I firmly believe that when you start travelling on two-wheels, you HAVE to be in some kind of routine, as having a routine adds a little bit of discipline to your day and goes a long way to make the journey work more smoothly.
But, if you’ve never travelled before and don’t have a routine, don’t worry because as soon as you start travelling you will naturally fall into some kind of routine.
I’m the kind of person who likes a ‘routine’, and if I’m in my ‘routine’ then I’m happy, but if not then I tend to get cranky… Maybe I’ve got a screw loose, but my typical daily routine would be something like this…
WAKE UP
When its a day where I’m travelling, I naturally wake-up around 7 to 7.30am, and would only use my alarm when its a really early start. As soon as I wake I pack my sleeping bag and sleeping mat into their compression bags, and then pack away anything else inside the tent into my tote-bag. Once that’s done – breakfast.
For breakfast I always eat muesli with long-life milk and I do this for three reasons: wherever I travel I have always been able to buy muesli and UHT milk, muesli fill’s my stomach for the day and it keeps my bowels regular. After eating I have a large mug of tea and think about the day ahead.
Then it’s a toilet call, a quick wash with some of my precious water or baby-wipes, brush my teeth and then pack away my cooking gear. After that I would start loading the bike, and once all my camping gear and personal stuff was loaded, the last thing I do is drop the tent, pack-it and then strap it to the bike. The tent was always the very last thing to load onto the bike.
GET ON THE ROAD
Once the bike is loaded I always give the bike a quick visual check-over. Make sure everything is strapped down properly, that the tyres look okay and that nothing was amiss. I would also take the opportunity to put some oil onto some of the working bits, including the air-valve on my exhaust system.
I would have chosen my direction and destination the previous evening, so once the bike was loaded I would then put my route or destimation into Google maps, and after a final check to see if I’d left anything behind, start the bike then get going. ALWAYS make a final check to see if you’ve dropped anything and there’s NO litter left behind.
MID MORNING
Mid-morning I would always stop for a break. Sometimes I may stop two or three times to admire the view or take a picture, but stopping mid-morning for a proper break is important. It adds structure to your day and gives your backside a break. Sometimes I would be lucky and I would stop at a petrol station or a café and could have a drink and a snack, but if I was in the middle of nowhere, then sometimes I would stop and brew a mug of tea.
MIDDAY
Again, you need to stop, either at a petrol station, a café or in the middle of nowhere as you need structure and you need a break, sometimes with a snack but always with something to drink. Preferably tea…
MID AFTERNOON – FOOD AND LODGING
By the mid-afternoon I would usually be nearing my destination. If I was camping at an established campsite then it was just a matter of just following the map, but if I was wild-camping then I would start to look for possible locations. If there were no established campsites ahead and the area didn’t look like I could get away with wild-camping in then I would stop, open up the Booking.com or Hotels.com app and start looking for somewhere for the night in the area I wanted to be. Once you book accommodation, you know that you have at least another hour to get there so by the time you arrive, the booking will have gone through.
Another task in the afternoon is to find a shop for food and water. Whether I was going to camp or stay in accommodation I would still need food and drink. I do carry some tinned food in one of the panniers for emergencies or those times when I could not find a shop, but when I found a shop I would buy my food for the evening, plus some snacks for the following day, water and sometimes UHT milk for my breakfast. I would always try to buy bags of nuts or dates, which I would keep in my tank-bag for snacks when on the road.
LATE AFTERNOON
When camping the first thing to do it get the tent up, but before that I would make sure the ground had no stones or sharp objects to avoid puncturing the ground-sheet. Sometimes in Morocco there would be very small and sharp stones in the soil or sand, and in Senegal there were some kinds of tree that would shed small but sharp leaves, so you have to clear the ground.
ALSO – if camping in a coastal or sandy area in Senegal, don’t put your tent over small holes in the ground – as there’s a good possibility there are land-crabs living in the hole. And they can get quite angry.
Wherever possible I would try to camp in the shade and try to make sure the front of the tent was facing east – to make the most of the sun’s arrival the following morning. If there was little choice or I was just tired and I would end up putting the tent wherever it was convenient.
ONCE YOU PITCH THE TENT – ALWAYS KEEP THE INNER DOOR ZIPPED-UP AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE TO STOP MOSQUITO’S, ANTS or INSECTS GETTING INTO THE TENT.
EVENING
Once the tent was up I would put the tank-bag and tote bag straight into the tent. Then I would remove my sleeping bag, sleeping mat, pillow and power pack out of the pannier and also put them into the tent – making sure to keep the inner door zipped closed as much as I could. Then I would unpack my cook-bag and have a cup of tea and a brief rest.
My next concern was always the bike, so if there was any adjustments to be made that’s when I would make them – including checking my oil level, topping up the chain oiler, oiling the air-valve on my exhaust, checking my tyres then checking my chain tension – finally giving the bike a good once-over to make sure all else was fine.
If there was a shower or water available, I would then take the opportunity to shower or wash, and also to wash the socks, underwear and riding shirt I had been wearing that day. I would hang them out to dry either on one of the tent guy-ropes, my bike or a nearby bush or tree. If the only water I had was what I was carrying, then I would give myself a quick wash and change into shorts, tee shirt and flip-flops and leave my laundry until I had better access to water.
Once all the jobs were done, my next priority was to eat and drink more tea, before settling-in for the evening.
After eating and having my mug of tea, my next job was to think through my route for the next day by looking at maps, either online or analogue, making sure I knew which direction I was heading the next day. I always carried a small note-pad in my tank-bag, so I would make notes for my route. Once that was done I would download new pictures and video onto my laptop, and if I had wifi, a mobile signal or enough power for the laptop, maybe some social media or a little video editing. Eventually I would get into my sleeping bag and read my kindle before visiting the land of the never-ending highway…
If I was staying at a hotel or guest house, I would only remove my tank-bag and tote bag and take them to the room. Depending on where I was staying, I would either leave my panniers attached to the bike or remove them and leave them at reception. I only had to remove the panniers four times: once in Dakar, once in Gambia, once in Spain and once in Portugal. Everywhere else the accommodation was safe enough to leave my panniers on.
If I booked a room, the first thing I would always do is have a shower, wash the day’s socks, underwear and riding shirt – and any other laundry – then find somewhere for them to dry them overnight. Once the major jobs were done, I would settle down for some food and then spend my evening catching up on social media or video editing, and if I was riding again the following day then I would also plan my next day’s journey and route.
FINDING PLACES TO STAY:
I used iOverlander to find places to camp. As much as I would have liked to wild-camp all the time, in some parts it is just not possible so you have to go to an established campsite. In some instances it’s not even possible to camp so you have to find an auberge, guest house or hotel – and for this I always used the Booking.com or Hotel.com apps, always booking an hour or two before my arrival.
For camping iOverlander is invaluable, although – it can catch you out. The app relies solely on contributions by overlanders, mainly of the four-wheeled variety, and sometimes the data is can be a wrong or out of date. Sometimes, when you get to your destination you can find that the location is not as described, or that the location is not where it’s supposed to be or that the location is now a building site. Also, one person’s version of heaven can be another person’s version of hell – so when using iOverlander and deciding on your next location:
- Have a plan A.
- Have a plan B just in case plan A doesn’t work out.
- Have a plan C just in case B turns out to be just as horrible.
