Stories from
the road
(and beyond!)
Our guide to what you forgot to bring on your bike tour
This is the bit of the trip where I always think of the MacCallisters on their plane to Paris. We can be sure we've forgotten something - it's just a question of what, whether our guesses are right, and how severe it is.
Here we have the Family ByCycle guide to things you forgot, with apologies to Donald Rumsfeld...
Power is everything
Inescapably, trying to take pictures and film, whilst using modern technology to navigate and sometimes to entertain the residents of the trailer, all uses power. We take it for granted at home and yet when we're on the road, whilst not life-or-death, it does become a preoccupation when battery levels are running low. We are always on the lookout for the next socket, and rationing our usage to match our charging expectations. Depending on the circumstances, it swaps places with food in the hierarchy of needs!
Lumbering Up
The trip, then, became a case of making a route up to fit between two fixed points and times, in a place I had scarcely visited, a language I do not speak, in the peak holiday season, with three children, one of whom, in Thomas Ivor's case, would be riding their own bike for the first time, on the other side of the road. Not much to go wrong there!
Shakedown
Baby sleeping bags are made of cheap material and don't compress anywhere near as well as adult bags. We have seen other people suggesting buying adult bags and re manufacturing them to baby size. With a bigger budget, I think we would start again and crack out the sewing machine.