Bikepacking Gear List: What I used Cycling from Spain to the UK + What I’d Change

Bikepacking from Spain to the UK — My Gear List & Kit Choice

I’ve just cycled from Girona in Spain back to the UK.

Choosing what to take on a bikepacking trip is always tough, too much, not enough, this jacket, these gloves?

I’ve just completed an amazing bikepacking journey from Girona, Spain to the UK, cycling through France along the way. In this video, I break down all the bikepacking gear, bike touring essentials, and cycling kit I used on this multi-country adventure.

I cover the bikepacking bags, sleep system, clothing (jackets, gloves, layers), and other bikepacking essentials that worked for me — and what I might change next time.

I’ve done a number of bikepacking trips, events and races so have gained the experience I need to refine my kit.

Whether you’re planning your first bikepacking trip, a cycling tour through Europe, or just looking for tips on lightweight cycling gear, I hope this video helps with your next adventure.

Let me know what your favourite kit is in the comments below!

If you would like to see the video of my trip and access the route to do it yourself, you can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=256yIQ76Q9U

#cycling #bikepacking #adventure #bikepackingsetup #bikepackinggear

i’ve just ridden my bike from Spain back to the UK and in this video I’m going to show you the kit I took on this bike packing trip i’m Tom bike packer ultra racer and all round cycling fanatic if you’ve seen my video about my bike packing trip from Jirona in Spain back to the UK 1300 km you’ll have seen I had a number of bags on my bike now that I’m back I thought I’d show you the kit I took whether it worked and anything I would change about it so let’s get cracking and have a look at the bags I took on my bike so this is the bike as it was as I arrived home the other day on the back I’ve got the Apura saddle pack got an exposure boostar rear light two water bottle 750 mil one liter which provided a perfect amount of water during the ride move the cranks out the way down here I’ve got another aperture bag at the top I was running a rest top tube bag which due to the size of my frame basically takes up the whole top tube and I think looks quite cool up front we’ve got some arrow bars which are helpful in the wind and I added these straps to them which were really helpful for holding stuff as I was riding as you can see my rain jacket cuz there were a few days where it wasn’t perfect weather got my Garmin mounted on there and then I’ve got the rest bar bag so that was the bike set up let’s get it inside and see what I took on my trip up first it’s the rest bar bag now I have to keep this bag fairly compact so that it fits inside my handlebars i think they’re 42 cm width this bag contains my sleeping kit it’s not too heavy as you might be able to see there are some marks on the bag where it’s bounced up and down a bit on the offroad and hit the front wheel occasionally so when I pack it I have to bear in mind I leave a gap between the front wheel and the bag which is sufficient enough to prevent that so that’s the dry bag that sits in the holder let’s see what’s inside so as I said in here I keep my sleeping kit so the first thing there’s a firm rest patch in case you get a puncher in your sleeping mat we’ve got a buff to keep your face or neck or head warm in the night if I can pull this out it’s fairly compacted in here is my Outdoor Research helium bivvie bag and then already packed inside the bivvie itself is the Therm Moest sleeping mat so the idea here is when I get to the place to sleep roll it out pump up the air mat chuck the sleeping bag in and I’m good to go climb inside and have a good sleep also inside the bag is my sleeping bag i took a very light one season summer bag by seed to summit which is very light but not the warmest and then finally in the bag is this little luxurious seat to summit pillow an inflatable pillow folds down really small but gives you that bit of extra comfort when you’re trying to get to sleep next up is a restrap top tube bag this is one of my favorite bags it’s really handy it’s about 2 L in size and you can fit quite a lot of kit in there and it sits nice and sleek on my frame up the front of the bag there’s two handy pockets which I tend to stick rubbish but there’s some leftovers from the trip and I have my sort of hand sanitizer there ready to go easy to get hold of so then inside the bag itself just unzip it now actually the only downside with this bag is it’s not fully waterproof it’s sort of water resistant but if it rains heavy and persistently everything inside can get wet i saw someone on the pancelic race with his electronics in here in well in the same bag um they got wet and then no longer worked for the rest of the trip so I tend to keep my important things inside some sandwich bags so there’s something important there’s a power bank with my phone charger lead so I can keep my phone topped up my earbuds for listening to some music just some cheap ones that have actually worked out really well over the last few years my Min quick charger and another phone charger this is a Mag Safe one because if your phone gets wet in the port you won’t be able to charge it but with the Mag Safe one you can charge it when it’s wet which is really helpful some handy to reach tissues shami cream an Abus cafe style lock which annoyingly during the trip the button which retracts the wire back in seemed to stop working wasn’t ever too much of a worry in France leaving my bike outside a shop that sort of thing but on a few occasions I stuck with a cafe lock around it just to stop someone wheeling the bike away paracetamol for those aches and pains some diarrhea tablets which I’ve clearly used diner plug punch repair kit which I didn’t have to use fortunately glasses wipes to clean my sunglasses some pillow tan sun lotion spray SPF 30 which was very helpful particularly at the start of the trip when it was about 30° some squirt chain lube which over a distance of about 800 miles you’ve got to top up your chain to keep it running smoothly every now and again a load of cable ties just in case couple of quick links just in case and this great little multi-tool set which I have in my top tube bag for easy reach just in case you want to adjust something on your bike on the fly and not have to go through your whole tool kit to get it out so that’s the top tube bag let’s see what’s in the down tube bag so this is the Apura down tube bag sits underneath a down tube as you can see it’s a bit mucky it looks like there could be a dead slug on the bottom there this contains all my spares and repairs it’s fairly heavy so keeping it down low on the bike is good the only slight irritation on this bag is it moved around slightly and it there’s a little nick on there where it had been rubbing on the chain ring so every now and again I had to reach down push the bag across which there were a couple of dodgy moments where my hand sort of touched the front wheel let’s have a look at what I took so opening the roll top bag it’s a waterproof bag so everything in there stays dry got a spare inner tube more dino plugs tire levers which have also got a quick link in there and a chain splitting tool for the quick link little pair of mini pliers i’ve got a little knife on this is more for dealing with sort of tubeless issues spare brake pads my usual little box of tricks that’s got a5 note in the top that’s got things like patches some quick links uh tire plugs a valve core extender and some patches that kind of thing another spare inner tube as you can see I keep these in a pair of old socks just so that there’s an extra barrier between the inner tube rubbing on something else that’s in the bag and maybe making a hole in it spare cleat for my shoes spare mech hanger in case the other one gets bent cuz that’s quite a difficult thing to source when you’re out in the field luckily on the trip I didn’t even have to open this which I’m very thankful for my brake pads lasted didn’t get a puncher and my hanger was fine last up the big boy the Apura saddle pack before we get inside the bag on top you can see I got this little maseette this was from Panceltic Race that I did a couple of years ago this bag was really handy particularly when you had to leave your bike say in a different place in the hotel or you could take your essentials off and get to your hotel room without have to take all your bags off the bike it’s also really handy in shops so from the supermarket you could load your food in there ride for a bit of it on your back and then stop and eat your lunch and then get get rid of the bag again inside the Apoa Dadd which I picked up on vintage for30 it’s like 120 quid bag for 30 quid and that bargain price couldn’t be beaten so in here it’s not packed in most efficiently because I kind of took stuff out when I went on the ferry on the way home and then chucked it back in as I rode back home again i’ve got my down jacket which is great for keeping warm it was good in that cold night I had in the bivvie bag and also just for walking around town and stuff in the evening little luxury mini deodorant that was more for after the bike ride when I went to the hotel etc and then was going out for something to eat in the evening just to give people around me a nicer odor pack of wires for charging various different wires and there’s a couple of spare ones like I tend to take a spare Garmin one just in case I break one because keeping a gin charge is obviously pretty important thing and again kept in a sandwich bag for extra protection oh we’ve got a halfeaten bar of milker that’ll be polished off this afternoon dry bag which is kind of my medical and hygiene stuff so I’ve got a folding toothbrush and some toothpicks that kind of thing some toothpaste which I had to buy during the trip cuz I ran out oh some more paracetamol definitely not an addict some spare sandwich bags some pseudo cream which I luckily didn’t have to use some more shammy cream which I did use i took two of these cleansing handy wipes thinking I was going to be camping outside more than I actually did and I didn’t actually use these in the end so I’ve got those saved for another trip moving on I’ve got some sports or some gym clothes I guess just some light shorts and a light t-shirt which I wore out and about in town kind of probably look looked a bit old at times but I don’t really care i was wearing cycling shoes cycling socks and a gym outfit going into these reasonably nice restaurants but no one seemed to mind and I guess as long as I’m paying they’re going to be happy to take my custom medical bag I call it so it’s got some plasters and stuff in there tick removal tool some seasickness tablets and some antihistamines in case I got bitten by anything i’ve got some ear plugs and an eye mask which is really helpful particularly outside or anywhere really cuz it kind of gives you the same sleeping environment wherever you are which kind of helps me get to sleep we’ve got some arm warmers which I didn’t actually have to use which was fantastic but they were there just in case it got cold we got spare jersey i took two jerseys as a luxury on this trip and I managed to wash them every night i stayed in accommodation so yeah doesn’t smell too bad not super fresh but not super bad compared to some of the other trips I’ve been on albian ultra light sort of down windproof jacket which was helpful in the Pyrenees when I was descending but I’m not quite sure where this jacket sit because I also have my waterproof jacket with me and actually looking back I probably would have got away with just wearing the waterproof jacket as a winds stopper but I think I may have got lucky with temperatures because it never got too cold on this trip i have my spat leg warmers again didn’t have to use these it was perfectly fine but it was more a just in case and who knows what the weather was going to do over a 9 10day period two emergency beta fuel bars I did take through and I had to use one when I couldn’t find too much food on a Sunday I think i never really had an issue of getting food in France or Spain and actually I ended up eating pretty well mainly at bakeries a high viz tabard because in France if you’re riding at night you have to wear a sort of high viz vest again I didn’t ride at nighttime so I didn’t have to use it but it was there just in case I had to pull an all nighter to get back to the ferry and then down the bottom which was a bit annoying I have two pairs of long finger gloves so originally I packed my bag in my bike box with these sort of neoprene waterproof long finger gloves because I couldn’t find these gloves seal skin ones but my wife ended up finding them after I packed my bag so I couldn’t be bothered to take everything out again so I ended up carrying two pairs of gloves which I never wore thing I like about seal skins I bought them in a size bigger than I usually take so when it gets cold and I’m wearing my normal short sleeve finger gloves I can just literally put these over that glove as well i don’t have to take the the mitt off these gloves go straight over and then I keep my hands nice and warm and these are also waterproof so that was all the stuff I took with me on my bike packing trip from Spain back to the UK if I could rewind back a couple of weeks ago to when it all began I wouldn’t have bothered taking the sleeping stuff i would have just committed to staying inside because it was a leisure trip and yeah staying in the bivvie bag isn’t the most comfortable experience and I should have thought from the start yeah let’s keep it nice meant to stay inside hotels Airbnbs host that kind of thing likewise I had quite a lot of kit for bad weather i did have to use the rain jacket a couple of times but as you saw I had two pairs of gloves i had leg warmers I had arm warmers which in reality I didn’t have to use but you never know and I guess it would be quite a risk taking them out the bag over the course of a 9 10day trip because yeah the weather could change and you could end up regretting taking them out when you get really cold i didn’t weigh my bike myself but when I checked into the airport I think inside the box it came in at about 22 kilos so I reckon we’re probably pushing towards the 20 kilo mark my bike itself isn’t the lightest it’s an aluminum gravel bike which probably weighs about 10 11 kilos itself and I reckon that big bike box and all the packing tape and packaging inside probably weighed a couple of kilos so I don’t know maybe I was around 19 kilos for a fully loaded bike with my water but funnily enough after a few miles you kind of forget about the weight and it just becomes familiar but what I am really looking forward to now taking those bike bags off my bike is going for a spin around the New Forest and actually appreciating how light the bike can feel so that’s the kit I took with me on my trip if you got any questions drop them in the comments below i’ll try and answer them or perhaps share some ideas about the kit you take on your trips and what works really well if you enjoyed the video give it a like subscribe to the channel for more roots and adventures thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next one