Usually when people utter that phrase (in their knowledgeable tone of voice) they're talking about sleeping or sitting down; but I'm thinking I'll be spending two thirds of the day in the saddle and only one third in my bed, so it's more important to be comfortable while pedalling than while sleeping.
That means our camp has to be as light as possible. I already said I hefted our McKinley Katmai 3 tent when I was first thinking about gear, and decided 3kg is too much. So I've been thinking about how to go lighter.
Everybody who has one gives rave reviews for the Argos Pro Action Hike Lite one man tent. They're currently listed on the Argos website as £15.99 which is a steal,
considering they used to be £50, and their nearest competition still costs nearer £100. I would buy one at £15 even if we weren't planning this trip, but they're not available for home delivery and there's not a single store in Northern Ireland, eastern Scotland, North East England or the Peak District (all the places where I've got friends who'd be willing to pick one up and send it on to me) that still has one in stock. It also weighs a couple of kilos, so it's probably heavier than we'd want to be carrying anyway.
I have one of those orange survival bags. Alex once spent the night in one in February, in the snow, in Ballypatrick forest, and she insists I don't need anything else. I'm not convinced. They're windproof and waterproof, I know, but they are completely not breatheable, and they're really slippery, and they might be OK for surviving an emergency uplanned one night out (that's what they're designed for), but we are planning to be out for nearly a week and I don't want to wake up every morning drenched in my own sweat.My original reaction was to get an Alpkit Hunka. I do like Alpkit - I like any tiny
company that takes on the big guys and wins, especially when their stuff's good quality and cheap. but I realised that I've not looked into what makes a good bivy bag, and what else is available. Time for more in-depth internet browsing.There appear to be two main types of Bivi. One is like a mini tent with hoops to hold the fabric off your face. Those are generally more expensive and heavier than the other type - which is really just a waterproof sleeping bag cover.
Of the sleeping bag cover types, prices range from £2.99 for the emergency bag, to several hundred pounds for goretex or eVENT fabrics. The variables seem to be (in no particular order)
1. waterproofness - to keep the rain out
2. breatheability - to let sweat and breath condensation out
3. weight - as light as possible
4. price - My total budget is definitely less than £50 - hopefully much less.
5. abrasion resistance - it has to withstand me lying on it.
and some bags have extra features like built in stuff sacks, hoods etc.
Without going into all the details of every bag I looked at, the strongest contenders are the Hunka, from Alpkit, the MSR Fast and Light, 
and the Rab Survival Zone. Quechua also do a Bivi bag for £20 that looks quite acceptable, but there are no Decathlons in Northern Ireland. They all weigh around 400g, and all seem to get good reviews. I'm never keen to spend too much money, and they're all close to the top of my price range (though Alex would say they're all about £35 over my budget) I do have one more option though. A while ago I was browsing and I came across a shop called Point North who sell 'performance fabrics'.
I was thinking coated ripstop Pertex on the top with 2oz PU coated Nylon on the bottom, all seams sealed, and maybe a hood with a drawstring cord as well. this would give me the same features as a pretty expensive bivi bag, it'd weigh aroung 250g, and the whole lot would come to less than £25 including postage. There might even be enough nylon left over to make a micro tarp to keep rain off my face. This is a tempting option, but I'm always thinking about stuff like this and I rarely ever get around to doing anything about it.
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