Channel to Med ride, final prep and packing

In just five days I'll be driving down to Portsmouth, with my bike in the back of a rental car, to board the overnight ferry to St Malo. Today, I have been mostly packing...and flapping.

I sorted everything on my packing list and laid it out on the spare bed.

Then I packed it into my panniers and bar bag.

The labels on my bags are so I don't get confused when loading them on the bike. They also help finding stuff in camp, not to mention repacking. There are two front panniers. LW means left, waterproofs. RC is right, clothes. Two larger rear panniers. LK is left, kitchen and RB, right bedroom. From experience I've learnt to have waterproof and kitchen on the left. I always dismount on the left and lean the bike on the right side. It means I have easier access to waterproofs in rain and my kitchen, back after shopping.

Then I weighed it. Oh...my...God! Three kilogrammes more than my LEJOG load! 

Lots of rethinking, and lots of input from Chrissie, saw me swapping the Southern Cross 2 for our Hilleberg Enan, swapping my spare shorts for lycra ones, leaving out my book of the route after Chrissie found a Kindle version (for my phone) and leaving out the water filter (I barely used it on LEJOG and if I do wild camp anywhere I have treatment tablets and can boil water anyway). All of this reduced the load by around three kilograms, to the same as I carried on LEJOG. Phew!

So I'm all ready bar the shouting...just need to add a few food items to fall back on: coffee, muesli, snacks etc, but I'll hardly be short of tasty grub in France, not to mention drink!

My efforts at raising cash for Cancer Research UK have so far yielded 154% of my original target, at £770. I wonder if I'll make £1000. I hope so. It's a good cause that has touched most, if not all of us. My sincere thanks to all the lovely folk who've donated. If you'd like to contribute go to my Justgiving page here.

If you wish you can follow my route on Social Hiking here thanks to our Spot Messenger and the lovely Phil Sorrell at Social Hiking. I hope to be posting on Twitter as well as here too along the way. Hope it won't be too boring.

For the gear nerds out there, here's a list of wot I'm taking. A note for non-cyclists: it's easier carrying heavier loads on a bike than on your back. Hence my taking a few luxuries like my Helinox Ground chair and a frying pan (giving lots of options for cooking).

FRANCE BIKECAMP LIST	Tick or cross		Tick or cross
OR long sleeve shirt		Food and drinks
3 OR T shirts		Frying pan
Long underwear leggings		Wooden spoons & spatula
2 pairs cycling shorts		Pan scrub
Swimming trunks		Multi-use detergent
Rohan Escapers trousers		Drying cloth
3 Rohan knickers		Mug
3 Rohan socks		Dish
4 Hankies		Coffee filter
Bentu jacket & fleece		Minimo & Alpkit stoves
Paclite trousers		Gas x 2 and gas adapter
Mtb shoes		Lighters + matches
Goretex shell mitts		Air pump for Xtherm
Fleece gloves		Emergency chlorine
Fingerless cycling gloves		3 litre water carrier
Baseball cap & cycling cap		Food bags
Buff		MSR pot cleaner
Sandals		Toiletries
Light down vest		Mosiguard
Waterproof overshoes		Loo kit
Helmet		Fabric washing leaves
Garmin satnav		Spare glasses
Cateye bike computer		Headtorches
Bike repair kit		Tent & airbed repair kit
First aid kit		Pee bottle
Panniers		Microfibre cloth
3 x bike bottles		Hilleberg Enan tent
SD card reader		TN tarp
Compact digital camera		Neoair XTherm
Camera gorilla pod		Pillow
Sunscreen		Sleeping bag
Wallet		Hayfever meds
Mobile		Ibuprofen etc
Notebook & pens		Care Plus bite cream
E-Werk charging device		Helinox Ground chair
Mains phone/USB charger		6 clothes pegs & line
Shaver socket mains plug		Swiss Army knife
Charger (Anker/Powergen)		Spot messenger
USB to micro lead		Rear lamp batt 2xAA
USB to mini lead		Computer CR2032

Given this lot's shared between four panniers, a bar bag and a rack, I always have a list of what's where so I not only know where stuff is but also how to repack it. After a few days this'll commit to memory but I keep a small laminated copy in my bar bag. You'll see total weights. Again, for anyone who's never cycle camped, this is not an unusual load. The weight of food is estimated.

Front right pannier: Clothes, belt for strapping, baseball cap, warm hat, duvet vest, trainers/sandals 

In pocket: spare glasses, headtorches, drying cords, 6x clothes pegs, fabric washing leaves

Weight: 3kg

Front left pannier: Waterproof jacket & trousers, overshoes, wash kit, towel, toilet kit

In pocket: Buff, warm gloves, overmitts

Weight: 3.8kg

Rear right pannier: Sleeping bag, sleeping mat, pillow, pee bottle, pump, bike repair kit, cleaning cloth, Helinox chair           

In pocket: Spare spokes, long tie wraps, earplugs, camping repair kit, ibuprofen

Weight: 5.4kg

Rear left pannier: Cooking kit, 3 litre water carrier, food, gas, plastic bags, hayfever meds

In pocket: Emergency food, spoons, grater, 3xbag clips, spatula, frypan handle, lighter, fire steel, purifying tabs, MSR pan cleaner, gas adapter

Weight: 6kg

Bar bag: Snacks, notebook & pens, lock key, first-aid kit, camera, tripod, card reader, sunscreen, Mosiguard, charger & leads, phone/usb charger, E-WERK  & leads, wallet, Swiss Army knife, French/English dictionary

Weight: 3.4kg

Rear luggage rack: Tent & tarp

Weight: 1.6kg

Total weight of luggage: 23.5kg plus 3 x 750ml of water (1.5l) equals 25kg

In clothes pockets: phone

NB Bike, with racks, lock, pump & computer weighs 15.6kg

Total load, bike & luggage = 40.6kg

I'm a teensy bit nervous. I found being alone difficult towards the end of my LEJOG ride, but some of that was due to the lousy weather. Hopefully I won't suffer from that in July, in the south of France.

Wish me luck and thanks for visiting.