Thanks all for the advice. I'm getting the trip kits, although I'm still choosing between the bootlang and pooleys ones (got some feedback about the bootlang often being out of date so may go for Pooleys).
2Donkey: the trip is free form and will be planning from one day to the next. Only constraints are that I'm restricted to 7 days (so will expect to go for 6 with one day wx contingency) and that I'd like to visit a friend near Koln.
Mak