Bike packing has been something that has really interested me. Since, my friend Robyn Lawlor had mentioned to me bike packing across Iceland in 2001, so I was definitely hooked on the idea. I had missed a chance to go last year. The plan was hatched to go bike packing along with Robyn and Ken Brady. Our first attempt at it, can only be described as a disaster. We headed off in late May. On the morning of the departure we were greeted by a deluge of rain. I was not happy about going and I needed some encouragement from the two lads. I lasted one hour before making the decision to return home. Robyn and Ken decided to keep going but when they couldn’t cross Inchavore River, they too decided to return home, exhausted after a 3 hour hike up river with their bikes. We re-grouped and started planning our next bike packing trip.
We decided that we would go again on the 1st of July. Our route would be approximately 80Kms long and 
take us towards Sally’s Gap and Lough Dan, before heading back home via the Wicklow way. Before heading off I needed to get my Mondraker Vantage ready. I attached Ortileb seat bag, handle bar bag and frame bag. The seat bag was my wardrobe. It contained all the clothes I would be wearing on the trip. The handle bar bag was my house. It contained my air mattress, sleeping bag, tarp and bivi bag. One trick I learned when packing the seat bag, was to fold my clothes into a jacket and fold it up. It meant that I could get everything in nice and evenly balanced.
The frame bag was my kitchen. It contained everything that I would eat and drink while out on the trip. I also included a few items from Alpkit, charger cables and JBL speaker. I also brought a small tool kit for any roadside emergencies. It took me less than one hour to fit the bags to my bike. The Ortileb bags were really easy to fit. I now understand why they’re the best bags available. I estimated that I would be carrying an extra 8 kilos when the bags were fully packed.
Day 1
I left the shop after work and met up with lads. We made our way along Bohernabreena Road, past St Anne’s Chruch and up towards the Old Military Road. From there, we headed towards Sally’s Gap and onto Lough Dan. Here we stopped and set up camp for the night. This leg of the journey took around 3 hours, with us setting up camp around 8:30pm-9pm
Day 2
We were greeted by a fantastic sunny morning. We intended on hitting the road at 10am. The return route 
took us over Djouce Mountain and back on the Wicklow Way. We would then proceed to Maulin Mountain and descend in to Crone Woods riding some amazing single track, across Glencree river and back on the Wicklow Way. We then rejoined the Ballyedmonduff road just past the The Blue Light Pub. From there we headed to back to Rathfarnham where our trip finished in The Merryplough Boy with some food and refreshments.
The two day bike packing trip can only be described as brilliant fun. I would encourage everyone to at least try one bike packing trip. I live at the foot of the Dublin Mountains, so if anything was ever to go wrong, at least I wouldn’t be too far away from home. As this was my first bike packing trip, I picked up a couple of insights which would be of benefit to you if you do decide to go bike packing.
Andy’s Tips
- Make sure you bring insect repellent for the daytime and some sort of mosquito net for the night. This is something I learned to my cost when I was awoken at 4:30am in the morning when a midge landed on my face
- Don’t bring too many bags as you will end up filling it. What you must realise is that everything you plan on using, you have to carry. To help save weight, draw up a list of what you’re bringing. Robyn has this down to a fine art resulting in him saving weight by being microscopic with everything , like cutting his tooth brush in half
- Hand sanitiser or sanitiser wipes. This is something I never thought of bringing. Inevitably your hands will get dirty and you can’t really wash your hands with only water. Just make sure you bring the dirty wipes home with you
- Leave no trace. We made sure that we left no trace behind us. I also took a couple of plastic wrappers I found, home with me.
