Over the weeks while I was preparing my bike and inspecting all my camping gear to ensure it was still in one piece, thoughts about where I should go would spring into my head. They’d grow into epic expeditions, reformulate and appear again as somewhat impossible ventures. I constantly had to tell myself to keep my feet firmly planted by considering somewhere fairly local, for a coup le of nights, as my first venture.

I had a two man tent which was light enough to carry on the bike and my sleeping bag was good enough for summer camping. The cooking equipment I had was adequate for going off in the car for an extended holiday but I really needed some lighter pots and pans. Following a fair bit of on-line research I decided on sea-to-summit pots and utensils. I will do a review on them sometime.

I bought additional panniers and a front rack. The rear panniers and rack which I had on my bike for a year or so, just wouldn’t be enough for all my gear for more than one or two nights. The front rack proved difficult to fit as most racks are meant for rigid forks and I had to fabricate brackets to adapt it for the suspension forks. It took trial and error and a good few changes before I was happy that the set-up was safe.

As a trial run, I decided on a trip north for a weekend. Partick Thistle were playing in an important play-off game against Ross County so I planned a weekend in Dingwall to take in the football and test out my gear. I booked the train to Inverness and planned to cycle the 20 miles from there to Dingwall. So with the bike loaded up (minus the front panniers), I set off. It was the first time I had travelled on a train with my bike and was a good introduction to it as there were no changes on the outward journey. The return was a different experience altogether.

The weekend went well (as far as the cycling and camping, the football was a different experience altogether). The tent was good and the cooking stuff worked well. I did realise that as I’ve got older since I last camped my sleeping mat was just too thin for my ageing bones, so when I got home that was some more research I had to do to find the best upgrades.