Thorn Sterling with Mt Tura fork, 50mm Marathon Supreme road tyres, drop bars and a big saddle bag.
A little bit more flexible/comfy (as less stiff, but will thus carry a bit less load), bigger tyre clearances on bigger tyres,cheaper and less twitchy steering and marginally slower than an RST.
I find this set up perfect for rambling, explore and ride what you find, type trips. It will get lots of road miles covered painlessly and allow you have fun on the trails as well.
One mans happy compromise, anothers gold plated Frankencrossbike, you choose
Ian