Definition of adventure: A disaster that doesn't happen.

All my best adventures have followed dogboy's plan and limited funds is essential. I've done a lot of hitchhiking and sleeping in orchards and barns (in the US, France and even a couple of barns in Nepal). I've also gone off without enough money to get home unless I picked up a little work (that wasn't by choice). Those adventures have been mind expanding, more so than other things I've done that are perceived to be adventurous (mountaineering type of stuff).

Quote from: grnidone on April 21, 2011, 05:18:18 PM
One more thing:  you need to do this by yourself FIRST...so you kind of get the hang of it of this free dogboy-like thinking.  It's difficult to do when you are worried about people with you.

When you have nobody to take care of but yourself, you'll be creative and do things you never thought you'd do.

I think this is right.  I am planning a massive tour with my wife when the kids leave home, but for an adventure you need to be free from the worry of protecting anyone.  I'm sure the danger I would put myself in alone is far greater than that I would put anyone else in who was with me.  For that reason, you have to do at least part of a crisis trip alone.

My family think I am far too 'responsible', its not that at all (if they only knew!!!) it is just that it is my core instinct to keep them from harm.

I like it, it could be the west coast of Ireland, Scotland, France or Cornwall.  ... or 2 of the above.

I would need more than $50 though Heather, that wouldn't pay for the fuel

Can I take a bivvy bag? It is the UK after all. Ah, towel..   seas cold.

Bivvy bag is a great idea and worth the weight on a bike. Cotton towel (or anything cotton for that matter) is a bad idea unless you are in a desert, or you are in a frozen environment, where there is no chance you will encounter water. Once it gets wet, it'll never dry out, and if you are wearing it, it could kill you with hypothermia. That's why I mentioned synthetic bag and clothes in my list. Down sleeping bags are the same way. In fact, whatever I'm using for a pack, I usually line with a trash bag to ensure dryness and it's a handy thing to have at your disposal for a bunch of things (including a poncho) if you need it.

I don't really know where you'll be and if you are really going to camp, or stay at a hotel wherever you find yourself that night.  You can always include a backpackers stove and fuel (depending on your stove, you might even be able to burn high octane gas, in which case you could use it for your bike as an aux tank to get you to the next station.) A thermal mug and a spoon and a pot make for a hot drink or soup (dehydrated noodle is common, cheap, and light) and not a bad thing to have.

The reality is there are levels to the amount of crap you can bring. My original list was really Spartan, but the next step up, which is a full camping kit, is really everything you need to last a few days up to a month, the only thing that will vary will be your food.

In all honesty, it will take you a while before you learn the ins and outs of living out of a pack, as well as how and what you pack. Our resident mountaineer will back me up on that. After a while though, you will get to a point where you just feel really comfortable anywhere and self contained and all warm and fuzzy. Usually you will also have a few things that are considered 'luxuries' but they will be worth their weight to you and make you comfortable. For me it's a tiny candle lantern and something called a crazy creek insulated chair thing that you sit in and the pressure from your legs supports your lower back, plus it doubles as an insulated sleeping pad (oh bring one of those too if you bring a bag).

I'm sure some people will say that's too much, but for me, I find that they really make me happy and comfortable. The other thing that makes me comfortable is a gun and a dog (can even be a little one) but a dog sleeps light and has a good sense of fear, as well as night vision, and a nose.  If anything funny happens, it's your first line of defense in that it will wake you up so you can grab your gun, otherwise you could wake up dead w your piece under your pillow. But since I don't think you are in bear country you really don't need to be too concerned. As far as thugs go, picking a good hiding spot to sleep and a 6" blade should be enough to get 5 hours of sleep at night and you can always nap during the day. It's really more for your piece of mind than for self defense but its not a bad thing to have around just in case.

Dogboy, if I just avoid some of the dodgy areas of Glasgow I should manage without a gun  Certainly no bears, rabid dogs.  Just humanity.

When I did my walkabout, my pack was 60lbs. I carried it from Jiri to Kalapatar (opposite Everest) up and down.   

That had a few little luxuries... 

I could do a hike in Scotland, but mostly its too populated in the UK.  A bike trip could be interesting though. Mountain or motor   mmmmm..

Quotesomething called a crazy creek insulated chair thing that you sit in

I have one of those and I love it. The back support makes a serious difference to comfort when sitting around outdoors.

>>my pack was 60lbs.

Unless you're packing the Encyclopedia Britannica, planning on going to the *top* of Everest, or going in the dead of winter, shoot for about half that. Gear has gotten so much lighter lately. My "light" stuff from 10 yrs ago seems like it's lined with lead compared to the new stuff.

>>bivy sac

Personally, I consider this a mountaineering item for when you might have to sleep sitting up, on a small ledge or in a snow cave. Summer tents are so light now that for the weight of a bivy sac and a bit more, you can have a whole tent and a lot more comfort. My wife and I use the double version of this:
http://www.tarptent.com/rainbow.html#specs

That's about 2 pounds for one (the double gets you down to 2.5 pounds for two).

If you want to be able to brew your own tea, you could get the lightest "kitchen" on the market (full disclosure, I built and run this site for my friend up the street):

http://www.traildesigns.com/stoves/caldera-keg-f-stove-system - pot, stove, fuel bottle, two cups, a cup insulator, case, and stand/windscreen for 6.3 ounces.

So at this point, you're at 40.3 ounces and you have a tent and complete kitchen. Buy yourself a 1 kilo sleeping bag - plenty for summer - and an insulating pad and you have your basic sleeping and cooking needs met for about 5 pounds.

Now you have another 3 pounds for your backpack and 22 pounds for clothes and luxuries.

>I carried it from Jiri to Kalapatar
whoa! my apologies for talking down to you... you know what I'm saying then. 

My longest backpacking trip was 30 days in the Talkeetna Mountains in Alaska, 17 days of which was in rain:)  That's just the way it is there, which is why I stressed the synthetics.

My longest camping trip was 6 months alone on the White Mountain Apache Reservation in AZ, in a two man tent doing an endangered minnow study for the tribe.  Which is why I stressed the chair:)  Buckworks knows what I'm sayin too!

>Summer tents are so light now
agreed. But since it sounded like he had one, I figured go for it.  The stove sounds awesome too, but this trip isn't supposed to be about a shopping adventure or a financial crisis, so I didn't want to stress all the cool shit and gadgetry out there:)  But yeah, if you get the stove, then get the stove repair kit too, and so on...

Oh my God.

You were snorting at me for taking a cell phone?  While you take a truckload of other stuff?

This is a 4 day trip.  FOUR DAYS!  Not a month.  Not to Everest or Alaska.  It's a drive in springtime beauty of England...where you can't go 50 miles without seeing a town with everything you need.  Or at least enough.

He can live without the chair, the stove and the tent...

Forget all the crap.  Just take a wallet, a cell phone for emergencies and GO!

ahahahahahhaha wait a second... for his 4 day bike trip I'll stick with my original list.  (see what I was saying about levels of crap? Its a slippery slope...)

But bikes need more attention than the riders, so you do need some basic tools, or else stupid thing can ruin your ride, or kill you.  Nuts and bolts come undone, shift levers loosen up, exhausts fall off, etc. 

And duct tape... well, any guy knows you need a duct tape. For your bike, yourself, your shelter... everything can be fixed with duct tape.  And if you can't fix it with duct tape, then 90% of the time you can fix it with bailing wire...

OT

>>17 days of which was in rain:)

When I worked in Whitier, Alaska, someone printed up a t-shirt: "Whitier Rain Festival, January 1, 1985 – December 31, 1985"

QuoteWhen I worked in Whitier, Alaska, someone printed up a t-shirt: "Whitier Rain Festival, January 1, 1985 – December 31, 1985"

Reminds me of Flanders and Swan.  a song called "Bloody January again" 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eT40eV7OiI
As it is from before video, there is only pictures. So this is the script:

January brings the snow
Makes your feet and fingers glow.
February's ice and sleet
Freeze the toes right off your feet.
Welcome March with wint'ry wind
Would thou wert not so unkind.
April brings the sweet Spring showers
On and on for hours and hours.
Farmers fear unkindly May
Frost by night and hail by day.
June just rains and never stops
Thirty days and spoils the crops.
In July the sun is hot.
Is it shining? No, it's not.
August, cold and dank and wet,
Brings more rain than any yet.
Bleak September's mist and mud
Is enough to chill the blood.
Then October adds a gale
Wind and slush and rain and hail.
Dark November brings the fog
Should not do it to a dog.
Freezing wet December; then
Bloody January again!

Dogboy, that was a walk a long time ago
Buckworks I never realised it had got so light! Thanks for the links.


I'm getting excited about this though.  I am inclined to Heathers version.  Money and Phone.  Simple. 

I can buy a good pub meal, and a bed if I fancy. Call the AA, navigate with my phone.... 

A chap I know (local nutter I used to play squash with, but now avoid as he gets into trouble all the time.  Big trouble) cycled round Britain and wrote a book. 

It was going to be called"In search of the Perfect Wife" but the publishers made him change it when he became "Eccentric of the Year" last year I think it was.

Its not hilarious, so don't buy it:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/True-British-Eccentric-Rob-Lowe/dp/1845493532/

Every pub he went into, he opened with the line:

"I am looknig for the perfect wife, would I find her round here?"

But no, just a few days for me.











..can I take chocolate do you think?

>"Whitier Rain Festival, January 1, 1985 – December 31, 1985"

ahahahahah now THAT is good:)

Yeah, urban adventures require less stuff and more money.  Like ergophobe said, some of the best adventures don't sound as glamorous as some of the ones that sound awesome.  Out of all the crazy shit I've done, going to Jamaica alone with no where to go may top the list in terms of real danger.

I'm still not convinced of the phone though.  Most every really good place I've been, they don't work.  Maybe because I live in the States, and it's been a few years since I've been gallivanting, but I'd like to think there are places where people can't reach me.  If the point is to get away, then I don't want to be connected.  And if you have a smartphone, it's worse.  You'll sit down, get bored, and start surfing... vacation ruined.  You don't need it.  You don't want it.  Soak up the silence.  Loose your self in thoughts.  Stare into a fire.  Be afraid of the dark. Be alone.  Get comfortable with yourself, by yourself.  Stop moving. Marvel at whats around you.  Read a paper map. Celebrate your independence.  Let go of your security blankets.  You don't need them.  This shouldn't even be that big of a consideration.  If you are lost without your phone, well, isn't that the point of all this?  It's like people that cant stop watching TV.  If you take it away from them they have no idea what to do.  They continuously keep thinking about TV.  Don't let yourself be one of those people.  Adventure is everywhere.  You just have to seek it out.

The discussion of the phone reminds me of one more thing to throw into the mix...

To mark her 40th birthday my wife is doing 40 days of meditating an hour a day (she's never really meditated before, so this is totally new) followed by a 10-day retreat at a Vipasana center where you basically meditate from 6am to 10pm with breaks for *light* meals. You're not allowed to bring a phone, iPod, books, writing materials or any other "distracting" things.

A lot of our friends have done it at the local center and tend to use phrases like "transformative", "pivotal experience in my life"

She's going here:
http://www.dhamma.org/en/schedules/schmahavana.shtml

But you could go here:
http://www.dipa.dhamma.org/
http://www.dhamma.org/en/schedules/schdipa.htm

It definitely counts as cheap - if it's too much for you and you can't make it the whole 10 days, they refuse to take money from you. If you do make it, they accept a donation based on what you feel you can afford.

It would be a journey of a different sort.

Bailing wire is difficult to find anymore.  Most bailers use the plastic stuff...

And, I'm not saying he needs to keep the phone on.  I'm saying, take the phone JUST IN CASE.  I doubt he'll even use it.  But keep in mind, he does have a family and a wife who might insist he call in every night so they knows he's OK. 

He's a beginner to this adventure stuff, DB.  Let him have his blankey.  He's got to ease into this.

_{After he does the 4 days ok, then we'll get on him about being a big boy and he doesn't need his blankey anymore.}