A Retrospective - Equipment

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It's 17 days since we rode triumphant and bemused under the finish banner at the waterfront in cape town, and 9 days since i returned home. After an initial rush of phone call and visits to friends and family, i have spent the last few days sorting through my kit trying to find a home for everything, as a lot of it was bought new for the trip and doesn't have a permanent resting place. Some things need to be repaired, and some taken back to the suppliers to try and get replacements under warranties. The main items being :-

My tent that is in need of new zips on both doors (thanks to the sand in Sudan), it was brand new at the start and is now well used and dirty. It has been put up and taken down over 100 times in wind, sand, and rain, had to keep me warm at 0 degrees, cool at 40, and dry in torrential rain and floods, it has had to protect me from sand storms, thorns, termites, giant ants, bees, snakes, hyenas and flesh eating corn crickets. But the hardest thing was squeezing it into my Red Box every morning!

The Good, The Bad and The Broken

My thorn-proof Thermarest was holed in Egypt, most people's were at some stage, but that was no real problem as we were all equipped with the necessary glue and patches to repair them, it was not unusual during the latter part of the tour when we were staying at places with swimming pools, to see someone up to their waist with a thermarest peering at it intently looking for tail-tail bubbles. The real problem started after i washed mine, but boy did it need it! If you have a strong stomach i will describe a life of a thermarest; After the tent is erected, it is the first thing to go in as it acts as both a doormat to protect your aching knees, and a cushion to protect the ground-sheet from any "sharps" under it that are doing their best to convert it into a sieve. .....to be continued