hi all,for my three week tour in france next june what would you guy's reckon would be an essential gear list what should i pack.now i only have two ortlieb bikepacker plus rear panniers and ultimate barbag.i have all the gear to tour, problem im having is should i take everything.sounds a stupit question but when i pack all i have there aint a lot of room left for extra cloths, food. im going to be camping all the way plus cooking.now i dont want to be weighed down with unnessery gear if you know what i mean ,so has anyone toured with just the two panniers and barbag and carried all the essential's without overloading the bike.thanks folks..

Clothes take up a lot of room. Limit yourself to 2x cycling tops, 1x off bike shirt, 2x cycling shorts, 1x convertible long pants. Only take one pair of shoes.

You might consider leaving the cooking stuff behind, eat cold food and take advantage of French restaurants

Put the tent and sleeping bag on the rear rack

A lot of riders use 2 panniers and a bar bag. You are never far from shops, even bike shops so you can travel lighter than for a wilderness tour.
I spent about 2 weeks camping but not cooking. I had some fairly cheap ultralight gear and managed to keep everything inside the panniers but carried bunjie chords in case I needed the space.
You do accumulate maps and guide books and you need to carry some food.
You can restrict your spare footwear to flip-flops.
Check out some of the ultralight camping websites for ideas.

thanks nun and michealw,yes the cloths are the problem.i've just ordered new shimano spd shoes and light cycling top's (2) so i'll work on getting the cloths wright. the new shoes will do for walking as well as cycling .i need to bring the cooker im a tea and coffee aholic, crap cook so i will be buying food.all the gear i bought over this past year has been top notch like hilleberg/exped/alpkit/optimus/ortlieb,so its all great gear(worked my ass off to buy it ) so you see where im going trying to keep things as light and compact as possible.

You should bring rain gear, as well. I was there last May and had rain pretty much every day for the last two weeks of the month.

Ray

Maybe you could cut a bit of the cooking gear? France has great 'ready meals' like really good boxed soups and things like cassoulet in a tin. One pot should definitely suffice for cooking, instead of a whole cooking set. Self-catering for lunch with baguettes/cheese/meats is really easy too.

thank's for that ray that really made my day.living in ireland i get my fair share of rain thank you very much.no the sun is going to shine on me for three glorious week's no rain allowed.but i will take rain gear just incase.