You should take with you every allen key, socket, spanner, wrench and plier that you have every used on your bike.

Now take a look over every other exposed bolt (other than the engine block) and make sure you have the appropriate allen key, socket, spanner etc. for it too.

You may even want to take off footrests, sidestands, headlights, indicators, spark plugs, radiator grills (anything, really) just to make sure you have all the appropriate socket extension arms you need too for them too.

You will, of course, have practiced fixing a puncture (tubed or tubeless as appropriate) and literally get the rubber off the wheel.

On your own you quickly discover just what a ball-ache it can be whether that comes in the form of loosening the rear axle, breaking the bead or even just keeping track of and keeping clean washers and bearings and axles.

For the XT, it turns out that Yamaha don't supply the 14mm hex bolt required to undo the front axle. A bit of a show stopper if I hadn't tried to change my front before leaving.

At this point you'll realise that your groundsheet comes in handy for keeping track of stuff and keeping it clean and that you'll need to include some Windex (or other alcohol based window cleaning solution) and talcum powder in your kit. And some general purpose grease to slather back on the axle and bearings when you put them back in.

So, practice stripping your bike down (as you can bet you'll have to do it at some point) and take all those tools you used with you.

One thing you may have noticed as you struggled to get some of the bolts out is some coloured goo on the end of the bolt. Loktite! Buy a tube and squidge some on the end of every bolt when you put it back on.

I didn't do that and as my Morocco trip was drawing to a close I thought the rear brake was a bit soft. On closer inspection, the top bolt holding the lever on was missing entirely and the bottom bolt had but a couple of turns left before it too would have become a road hazard. The moral here is to ensure that your bolts are in tight enough (but not too tight!) and check them regularly!