carrying capacity and long haul drives.

You might consider a standard roof rack that uses roof bars attached to the side rails. This would be universal and could be useful for the lighter stuff such as clothes,camping gear etc. in fact a few years ago I used a roof bag which came with a foam mat and just sat directly on the roof using built in straps attached to the side rails.
Of course you still need to only use it for lighter/softer stuff as it could dent the roof but it has the advantage of stowing away until you need it.
Only you know what stuff you have and can decide on what you need but there are roof bags available now that have a built in base so all you need are roof bars.

The (A) problem is that my driver's side (your passenger) rail has been broken at some point in the past. The plastic end snapped. And a bodge has been done whereby a new cap has been fitted and the space underneath has himly been injected with silicon to hold everything together. So there's no way I would trust it with any load, even the miserly 25kg that Suzuki recommend. This is the problem with using those rails in any way. Their capacity is too low for my needs. And if they weren't, I'd still be forking out a wedge for bars and whatever sits on top of those in order to carry a relatively small portion of what I need to carry.

A softbag is a good idea, but they're not cheap. And again, comparing cost per unit of load, in either weight terms or volume, a trailer wins I think. As a matter of interest, what's the load capacity of the roof itself?

I took the rear seats out yesterday and today will make up a ply floor. I can get rubber matting out here but it's about 6mm thick and plain. Might use it, I don't know yet. but ordering stuff from the uk takes at least a week if not longer and there's no other reason for me to hang about...

The trailer I'm thinking of would be about 6ft long by 4ft by 4ft. Plus the angled connection bit at the front whatever it's called. I was intending to remove the passenger side front seat too, but on reflection, I can fold it flat if I need to, and it's probably worth gambling that the extra space created by removing it is minimal compared to the capacity of the trailer. My main concern is weight, and much of what I have comprises books. I'm willing to discard some of them (reluctantly) though. I can't make a judgement until i get to the UK. To be honest, I don't know what I have. I haven't seen the random collection of boxes and cases for over a year and a half and can't remember the details.

Upshot is that once I've seen what I have, and started to load into the trailer and back of the car, I'll make a call on using the roof or not. Until then I risk spending a lot without needing to. This is already costing a bomb for a load of old stuff that's worthless.

Other debate still raging is whether to go to the uk via Italy and France, and back again, or via Bulgaria, Roumania, Serbia, Hungary etc and back the easy route. As I'm travelling alone, I suspect that if I do the latter, I'm going to get bored and just want to crack on with it. So favour the quicker and blander route at the moment. I've only been here in Crete for two months and have plenty of exploring to here as it is.

Mind you, I say 'easy route', but another factor in that route is that coming back, fully laden and towing a bloody great trailer, I have no choice but to cross the Alps. I can see myself hacking up some mountain in first gear for mile after mile.

All brake pads and shoes to be changed today, plus a possible skimming of discs. And new tow hook to be fitted.

And of course, when I get to the UK and buy a trailer, it's a cast iron, sod's law certainty that the existing electrical trailer socket on the car won't work.

Roof bags can be had for app £50 in the UK but I missed the part about the broken rail in your earlier post.
There is no specific weight limit for the roof just the rails BUT common sense would dictate that hard or heavy objects won't do the roof any good.
As a matter of interest I have seen ones where the straps go through the tops of the doors.
I just thought it might release some volume if you had stuff such as clothes,bedding,camping gear etc. in other words bulky stuff but not heavy.
I put soft stuff on the floor of the bag (eg bedding to protect the roof) then put lighter but hard stuff such as lightweight folding chairs on top along with tent etc.
If most of your stuff is heavy then forget the roof.

Well, went to change disc pads. Discs slightly warped (which I knew as they were grabbing). had rear drum brakes overhauled and adjusted.. and they were a mile out. Seems the discs have been doing all the work for some time, which is why they've overheated and warped, probably coming down a Cretan mountain. So had the discs skimmed as well. Now all good as new. But worth noting.. drums need adjustment? Watch out for your discs.

New tyres next, as current ones are old and starting to perish. Sad what you discover when you look up close and the car's on a ramp...

I would love to have unlimited access to a ramp, my car would be like those show ponies that you can see your reflection in on the paintwork underneath. It would be lovely.

11/60 wrote: I would love to have unlimited access to a ramp, my car would be like those show ponies that you can see your reflection in on the paintwork underneath. It would be lovely.

Maybe have a look into a Grumpy design car-roller......Probably the way I'm going in the near future.

Google images finds Grumpy Car Roller nicely ....so does youtube....I used one on a Bristol....took 2 of us to roll it