Playing with fire......

As a man I think there are those among us who act more like children than we like to admit. Personally, I’m a big kid. If I see something I want, I have to have it now. I’m impulsive and a dreamer.

Whilst we were in the Lakes, we got to visit (along with the interesting pencil museum!) a great number of outdoor shops. I love camping almost as much as I love cycling and I’ve been dreaming for some time, the possibility of combining the two. We’re used to car camping, which brings with it an element of comfort that you just can’t realistically achieve on the bike. We have huge tents that are bigger than caravans, 10cm thick sleeping mattresses which are more comfortable than some hotel beds I’ve slept in, electric hook up so that we can watch dvds or power an electric coolbox. These camping luxuries just aren’t possible when you have to carry them in a pannier set or on your back in a rucksack.

Bikepacking is a term that’s been banded about more and more recently in the press and after reading several articles, I think it’s something that I would enjoy. I’d sooner do multi-day pannier laden trips but when you have a young family and leave is precious, compromising is the key.

Multi-day trips aren’t really an option but chucking some lightweight kit into a rucksack and heading out for an overnight break is something I can do with relative ease and after the initial kit outlay, doesn’t need to break the bank, especially if you wild camp.

So, what do you need? Essentially, some shelter, a mattress, a sleeping bag, a head torch and if you wish to eat/drink hot things – a stove and pan set. Lightweight is the key so I’ve opted for a Rab Storm Bivvy Bag which is essentially a waterproof sleeping bag cover with a zippable hood, an Alpkit Base 120 mattress, lightweight sleeping bag, Alpkit Gamma Headtorch, Blacks Solo cookset and an alcohol stove that I picked up off Ebay. Total cost – around £150 and weighs in at an impressive 3kg to be self supportive for a night.

I now spend most of my time scoping out potential wild camping places to spend the night. One word of advice though, if you do get an alcohol stove – buy meths to fuel it with and not white spirit like I did. We were lucky there wasn’t an explosion at the weekend…….