also some Camping Barns (booked through YHA) let you camp

All your gadgets have lithium ion batteries ? - they charge best from their own chargers. A non dedicated
underpowered charger can discharge your Li battery eg a not fully charged powerbank or an intermittent
power supply (causes phone to switch off / on).
What works ?
I have a bottle dynamo (with 4 wired in NiMh AAA batteries) which only puts out 300mA at the USB (charges only a basic bar phone) -also powers front back lights when not plugged into phone.
and a monocrystalline epoxyed solar panel with a female USB cabled directly (regulated 6.15 V, max 540mA) to mini USB of smart phone and ereader. Phone gets a bit hot so I have to keep checking it, keep the screen on and the phone out of the sun. Panel was less than $10. - there are now plenty of similar specced panels coming out of chinese free shipping sites or Ebay. I bought everything in Asia - solar panels seem to have no QC and I rejected a few which couldnt power up a white LED.
Gadgets using NiMh AA/AAA batteries tolerate varying current and are safer than Li as they dont fry if
overcharged/overdischarged and can be removed.
More info on Spain:
bar phones - from E30 with a spanish Moviestar SIM card. Most Pensions, Hostales, Auberges have
powerpoints in the rooms (not Refugios). Campsites have powerpoints in the toilets, but often have lots of long term stayers and their yapping dogs.

I stayed in camping barns some 10 years back - great back to basics - few and commonsense rules - but the YHA took over the booking system and required prebooking. Anyone stayed in them recently ?

folding tyres - store unfolded
tube - partially inflated inside tyre
I think sun is worse than heat eg. black handlebar grip rubber soon turns to black mush in sunlight - grey and other colours seem to last longer

These things are great for travel. Ive been using similar bags for years. Worth also getting pipe foam, a few cable ties and a tube of seam grip (for spot repairs as tears in material will get bigger and you will lose stuff as vibration in plane, bus holds rattles nuts etc loose quickly). The price - £69.99 (exc P&P) seems a bit high for maybe 5 m of nylon and a zip - compared to say Ground Effect. Best bag so far is from japan (v dense weave nylon, black colour, with cinch straps to make it smaller and no logos).

google for md80 clones - these single chip cameras are $9 with free slow shipping from china. You need a fast > class 4 mSD card

What about cycling on River Thames towpaths ? There are a slew of new nailed in no cycling signs on the Maidenhead - Marlow section - 1 within 20 m of a Sustrans permitted paths sign at Bourne End.

Nhammy you will cycle through central France this summer and you already have an I phone and Michelin road atlas. Sounds like you are all set - good cell cover and well mapped.
A problem might be leaving the phone on charge in a campsite - you would be daft to leave it unattended and there are not enough powerpoints - this also applies to the training aid type of gps that some posters recommended. Most mapping gps run on AA batteries (and most Android phones have user replaceable batteries) - so you just charge the batteries.
Re mapping gps - most popular is Garmin - their maps and esp. POIs are out of date by several/many years - 3rd party stuff - apart from OSM - is also old ( eg Archies camping or POI factory) or plain badly designed (IGN vector maps at 800 euro for all France) and development has moved to phones. Just compare gps on downloaded cached map (and integration to other functions) on Iphone app and Garmin City Nav preview on Garmin website. IMO mapping handhelds are aimed at a niche market - eg. for places where there is no cell phone cover, where there are no paper maps and maybe for people who have time for hacking/making/mashing up data into some kind of special interest map.

gps with SIM card slot with 2 or 3 (preprogrammed) numbers call out/sms message/SOS from Maplin or deal extreme. Garmin version requires a subscription.
I see you are thinking of going to Oz - where i am ATM - here you can get (network locked) smartphones with call via satellite option.
Normal cell coverage is v poor outside of major towns and might be limited to SMS from some hilltop or beach