Search found 599 matches

by Thehairs1970
18 May 2023, 8:55pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: The Hebridean Way
Replies: 7
Views: 519

Re: The Hebridean Way

Al1969 wrote: 18 May 2023, 11:25am Thinking of doing this in August/September;

How much forward planning do you think I’ll need? and do you have much cycling to do when you get off at Ullapool?
Lovely ride. Did Stornaway to Butt of Lewis, down the way and back to Stornaway in about 10days.

Confused what you mean about getting off after Ullapool…
by Thehairs1970
6 May 2023, 11:43am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Morocco
Replies: 7
Views: 759

Re: Morocco

Thanks for the replies re this.

Current favourite spots are Draa valley, Todra Gorge, Ait-Ben-Hanoud, Marrakesh.

How to link them…?
by Thehairs1970
30 Apr 2023, 2:44pm
Forum: Cycle Camping sub-forum
Topic: Packing an MSR hubba hubba - roll or stuff?
Replies: 17
Views: 5321

Re: Packing an MSR hubba hubba - roll or stuff?

PH wrote: 30 Apr 2023, 8:35am
I think you've got it, though I'd be nervous about hanging the fly on a bike, there's too much chance I'd end up with oil on it.
Good point but we put our bike’s transmission towards each other and tent then can’t get to oily bits. It’s worth hooking the fly onto bits of the bike too to stop it flying around too much.
by Thehairs1970
30 Apr 2023, 7:16am
Forum: Cycle Camping sub-forum
Topic: Packing an MSR hubba hubba - roll or stuff?
Replies: 17
Views: 5321

Re: Packing an MSR hubba hubba - roll or stuff?

I think MSR like ours is an inner first tent?

Our routine goes like this if tent has condensation (I.e. not raining). First one up gets kettle on. Pack up the sleeping kit. ventilating as much as possible. Take outer off, leave hanging over bike to air. Wipe any damp spots with microfiche cloth on outer and leave to dry while drink tea. Then inner down and pack away with poles and pegs. Get the floor protector drying while have breakfast. Pack outer as normally dry. Pack everything else away, leave floor protector out to dry until last minute, if still damp leave accessso we can dry at coffee/lunch stops. These new materials dry very quickly.

If raining, pack inner with pegs and poles, outer goes with floor protector. I’d never want to mix a really wet outer with relatively dry inner.
by Thehairs1970
27 Apr 2023, 7:46pm
Forum: Cycle Camping sub-forum
Topic: Good micro-fibre towel
Replies: 21
Views: 5039

Good micro-fibre towel

I love the idea of a micro-fibre towel but ones I have purchased have always disappointed. They seem to depend on you patting dry rather than rubbing and I never feel dry afterwards. Not a problem if it’s warm, I know but on a chilly day….! Anyone found a good one?
by Thehairs1970
27 Apr 2023, 7:43pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Morocco
Replies: 7
Views: 759

Morocco

Considering having a two week tour in Morocco at Easter. We are road tourers not off-roaders. Anyone have any must sees/dos? We are planning, at the mo, to b&b/hostel/budget hotel, if that helps. If anyone has any experience of the area we’d love to hear?

Thanks
by Thehairs1970
15 Apr 2023, 11:28pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Touring nutrition
Replies: 28
Views: 2278

Re: Touring nutrition

Recent trip to Holland/Belgium - eating/drinking routine.

Kettle on for pre-breakfast cuppa while sorting sleeping bags etc. Then breakfast cuppa. Bread with jam/peanut butter. Bread is normally a whole meal or spelt flour thingy as it’s harder for body to break down so fuels for longer. Then kettle back on while we finish packing to make a coffee for the trip. One hour in to the ride we stop for coffee (insulated cups) and a snack - stroopwaffle/flapjack/waffle/biscuits. Ride till about 1. Lunch - bread and cheese/ham. Sometimes humus/tomatoes watch. Ride for another couple of hours or so. Go to supermarket, get evening meal and bottle of wine before last push to campsite. Rarely have meat. Lots of beans, veg, pasta, potatoes, noodles. Also buy pre-dinner snacks - bag if chips, nuts etc. Eat around 7.

Repeat.

Normally have a bag of sweets for encouragement/morale boost too. As required.

And we still manage to loose a few pounds!
by Thehairs1970
28 Mar 2023, 6:50pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: What tent to get?
Replies: 21
Views: 1970

Re: What tent to get?

BritishEagle wrote: 28 Mar 2023, 4:01pm We’ve used various Hilleberg tunnel tents for the last 20 years and spent the last two choosing a new tent for summer touring for three of us. We were very tempted by the Wickiup et al but finally went against all our experience with the Big Agnes UL4 and are very happy with it:
Pitch inner first: surprisingly not so bad in the rain as it is quick. Also, you can pitch outer first if you use the extra floor.
Two doors are a real treat. Panniers and exit in one and cooking/exit in the other.
The inner room is vast. We can sleep any direction to suit the slope and the headroom is luxurious. A lovely, light space to spend time in in the rain.
Build quality is very good. The only con is that the tent sways in strong winds because of its height.. We have bought two collapsible tarp poles to guy it out in the wind or for an extra DL tarp sunshade. Even with all this it’s about 3kg, an excellent 3 season tent so check out the UL3 for 1-2 people.
Not sure which Big Agnes tent this is but…

We bought a Copper Spur UL3 backpacking for two of us. Love it.Loads of headroom and living room. Good storage inside as well. Weighs less than 2kg with footprint and extra guys, pegs. If you are mostly going to be on your own I’d go for the two man. There will be plenty of room for the occasional extra. Two entrances and weighs about a kilo. I’m not bothered about the innerfirst. As said it is vey quick so…
by Thehairs1970
20 Mar 2023, 8:42pm
Forum: Cycle Camping sub-forum
Topic: Wot makes a tent 4 season?
Replies: 98
Views: 12878

Re: Wot makes a tent 4 season?

Sweep wrote: 20 Mar 2023, 9:42am It's fair enough companies supplying "middling" pegs with tents I think - can understand totally why they do it so that their tents can be competitively priced in a tough market. I have a couple of tents with quality DAC poles which nevertheless came with cheapish pegs. No great problem for of course even if you have several tents you only need to buy one set of quality pegs - which aren't actually all that expensive.
I take your point BUT the pegs are an integral part of the tent’s structure so if I buy a four season tent, I expect four season pegs. After all, you wouldn’t buy a Ferrari and expect to have to then buy better tyres for it would you?

Maybe I’m just too stingy…
by Thehairs1970
13 Mar 2023, 10:11pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Garmin touring plus
Replies: 17
Views: 749

Re: Garmin touring plus

Thanks. I’ll check that out.
by Thehairs1970
13 Mar 2023, 9:05pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Garmin touring plus
Replies: 17
Views: 749

Re: Garmin touring plus

Any ideas on what should be on the sd card. Should it be a mirror if the gps drive itself?
by Thehairs1970
13 Mar 2023, 7:23pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Vietnam and Laos
Replies: 4
Views: 442

Re: Vietnam and Laos

Thanks for that!
by Thehairs1970
13 Mar 2023, 5:42pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Garmin touring plus
Replies: 17
Views: 749

Re: Garmin touring plus

Aha! My route names were too similar and too long!

Still intrigued regarding the setup of the SD card though...
by Thehairs1970
13 Mar 2023, 5:34pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Garmin touring plus
Replies: 17
Views: 749

Re: Garmin touring plus

I am using a windows laptop to try and transfer the files. I have tried exporting to Garmin Connect and moving through file manager but whenever I add a second route, the first disappears.
by Thehairs1970
13 Mar 2023, 5:18pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Garmin touring plus
Replies: 17
Views: 749

Garmin touring plus

I recently purchased a touring plus second hand and can't work out how to load routes on to it from cycle.travel. I can get one route to appear but not two.
Also there appears to be a mirror of the files on the GPS on the SD card. Pics below. Should it be like this?
E drive.png
f drive.png