Cycling UK Forum

Take a small plastic fork
When you are doing your blog you write
'All of a sudden I came to a fork on the road'

And then post the picture of you holding the fork
Gets a laugh every time.

hartleymartin wrote:On another forum . . . for some reason I got in trouble.

that's another forum, hardlt fair to assume here's the same. have you heard of the slipper chapel in norfolk? i hadn't, we visited it last sept during the TCT. there's some pics below

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cat_little ... 824087501/

Mate of mine takes a mouth organ, which he plays annoyingly when in front of me on long hills (he's 2 stone lighter). Keeps it in his bar bag, the swine.

After learning the hard way very early on, I was always a 'take the minimum' lightweight tourist. (I say 'was' because it's donkeys years since I've been in a position to do it. (I raised at least one laugh on here - from simonL6 - when I related using a pump connector to replace the handle on a three-piece gillette razor.) I did take some "might come in useful" items, largely on the insistence of my dear old dad. Some YHA's used to specify 'KFS' (knife, fork and spoon) which was only for self-caterers but I don't remember ever going to one where there was no cutlery. I also had an enamel mug, carried dangling from the side-pocket strap of the Carradice Camper. Again, never used and quickly left at home. On my very first tour he had me taking a small solid-fuel stove (Pro-fol?) and an emergency tin of soup. I soon discovered you are rarely far from shops in the UK (although Sundays and half-day closing had to be covered.) I ended up heating and eating that soup at the roadside on the last day of that first tour - somewhere between Edale YHA and home in Castleford.

While posting I've also remembered that on one tour I took an army surplus marching compass (in those days the Exchange and Mart used to be packed full of small ads for genuine army surplus.) Perhaps the most redundant 'useful' thing a cyclist who never strayed off-road might carry.

My travelling tin whistle. I quite often get a tune in my head when I've cycling along so it's good to be able to stop and play it.

I cannot go on tour without my radio. Back in the room last thing at night I will do my best to tune into Radio 4 or the BBC World Service when abroad. I find the news gets me off to sleep in a matter of minutes! My room mates have observed that the sound of the radio accompanied by the snores of the person who switched it on can be a little annoying....never had a problem with this myself

a frisbee. It makes an excellent chopping board, is a spare bowl for food prep, can be used to sit on on wet ground, fits on the outside of my pack easily under a bungee, and it's a frisbee.

K-T's original post referred to normal items that can be used or modified when touring
On that line:
1) yellow felty absorbant dish cloths - dull ? but do loadsa jobs. very absorbant, ring em out, dry in minutes. No need for a pack towel ( or maybe the weeniest one) wipe off and dry the tent fly in 5 minutes in the morning to get away quick. If you are short of water you can get up to 75cl from condensation from the fly sheet. Want to keep milk cool at a camp site - wrap the cloth round it and sit in bowl of water in a breeze out of direct sun - it's a mini-evapo fridge.

2) black Ortlieb stuff sack - it's a waterproof bag, it's a water carrier, it's a place to keep your beer cold. Or fill it up with water - leave in the sun - and it's warm water to wash your clothes in. Fill it partially with air, partially with precious things attach to lanyard attached to you & go swimming and your stuff is not getting knicked from the beech. Or you could fill it up fully with air and pretend it's an inflated goat skin to float yourself across the Brahmaputra ( I take no responsibility if you try it tho)

3) dental floss & upholstry needle - sew anything up, bags, your arm back on, holes in tyres ( I had a sidewall that lasted two years after such a fix mid tour) It's remarkably strong stuff.

4) small tubes of araldite and shoe repair glue - and if something doesn't break to fix - you can always sniff it, when the camping gas runs out

A fairly serious enthusists radio with SW reception, a 1.5m long aerial (extended), a 10m attachable wire aerial and good, solid speaker with decent sound. It' must weight half a kilo and I'm not any kind of radio enthusiast myself, but I do like to tune into the radio wherever I am and not have it spoiled by crappy reception or sound. It also doubles up as a jukebox with an MP3 player and transmitter. I do like to lug a set of civvie clothes around also, including jeans, so can go to the pub/bar and relax and feel 'off duty' in the evenings.

Not me, but while cycling in Bolivia I encountered a cycletourist carrying a sea-kayak paddle. He had come from Peru and planned to cycle to southern Chile, and hire a sea-kayak. Unlike me, he was doing a tarmac-only tour without a tent, and so the paddle was very prominent in his otherwise lightweight equipment. He apparently was so attached to his own kayak paddle that felt he had to take it with him rather than risk hiring. I was a bit sceptical he would find a sea-kayak to hire in Southern Chile (having come from there in the other direction), but I understand he was successful.

My own favourite slightly off-beat piece of equipment while on that long Andean tour was a pair of strong scissors, with a reinforced section suitable for cutting up tin cans. I several times did cut up tin cans to make pieces to carry out repairs, and to make candle lamps, etc. It was also useful for cutting up raw meat quickly when cooking. I also trimmed my beard with it.

I carry scissors for cutting up cardboad boxes to pack my bike bag out for flights
I always forget to take a plug , which is vital as few hotels I stay at ever have plugs.

I have been on a tour of Mexico (3 weeks moving on no backup ) when one person I shared a room with had a dressing gown and another in his 70s , bike was so heavy I could not lift it. When I asked what was in his panniers he explained he had gifts for all his language tutors as at the end of the tour he was going to a language school

A length of parachute cord. Good as a washing line, guy rope, lashing things to bike,including panniers with busted fastening. Holding trousers up when you've forgotten to pack a belt Anything else you would use really strong string for. Gaffa tape rolled around a pencil. Just cut off what you need.

I almost always take an older version Ordnance Survey Map on tour. I use OSMs from the 1970s as my preferred navigation tool anyway but augment these with something from the 1920s or 1940s. I had forgotten the later map on one ride and used a Cassini map from 1813 to get home - much to Mrs H's consternation - I still don't see what was wrong with it. I still believe that a pre-1980 map will give you better route information for cycling than anything else but haven't yet found anyone who agrees with me.

PS Given the growth of GPS etc I think taking any paper map on tour is soon going to be fairly obscure and will get some strange looks...

Wow there are some really good ideas coming from this, there are a few I particularly like:

andybubble wrote:a frisbee. It makes an excellent chopping board, is a spare bowl for food prep, can be used to sit on on wet ground, fits on the outside of my pack easily under a bungee, and it's a frisbee.

Now where to find a decent frisbee, the one I have is a hoop style which I doubt will be any good.
Also:

hoogerbooger wrote:3) dental floss & upholstry needle - sew anything up, bags, your arm back on, holes in tyres ( I had a sidewall that lasted two years after such a fix mid tour) It's remarkably strong stuff

Really like this one!!
Glad people have had the oppertunity to share their knowledge
All I need now is some time to finally go touring again to put this new knowledge in to practice although hopefully not repairing a sidewall with dental floss!!
K-T

Coathangers

Sometimes I take a couple from home stuffed down the back of a pannier, but I usually score a couple of discarded ones at French hypermarkets or market days. Great for hanging laundry from tree branches/toilet block doors on campsites.