Since we left Amsterdam, we've sent home a number of items that we have deemed unnecessary. You can check out our first three-kilogram gear shipment HERE.

This time we have dropped even more weight; some items due to the fact that we are going tandem, others we simply don't use enough to justify their weight and size.

Including the clothing and shoes we are wearing right now, we have 39kg of luggage between us, down from 48kg at the start of our trip! But we haven't only dropped weight, we've of course picked up items along the way.

You can check out all of our current gear lists HERE.

The items we sent home this week include:

Silk liners

We have found that:

A. We are too lazy to unfold our silk liners, and tend to just lay on top of our sleeping bag when it is hot.

B. Have some kind of sheet when we stay in a hotel or hostel if we need.

Sending these home saves us 277g.

Arm warmers

We've found that our warm upper layers of clothing (such as jumpers/jackets) are enough to keep our arms warm. This magically disappears 130g out of our clothes bags.

Thermarest Chair sleeves

Although incredible to use when we are spending time in the tent in locations without campsite facilities, it does take time to set them up, and hey, sometimes we are lazy. We've worked out that we can roll our Thermarests up enough to sit up and read – that's probably enough for us. Saving of 644g.

Lock

Now using one bike we need just one lock! Secretly, we have only used the one lock so far, so this was going home anyway. Goodbye Abus D-lock and goodbye 691g.

Panniers

Our tandem bike will use two less panniers. We will be using Kat's rear pannier bags, instead of my front panniers on our tandem. This evaporates 1590g from our load.

Clear glasses

We've only busted the clears out on occasion. They are not worth the bulk in our handlebar bag. Ciao 150g (including hard cases).

Handlebar Bag

The tandem only really has space for one handlebar bag up the front. That makes sending this home a simple decision taking 650g from our baggage.

Tubes

Having two wheels instead of four means we carry half as many tubes saving us 190g!

Pedal Power + V4i Cable

We will now be generating power from only one dynamo hub so we need only one charging cable which reduces our load by 75g.

Cycling Shoes

Kat has decided that clip-in shoes are not required for her, she much prefers flat pedals. This increases our pannier space and sheds 882g.

Hario Grinder

Devastatingly, our coffee grinder is going home. The last time we found really good beans was Montenegro and since then we've been stocking up on Illy pre-ground which is reliably giving us a great flavour. The upside is a 247g weight loss.

Tennis ball

We had planned to use this tennis ball for stretching, and although we should use it, we are just too lazy to do much more than a basic stretch. Goodbye 55g.

Sea to Summit 6L Pack Tap

We haven't actually needed to use our pack taps, but are expecting longer stretches where water will be required soon! This takes 109g off our hands.

Total

5.5kg of weight shed (and 9kg for the entire trip!)

Not only this, but we estimate that another 5-10kg has been lost from swapping to one tandem bike instead of two.