Ultralight wild camping across western Europe

[doktathunda]

Hi everyone!

I'm planning on spending 2-3 months (May-July) cycling Europe from the UK-->Italy after finishing university and before I go to med school.

I am planning on ultralight wild camping with my road cycle, and being an extreme minimalist, carrying everything in an ultralight backpack. I'm just going to buy food as I go, and carry rations for when I can't find food.

Right now, my total weight (including tent, backpack, sleeping bag, etc.) would only be around 6-7 lbs. I want to do around 100 km per day for when I do bike, and spend lots of time in the big cities, etc.

Firstly, how feasible is it to tour with a backpack, even if it is ultralight? Also, can you think of ways this method of travelling is not feasible? In my mind it seems to make sense, but I'm not sure if it will actually work out. Obviously I am going to be doing some dry runs around my hometown area, but I really have not done tours like this before.

Any tips/comments would be greatly appreciated!

[matt2matt2002]

First thoughts are.....
Carrying stuff on your back will not be a happy experience for a long trip
and
6 - 7lbs weight for everything..?
can you break that down per item please
I know stuff is getting lighter and lighter but a tent and sleeping bag alone can weigh more than that.

Nice idea about the the trip tho'
One I hope to do next year myself

[meic]

I did something similar in my youth but not on that scale.
However, instead of a backpack, I would wear an oversize bumbag or some other form of mounting at the waist or hips.
In our case we used the army 1958 pattern webbing, with all the kit in the pouches around the belt. Rather overweight but something much better could be made of modern materials.
Your weight target is very impressive, I would find it hard to get my clothing down to that level.
On the other hand, when I left the UK to do my world travels, my rucksack weighed 10Kg including a litre of drink.

I would be very interested in how you get on, I feel that there is generally far too much emphasis on kit and people generally carry much more than they should. It would be nice to see how you get on.
My lightweight camping kit weighs in at 9Kg, I am interested to see how that could be cut to a third.

[TheBrick]

If you're accustomed to riding with a rucksack it should be fine as 7 lb is not much, hot at times though. Are you including tools and lock in this 7 lbs? This will add a fair amount even if you are minimal on these. Personally if I were you I would fit a light rear rack, not a beam rack, you can always get a rack to fit with p clips e.t.c if you don't have the braze ons (maybe customize one by cutting it down to lighten it ) and strapping my backpack to that. The you will still have a backpack for the trips in cities and the weight + tools e.t.c can stay on the rack. This is just idea mind you I have no personal experience of this approach.

There is some guy who does this and tours very light, I'll see if I can find his webpage.

[TheBrick]

Found it

http://www2.arnes.si/~ikovse/weight.htm

[jake]

I'm thinking of one these: http://www.alpkit.com/gourdon/ for ultralight touring. I will bungee it to my rack and the rucksack straps would come in handy for carrying it around sightseeing etc. The ordinary Alpkit dry-bag (without straps) is also a possibility.

[horizon]

Hi doktathunda

I would like to know your rationale for going so light. 100km per day doesn't require that. If you are "camping" (i.e not sleeping rough) you may just need a few things! A lightweight bike should still be able to carry a reasonable load and not hold you back. I haven't crossed the Alps so there may be gradient isssues there (but there will also be night time chill factors as well if camping).

I admit that I tend to camp too heavy and have a lot to learn from those who go down to 8 - 12 kg. However, bikes are built to carry a load comfortably - there really is no need (IMV) to put it on your back. Perhaps there comes a point where what we understand as "camping" doesn't get lighter than a certain weight, though everyone will have their preferences. Have you lost sight of the balance between comfort and weight?

And (also IMV) the wilder you camp the heavier you get.

[mellamopaul]

I'd also say that carrying your gear on your back will take away a lot of the enjoyment of cycling around Europe and surely it isn't necessary when it's perfectly feasible to attach a couple of small panniers that won't affect your bike handling. 100k per day with a rucksack makes an enjoyable ride into a hot and sweaty one. Incredible that your gear weighs so little. Does that include some bike tools?

[matt2matt2002]

Found it

http://www2.arnes.si/~ikovse/weight.htm

Nice

He's what my dad would call a 'hard [rude word removed]'
but there are some fantastic tips there

[horizon]

Found it

http://www2.arnes.si/~ikovse/weight.htm

That's still about 6kg! Why not just go down a gear and take in some more scenery?

[scottg]

6-7kgs sounds like plenty of weight, rucks are usually used for off road UL touring though.

Try the following, Carousel sells UL bags for non-touring bikes and mountain bikes.

http://carouseldesignworks.com/main.html
http://adventurecycling.org/features/ultralight.cfm (lots of good links here.)

Trad Brit touring kit would be a Carradice Camper and a Ti Bagman expedtion,
but it'd blow your weight budget.

Scott G.
"Adventure is just bad planning."
Roald Amundsen

[doktathunda]

Thanks everyone for all the great input!

I am especially greatful or that link to Igor Kovske's blog! That is basically exactly what I had in mind.

My rationale for going so light is just that I want to travel fast and easy without having stuff to worry about. I have experience cooking in the wild here in Canada and its not an experience I want to replicate when touring.

As a road cyclist, I have a very hard time biking slow, and I love biking as hard as I can for a few hours, then taking time to enjoy my destination. The last thing I personally want is to struggle doing 100-150 km per day pulling 20 kg of gear.

I'm not going to go through an exhaustive list of all my gear and the weight since I do not have it figured out yet, but some of the main things I have been able to cut down on are:

tent (696 g) http://www.tarptent.com/contrail.html
sleeping bag (682 g) http://www.backcountrygear.com/catalog/bagdetail.cfm/MTH242

Also since this will basically be a summer trip, I am expecting to take very little clothes: just an ultralite raincoat, extra shorts and pants, long sleeve jersey, base layer (i.e. long johns), sandals, socks, camera, and one outfit most likely consisting of swimming shorts.

I like the idea of the rear-mounted rack and the front bar bag rather than a backpack

[horizon]

Sounds like you've got it sorted!

Cheers, Horizon

[toontra]

I'm not going to go through an exhaustive list of all my gear and the weight since I do not have it figured out yet, but some of the main things I have been able to cut down on are:

tent (696 g) http://www.tarptent.com/contrail.html
sleeping bag (682 g) http://www.backcountrygear.com/catalog/bagdetail.cfm/MTH242

Ah, interesting. That's the tent I have (bought when the exchange rate was rather better) and I'd be really interested to hear how it works in practice. Have you used it yet?

[willem jongman]

I am all in favour of going light (not sure I would want to go this light, but that is not the point). For even lighter sleeping bags you may wish to consider PHD design - they have a sale now. Consider the Caldera cone as a stove. I would never carry anything on my back - that is what the bike is for. With this little luggage, you should be able to fit it all into one of the larger Carradice saddle bags (use a support, and check your seatpost and saddle rails). It will make you a lot happier.
By the way, wild camping is ilegal and impractical in many parts of Western Europe.
Willem