My trip to France

How are you preparing
User avatar
ChefSimon
Posts: 115
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 7:24 pm

My trip to France

Post by ChefSimon »

Ok so following some issues with this site keep giving me errors i've written it up and exported it as a series of pictures.

It has allowed me to condense my other pictures in as well. If you click on each 'picture' it opens it up into a larger size so you can easily read the text.

Please let me know if you have issues reading it.
PAGE 1
PAGE 1
PAGE 2
PAGE 2
PAGE 3
PAGE 3
PAGE 4
PAGE 4
PAGE 5
PAGE 5
Prior Planning & Preperation Prevents P*** Poor Performance.

No plan survives first contact.

Bug in before bugging out. Meet the problem on your terms!
User avatar
Deeps
Posts: 5797
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2014 8:36 pm

Re: My trip to France

Post by Deeps »

Thanks for sharing it with us Simon, that looks fantastic. I'd be topping up on some of the local falling over juice as well as the water but that probably says more about me. :roll: I admire your not over packing of the bag, I'm a bugger for it. :oops: I used to get away with it when I was younger and fitter but I'll follow your lead and not have so much crap for 'just in case'.
User avatar
ChefSimon
Posts: 115
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 7:24 pm

Re: My trip to France

Post by ChefSimon »

Deeps wrote:Thanks for sharing it with us Simon, that looks fantastic. I'd be topping up on some of the local falling over juice as well as the water but that probably says more about me. :roll: I admire your not over packing of the bag, I'm a bugger for it. :oops: I used to get away with it when I was younger and fitter but I'll follow your lead and not have so much crap for 'just in case'.
I was the same... But slowly over the past few trips I've been able to refine what I actually carry. My only real indulgence would be the survival kit, but at 120g it's always handy to carry.

I'm now able to do a 2 week holiday with carry on luggage only. Wife hates it but as she says, it means she can now take 2 cases of clothes when we go away!

Trust me when I say I had plenty of the local grape juice. I should consider one 3L of water and the other with wine?
Prior Planning & Preperation Prevents P*** Poor Performance.

No plan survives first contact.

Bug in before bugging out. Meet the problem on your terms!
User avatar
Deeps
Posts: 5797
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2014 8:36 pm

Re: My trip to France

Post by Deeps »

ChefSimon wrote:
Deeps wrote:Thanks for sharing it with us Simon, that looks fantastic. I'd be topping up on some of the local falling over juice as well as the water but that probably says more about me. :roll: I admire your not over packing of the bag, I'm a bugger for it. :oops: I used to get away with it when I was younger and fitter but I'll follow your lead and not have so much crap for 'just in case'.
I was the same... But slowly over the past few trips I've been able to refine what I actually carry. My only real indulgence would be the survival kit, but at 120g it's always handy to carry.

I'm now able to do a 2 week holiday with carry on luggage only. Wife hates it but as she says, it means she can now take 2 cases of clothes when we go away!

Trust me when I say I had plenty of the local grape juice. I should consider one 3L of water and the other with wine?
I don't do any serious hill walking any more, not like I did anyway, now, I'll usually take a box of vino with me, even if I don't tan it all you can fold the box in on itself so it takes up less room (as well as less weight by this point :D ). Not many wee shoppies in the Scottish Highlands to replenish at unfortunately. :cry:
Arzosah
Posts: 6323
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:20 pm

Re: My trip to France

Post by Arzosah »

Simon, that looks amazing, and thank you for pushing on with the posting in spite of the formatting difficulties.

- interesting about the tent taking up less space, I wouldn't have expected that, though quicker because you don't need to look for trees, yes, that makes sense.

- how did you find sleeping on the dry bag? If I sleep on clothes/bulk up with a towel etc, it feels very "hard", and I get a rotten headache the next day. Though if I *had* to, of course, I would :mrgreen:

- it sounds like you just carried the MREs with you, with hot drink preps too: did you buy the rest of the food in the villages? Any problems with that?


I've only done proper back-packing a couple of times (ie carrying the tent and the stove and the whole shebang with me) I really don't think I could do it now like that, but there's various forms of luggage to pull that mean that I'd have a good shot at it.

Mmmmmm, falling over juice :mrgreen:
User avatar
xplosiv1
Posts: 426
Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2012 2:12 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: My trip to France

Post by xplosiv1 »

That is a well thought through kit bag, thanks for posting.

Its very minimal yet you have all the essentials ..... except the case of falling over juice for deeps :lol:
Area 11

Endure the pain of discipline or Suffer the pain of regret.
User avatar
ChefSimon
Posts: 115
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 7:24 pm

Re: My trip to France

Post by ChefSimon »

Arzosah wrote:Simon, that looks amazing, and thank you for pushing on with the posting in spite of the formatting difficulties.

- interesting about the tent taking up less space, I wouldn't have expected that, though quicker because you don't need to look for trees, yes, that makes sense.

- how did you find sleeping on the dry bag? If I sleep on clothes/bulk up with a towel etc, it feels very "hard", and I get a rotten headache the next day. Though if I *had* to, of course, I would :mrgreen:

- it sounds like you just carried the MREs with you, with hot drink preps too: did you buy the rest of the food in the villages? Any problems with that?


I've only done proper back-packing a couple of times (ie carrying the tent and the stove and the whole shebang with me) I really don't think I could do it now like that, but there's various forms of luggage to pull that mean that I'd have a good shot at it.

Mmmmmm, falling over juice :mrgreen:
Sorry for the slow reply. Mad week at work on my own.

Regarding the Tent; My hammock is basically 3 parts.
1; basha for over the top
2; the hammock itself (and extension ropes)
3; an insulated bottom sheet for under the hammock

Even when all folded the bottom sheet is the same size as the tent. I'll be honest I prefer the hammock for comfort, just not when it's cold and windy. Can't beat being able to get out of the wind.

Sleeping on the dry bag; It's not the best of things i'll be honest. But from my military days I took a spare t-shirt and wrapped it around the outside. made it a little better. I've tried inflatable pillows but couldn't get on with them.

MRE's; I did only carry the MRE's with me. My primary reason was to test out the ability to live from my BOB with no real support. I did treat myself to a small loaf of bread and some ham from one village on the last day as it just looked too good and the bread was still warm. These were the larger 24hr MRE with 3 meals, 1 desert and a snack pack in (as well as drinks mixes)

Hope that answers your questions.

PS as for the falling over Juice it's €1 for a litre of drinkable wine. Got some to drink in the evening whilst chilling out not worth carrying. Plus a few samples as I was passing through.

I did find out that the space the MRE's took was just big enough and spare weight to bring 4 bottles home with me.
Prior Planning & Preperation Prevents P*** Poor Performance.

No plan survives first contact.

Bug in before bugging out. Meet the problem on your terms!
User avatar
Deeps
Posts: 5797
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2014 8:36 pm

Re: My trip to France

Post by Deeps »

ChefSimon wrote:
Sleeping on the dry bag; It's not the best of things i'll be honest. But from my military days I took a spare t-shirt and wrapped it around the outside. made it a little better. I've tried inflatable pillows but couldn't get on with them.
Wrap the spare T shirt round the inflatable pillow or if you have a shemagh with you that does the trick too.
Arzosah
Posts: 6323
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:20 pm

Re: My trip to France

Post by Arzosah »

Thanks for that Simon, much appreciated.

Didn't know there were 24 hour MREs - at first I was thinking, but I eat a *lot* more than, I couldn't possibly have just one meal a day :mrgreen:
grenfell
Posts: 3952
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2013 7:55 pm

Re: My trip to France

Post by grenfell »

Here we go Arzosah a website purely for those interested in MRE's.
http://www.mreinfo.com/forums/index.php ... 8dc2fc7a52
Worth a browse around that site , there's some interesting reviews on both modern and older meals. Recently two guys posted a video of a 1945 Canadian lifeboat ration for instance.