Guest post fom Andy at Aquapac. There are a few things that a Londoner like me can be absolutely assured of; Big Ben will strike noon every day, the price of a train ticket will go up every year and most assuredly of all, if I ever go camping I will end up with a pair of sodden wet socks.

Some would call it a minor annoyance that two such small articles of clothing couldn't dry out inside a tent where it was sub-arctic overnight and yet sub-tropical by breakfast time, and yet I find it quite a comfort to see like-footed campers draping their forlorn foot appendages over their backpacks, bicycles or guy-ropes like some secret semaphor.

But if like me you are a roving camper, moving from site to site each night, you may well find yourself with the same dilemma I faced one morning in France. This particular trip I was on a motorbike and heavy rain of Biblical proportions had ensured that everything I had been wearing the previous day was wet through. And it was cold. The sort of cold where putting on wet clothes wouldn't have been foolhardy, it would have been hospitalising.

I had a drybag as luggage, so plenty of dry clothes were available, but I had no additional means of carrying my wet socks (and the rest!) without soaking my remaining dry items. I'm way too disorganised to remember to pack separate carrier bags to wrap things in so I was left with no choice but to mix. Several hours later the moisture inside the bag had done an excellent job of spreading itself around with the result that everything was touch-damp and slightly pungent.
 
So I hit upon the idea of designing the Aquapac Noatak Wet & Dry bags. I started off with the traditional drybag, with its brilliantly simple roll-down closure (why reinvent the wheel?) and added features that would make it as useable as possible in the real-world. Inside each bag I put a central membrance, which separates your wet stuff from your dry stuff, without the need for separate zippers or pockets. Simple but hugely effective.

And then I looked at how most people use their drybags. I for one strap mine down to my motorbike, bicycle and occassionally boats, so I added a big reinforced patch (or lash-tab) which I've designed around bungee cords so it's tough, secure and easy to use.

And then I looked at carrying; a bag full of wet clothes is heavy, and harder to carry than a sleeping cat, so I added a modular strap system; completely removable or configurable as a shoulderbag or backpack so that I could carry it as the situation dictated (most often as a backpack now).

And now I wouldn't be without my Noatak bags. I use the bright orange version (there's also a grey one) on the back of the bikes; I tend to find that it complements the red of my eyes after 2 or 3 day's camping.