I now have a dilemma. I was all set to replace my extra-bulky synth bag with a down bag. Trotted to the local specialist. They even have the Valandre Miracle bag that Vincent recommended. And what a beaut bag it is. Packs down to almost nothing and when you pull it out it almost self-inflates. 290 Eur. But that's not the problem.

There are barely any zips, you need to wriggle in from the top. All the bags they had in the shop were of the mummy type.

Now, we are going to Scandinavia (wouldn't hesitate to buy it for that), then to SE Asia. We'll be camping in moderate to hot conditions, possibly humid, but probably hardly ever really cold. Don't think we'll be doing too much camping in Asia, somehow, but even summer in Europe can be hot and then there is OZ towards the end.

The shop told me that for hot and possibly damp climates they recommend synthetic, cause it handles huimidity better.

So far I have found that in my synth bag when it's cold, I'm somewhat cold. When it warms up I soon start cooking. My feet seem to get hot first and then I get "restless feet" and I can't sleep. If I open the bag at the top I get too cold. So the second zipper at the bottom end of the bag is a god's end, as I can cool down my feet. When it gets really warm we just open the bag up and lie on top of it.

In the shop they don't have any of the rectangular type bags and at best they have a synth bag where the side zip goes most of the way down.

So, I feel I'm back to square one, still can't decide on down or synth. Any bright ideas? Gotta make a quick decision.

9 days to go!

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Salut from Southern France, the bikers' paradise,

Peter.

[This message has been edited by beddhist (edited 03 June 2005).]

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Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10