Nambusters II Part 4 video

Really enjoyed making this video.  In many ways it was the peak of our trip because the Ma Pi Leng pass was the road we're been working up to and looking forward to.  At 5000ft it's one of the highest passes in Vietnam and definitely one of the most dangerous.  Half of the bends are completely blind, the road is narrow, and it's 100% unforgiving.  It's pretty much straight down the fast way if you mess a bend up.

It's also one of the most scenic places we've ever been to.  The views have to be seen to be believed.  Absolutely epic in every way!

Nambusters II Part 3 video

This was shot over the course of a day, starting at Quang Uyen then riding to the Nguom Ngao caves. Then on to Ban Gioc waterfall which sits half in Vietnamese and half Chinese territory. The border runs right down the centre of the river. Finally leaving Ban Gioc and riding to Bao Lac.

Lomo dry holdall

A few days ago the Lomo dry bags I ordered arrived. Build quality was superb on both of them, however the 40 litre holdall turned out to be just too big for what I need, so those kind folk at Lomo offered to replace it with the 30l without any fuss.  I can't recommend them highly enough.

Construction of this replacement 30l seems at least as good as my Ortlieb 49l which cost more than twice as much.  Despite 30l being a relatively modest capacity, I'd say it actually holds more than that based on other 30l luggage I've seen. It's compact enough for a motorcycle but holds enough for a week on the bike easily.

So, it's a roll-top holdall, with the opening along the length of it so you can get to any of the contents easily without emptying everything out.  There are compression straps between the handles if you look closely, and also at the sides so that all looks good.  It's made out of a rubberised PVC type material with good construction on the seams, which are folded in then bonded.  There is a double-layer of this material behind those handles, which are attached along a strip approx 10" long down the side of the bag.  Dry bags are often hard to choose the right size (as proven by me having to send the last one back) so I'll help you out here - this one, packed and closed, is 21" wide.

Very happy with this, should do a good job and keep all my kit nice and dry.  At just £19 it's a no-brainer, and contrast that to my Ortlieb which was around £60...

Visit Lomo on their UK website.  Highly recommended and very affordable.

The R8 has landed :)

No, not one of these...

One of these, a Kriega R8 for Nambusters 3!  Almost as good as the £90k supercar, right??

I love that new-kit-just-arrived-in-the-post feeling.  It was quickly unpacked and loaded up so I could try it out on my commute to work, which is a ride of mixed motorway and city riding of around 28 miles.  I have a Honda VTR1000 and use a Kriega US-20 to carry my work clothes in to the office.

My '98 VTR.  She's getting on a bit but still rides and handles well.

The only issue here is that the US-20 mounts on the pillion seat of my VTR.  The R8 bumps up against it when you sit on the bike, not by much but a little.  In Nam that won't be a problem since my holdall will be mounted more on the rear rack, keeping the pillion seat clear.  Well, clear until one of the fine chaps on the trip buys me some unusual and bulky 'present' anyway.

In case you weren't reading this blog last time round, this is what they bought me.  The nice 2' aluminium bowl which is mounted on the back of my bike...

Turned out quite well actually, it was perfect for me to stuff my rucksack in and use it as half a top box.  When we were in the mountains I wanted to take a bit of Vietnamese mountain rock back with me, so I'd stop when I saw something of interest, reach down, grab a rock and chuck it in the bowl. On the last day, we stopped at a very remote village and this nice lady took a shine to it, so I gave it to her.  It makes me happy to think that as I type this, she's probably using it to cook, prepare some veg, or wash the kids, or any of a number of other uses that these bowls seem to get.

Anyway back to the R8. This is the bad boy in all its glory.  Two packs on a waist belt which is very well padded and that really helps it stay in place when worn.  The pack on the left is 100% waterproof since it uses a dry-bag type closure.  The pack on the right is not 100% waterproof, but should withstand a significant downpour since it's worn behind you and the flap covers much of the water resistant zip.  The zips are all YKK zips by the way so they should last well.

Covered mesh pockets in both lids/flaps

Main pouch has zipped pocket which contains the tool roll

Velcro front pocket under the flap

Main compartment has a second mesh covered zip pocket and a retaining clip for where the tool roll sits

Front zip pocket on the smaller section, with key lanyard

Main waterproof pouch in the small section

Nice details abound... this is one of the adjustment pulls

You can see how thick and padded the waist belt is. That helps it to stay in place.

The smaller section is easily removable. leaving just a single waist pack as above.

This section, which includes the dry-bag, just slides off the main waist strap. It's held in place with Velcro on the inside of a belt loop so it does not move whatsoever once fitted in place.

As you can see in the photos, the build quality is excellent, and it's pretty flexible. You can remove the smaller section easily if it's surplus.  There are plenty of pockets and zipped compartments to keep your stuff organised and dry.  Overall an excellent piece of kit.  I think there's easily enough capacity here for the items I'll want to keep handy when we're on NB3.

The tool roll, which fits in a purpose-made section (with retaining strap) of the main compartment

Tool roll opened out.  Could also be used to organise cables, first aid stuff etc

Lastly as you can see the tool roll is quite a flexible item, and not just limited to tools.  You could fit any of a number of items in there.  In fact I do not plan on carrying tools in it, inside the R8 compartment since I don't like the idea of falling and landing on hard tools attached to my waist.  I would either have them attached elsewhere on the bike (in the roll) or use the tool roll to keep other items such as power/data cables, chargers, SD cards, first aid items, swiss army knife (never leave home without one) and so on.

NB3 Update; Boots, bags...and more bags...

G'day.  Things are moving along swiftly for NB3 since I was 'cleared' to go last week by my good lady wife.  Did I mention how amazing she is?

Within the space of a week or so, I've had a bit of a yard sale to get some money together for the flights.  I sold an assortment of items that I'd accumulated and weren't really using....watches, swiss army knives, a guitar (I have others), my Nexus tablet that wound me up so much on the last trip...anyway so far I've raised enough to cover the flights which are around £700.

For anyone visiting Hanoi, I can't say how much I would recommend the Hotel Tirant in the old quarter, near Hoam Kiem lake.  The staff are outstanding.  The first time we went, I sat down to breakfast one morning, groggy and waking up.  Suddenly I noticed a few people around me, and the place had gone quiet.  One of the staff presented a birthday cake in front of me that said 'Happy Birthday Mr Neil' in icing, and the staff stood in a line and sang Happy Birthday to me.  No-one had told them it was my birthday, and I know certain hotels check guests' passports for the birth date and look out for that sort of thing, but it was a great touch and really appreciated by me.  Bella, a lovely girl who runs the place, seems to know every guest by name, including when they are leaving and what they will be doing while they are there. The hotel itself is super clean, and when we are out on motorbike tour for a week they hold on to our suitcases and surplus luggage at no charge.  Honestly, you couldn't ask for more.

So, on to the NB3 arrangements.  If I'm honest, on NB2 I crammed too much into a short space of time.  I'm not referring to the trip itself, more the days off work and travel arrangements either side of it.  I finished work on Thursday at 5, loaded up the car, drove to Dartford to stay at Del's so we could fly out from Gatwick the next morning.  It took until midnight to get to Dartford, and we were up at 6am.  Then it was drive to Gatwick and fly out, arriving at Hanoi at 6am on Saturday.  I can never sleep on a flight so was already pretty shattered by this point.  We had 24hrs in Hanoi before setting off on the bike tour.  The following weekend we returned via the overnight 'sleeper' train from Lao Cai to Hanoi, getting back at 6am (why is it always 6am!) and flew back at midnight the next day. On arriving back at Del's in Dartford I think I had an hour or two sleep then drove back up 5 hours to home in Lancashire.  I was at work the next day.

Overall you will probably agree, the schedule was a bit tiring.  The trip felt like it was over in a flash and I had no recovery time before going back to work.  Also, doing this blog 'on the fly' while we were away felt like it took too much time away from the trip itself.  Therefore on NB3 I'm just going to do notes while we're away and do the blog when we get back.  In a way, that prolongs the trip since you get to relive it for weeks afterwards as I do the trip report for each day.

Well, glad to say that this time it will be much more relaxed.  And thanks to my missus too.  I'll be flying out on Friday 26th Feb from Manchester to Heathrow, then on to Hanoi.  We're on the bike tour from Sunday to Sunday the next week, then I fly back Hanoi - Heathrow - Manchester on the 11th March.  Got all weekend then to recover before thinking about the "W' word.

I was a little excited to find out that the long stint from Heathrow to Hanoi is on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.  Apparently they are much better for combatting the effects of jetlag and general effects of aviation, plus the seat pitch in economy is supposed to be more generous.  It's given me another reason to look forward to that flight, and might help me feel just that little bit less knackered.

So as of last night, my flights and hotel are booked.  Just the tour deposit to sort with Hung at Flamingo Travel now, and then we're all set!

To celebrate, I whipped up this short, simple video of some of the off road section we did on NB2.  You'll no doubt be amused by my idiotic tactical dismount at the end, along with Jim laughing at the result.  All good fun. Next time, more revs!

As some of you may know, I'm definitely the 'kit monkey' of the group.  Any excuse to change kit, or research and buy something that might do the job better.  Well this trip is no exception...

Since NB3 will include much much more off-road than either of the two previous trips, I decided my Aldi motorbike boots (£29.99) were not up to the job.  In fact, they have so little ankle support as to be a liability if you're thinking about off-roading in remote foreign lands.  The most likely part of you to get injured in an 'off' is apparently your extremities (feet/ankles/legs and hands/arms).  Therefore I felt that something with more support was in order.  Ideally you'd want something solid like motocross boots, but the problem is whatever kit you are wearing on a trip such as this, you are wearing it all day - every day for a week.  Any discomfort will get magnified as that week progresses, and what might be a minor rub here or there will turn into open sores and risk of infection when you're in the tropical south east Asia climate.  So you need plenty of support, and all-day comfort.

Well, I think we found the answer.  I picked up a pair of Wulf Trials Boots recently, at £118 they didn't break the bank, and since they are designed for trials there is a bit more articulation than you would get with MX or Enduro boots.  I actually rode my VTR1000 in to work today with them on and it wasn't a struggle.  However they are built like a tank and have good ankle support.  Just need to keep wearing them in and getting them comfy before the trip.

Another thing I wasn't happy with last time round was my luggage arrangements.  I used the panniers provided by Flamingo, the green leather things that were tough as a nuclear bunker but problematic in other ways.  First, they are joined, which may seem obvious but that means when you lift them off the bike you're lifting pretty much all your luggage in one go.  That means it's heavy.  They are heavy enough on their own, unladen, so when you add in 20kg of kit for a week they become heavy and cumbersome to carry.  Sods law dictates I always end up in the top floor of a 5 or 6 storey hotel with no lift, so I'm always carrying these awkward heavy panniers up 5 flights of stairs then down the next day.  Lastly, they have a metal backing plate on each side which does a great job in causing lacerations to your shoulders and arms as you carry them.  I have scars from these things, seriously.

So, out with those, and in with something else.  I am a great fan of Ortlieb and Overboard kit, and also Kriega, but none of that is cheap.  I don't have anything already that will do the job for this trip, and in all likelihood anything I buy won't get much use aside from on the trip.  So I found Lomo who supply the diving/kayaking community with wetsuits and dry bags.  On trips around Europe, we've seen plenty of Lomo dry bags attached to the back of touring motorbikes so it should be decent kit. After some weighing up of sizes and capacity, I ordered a couple of their dry bags for the princely total of about £33.  Absolute bargain.  On arrival the kit is very tough indeed, and since the webbing handle straps go all the way around and underneath the holdalls they are potentially tougher than Ortliebs where the handles join the dry bag and are bonded/RF welded on and may eventually split.

30 litre Holdall. This will get attached to the back seat/rack with cargo straps and a bungee net.  Spacious enough on its own for a weeks worth of clothing with room to spare.  Opens across the length of the bag so you don't have to unload all the contents every time you use it unlike many dry bags.  Very well made and tough, plus only £20!!!

20 litre dry bag - probably won't need this initially, but as the trip progresses and you accumulate worn clothes, presents and so on this will give me some space to move into.  Can attach this to the metal rack where the panniers normally sit, and still have a pannier rack free on the other side.  Again, very tough PVC type material, should not tear or split, and an absolute bargain at around £10!!

At this point you might think I'm finished with the new purchases...you'd be wrong.  For the last two years I used a Kriega R20 rucksack for valuables and living space during the day.  That basically means a place for bottled water, sunblock, hat, shades, cash etc.  After the first day of NB2 it got lashed to the back seat under a bungee net and stayed there the whole week.  That made getting into it a bit awkward since the bungee net got in the way of the zips.  The main reason for doing this was because there's not much point having a mesh jacket so you can stay cool, when you have a rucksack on your back blocking half the mesh. It doesn't work or ventilate properly.  That led me to thinking how to downsize the amount of stuff I had in it, so I made a list and came to the conclusion that the contents would fit in a small waist pack (who said bumbag?!).  There was then only one real choice: Kriega.  They make the excellent R3, a single 3 litre fully waterproof waist pack.  They also make the superb R8 which as you can guess is 8 litres split across two packs.  If I'm honest, the R3 would probably suffice, but when I saw that the R8 even comes with Kriega's tool roll (normally costing £20) I was sold.  The plan is to either use it as intended, or if the off road gets really rough it can easily be lashed to the back seat.  The main point is that when you're off the bike, all your cash and valuables can be removed and taken with you conveniently.

So there you have it; got a Kriega R8 on order :)  I'll let you know how this one goes.

That's enough of an update for now.  I'll leave you with some Kriega porn.

NamBusters 3....!

It's been a while since I've posted anything, other than the videos, but I wanted to do a brief update.  I actually love writing this blog, and it's only unfortunate that I have to return to normality for 50 weeks of the year to pay for the 2 weeks when I get to have something to blog about!

I'll start by saying I was not planning to join the next Nambusters trip, mainly due to matters at home concerning money, house, kids, family holidays, needing to change cars and so on.  The other lads on NB2 have been underway planning NB3 for a couple of months now, and I'd been steering clear of their plans because it was a bit gutting, knowing that I wouldn't be joining them.

That changed recently when my good lady wife told me it was ok if I went on next year's trip, and that we could change our plans for the family holidays!  She really is one in a billion. :)

NAMBUSTERS 3 IS ON!!

So this last week I've been familiarising myself with the plans the lads had already drawn up, and working out costs and suchlike.  I've even sold a few things to raise money in a hurry so I can get flights booked and paid for well in advance.

So far the whole crew who went last year have confirmed for NB3, with the possible addition of one more who hasn't been before.

The plan is to do a lot more off-road this time around.  The route is reasonably confirmed and goes something like this:

Day 1 - Hanoi to (Dream) Mo Waterfall near Na Hang - 150km

Day 2 - Mo Waterfall to Mai Chau - 200km

Day 3 - Mai Chau to Bac Yen - 130km

Day 4 - Bac Yen to Song Ma - 200km

Day 5 - Song Ma to Dien Bien Phu along Ma river next to Laos border - 160km

Day 6 - Dien Bien Phu to Sin Ho - 160km

Day 7 - Paso to Lai Chau to SaPa to Lao Cai on China border - 180km

We then return from Lao Cai overnight on the sleeper train with the bikes as we did last time.

The majority will be off-road but this is a rough road route...

We have been to some of these locations on the first tour, but that was almost all road.  The real beauty of taking the off-road route around Vietnam, as we discovered last year, is that you get to see places that are only accessible by two wheels or four hooves.

I need to start working soon on the third instalment of the video.  As I've said before, slicing up GoPro footage and coming up with something watchable for a few minutes is not something that I find easy, so please bear with me.  At the rate I'm going, I'll just about have finished the videos from last year as we start next year's trip.

One definite 'take-home' that I've learned from all this is that we really need to make sure we do regular off-the-bike type footage as much as possible so there's something to be sliced in with the GoPro on-bike footage.  The struggle for me with that is my tough camera (Olympus TG-820) has one achilles heel - it's not good at video.  For some reason it adjusts focus every 5 seconds or so, for no reason.  Even if the image in front of it is static, it will adjust the focus.  That means you get very little usable footage from it.  So I need to sort an alternative out for the next trip just for video purposes.  Any suggestions welcome.  Perhaps I'll check out the small handheld DV cameras.

More updates soon.