Travel Lessons Learned.

Weight and reliability (both people and machine) are king.

• Pack as light as possible.  When you think you are as light as you can go ask yourself what would you leave if you absolutely had to lighten the load - then leave it now.

• If you are going off-road, take a light bike. No 'long way round' BMW GS's for me.

• Choose a reliable machine, this will mean different things to different people dependent on their mechanics ability.  For me it meant researching dual sports forums and ending up with a WR250R or a DRZ400.

• Choose a good companion. When the chips are down two brains are better than one.

• Take simple and tools spares that would end the day without them (i.e. Puncture repair kit and inner tube, spare gear lever, spare clutch lever, spare fuse, spare clutch cable)

• Know your bike.  Take the time to learn the basics about your machine, a simple fix in the wild will save hours of heart ache.

• Plan you route in advance, a little prep time each night saves a lot of time of the road.

• Off-road is hard on the bike and you, being fit helps.

• Stay hydrated. Camelback hydration packs are great.

Below is how i fixed the odd noise on the DRZ - i put a cork in it! I'll always carry a spare in the tool kit from now on. :)