Halve the weight?

[Timelord]

Thankyou for that Mike. I have already discounted the army method of dumping the bergen and hoping to get back to it later. Generally in the military you would be in a squad and would attempt to fight through any ambush and being in a group would have a bigger chance of organising a return for the dumped bergen or to share any gear not lost. I think as a lone traveller with no scouts out in front then there may be no time to drop a bergen if a surprise is encountered and the chances of being able to come back later to recover the bergen are mixed - especially when you consider someone else may well beat you to it. I have been thinking that a pack light enough and compact enough to be able to leggit if necessary or to enable an efficient fighting response might be the best solution. Having a trailer to pull is of dubious merit. Yes it enables you to carry a lot of kit, but it is not good for high mobility, you can not jump over walls with it easily etc. Also if you have to ditch it, then you may lose all the kit on it, so I would not carry anything important on it. Also it would make any watchers look twice. Skateboard wheels make a lot of noise on metalled surfaces. I have recently purchased from an autojumble, a pair of 8inch spoked wheelchair front wheels with solid rubber tyres. These have high quality roller bearings and the tyres are fairly indestructable. I will make this into a hand cart but I am not sure of its usefulness if travelling by oneself in this crowded country. Wheely suitcases are very noisy and not very ergonomic. The idea is a lightweight serious long term bug out load for real cross country use. I don't envisage running through an ambush with a wheely suitcase in tow - preferably nothing in tow would be better.
Any more ideas or points of view are most welcome.... Regards, TL