You're only clammy damp though, it soon dries.
I like the microfibre towels, they dry so quickly and are large for their pack size. They are also easy to wash out and again dry quickly.
What size towel do you take when you go touring?
- Thread starter Crankarm
- Start date
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You're only clammy damp though, it soon dries.
I like the microfibre towels, they dry so quickly and are large for their pack size. They are also easy to wash out and again dry quickly.
Dave Davenport
Guru
- Location
- Hampshire
One of those micro-fibre things about the size of a tea towel, works pretty well and dries quick.
Kirstie
Über Member
I've never heard of pertex towels - isn't that what windproofs (or should that be prooves?) are made out of?
Amanda P
Legendary Member
- Location
- York. Well, York-ish...
I tend to take a normal cotton towel, albeit a very cheap, thin one that folds up quite small.
It gets me dry (just), and I can rub with it: the friction helps, I think. It can also function as a pillow, beach mat, defence against the ravenous bugblatter beast of Traal etc etc.
It gets me dry (just), and I can rub with it: the friction helps, I think. It can also function as a pillow, beach mat, defence against the ravenous bugblatter beast of Traal etc etc.
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
As long as you always know where it is...
snorri
Legendary Member
- Location
- East coast, up a bit.
I believe it is, but to make the garment windproof, the pertex has been coated with something or other whilst the towels are uncoated. I've had my towels for a few years, there is probably some improved product on the market by now.
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
I was wondering who it would be.
Have aon me.
A friend of mine had a towel with the towel passage printed on it. She lost it when some bugger stole the bag with her swimming kit in it from her car....
andyfromotley
New Member
- Location
- Otley, west yorks
Oh wilem you really are priceless!! I have an image of you wandering round weighing things at random with a set of highly accurate and hugely expensive scales that you whip out from your back pocket.
'Excuse me sir, you have given me the crusty bread which weighs 47 grams per slice.... i really wanted the split tin which comes in at under 43 grams per slice...... less if you leave it out in the kitchen for 4 days for all of the moisture to evaporate....'
Your weight obsession is a thing to admire.
Love that image (but I use cheap kitchen scales). But no, it is not like that. As a researcher I like measurement and precision, I guess. However, most importantly, I discovered sometime ago that many of our decisions on what to take and what not are more the product of habit than anything else. So I began to investigate what was actually heavy, and where I could get rid of weight without spending too much (with young children and an expensive house I was pretty broke at the time). So I discovered that jeans are heavy, that cotton T shirts are heavy, and that some shirts are far heavier than others (by a factor of two). So only knowing more precisely the weight of things, I could save quite a bit without spending anythng. The next step was to figure out where I could loose most weight for the least amount of money. It is interesting, we are clearly concerned about the weight of a tent or a sleeping bag, and we are prepared to spend more for something lighter. The bath towel story is educating, however. You can loose 350-400 grams for only a small outlay. A sleeping bag that is this much lighter for the same warmth will cost you pretty dearly (PHD rather than Alpkit money, I guess). Remember, of your 10-15 kg gear for a solo trip, only about a third consists of the three most discussed categories of tent, sleep system and cooking set. The rest is clothing and all these little things. Fifty grams here, five hundred grams there, it all adds up, and it is where the real gains are often made - sometimes for very little money. But you will only know when you weigh and measure.
Some fourty years ago, when I went on my first backpacking trip with school friends (to England and Wales because our parents had decided that this was the safest we could do), I had a pack weight of about 12 kg, achieved without modern kit, but with the help of my mum's kitchen scales. Over the years, this went up more and more (I thought I no longer needed the kitchen scales), until I looked like a fully loaded Marine with one of these huge backpacks. I then decided that this was too hard, and I changed to cycle touring. This solved things for a while, until we had children and decided that children should not stop us cycle touring (we did not have a car). I had to remember my early skills of taking only little. At the same time our total gear weight was inevitably large, so tours were mostly through river valleys, and along tow paths. But at least, by carefully thinking about what to take and what not, we could a have a car free life and give the kids memorable holidays. Since then, the children have grown older, and the earlier constraints have disappeared. Money was no longer so tight, and we could replace much of the sometimes decades old gear with modern lighter stuff. The benefits of low pack weight are something we can now use to consider more adventurous destinations. For someone now in his late fifties, the lower pack weight helps to contine to do what I have always liked. Climbing is much harder when you grow older, and reducing weight (yours and the gear) is the only thing that really helps. That way I hope to continue riding my (lightly) loaded bike well into retirement.
Willem
Some fourty years ago, when I went on my first backpacking trip with school friends (to England and Wales because our parents had decided that this was the safest we could do), I had a pack weight of about 12 kg, achieved without modern kit, but with the help of my mum's kitchen scales. Over the years, this went up more and more (I thought I no longer needed the kitchen scales), until I looked like a fully loaded Marine with one of these huge backpacks. I then decided that this was too hard, and I changed to cycle touring. This solved things for a while, until we had children and decided that children should not stop us cycle touring (we did not have a car). I had to remember my early skills of taking only little. At the same time our total gear weight was inevitably large, so tours were mostly through river valleys, and along tow paths. But at least, by carefully thinking about what to take and what not, we could a have a car free life and give the kids memorable holidays. Since then, the children have grown older, and the earlier constraints have disappeared. Money was no longer so tight, and we could replace much of the sometimes decades old gear with modern lighter stuff. The benefits of low pack weight are something we can now use to consider more adventurous destinations. For someone now in his late fifties, the lower pack weight helps to contine to do what I have always liked. Climbing is much harder when you grow older, and reducing weight (yours and the gear) is the only thing that really helps. That way I hope to continue riding my (lightly) loaded bike well into retirement.
Willem
RedBike
New Member
- Location
- Beside the road
Worringly I dont tend to take a towel. Is that minging?
For shorter trips 1/2 nights I tend to take a packet of baby wipes and 'wash' with those.
For longer trips I take a microfibre mini towel aka a flannel.
For shorter trips 1/2 nights I tend to take a packet of baby wipes and 'wash' with those.
For longer trips I take a microfibre mini towel aka a flannel.
Amanda P
Legendary Member
- Location
- York. Well, York-ish...
Have a
Now just a minute! I believe it was me who set the gag up! Don't I get one too?
battered
Guru
I use a small microfibre cleaning cloth that came in a pack of 6 from a discount shop. It's the size of a flannel, wieghs little and needs wringing out halfway through drying. OK for weekends in summer. On bigger trips I have a bigger version that came from a car accessory shop, it's about 30cm x 50, weighs little and dries fast. It cost very little (I think it was from a poundshop) and is intended for car cleaning. The same thing by LifeVenture etc would be £8-10 and no lighter or more effective.
I used to use the pertex stuff but they are horrible, you may as well not bother. Just get out of the stream in which you are bathing and run round in circles for a minute, then get dressed.
I used to use the pertex stuff but they are horrible, you may as well not bother. Just get out of the stream in which you are bathing and run round in circles for a minute, then get dressed.
