The campingcar capsule

Ethel, our Dethleffs campingcar, arrived at the end of January and provided the perfect reason to plan a month-long trip to Portugal to escape the cold, grey winter landscape of rural France. This was an ideal opportunity to put together a Project 333 Campingcar capsule wardrobe. I decided to limit my total number of clothing items, including shoes and bags to no more than 33. Previously I had not included shoes or bags in the seasonal capsules, now it was time to ‘up the game’.

Ethel - ready for action

 

The capsule wardrobe would have to cope with a wide range of temperatures as we would leave the Limousin at the coldest time of the year, travel down south to cross the Pyrenees and then down through either Spain or Portugal to the Mediterranean coast of the Algarve. We planned on taking at least three days to make the 1500 kilometre journey, so there would be some cold days and nights. Although warmer than at home, the Algarve in February is not hot, average daytime temperatures are around 12 – 15^c, so a range of autumn/winter clothes were required, with the potential to layer up (or down) as the weather suited.

There was no question that every item in the capsule would be technical/ travel clothing. I decided to stick with a blue colour scheme to ensure I could put together plenty of different outfits from the selection. First choice was all my recent Rohan purchases of long sleeve tops and fleeces. I decided on a mix of four short sleeved t-shirts, including one vest top I could wear under a shirt, eight long sleeve t-shirts or tops, including the Quechua blue mix check shirt and two thermal tops. Six pairs of trousers should be sufficient to last two weeks if washing facilities aren’t available, although it’s rare to go that long without finding a campsite with a laundry or a local laundrette.  After baselayer, I added a mix of three thick fleeces, including the Rohan green zip top and three thinner microgrid fleeces. For waterproof outers the capsule included a Rohan Pack Ice gilet and a black Pack Ice jacket, unfortunately the Pack Ice jacket isn’t waterproof, so I also took the Quechua waterproof jacket. This is a great value jacket, with virtually all the same features as OH’s far more expensive Rohan jacket.

I also wanted to include shoes and bags in the capsule this time. The choice of bag was easy – my Mountain Warehouse rucksack, carries everything and is easy to carry (not blue though…). Shoes included the Cotton Traders furry lined snow boots (just in case – after all we were going to sunny Portugal), walking boots, Merrell winter walking shoes and the Aigle suede shoes for town sight-seeing. The final item, number 33, was my shades of blue multi-coloured llama scarf. I’ll report later how the Campervan Capsule performed on the road.