11 August 2006

Only 6 hours to sailing time...

I always find that the final packing and loading of the bike is the most stressful. What about you? We usually only go for a week at a time (with w/e's it equates to 9 days tops), but this year we'll be away 13 days.

In the end I try to get everything ready in good time, load the panniers and when you have the "His and Hers" OEM BMW kits, the "His" has to be well thought out.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that we had bought a set of vaccum bags from Lakeland. These have increased the amount of decent stuff I can take in the "His" pannier by a long chalk. To be wholly accurate I should have done a before and after photoset.

Claire has used the larger of the three bags in her "Hers" pannier and it swallow loads of stuff and when everything is rolled to expel the air through the valves it fits perfectly across the widest part of the pannier, leaving plenty of room.

We'll see tonight when we get to the first stop whether they have been a total success and Claire's stuff isn't too creased up!

This year I wanted to ensure the topbox is as empty as possible, or rather, not filled so we can hardly close it! So far so good, disc locks and waterproof trousers. The HG jackets won over the vented ones for warmth and waterproofness as it looks like the heat wave and drought is over all across Europe.

Blimey... only 5 hours and 36 minutes to sailing... Now what to do? Watch Jeremy Kyle on ITV?

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