Touring Equipment

Thanks. Never noticed any sort of squirm. I'll pay it some mind on my next ride.

Got a massive tax refund, so seeing that having an inflatable mattress kept me from getting cold with a zero degree sleeping bag, I decided to splash out on the Klymit Static V;

Hopefully keep me warmer compared to the inertia x frame I used to have, great for ultralight touring, not so much if you're the kind who toss and turn while sleeping, since I got a dedicated touring bike that can take two fairly big panniers, I can get away with slightly larger equipment.

Selling the inertia x? i'd be interested in buying!

Dearest adventurous forum folk,
This is probably a more camping / hiking related ask but what's your pick of the 3-4 season down sleeping bags with a budget of c £150.00? Could maybe stretch to a bit more if it gets me something massively incrementally better.
Cherrs
Pete

alpkit get good reviews for their down bags, there might be a wait though. If you can afford a bit more, I have a Rab Neutrino 600 that packs pretty small and is very comfy and well made. Cost about £250 I think

I've got an older alpkit, and it's excellent.....

That matt looks really good ed. Does it really pack down to a bidon size.
Need a smaller packing sleepingbag and matt.

It's slightly larger than bidon, will take a picture.

I'm going to stick with my 0 degrees Snugpak sleeping bag, as the bigger mat mean I'll be warmer due to having a bigger gap between I and the ground.

Comparison;

It's definitely much bigger than my tiny one, and heavier (over 500g!), but it's so much more comfortable and covered all 6' of me nicely, those who are 6'2+ will likely to have their feet over the mat.

Looking forward to a comfortable sleeping, realising that it might mean I'll be slower to wake up when the sun rise...

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That's a lot smaller than the thing I had. I might get one!
I'll see if they do a 3/4 one as being tall a full length is t much use anyways.

Those sleeping bags look alight, wonder when alpkit will get some down ones back, could do with one too. Save some space.

Definitely sure.

Sat morning I used the French stuff on a clean pan and no soot.
Sun morning used meths on a clean pan = soot.

Same burner and same stove.

Believe our purple meths is quite a lot lower percentage alcohol than the french clear stuff (sometimes found in the cleaning products aisle). Hence it doesn't burn as well and you get the soot. I found the french stuff similarly good, but did find the (to me) strong smell of tequila associated with it a bit off putting when making or eating breakfast.

Ed did you plan your route for Spain?

Yeah, still in the pipeline;

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/santander-to-perpignan

Such gorgeous route! The part of Spain between Andorra and France is beautiful. I've ridden it from La Seu d'Urgell through Vielha and crossed the border at Portillon. The French roads you have planned there may also be beautiful, but the rain on that side of the mountains would make me consider going through Spain. Any particular reason you choose to go through france there or is it just to avoid the Andorra roads?

Have you ever crossed the Pourtalet? The climb on the French side and especially the descent on the Spanish side were so extremely beautiful.

Do not bother going anywhere Estaing or Lac d'Estaing.

If you can find the time, the climb north out of Ax-Les-Thermes is a tough but nice one.

Eny recomendations on light and small (packed) 2/3 season sleeping bag? Comfort temprature somewere in the ~0 degrees. I can use max about 200€ in it so about £160 is what I'm ok to spend. Of course cheapper is always better.

That was asked recently. Scroll back.

I've ridden it from La Seu d'Urgell through Vielha and crossed the border at Portillon.

Yup, seen the recent flood damage in Bassost which is truly an eye opening.

Any particular reason you choose to go through france there or is it just to avoid the Andorra roads?

Because I want to go through La Collada de Toses, it's almost traffic-free since the tunnel to Barcelona opened, I intend to wild camp there, beautiful gentle climbing road rewarded with a great descent.

Have you ever crossed the Pourtalet? The climb on the French side and especially the descent on the Spanish side were so extremely beautiful.

D934/A-136? doesn't seemed like much option on the south side, plus I like to do the Col du Tourmalet and Col de l'Aubisque

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Is there's a reason why I shouldn't take this route?

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/42.3139014,2.362186/42.3060951,2.1695048/@42.3206029,2.3441918,14z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!3m4!1m2!1d2.2640486!2d42.3041602!3s0x12a5443229792487:0x978823abcc44237!1m0!3e0

^^ I went through the Pyrenees from east to west, that's why I mentioned Pourtalet from France to Spain, but I imagine it is great the other way around as well. But, having said that, I think it may be more beautiful France-Spain as chances are that a long section of the French road will be in foggy conditions.

Tourmalet and Aubisque are wonderful too. I also had very foggy times climbing and descending the Aubisque though.

My flickr is erroring me or I'd have posted some nice images.

^ Wouldnt know why not.

Tourmalet and Aubisque are wonderful too.

This man speaks the truth, that bit between Solour and Aubisque is one of the best bits of road in the world.

This story when Win van Est went over the side of the Aubisque in the '51 TDF is great.
They had to tie 40 inner tubes together to pull him back.
Brings back great holiday memories.

[quote=]“That first bend was wet, slippery from the snow. And there were sharp stones on the road that the cars had kicked up, and my front wheel hit them and I went over. Well, there was a drop of 20m.[7] They’ve built a barrier there now but then there was nothing to stop you going over. I fell 20 metres, rolling and rolling and rolling. My feet had come out of the straps, my bike had disappeared, and there was a little flat area, the only one that’s there, no bigger than the seat of a chair, and I landed on my backside. A metre left or right and I’d have dropped onto solid stone, six or seven hundred metres down. My ankles were all hurt, my elbows were kaput. I was all bruised and shaken up and I didn’t know where I was, but nothing was broken.
The team’s manager, Kees Pellenaars, took a tow rope from the Dutch team’s car. It was too short to reach van Est and so to it he tied 40 racing tyres. It was like that that he was pulled out. Van Est said: “It was all the tyres that Pellenaars had for the team. By the time they’d tugged me up, they were all stretched and they wouldn’t stay on the wheels any more! Forty tyres! I wanted to get back on my bike and start racing again. But I couldn’t. Pellenaars stopped the whole team.” [/quote]

http://pyreneescycling.bike/tourguide/city/eaux-bonnes/pyrenees-cols/aubisque/

Amazing. And I remember exactly the spot!

Watching this with the sound up gives me goose bumps:
Le tour de france 2010,peleton descending the col du suolor and col d'aubisque - YouTube

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