All the Gear ....

Gear
This time I took a different list of equipment .
polish lavuu tent
Msr pot and wood gas stove
US army cup and canteen set
Czech army sleeping bag and summer down inner bag
Gerber knife and cold steel tomahawk
Udc candle light
folding campfire BBQ
inflatable sleeping mat
a travel solar panel

Let's start at the tent. The polish Lavuu is two canvas ponchos that button together to form a teepee tent. It's old school.
If you leave everything behind such as the poles and pegs and just take the poncho it weighs in about 3kg. a tad heavy but... it is bomb proof.
Let me explain bomb proof. This thing has not plastic parts and is made of canvas. You can light a fire inside , and I have! it will be fine. I have run aluminum air conditioning  tube out one of the arm hold and used a mini BBQ as a heater with no problems at all, try that in your silver nylon over priced garbage.
Also as simple as it is , it can be tricky to set up. I am 5,9 and if I do not get the pole height just right I can either sit up. inside comfortably and have my feet poke out the bottom or I can have my head touch the roof but the feet inside. there is a trick to the set up!
Thing is though you don't need to use a centre pole . Run a ridge line and tie off the top from the outside means you have no centre pole and lots of room, I mean lots of room.
But the biggest problem by far is it is dark and I mean dark inside! pitch black!
this means that you can quite happily sleep through the night and half way through the next morning!  All for 3kg !
I like the thing.
If I were going long term into the wild this would be the tent for me. Bicycle , motorbike this thing would be perfect. Ultralight , short term, maybe not, my light weight hammock or bivi would be the thing.
next on the list is the MSR stainless pan and lid and wood gas stove.
Again bullet proof with good points and bad points. The good points are that they fit together nicely one inside the other , both are stainless steel with no parts that can break , maybe the handle on the MSR pot but you would have to be trying !
The drawbacks; well the woodgas stove requires a fire and firewood, also it's efficiency is a problem in that it needs a lot of attention compared with a BBQ. Also try lighting a fire with wet wood and no matches. it's a skill I can assure you. ( a later trip saw the axe handle being used for tinder !)
I use the lid of the MSR as a frypan or plate, this works well. giving me a big pot and a large frypan. and being stainless steel , both could be a little lighter!
The GSI canteen and cup. This is one of those ideas that have stood the test of time. A cup fits over the bottom of a canteen and a stove fits over the bottom of the cup, add to that a lid that sits under the whole arrangement and there isn't anything I cannot do! bake muffins Mrs Jones sure no problem! bread? easy as!
The only real problem with the canteen is the amount of water , only one quart. Not enough.
As you. may have noticed so far, I use a lot of military equipment. Military equipment is cheap longlasting read bomb proof but heavy. If you intend to use this stuff everyday door a long period , this is the stuff, but you must be careful. The weight will soon add up. so only take the minimum.
So on that note. The Czech sleeping bag. what do we say about this!. It buttons together, a cotton inner sheet to a woollen blanket which all buttons to a water resistant outer , which has a metal full length zipper. Really nice to sleep in , but oh boy,  is it big!  add a down 2 season sleeping bag and you have something that is good in to the negative temperatures, I know I've been there and have the hat!
The good thing about the bag is you can wash the and swap out the individual components and it zips out into a blanket . A very versatile bit of kit Don't ask about the weight , possibly a ton or a ton and a half !.
Now we come to the sharp end of the conversation. Cutting.
A well respected outdoor person called Gear part 2
Dave Canterbury uses , in his words, the "5Cs"
Cutting
Cordage
Cover
Container
Combustion
There are other ways of remembering this but I find this the most convenient.
Cutting:
I took with me a cold steel tomahawk and a Gerber fixed blade knife and a small opinel folding knife
All were used and abused.
All came through with flying colours.
The tomahawk was used for processing wood ,making tent poles and stakes and fixing my bicycle frame , yes I hit it with the blunt side of the tomahawk untill it worked ..it's the best method.
Edge retention on all of the knife was ok , not stellar but ok , and that was in part to my lack of care.
The Gerber was and continues to be abused , smashed through logs when battening wood , cutting through food onto stone , cutting through cans to make burners. It's almost as good as the ginza steak knifes as seen on TV...
I could probably get a better edge on it but , hey it worked.
Overall, what can we say about the gear . Honestly.  It all worked and had its place in the grand scheme of things. The tent while being heavy was very warm and dark and I did sleep well ( too well sometimes ).  Would alcohol stoves worked any better ? they are quick to light but then I have to find fuel . The sleeping bag could have been a goose down high-tech wonder but then I wouldn't be able to wash the sheets though if I can keep its basic shape but get more insulation i.e warmer that would be fantastic.I will look into this.
While the tomahawk did help to fix the bicycle and cut a few tent. pegs  I wonder if I could have got away with less.
and on that note , the answer to the question did I take too much .
possibly. I could have gone with a silver nylon tarp and hammock but then the sleeping bag would have felt the strain , would a woollen blanket have helped , too heavy ?  these are questions we will only find out next time in
Okinawa.

Miyakejima and the boy

Miyakajima
Decided to get away and at the same time introduce the boy to cycle touring.
So chose a close(r) destination , that being one of the islands in the Tokyo bay area. ..
After a late start due to a touch of the hangovers we set off along the arakawa cycling road, this follows the river into Tokyo. It's a 50 km ride to the ferry and while I may be used to it , a 12 year old boy may not. So we went slowly with a stop or two. Cheese burgers were needed. Around five pm and after cheeseburger or two we arrived at the end of the arakawa cycling road. This necessitated asking our dear friend Google maps , whom promptly replied with , " left, right , straight, go home E.T."..
We turned right and went straight.
The ferry was a long way , and the boy did well to keep going. When we arrived at the ferry, he was on reserve. The ferry duely paid for we settled in for the wait , junk food helped.
Boarding the ferry was straight forward, once the silly people had been dealt with , they wanted the carrier removed for no reason. Not happening.
The ferry was very nice , clean and well run. We had a small tatami room to ourselves and the boy had a TV. He was happy.
A walk around the ship revealed a shower for 100 yen , bonus. 
At 10 we had a shower and went to bed, the light went off anyway. Knowing we had to be up at 5 am in order to be ready to leave the shop we set the alarm.
5am the alarm went off , we arose and packed up. Just as we finished a very hurried steward came running up to us , urging us to get a f###ing move on. He wasn't joking. The ship literally stops for a few minutes and it's gone .
Well there we were in the cold and weak morning light.
This time we didn't wake Google. It's an island.
We cycled up to the top of the road and turn right up the hill down into a lovely bay.
Now at this point, I should point out that Miyakejima is a volcano and sometimes it clears it's lungs . The beach is made up of volcanic moon rock. A lovely place to cook some eggs and bacon.
After breakfast we continued, on the look out for a convenience store. There ain't none. So after a few km, we stopped. It was sunny and warmer now, so the boy went to sleep on a rock and I cycled back to the nearest habitation that might have been a shop and bought supplies.
He was still asleep when I got back , so I made coffee and ate donuts before the monster awoke and saw donuts.
We continued along the road and took a detour to the lighthouse.
A walk around a windy volcanic shoreline is interesting , in that you can see the flow of the liquid mud and rock that came from the centre of the island . and the colours of the differing layers. It was easy getting to the lighthouse as it was down hill but returning to the road was long.
The boy by now was nearing empty and with lunch time approaching we decided to stop. Well he had gone from cycling to walking to needing the cattle prod . So the next lay-by lunch sorely needed.  He slept.
After lunch the hill was attacked once again and a steady plod finally was rewarded with the familiar long and graceful downhill.  The view was very nice to say the least .
Now we cannot call these villages , they are but one or two houses does not a village make . but the road started to rise again and I knew the cattle prod needed recharging so I started to look for somewhere to sleep.  I kind of already knew where but the boy was now on auto pilot .
We arrived at a volcano viewing site where a huge valley had been created when the island threw it's toys out of the cot . We dragged the bicycles up to the top.  It looked ok , but the wind and now the rain were starting to drive up from the beach making our intended resting place a little harsh. On decending to pick up the boys bike, I noticed a path leading to a beach. Following the path led to a lunar landscape  of desolate and quite beautiful proportions.  I, as by now you have realised have fallen in love with this place.  love may be a strong word but I do like this
Miyakajima 2
Island . it has a desolate beauty to it which I like. 
I set up a lean to and put the sleeping bags inside. gave the boy the bivi bag and I just slept in a sleeping bag. I started to cook , the boy was  talking on his phone and when I looked round his tank was empty and he was asleep.
Oh well. I ate dinner, bacon eggs and fried  spam with mashed potatoes in a mustard sauce and went for a walk.
On return, the boy was awake and eating , so I made some chocolate and retired for the night , the rain had settled in anyway.
The next morning the boy decided that he was going to follow higher instructions and try to return for his enterance ceremony on the monday. Which meant being back on the Sunday. Ok for me but I seriously doubted he could do it , well over 120km,  in a day ? . We packed up had breakfast and were on the road by 9:30. It was warm but the rain was on again off again on again affair. the boy seemed happy.
we followed the road around and up until we arrived at what looked like a shop with a vending machine. On giving the boy money he bought a drink and found 100 yen. looking some more another 100 yen . By the time he had finished he had found over 500 yen !.
I mean while was still in tears and in shock at seeing the price of a small can of beer. If I lived here homebrew would be the order of the day.
We followed the road round. What I mean to say is ; there is no other road so you can only go one way. When we arrived at the airport a helicopter was sitting on the tarmac and a plane was getting ready to leave. We decided to watch the plane take off.
As we were, I struck up a conversation with a woman looking after a small boy. She was the English language teacher at the local high school, which explained her use of the English language.  I found out a lot about the practicalities of living on the island. Amazon did deliver but.
With lunch and a ferry deadline approaching we bought Benton at the first and probably the best (so far)  supermarket as well as some souvenirs before hitting the road and arriving at the place where we had breakfast 24 or more hours before.
a big dinner consisting of everything we had left over and the bento we had bought , left us needing a walk on the beach and as we had a few hours to kill .
I like being a few hours before departure , everything ready just get on the ship. So after we had washed , changed and packed .The bike loaded into their container and tickets bought. We went for a walk .  Noticing a bit of swell in the ocean, I told the boy to stand by the big rock. He didn't see the wave . The photo is a classic .
The ferry arrived , an amazing bit of efficiency rivalling a F1 team and we were away. Same deal as before. 
I say in the cafe and read while the boy watched TV .  It's a surprisingly long journey. But a shower and hot food and a walk on the deck does wonders for the constitution.
The ferry was uneventful and arrived at 8pm .
We unloaded and set up and were on the road by 9pm . Now I wanted to sleep at the arakawa river then spend the next day going home . The boy had other ideas.
Tokyo. What can you say ! Are the people like everyone big city ,or is the Tokyoite gifted with a special brand of head-up-their-arse. The ride towards the arakawa , one should use their  own imagination to fully realize the frustration.
It was a straight run this time to the river and facing a 40km ride in the dark would land us in Tsuruse at 2 or 3 in the morning. I said to the boy if he wanted to camp , he said "no" but wanted a cheeseburger.
So along the river we went ,arriving at itabashi McDonald's near 11 pm.
Back on the road ,it was cold and clear and just a matter of crunching the miles .  Until the boys battery went flat . Around asakadai. About 10 km from home .
Rest breaks weren't helping, so the only thing to do was push when his legs gave out.
He did very well , very well indeed. We arrived at tsuruse around 2 am and that last climb up the hill was his  absolute all he had nothing left.
We arrived home at 2.30 am and he died at 2.31am.
I unloaded bthe bikes and had a snack before going to bed about 4. To die, to sleep,
To sleep, perchance to Dream; aye, there's the rub,
for in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
when we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
And one of us had shuffled.
Miyakajima is a easy ride and a nice little adventure.
As with the other islands in the Tokyo bay it is easy to get to
If I have any complaints it's the cost of the ferry. But seeing as how long it took and how clean the ferry was with all its amenities . It's a small price to pay

Will I go back . Yes I will