Help! Packing for two up camping trip.

[Jose]

Hello

I want to take a weeks trip round France later this month with my partner. We intend to use municipal camping sites and won't be camping at altitude.
I have a three box Givi style pannier system (36L x 2 and large two helmet top box) plus an oxford tank bag. Just how am I supposd to take enough clothing and camping equipment and rider gear to make this trip comfortable? (Weather can be iffy in France this time of year). To make matters worse, for reasons of economy we want to self cater so will need to take a stove, fuel and cookware as well.
Can two people realistically travel on one bike, camp in comfort, cook for themselves. look like normal tourists off the bike (rather than doing the michelin man helmet in one hand waddle round tourist attractions) and come back with their relationship intact? I appreciate that people have done the whole RTW thing two up, but I am too old for the ' you can get four days out of one pair of pants' sketch and ' after the fourth day you don't notice the smell anymore.'
Neither of us is precious, but this is supposed to be a holiday and I don't want to put my partner off bike touring on their first proper trip. I can't help feeling that sleeping bags, airbeds, tent and a couple of towels are going to use up most of our capacity on their own.

Any advice, photos or packing lists gratefully accepted.

[Lord Vader]

The quick answer is yes.We do it all the time.Forget about the topbox and get a big waterproof rollbag,a tankbag for little things which you need to get to like camera,passport and things.
Dont know what bike you ride but i have been doing 2up on a Varadero and my GSA and if you get the right camping gear its easy.
Most important thing is to take it easy.Cause the bike handles different
Give me a sec and i find some pics for you

[Lord Vader]

GSA fully packed



Vara fully packed








as you can see i drag everything along.Cooking gear,chairs,tent,BBQ and a million other things i dont need

[Axe]

Haven't done any real big or long distance trips 2up, but the best advice I can give is if you don't have a specialist rollmat/matress system then a couple of lilo's (1.99 each from asda last time I got some) fold up really small and take very little effort to blow up, on the last morning of your trip you can simply throw them away to save deflating them.

I have camped a few times using lilos rather than matresses and they are brilliant space/money savers.

[Axe]

Also try and find a hiking/touring tent on ebay. We got a 3 berth one after piel island. it folds up really small, the poles are very short so they can fit in a pannier if required.

It cost us about £20 S/H best ebay purchase ever.

[paulc]

I camped for two weeks and I only had a top box and tank bag ,just put the sleeping bags either side put clothes in the bottom of the tank bag(the things that packed tight,T shirts, jeans) only leave just enough space in the tank bag for every day items that will be needed at short notice to keep the weight forward.
Put all the cook wear in the top box filled all available space with socks pants and anything else you can think of (I even took a TV radio cassete) and put the roll mats stapped on top of the box with tent inside em.
Just plan what you want to take well before the trip and even have a dummy run of packing it on .
If you have crash bars strap something on them )watter bottle ,self inflating airbeds, anything not to heavy
Dissagree with Vader,keep the top box ,it comes in very handy on those days out once your camped up and off for a ride round (some where to keep your jackets ) .
Oh and take a small cable lock so you can lock your crash hats to the bike (through the chin piece) so you can strole about unencumbered.
Have fun doing it ,it'll make D-day for more enjoyable

[Jose]

That tent looks enormous and two camping chairs! Respect.
RE bike; I am currently still trying to locate a good used Alp for solo use. Two up trip will be done on my R1150R.

[paulc]

Kyham biker tent selling at the moment for £100 posted today By GOG 007

[tendays]

Good idea Axe, are you on about the throwaway plastic ones?

Here's a link to an old 2-up TR of mine with some photos and packing description, sorry its on another forum....
Alps, Pyrennees & Picos 2-up

we went quite light on camping gear (the tent was tiny), but took some extra stuff like a notebook computer, walking poles & shoes.

Bring small 1-season synthetic sleeping bags, in compression sacs. Zip them together. Silk liner bags if it's cold, 5 quid in decathlon. Thin fleecy thermals. Ultralight thermarests & chair kits, or Axe's cheaper option.

Stove? Try building a beer can meths stove (google it), it's free and ultra lightweight. Or bring the burner from a trangia. Or buy a small stove & pans. All depends how much cooking you want to do. Its quite easy to use cafes & supermarkets and avoid cooking altogether. Nice to have a brew in the morning though.

you can wash clothes in the shower so don't bring any more than you really need. Or there's the old buy a new T-shirt and bin the old one approach.

Shaving oil is a top new find for me.

it CAN be done
it WILL be fun!
One day I will learn to write haikus...

[beddowsm]

Forget about the topbox and get a big waterproof rollbag,a tankbag for little things which you need to get to like camera,passport and things.

Agree with Vader, dump the topbox and get a large bag on the back. Me and the wife have been away 2 up for a couple of weekends, and all we have is a 90 litre bag on the back and tank bag (no panniers). Our tent was big (only 2 man...but cheap, big and heavy) , carry a large gas cooker (too big and heavy), 2 large doss bags and 2 large roll mats. This virtually fills the 90 litre bag. Tank bag has day clothes and food in it. We manage for a weekend. One thing I have learned is to buy the smallest packing, lightest kit. I have now bought a 3 berth Banshee tent for the National and it packs pretty small and is only 2.5kgs. And going to buy a smaller stove...and so on until I have loads of room in my 90l bag for other stuff that we cant carry at the present.

But with the added 2*36L pannier + large bag on the back + tank bag you should have no problem coping for a week. Good luck and enjoy.