The Alpaca Wheeled Duffle 100 from Gregory is high capacity tough travel luggage for long trips and real expeditions, writes Mike Gormley.
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Often when Jean and I travel we need to take a lot of kit. This is probably not the case for those off on an easy-going warm beach holiday, but on a trip such as I did not so long ago I needed to take, and bring back, a lot of kit.
On that occasion I was headed off by train, plane and coach from early spring weather in the UK, albeit very wet, into full winter conditions in mid-Sweden. Clearly a few T-shirts and shorts plus an extra pair of flip flops was not going to be enough for that jaunt. I needed space and capacity to take warm kit and footwear with me as well as both general outdoor and smarter clothing, yet also have room to bring back gear samples for reviews. So my choice for this was an Alpaca wheeled duffle from Gregory.
An extendable pull handle is incorporated into the back / base moulding of the duffle [©MG]
The Alpaca 100 is a 100-litre rolling duffle, with black or blue colour choices, and there is also a smaller 40-litre rolling version if travelling with less gear. I now have a number of Gregory items from their Alpaca range, which includes duffle bags without wheels, and have grown to realise these are great travel companions; tough, well-designed and likely to last for the long haul. In this case the long haul was very relevant, from trundling along station platforms and being humped and bumped up stairs to what seemed miles of airport walkways. Who knows what goes on when your luggage vanishes into the baggage handling areas of airports, but you just know the life of luggage is not always a gentle one. Once I was reconnected with my Alpaca Wheeled Duffle in Sweden it was straight into arctic cold and being trundled along on ice, snow and even cobbled streets.
On reaching my ultimate destination functionality was really put to the test as my accommodation was a good way from the coach and involved ascent of steep slopes as well as rough ice and snow. The 85mm wheels on this duffle are very good ones, of a decent size and tough. These are fitted into a robust hybrid polycarbonate tub which forms the base of this bag. Built into this is a retractable and strong handle which has two length settings; however for me, as a reasonably tall person, another longer section would have been handy especially for those long hauls. Also attached to the tub and above the retractable handle is a grab handle.
The top part of this duffle is of a flexible TPU-coated 900 denier fabric which is weatherproof, on my trip well proven, as well as being robust. This includes the zipped top and useful sized secondary zipped compartment which is useful for ‘grubbies’ or footwear. The top flap is secured by a chunky zip with very good T-shaped pull handles, and it is lockable; this zip has a weather shield all around. I feel this duffle would be fine on a 4×4 roof rack in poor weather, but I haven’t tested this yet. On the inside are zipped mesh pockets to help keep things sorted.
As back up to the top handle,and attached to the top, are well-placed, robust and very handy grab and carry handles – one on either side. I found I used these a lot. There is also a very sturdy one at the base end which doubles as a support for when the duffle is left standing vertical. These all work well when hauling the duffle onto luggage racks or onto the roof rack of a 4×4 or into coach underbelly stowage.
The top has webbing volume-adjuster straps on either side to ease the strain on the main zip as well as for keeping things more compact. As part of this are webbing loops to allow external straps to be used to attach additional items onto the top of the duffle. On the inside of the duffle are adjustable pull-straps to keep the internal contents contained and secured.
All in all, this is a very durable and good sized duffle with very useful and functional features. It weighs in just under 4kg and should last for many an adventure.
[images © Jean or Mike Gormley]
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