Gregory Alpaca Gear Wagon 140
Muddy Madam decided to go all bohemian, and booked a ticket to the Fantasy Forest Festival. Now you notice I said ‘ticket’ singular, because honestly I’m not the ‘dressing up as pirates’ or ‘fairies’ kind of guy. Being on her own at a festival where you have to park a long way away from where you camp, and hauling plenty of kit that comes along with being over 50 (proper camp beds’n’all that), she needed a way to lug it all from car to camp, whilst manoeuvring rolling hills and sheep poo.
Enter the Gregory Alpaca Gear Wagon 140, a total game-changer, and bad-back saver.
You must have a pirate hat on top of your kit when going to a festival, it’s the law!
Now, when I first saw it, I wondered if we needed such a beast. Gregory, best known for their backpacks, have clearly applied their rucksack wizardry to this rolling cavern, and it shows. With a whopping 140-litre capacity, this wagon isn’t dainty, and nor do you want it to be.
140 litres is big, and it can carry 110Kg (17stone 3lbs!) of weight with the interior floor put it in - that’s astounding, that’s almost me! If you remove the interior base you have a mesh bottom that will allow sand and dirt to fall through - great for if you a lugging your stuff through the dunes and back, and don’t want a car to end up looking like the beach you just left.
The telescopic handle adjusts for tall and short folk alike (no hunched-over dragging here). The wheels are 8” in diameter, rugged, and actually designed to go over sand, gravel, mud and all the other lovely terrain we lot seem to gravitate towards. When you’re pulling it over a field that’s suspiciously more bog than grass, the Alpaca Gear Wagon just gets on with it, and the wheels nimbly swivel for tight turns.
We tested it on a proper mixed bag: wet grass, compacted gravel, loose sand, and a few curbs for good measure. It didn’t squeak, moan, or even hint at giving up.
A friend of ours has an almost inaccessible woodland, and slap bang in the middle there’s a storm-damaged tree that’s been chopped up ready for his woodburner, and the Alpaca was the perfect tool to move it all.
There are pockets too - 3 corner pockets and a larger one at the front secured with velcro, handy for stashing bits of ropes, pegs, or water bottles. It also comes with a rain/sun cover with reflective loops, that goes over the open wagon to keep everything in and dry during a sudden British monsoon. The bright blue bungees loop over a fastener on each wheel to keep held securely in all weathers.
It folds down easily, and stows away neatly into a perfectly shaped, heavy-duty carry bag. There is a pull strap on the top for lifting and to keep it securely folded as you put the bag on. The bag has carry straps on the top and on both sides, making it easier to lift into the car. The bag covers the wheels too, so saving your car or other gear from getting dirty if you have muddy wheels.
It is not the smallest, but fit nicely into an ordinary car boot along with lots of other gear, as tested by Muddy Madam in the Suzuki Swift.
Yes, it’s meant for hauling camping gear, overlanding accessories, BBQs, or your half-built awning, but you can also use it to haul away your purchases at car shows, or for sticking the dog, kids, or both in it when they’ve had enough traipsing about.
Any Drawbacks?
The price seems like the obvious drawback, but at the festival, Muddy Madam tested it against her friend’s newly purchased £80n wagon, and you could tell the difference immediately. Hers wasn’t as big, could hold less than half the weight the Gregory can, and the handle felt like it could break at any moment. The manoeuvring of her much smaller wheels was tough going, even on the hard, dry, undulating hills, and it also didn’t come with a cover.
This isn’t a dainty festival trolley; you get what you pay for, and in this case, you’re paying for rugged dependability and the knowledge that you won’t have to replace the wagon every summer, which I suspect, if you went on quite a few excursions, you would have to do with the cheaper versions.
Our Verdict
The Gregory Alpaca Gear Wagon 140 is, quite frankly, brilliant. Whether you’re trekking across a festival, hauling gear at a camp site, or just want a stylish solution for carrying everything except the kitchen sink (or including it, no judgment), this wagon pulls its weight, and then some. It’s one of those rare bits of kit that you don’t know how you lived without until you’ve used it. Not only that, but it’s designed to last, and backed by Gregory's lifetime warranty.
Price: £200
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