Well, I'd say the cleverness came in when you elected to sell two excellent bicycles and replace them with a single Mercury, and if it was all about my recommendation then I'm delighted to hear it has worked out so well. I certainly don't envy anyone else their velocipede when I'm out on the trail. And the Merc is so damn versatile – not just in what it can do but in the way that it does it. A bike that can comfortably handle a camping load in four panniers shouldn't feel this lively when you're out on a day ride. And yet, as you observe, it's superb in both roles.

Here's an extra shot, this time from my most recent multi-day trip. Which I've intended to write up on here, but haven't so far. This was a three-night camping trip conducted almost exclusively on cycle trails in the north-east of my home state, Victoria, where they've converted a series of disused railways to bike paths. You'd think that would mean the route was mainly flat, but one of the lines they converted was long famed as the steepest in the southern hemisphere.

For Australians on the forum, this was the Murray to Mountains trail. We did Wangaratta to Everton, then took the climb to Beechworth and from there the descent to Yackandandah. The pic is from the return journey, a lunch-and-cuppa stop on the Yack-Beechworth leg.

Curiously, while I've tested the Mercury with four panniers, and have a low-rider Tubus rack for the front, I've not yet toured with four panniers. The loads I've carried haven't demanded that much space, and I keep seeing reasons for saving the 2kg that the front rack and twin Ortliebs add empty. But I think I will use four next time. It will be nice not to have the bags stuffed to the gills, and I think a couple of kilograms each side on the front will balance the load a bit better. There were times on this trip where the front end felt a bit light.

Getting off topic, I know. But comments about the Mercury Mk3 could be helpful for people considering a Mercury 40, which seems to be very similar.

Are you feeling clever to have got your Mk3 while you could, John?

  I'd like to say I timed it all well, Ian, but really, I just lucked in.  There was this fellow on the Thorn website who praised the Mercury, and I thought, "Why not? If it's good enuf for Ian, it's good enuf for me."

I sold two good bikes to cover much of the cost:  My Raven went to a friend of our daughter, who was over the moon about it when she rode it: "I don't have to fuss with derailleurs, I just twist the grip to the right gear!" She's toured in Ireland with it.
Then, I sold to my yoga teacher, the ti-framed Eclipse light touring bike I bought here in Ottawa in the winter of 2002-03.  This was the first really good bike I ever bought, and I was treating myself, as we were going to South Africa for three years in Aug 2003. The Eclipse was a lovely bike in many ways, but I had innumerable problems getting the gearing right. (But there's often a silver lining:  my frustration about not being able to get my lowest gear on a steep uphill in the Ottawa Valley in 2013 led to my discovery of & eventual membership in the Church of Rohloff.)  My yoga teacher bought the bike for his teenaged son, who never rode it much, and then announced he wanted an e-bike. I kept quiet, though it crossed my mind to offer to buy it back...

But my Mercury (named Freddie, of course) has been a delight.  It does most of what each of the other bikes would do, and I no longer need the Raven's medium/heavy touring capabilities.  I've done overnights and a weeklong tour in West Qué (with Ron Séguin); on these, and on day rides, I find myself saying, "Dang! This bike works sooo well!" A couple of years ago, I was visiting friends in the back country of the Ottawa Valley, and on my ride out of town, I eased past two women riders.  One said, "Oooooh, fancy bike!"  I said, gallantly, "Thanks, lass!"  She smiled.

That road you have as your "regular" ride looks a treat, Ian.  This spring, I've not been riding as much as I'd like (wretched weather, heavy-duty head cold, etc.) but I've started riding across the river and into the hills and trees of Gatineau Park. (Will assemble some photos and post those.)  Today, I rode to the base of the long/steep hill to the lookout which is the turnaround for my favourite 33 kms/2 hrs 15 mins out-and-back.  The canopy of trees has blossomed in the past two weeks, and just two days ago, my wife and I saw & heard the largest wing of Canada geese we'd ever seen/heard -- there was 80 or 90 of them overhead, heading for a bay on the Ottawa River for the night; perhaps going -- where? -- further north in Eastern Ontario, I'd guess.  Absolutely magical sound, and with the trees' foliage, confirmation that summer really has arrived.

Are you feeling clever to have got your Mk3 while you could, John? I'm certainly delighted that I stretched to the purchase of mine at a time when that needed some faith.

I've been stepping up the riding after having succumbed to various distractions, among them moving house (but not far). There's a lovely 40km (25 mile) cycle route (one way) that now begins pretty much at my door, and ends at a rustic outer suburb that offers several cafes. And a train that can bring me all the way back.

There was a time when I would cycle both directions, and I'm nearly back to that. Working my way up to it.

I've attached a few pics from the ride last week. The Merc really is a superb steed for this kind of going. You could argue that just about anything would be, but I would claim that not many other options would so effectively combine liveliness with comfort, and none with so little maintenance.

Following up on Moronic's comment,

I'm still really enjoying my Mercury Mk3 650B. Perfect for my use envelope of day rides and light touring, tar and gravel.

Yep.  Here, the only interference is from our inaptly named "spring weather": cool, wet, and windy, with occasional 30º days thrown in...

...
I cycle in sandals throughout the summer. If it's warm then my feet get a patchy sun tan, if it's cool I use socks and if it's cold and wet I use waterproof socks. They eventually get wet through but still provide some warmth and are much easier to dry than soggy boots or cycling shoes.

I prefer SPD cleats over sandals on platform pedals.  That said, my last tour was planned to be in warmer weather, so I wore sandals in rain when it would be too hot for rain pants.  And it was warm enough that I wore sandals in the campsite too.  I used Shimano A530 pedals that had a large enough platform on one side that the sandals with a fairly stiff sole were comfortable and SPD cleats on the other side.

But I am already struggling to minimize too much weight, do not want to carry sandals, and bike shoes, and hiking shoes.  That along with some flip flops for shower shoes.

Photo attached from that tour, but the photo was taken after the rain had quit.  Yes, I am wearing socks with my sandals.

My bike shoes will be Keen Commuter 4 cycling shoes (discontinued).  They were sold as a sandal, but with a closed toe I consider them to be shoes.
https://www.biketiresdirect.com/reviews/keen-mens-commuter-4-cycling-sandal
https://www.treefortbikes.com/Keen-Mens-Commuter-4-Sandal

They are slow to dry out but I have some cycling overshoe covers that I plan to wear with them when I wear rain pants that can overlap over the overshoes.  When too warm for rain pants, I will wear waterproof hiking shoes with waterproof gaiters.

Thanks.