Moin

After some more fighting, I finally managed to get a voiceover to my video of the first pannier. As I had told you before, in my first video of me in front of the camera, I did not record the audio of me talking. Rookie mistake. And then I had some technical difficulties with the voice over, but I am happy to report I won and you can watch the video now on youtube:

So what did I have in my panniers?

In one of my back panniers, I had my tent, my sleeping bag, my sleeping pad groundsheet and my MacBook and its charger.

After having my sis’s tent with me last year, I knew what I wanted in my own tent. Being able to sit up straight, an opening that would work well with rain and enough space for all my gear. The comfortable space was one of the points I really liked about the tent of my sis, so I wanted something similar in that regard. In the borrowed tent, I could sit up, but I always had my hair tangled with the mosquito netting of the inner tent. Having some rainy days typing my blog posts inside the tent that was uncomfortable. And with those rainy nights came another problem: When I wanted to open the tent I had to go down to the far end of the vestibule to get the zipper, so the went outer tent would fall onto my neck and back when opening up the zipper.

Sadly, due to the pandemic, I could not test out different tents on conventions and fairs, so in the end, I had to trust the measurements, the Vaude-tent-suggestions and my gut and I am happy to report I really like my Hogan SUL 2 Person tent. Luckily I did not have to pitch or pack it in the rain, that would not have been great. It still takes me a little time to get it up and down. But I like the space, I can sit up well, it works well with rain. I also noticed that it keeps the warm inside, In the morning I always thought it was warm until I left the tent. 😉 So it must have been icy for me to freeze in the sleeping bag.

it packs really small and is light weight

orange= old; purple=new

Which brings me to my sleeping bag. If you followed my tour, you remember I was freezing in the sleeping bag I took with me, so in Göttingen, I went to an outdoor-store called Unterwegs and got a new sleeping bag. This one is by mountain equipment (Helium Womans 400 long), and it is a down sleeping bag. So besides keeping me a lot warmer, it can get packed smaller, and it is a lot lighter. I really like this sleeping bag and hope it will accompany me on many adventures!

Next, I had my groundsheet for the sleeping pad. This idea I had because I was already a little cold last year in my old sleeping bag. I thought everything would be warmer if I just could isolate the cold from the ground. I was probably right. I do not want to know how freezing it would have been without it. Anyways, I sewed it myself out of Thermolam by Freudenberg and some Fleece I had leftover by another project. And it worked well. It was definitely warmer where it was laying. I did not have any condensation/water between the floor and the groundsheet where it had been laying. But I will add more fabric on top, to keep the sleeping pad in place, there was still some movement. 😉

In the small bag on the panniers I keep my “emergency stuff” in this it is for Charlotte:

• air pump by Topeak, which I luckily never had to use
• spare tube by Schwalbe
• multitool by AceCamp, which I used once … for my shoes 😉
• chain lube by Wash’n Roll and chain towel, I also did not use while touring, but right after we got back 😉
• self-help-book: Fahrradreparatur by Hans Bauer, Heyne Verlag. Luckily I did not need it, but I feel a lot better having it with me
• tyre levers, patches, zip ties, duct tape, scissors, carabiner, bungee cords, all not used this time. I got lucky 😉

Do you have any questions about the things I carried around in this pannier? Do you have any questions about my tour in general? Do not hesitate to ask!

Next week I will show you what is in the other back pannier… this time with the original audio. 😉

keep exploring and smiling

your Fairy