For any trip, whether its small or big, as well as your clothes there’s also the other things that you need – things like panniers, water, first aid. Here are some other things which I had that were essential for my trip.
CLOTHING
My riding kit consisted of a pair of British Army boots – the Altberg Defenders. Why not adventure boots or high motorcycle boots…? I’ve found from experience that while high boots are good for cold weather or moto-cross, when traveling in a hot climate I find them too hot. With a shorter boot, I get a good level of protection but my legs stay much cooler. Plus, they’re extremely hard-wearing.
My riding suit is the ‘Course Four Seasons 3’ jacket and trousers. Although there are vents in the jacket and trousers, you still get quite warm when the temperature goes above 30 degrees – but still cooler than a lot of traditional textile suits. I do like this suit. The pockets are big enough for everything I need to carry and I love the large pocket at the back of the jacket, which is where I store all my documentation. One thing I like the most is the hard-wearing quality of the suit. Its taken a real battering and after my trip it still looked good and had no rips or tears.
When I was riding I would wear thin socks, cotton boxer shorts (traditional) and a long-sleeved shirt with a wicked interior to keep it off your skin when you are sweating. For the rest of my clothing, I had the following:
- Socks x 3
- Boxer Shorts x 3
- Riding shirts x 2
- Tee Shirts x 2
- Shorts
- Tropical Easy-wash Shirts x 2
- Easy-wash trousers x 1
- Belt
- Desk-shoes
- Flip-flops
- Hat
- Fleece
- Warm Jacket (which compresses into a small bag)
TENTS
When travelling and want the ability to put your tent up and down quickly (especially for wild-camping) the kind of tent you have is important. Having bought and tried several tents over the past few years, for this trip I bought a small tepee tent, the Luxe Minipeak XL.
Half of the tent is a netted sleeping compartment for one person (or maybe two if you like being intimate) and the other half of the tent is open to the ground. The open part had lots of space for kit and I could even sit quite comfortably on my small camping chair as it’s got plenty of headroom.
It is a really good tent: small, light – and with just one pole and 6 pegs it’s quick to put up and take down. When I bought it, I immediately packed the bike and went away for a few days in Scotland but after my first night of wild-camping, I unzipped the sleeping compartment in the morning and noticed that most of my gear in the other half was covered in big black shiny slugs. In Argyll black slugs are quite prevalent in the forestry areas and lots had made their home in my tent overnight, even inside my riding boots. YUK…! In that moment of clarity I knew this tent would NOT be going on my trip because I really didn’t know what kind of insects or creepy crawlies I would be meeting.
Eventually I bought a tent off Amazon for around £65. The Clostnature was a two-man tent and it was green. I love green because it blends into the landscape. Things were looking up… It was small, light and had two aluminium poles which crossed-over to suspend the sleeping compartment and support the fly-sheet. It worked out to be the perfect tent for me and my trip and I loved it. It was quick and easy to put up or stow away, small to pack and light to carry. Also, and because the inner was self-supporting, it meant I did not need to put the flysheet on if it was hot – which came in useful in Senegal and the Gambia.
By the end of my trip the tent was utterly worn out. The fine sand of the Western Sahara had broken the zips, the groundsheet had a few holes and the outer flysheet was ripped. I had sewn the holes and the tear, but the tent was worn out. But it did a great job of keeping me snug for five months. And I liked it so much I was going to get another one – but it’s no longer available.
SOFT PANNIERS
Going to Africa I knew I would drop the bike at some stage and that it had to be soft panniers, so after lots of searching and endless comparisons my choice was between the Adventure Spec or Desert Fox panniers. I would have liked Mosko panniers but I really couldn’t afford them and didn’t fancy selling a kidney so I bought the Desert Fox panniers from Nippy Normans in Bristol. They cost around £250 and came with cable-locks and a really good dry-bag for each pannier.
The Desert Fox panniers are 36 litres each and what attracted me most was the two large pouches attached to each pannier, which would be great for easy access to things like fuel bottles or tools. My next problem was the right-hand pannier catching on my exhaust silencer, so after cutting a sheet of 2mm sheet of aluminium was to size, I bolted it to the right pannier frame – and I now had a shield to keep the bag off the exhaust. Job done…!
The panniers worked out well – initially – but although they are roomy, adaptable, expandable and made of really tough nylon, the stitching is very poor. Very quickly some of the D-rings you use to secure the panniers to the bike just broke away. After four months the stitching had started to come apart on both bags, with one of the bags was falling apart so much that I spent a whole afternoon in Marrakesh sewing seams for the return journey. The bags are brilliant in many ways, but they are let down by poor stitching, which is such a shame. For small trips they are superb, but if you are going to make a trip like mine, I would look elsewhere. When I got back home, I threw the Desert fox panniers away and bought the Adventure Spec Madigan 3 panniers, and to be honest, they are superb. Night and day.
TANK BAG
My existing Tank Bag was an Oxford M15R – which was a magnetic 15 litre bag. I like it, as it was hard-wearing and had plenty of space but I could never get a perfect magnetic connection and at around 70mph (or maybe a bit over) the tank bag would start to levitate in front of me, which can be a bit of a shock.
I eventually bought a NELSON RIGG 12 litre tank bag, which worked out fine. It’s a traditional tank bag with one strap around the head-stock and a strap on either side of the frame. Its quick to attach, take off and easy to move aside when refuelling. One good thing about the bag is that when you have to stand on your footrests over rough ground, it doesn’t get in the way of your knees. The NELSON RIGG Tank bag didn’t come with any dividers, so using two old camera bag dividers I partitioned the Tank Bag into three sections: one section for GoPro battery chargers and spare GoPro, one section for my Fuji camera and one section for bits’n bobs – spare glasses, mozzie spray, hankies, multi-tool, nuts or dates – things like that.
The Nelson Rigg bag was great. It’s hard wearing, easy to take on and off and I love it. It’s here to stay…
WATER
I knew that water would be an issue so I bought two LOMO crash-bar bags, and two 5 litre water bags from Ebay. The crash-bar bags went onto my crash-bars with ease and they were the perfect size for my water bags, so this meant I could carry 10 litres of water with ease.
After dropping the bike on each side I had burst both 5-litre water bags so ended up carrying bottles of water. Each LOMO bag can hold two 1.5 litre bottles, so for most of the trip I would carry around 6 litres of water in the crash-bar bags.
To add to this, I also bought a 3 litre Camelbak. When riding through Mauritania in 30+ degree heat I soon realized that wearing the Camelbak while riding stops the airflow around the inside of your jacket, so even though I used the camelback for water, for the rest of my trip I would strap it to the top of my tote bag and when I wanted water, I would just reach around and grab the water tube. Would I take a camelback away again on a large trip…? No. I don’t like it, it’s a faff, and I would sooner have a simple water bladder that I can strap to the bike or put in my tank-bag.
FUEL
I was pretty sure I’s be okay for fuel in Morocco but if I went further south I knew fuel could be a problem – both for finding fuel and cleanliness. I was gifted a 5 litre plastic fuel-can, which I attached to my top-box. It comes with a locking mechanism and is easy to remove and use.
I knew this wasn’t enough so I bought a 6 litre Desert Fox fuel bag from Nippy Normans for £54. The great thing about this bag is that it folds flat when not being used so doesn’t take up much space, and when you do fill it up, you can strap it to your bike using the straps on the bag or just use the D-rings and some luggage straps to strap it to the bike.
Both the can and fuel-bag were great and I used them several times, but I did prefer the desert Fox bag as it was so adaptable. If I was to make this trip again, I would have three bags, two for petrol and one for water.
In the Western Sahara I found that the quality of the fuel was none too good. I picked up some poor fuel before I crossed over to Mauritania, but by the time I had left Nouhadibou I had used most of it so filled-up again with good fuel. The Fuel in Mauritania is good, but in Senegal it’s hit and miss.
Crossing back into the Western Sahara from Mauritania again I picked up a really bad tank-full of fuel and even making several fills of good fuel as I worked my way north, the damage was done. I couldn’t rev above 4000 revs, which sometimes made things a bit difficult when it came to overtaking HGV’s. When I changed my fuel filter in Marrakesh, the in-tank fuel filter was black and slimy. I fitted a new one and the bike was perfect after that. If I was to make another trip to west Africa I would fit an In-line fuel filter between the tank and the fuel pump, using cheap inline filters and take a few spares with me.
SLEEPING BAG
It’s always a problem trying to anticipate of how warm or cool it’s going to be when you are camping. I have two sleeping bags – a two-season and a three-season – and I decided to take my Vango two-season and for much of the trip it was perfect, but there were times when I was just too hot and just slept using a sleeping bag liner – which I bought from Decathlon.
The biggest compromise with sleeping bags is size. The warmer the sleeping bag the bigger it gets and storage space is at a premium on a bike. I opted for the two-season bag as it was smaller, but unfortunately not very good towards the end of the trip when I got back into the European winter. Before I make any further trips, I think I’m going to have to do more research into sleeping bags and to get something that is warm but small – but I think I’m going to have to spend a lot of money.
LIGHTING
I bought a small rechargeable camping light from PREPPERSHOP.CO.UK for £14 and it was superb. You can either charge using the in-built solar panel or via the USB connector. I could place it just outside my tent in the daytime or put it into the clear part of my tank-bag to let the sun charge it while I was riding. It’s one of my favourite bits of kit because it was cheap, it works and it stood up to a long journey without breaking. It’s still working now and I’ll keep on using it.
CTECHI GT200 POWER BANK
For my European trip I bought a large power bank, and for this trip I would use exactly the same unit. It’s a great power bank and it fits perfectly into one of the panniers. It’s got 240Wh of storage using LiPo batteries and weigh’s 3.4kg. If I’m just using it for charging my cameras, intercom and small things It can last around 7 with it. If I use it to charge my laptop, then I’ll probably get three full laptop charges, so I had to limit myself with the laptop when I was on the road.
COOKING
I have tried gas cookers but during my UK trip I realised quite quickly that gas cookers can be awkward – to store and to use – so I bought a Trangia 25 Cookset which uses a Methylated Spirit burner. For me, I think this is one of the best decisions I have ever made with camp cooking. Besides the body, it has two saucepans, a small kettle plus a plate/frying pan – which all fits inside each other to make a small package. I had a 1 litre Trangia fuel bottle but not being sure how I would get on buying meths in Muslim countries I bought two more bottles, giving me 3 litres of meths to carry.
As it turned out, although I could buy Meths in Morocco, I could not buy meths in Mauritania, Senegal or the Gambia. On my return part of the trip, and by the time I was in the Western Sahara, I was getting quite low on Meths and fortunately managed to buy more meths when I got to Marrakesh. Phew..!
If I make a long (or longer) trip again, I am going to have to rethink my cooking kit. As much as I love my Trangia meths burner I may get the burner which can use petrol – as petrol is something I always have available, but that’s an issue for the future.
FIRST AID KIT
Normally, even in the UK, I carry a small first aid kit but as I was venturing into the unknown, I thought it better to have a bigger kit – with some extras. I bought a medium sized kit from Boots, and this included the usual plasters and bandages, but with cream for burns, a cold pack, a heat pack, an eye wash, tweezers and scissors. I also included two large bandages plus a small Tourniquet.
In a small tin, I also had lots of capsules and pills, which included:
- Anti-histamine capsules.
- Capsules to make me go to the toilet,
- Capsules to stop me going to the toilet.
- Re-hydration sachets in case I went down with a severe case of Dheli-belly.
- Lots of Paracetamol and Ibuprofen.
PERSONAL WASHING KIT
I bought a large washing-kit roll from GoOutdoors and it’s been perfect for all my trips. I also bought a large micro-fibre towel and when its dry I roll it up tight, place it in the middle of my washing kit and then roll the washing kit around it. The washing-kit roll clips together to make a nice tidy package.
I would always wash or shower in the late afternoon or evening and then hang the towel on a nearby tree, bush or my bike to dry. If the towel was ever wet or damp in the morning, I would put it into a dry-bag and then hang it out to dry later in the day. I did start the trip with a small micro-fibre hand-towel, but ended up throwing it away as I never used it – so why keep it…? So, what did I keep in my washing kit…?
- Large micro-fibre towel.
- Hand-soap (in a plastic container).
- All-in-one Shampoo.
- Small scrubbing brush.
- Toothbrush and toothpaste.
- Floss and dental sticks.
- A tube of moisturizer.
- Nail clippers and nail scissors.
- Comb – not that I really needed it but I’m ever hopeful my hair grows back…
- Sewing needles, a bobbin of strong cotton and a small pair of scissors.
