Been in and out of Sydney the past couple weeks going away weekends with friends.
The first trip on the Australia Day long weekend, I was challenged to take just my two small panniers - which are really the large Ortlieb panniers. It was hard to trim down to that level. I'm so used to having everything with me. Had to really think about what to leave behind.
The trip was a bit of a wash out. The plan was to spend two nights out. The campsites would be dry, so needed to carry water. The camps were up high, not quiet on the top of the ridges, but close. The first night we just got the tents set up before the storm rolled in. We were not short of water. Wind, rain and lightning. Some of the strikes were so close. With more storms forecast, and high winds on the way, no one wanted to stay another night. Next day was heading back.
It was lighter pedalling with less gear. But I missed my usual gear. I missed knowing where in my panniers everything was. I found it slightly frustrating having to pack those two small bags so carefully to fit everything in.
Last weekend, I was back to four panniers. I did leave a few things behind. Still caused me problems. This time the panniers were too empty! But found a solution to this on the last day. Apples! The trees were all fruiting this year. Couldn't go past without sampling them. Would have been criminal to leave them behind, so we filled our panniers. Since I had the largest panniers... When we got back I weight the apples I carried - almost 20kg!
The plan was four nights out. Food was shared with a plan of who brought along what. We made up for the washout the week before. The first day was easy as it was mostly downhill, with water, and a luxurious hot shower at the end. After this it was a lot harder, uphill, dirt roads, and carrying water. There were no more showers. More interesting was the food planning; not enough calories for continual days of six hours hard pedalling. We were good for the first two days, but after that, we were all started suffering. But we did have a good time.
We also ate a lot of apples.
