They take some doing but are fun to make and here is my third submission into the genre:

UPDATE: It’s now the eve of my departure and everything is packed away. Time to reflect of what is to come over the next three weeks…

Not bad… As noted, you need to dedicate a couple of hours of your time to creating such an image. The easy bit is arranging everything on the floor. I’ve actually been collating the equipment over the past week or so. Here’s a work-in-process image from earlier in the week, complete with reflective panniers:

The tricky bit is taking the photograph without the help of a crane or the athletic ability to dangle yourself from the cable of a lampshade (not advisable). It took me quite a few attempts with two different cameras before I was happy with the result. Most of the following images didn’t make the cut:

For the sake of comparison, here’s the photograph of my equipment prior to setting off on the cycle from Tarifa to Nordkapp in 2015…

…and this was my first attempt back in 2013 prior to setting off on the cycle along the Mediterranean. I was clearly less of a perfectionist at the time:

Very little survives from that 2013 kit photograph; the helmet, the camping towel, my red washbag, my yellow University of York / Wentworth College mug and perhaps one or two of the smaller items. More survives from 2015 but I’ll leave you to play spot the similarities.

There is an ‘equipment’ page on Cycling Europe.org and there you will find these two images:

As you can see I numbered all the items and listed them on the equipment page. I’m not sure if I’ll have time to do something similar prior to setting off on the three-week Isle of Wight / Spain / Portugal trip at the weekend. Perhaps it could be a job for the long ferry journey from Plymouth to Santander…

UPDATE: I couldn’t resist! I’ve numbered the images on the new photograph and you can see them above. What will take the time is making the list…

So, let the debate commence as to whether I really do need a survival bag, D-lock, DSLR microphone… (I’ll let you finish the list in your own time). Comments are, as ever, welcome.