Not a huge day today as I didnt get away until after lunch and i had to run an errand and drop some paperwork off as the accountant. It was also raining pretty hard so sat with my accountant and drank a cup of tea while we waited for the rain to stop
Loaded the bike using the Brompton back on the front and a rucksack on the back attached in a rather ingenious way i saw somebody who was touring the world. Quite simple when you think of it. Problem with the Brompton is that its a very small bike and the back rack cant really be used by anything unless it is quite thin as your heals keep hitting it on each rotation. The trick is to put a rucksack on the back and have it at an angle so that the heals miss. To do this you put about 8 inched of broom handle through loops under the seat. Attach the broomhandle with a strap so that it wouldnt move and then drape the rucksack handles over it. Then using the 2 straps on the rack at the back loop under the backup and over and attach to the rack. Then take another bungy and attach it to the rack and loop around the back in the opposite direction. This may the back is fixed at top by the broom handle and at the bottom by the bungies and as they are in opposite direction the counter out any pull that might be applied
Next thing is that bike is certified to carry 135KG (or so i read somewhere) so i was very keen not to overload. Also the bracket on the front is plastic so the front back cant be more than 10KG plus it cant be piled hight as the handle bars will hit it everytime you turn a corner
So up front went the tent, sleeping back, bike lock and a little bit of food. In the rucksack went clothes, heavy food, cooking and eating utensils, washbag, medical kits and electronics. Picked it up and stood on the scales and before food it came to 125KG so that gave me an idea of how i could add
Found Bredang campsite easy enough ad set the tent up for the first time. I had bought some instance camp food (just add boiling water) and a few extra bits and bons so was looking forward to an enjoyable evening. Bredang had a kitchen but all that was there was a microwave and a hotplate so i had to improvise by boiling water in the microwave (which didnt go so well) so my dinner was pretty chewy
Tent went up easy enough and didnt make a complete fool of myself. Blew up the mattress and my pillow, unfurled my sleeping bag and settled in for the night. Im 58 and not slept in a tent since Susie and i used to go camping in the mid 80s so what coud possibly go wrong.
Had a nice chat with my German neighbours who were behind me and seems they are going up to North cape and was planning on taking the E4 up and then come back down through Norway. Warned them that the E4 is a really boring road and suggested instead the E45 which is the one we used on our RV holiday last week
Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/8wZAkJuwAib
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