Indeed - commuting shoes with recessed cleats are a must for overnight bikepacking IMHO.
I have invested in some cheap PX kit - a bar bag and frame bag (they have a 2 for £40 offer on) - so the plan is to see if I can get all I need into that and the torpedo bag. Will divert some time to this over the winter.
I watched a video recently of how someone manages kit for long trips, will try to find it and post here
I was on 2.7kg before cooking kit, clothes, spares, running kit…
I have a trekkertent stealth 1, and custom carbon poles. The entire setup with pegs is about 800g, maybe less. That is a 2 layer tent in dark green, so also good for wild “stealth” camping. Not the easiest tent to pitch in the dark, but it packs real small and the poles fit in my framebag and weigh almost nothing.
The really bulky items in my kit are the sleeping bag and sleep mat. They don’t weigh much, but the tent plus those fill up the rear seat bag. I don’t bring cook kit for over nighters, but if I was going deeper into the wild I would, or if I was doing an adventure where distance covered didn’t matter as much I would, as a warm cuppa can transform your mood.
My sleeping bag is a summer one, but I augment with a silk liner and/or my Rapha down explorer hoody depending on temperature. I did sleep one spring night without a bag. It was cold!!
Battery pack, lock, snacks, head torch or helmet lights, etc… the gear does add up!
Front bag is a Wizard Works Lil Presto! It stores all my snacks, battery packs, lights, and my down jacket. It is like the tardis that bag.
The frame bag was packed with tent poles and pegs, some food, some spare clothing for layering up.
The Rapha seat bag has the main sleep kit mentioned above, and a lock that fits 2 bikes looped onto it.
Tool box under the down tube.
I’ve bought an MSR Elixir tent, which is just under 2Kg, and a Kylmit insulated sleeping mat, which weighs not a lot. Already owned a really nice 4 seasons down sleeping bag, which packs up small, and is nice and light… should see me through a decent extended season if desired.
Remember reading this when you posted originally but just read again as I’m also interested in something similar. If you have the time I’d be interested to know what route you would take now given your experience on the trip.
Pillow? Just use some soft clothes in a stuff sack; I just use a fleece or duvet jacket if I’m not wearing them.
Hey mate, I did NC500 in the Summer with my partner - she wasn’t too keen on camping so we did B&B’s and spread it over 6 days.
On my search I didn’t come across many issues with minimums stays and I used a mixture of Booking.com and AirBnB. Would also suggest double checking they have somewhere to store your bike/can bring it into the room. We had only had one place (the one day it was pissing it down) who didn’t have any bike storage and wouldn’t let us take it into our room.
Like the millennials we are, we have a written a little bit on our blog about it: http://www.weekendwatts.co.uk/bikepacking-the-nc500/ and there is also a video on there we made too - if you want to know specifics where we stayed I’m happy to drop you a DM 
Yea I’ve used that option before with mixed success, this is a pretty small inflating OEX one.
Feedback on the bikepacking groups seems to be the one “luxury” people would take is a packable pillow of some kind.
The route I did was really enjoyable. Apart from the tweaks mentioned in the report around Aberystwyth and then going further north after leaving St Davids (to avoid the river Towy catchment basin), I would say it’s a great way to see most of Wales (the good bits anyway ).
Of course it’s by no means the only option and, incidentally, I have already planned Round Wales (aka Raid Cymru) v2.0 by an almost totally different route (I think c20-30 miles shared with v1).
It goes round the Llyn peninsula, through the Elan valleys and visits a bit of the south coast.
I found a cyclepath all the way through Swansea which will hopefully make that section bearable.
It doesn’t get as high and there’s less time in national parks but I reckon it will be just as good.
Many thanks Fraser, I will get in touch if I go ahead rather than a second trip round Wales.
Very helpful blog … although could have done with more narrative - we are used to hearing about all the pain on this site
Surprised to see you didn’t go to JOG? I’ve not looked in enough detail at the route variants to understand what routing options there are
Yeah we spent more time on the video and CBA writing much on the blog - will probably get round to it eventually!
Re: not going to JOG. A few people we’d spoke to mentioned that the road back from JOG (A99 & A9) isn’t particularly enjoyable for cyclists. And from what we experienced of the A9 further along I’d probably agree. Neither of us were too fussed about going to JOG for the sake of it so we cut through. That part was extremely barren - but no cars - just a couple of logging lorries who scared the sh*t out of you when the wind is so loud you can’t hear them.
Is there a reason you’ve decided to cut back through the middle of the Gower? It’s a nice route back along the Southern bays that you’d be missing out on, whereas the open common/moorland isn’t quite as interesting, but can be pretty exposed - same as the Burry Port/Llanelli section to be fair (but that can’t really be avoided, but it does get windy!).
Probably done all you can through Swansea. The bike path on the seafront is the friendliest way to the city. It’s ok, but can get busy with people if you’re going in the summer. Typical seaside mixed use bike path. The dull bit is back north through Morriston, Clydach etc. Along the river, as you have it, is probably your best bet. But it’s not going to be your favourite part of the route! They’re not on the S Wales highlight list. 
I’d also suggest amending your route through the Preseli’s. Take the SW route from Crymych, through Mynachnlogddu, Maencolochog, Llys-y-Fran and then into H’west (which is dull as).
Sorry … you totally didn’t ask for any feedback on your plan! It just made for a very rare occasion on this site where i actually have a good bit of local knowledge!!! Sorry!
You know what a thread like this really needs? PICTURES 
Thanks … my recollection is that sticking to the Gower coast meant having to use an A road whereas going inland slightly avoided it … but I could be confusing this with another section of the route.
On the route into H’West, I think I let strava choose the route, all those roads are new to me - I will amend to take in your recommendation
It was the best part of a year ago when I mapped it out and the main aim was to hit the key places I wanted to visit and keep the trip to c600 miles whilst also landing me in a reasonable place to stay each night. The latter was quite hard to achieve whilst keeping the daily distances relatively constant. For example, Caernarfon would be the ideal place to stay on the first night but that would make day 1 = 80 miles and day 2 = 120 miles. Similarly after day 5, Brecon would leave a hideous final day of 120 hilly miles but there’s very little north of Brecon. My plan was to see what I could find closer to setting off and be flexible.
I’m happy to hear any ideas
Your wheels don’t match. How can you live with that 
LOL 
Lazy
Looks a touch more back heavy than ideal, but of course you get used to the steering inputs quite quickly and the weight is less of a factor when you are travelling along at a comfortable pace. If it allows you to pack all your gear then great. It looks secure, and the resultant camp is luxurious. I guess your rear end is actually more stable than mine as I find the saddle bags do cause a bit of sway that can cause a sort of lagged turning input that I dislike. My next plan is to reduce my rear pack load, and put more in the middle of the frame (framepack) and front (handlebar bag) to see if that works.
