Isn the computer a lot of extra weight?
Yes it is, all told it must add about 6kg and fills most of a front pannier, plus I am pushing a dynamo all the time to charge the batteries for it. It has a number of uses, perhaps the foremost is that I earn some money doing technical support for my old employer. But I’m a gadget freak so I like it for its own sake. Its other major uses are email, doing the website, archiving the photos (you couldn’t really use a digital camera unless you had a laptop or similar to download the photos to) and storing a heap of information such as maps, CTC information sheets and other cycle tourists’ websites. It also keeps me out of mischief on days off. Handheld computers are steadily improving and anyone contemplating taking a PC on a bike tour would do well to think hard about whether something like a Palm or a Compaq IPAQ could do the job instead.
