Discussion
I've done it a couple of times and love it - although I have a motto of a 2 night stay anywhere. Just too much effort unpacking and putting the tent up just to put it all away again the morning ! But it works nicely - 2 nights somewhere, explore local roads, pack up and move to the next place for a couple of nights etc. We have a bike each and can take quite a lot of stuff to make it all very comfy.
Good quality inflatable mattresses, a good sized tent (3-4 person with a zip up porch for storage of gear and sitting if it's raining, stove, pots, pans, washing stuff, little chairs, even a little table. Amazing what you can carry really !
Earplugs and eye mask are essential for me to get good sleep - sunrise is early and people are noisy !
Good quality inflatable mattresses, a good sized tent (3-4 person with a zip up porch for storage of gear and sitting if it's raining, stove, pots, pans, washing stuff, little chairs, even a little table. Amazing what you can carry really !
Earplugs and eye mask are essential for me to get good sleep - sunrise is early and people are noisy !
There's a huge range of videos / posts on the subject that I've been watching as I have grand visions of travelling the world but I struggle to sleep even on a mattress in my van
The theme of any of the real adventurers is to keep it to an absolute minimum particularly if you go off road
I saw Lyndon Poskitt at the ABR and he said he makes 3 pairs of pants last about 3 weeks before he washes them - it's ok as there's no one near enough to smell him
The theme of any of the real adventurers is to keep it to an absolute minimum particularly if you go off road
I saw Lyndon Poskitt at the ABR and he said he makes 3 pairs of pants last about 3 weeks before he washes them - it's ok as there's no one near enough to smell him
Based on where you are is this wild camping or at a site?
I did this a few years ago...
Looks idyllic, man and machine, the open road... The reality being more:
Having ridden 6 hours to get to the camp site the the last thing you want to do is put up a tent.
With the equipment you can get on a bike it's uncomfortable.
It was 24 degrees during the day and 6 at night, so sodding freezing.
Had to wait an hour in the morning for condensation to dry before packing the tent.
One bog and one shower for the whole site, so probaly a worse ratio than Strangeways. Set alarm to get up early as if anyone was going to be the first to have a go on the pan it was me.
Surrounded by people for which the above is an enjoyable experience.
Unless it is really a must a hotel is far better.
Perversely, I would be more tempted to do the wild camping, at least then you can have a s
t when you want.
I did this a few years ago...
Looks idyllic, man and machine, the open road... The reality being more:
Having ridden 6 hours to get to the camp site the the last thing you want to do is put up a tent.
With the equipment you can get on a bike it's uncomfortable.
It was 24 degrees during the day and 6 at night, so sodding freezing.
Had to wait an hour in the morning for condensation to dry before packing the tent.
One bog and one shower for the whole site, so probaly a worse ratio than Strangeways. Set alarm to get up early as if anyone was going to be the first to have a go on the pan it was me.
Surrounded by people for which the above is an enjoyable experience.
Unless it is really a must a hotel is far better.
Perversely, I would be more tempted to do the wild camping, at least then you can have a s
t when you want.Bob_Defly said:
I'd like to try it this year, maybe just for one night as I can't stand not showering. 
Other than buying lightweight gear, anyone have any tips?
Book a hotel??Other than buying lightweight gear, anyone have any tips?
Not sure that's helpful to be honest.. can't think of anything worse after a great day riding about than having to put up a tent..
Off the bike, quick shower and sipping a beer within 5 minutes for me..
Good luck, and great that people love doing it...
I’ve done a fair bit of lightweight camping over the years, and thought going on the bike would be very straightforward. What threw me was the amount of space your biking kit takes up, even if you try to store it in panniers. That in mind, go for the biggest tent you can comfortably transport on your bike.
Don't do it!! I know you are in Canada but camping is camping and it's horrible especially and particularly on a motorbike. I watched from the comfort of my motorhome two bikes pull up in Riano in the Picos and pitch at the side of me. It was throwing it down, dropping dark and rather chilly. As they put up their tents everything was getting wet. Sleeping bags the lot. They put their bike gear to one side and it got wet. They had no where to sit except outside.
We finished up inviting them in for dinner lent them two dry sleeping bags and put their clothes in our drying locker.
To be fair to them though I would have gone home or booked a hotel next night. But off they set next day with smiles on their faces ready for another night under canvas.
We finished up inviting them in for dinner lent them two dry sleeping bags and put their clothes in our drying locker.
To be fair to them though I would have gone home or booked a hotel next night. But off they set next day with smiles on their faces ready for another night under canvas.
I used to do it quite a lot. The key thing (as mentioned above) is a good air mattress. You'll likely struggle to get a good nights sleep without one and the next day is rubbish if you don't get a good nights sleep.
Camping is fine when it's dry and reasonably warm but it's ste when it's wet. Arrive when it's raining and you have to put your tent up in the rain (and mud!) and then find somewhere out of the rain to store all your wet bike kit without it making the rest of your stuff damp and filthy.
Going to the toilet in the night/morning, in the dark, trying to control the wet and dry parts of the tent, putting on and taking off outdoor gear, becomes a nightmare and will almost always result in a damp cold sleeping bag.
If it's raining in the morning you have to pack everything away when it's damp. If you can get waterproofs on without getting too wet then you'll sweat like a pig while you pack everything away on the bike, even if you're wearing breathable waterproofs (With 100% humidity there's nowhere for the sweat to evaporate to!)
If it's also cold then all of the above is twice as uncomfortable.
It can be done, and some do it, but I'd suggest a cheap hotel/B&B is a MUCH better option for most.
Camping is fine when it's dry and reasonably warm but it's s
te when it's wet. Arrive when it's raining and you have to put your tent up in the rain (and mud!) and then find somewhere out of the rain to store all your wet bike kit without it making the rest of your stuff damp and filthy. Going to the toilet in the night/morning, in the dark, trying to control the wet and dry parts of the tent, putting on and taking off outdoor gear, becomes a nightmare and will almost always result in a damp cold sleeping bag.
If it's raining in the morning you have to pack everything away when it's damp. If you can get waterproofs on without getting too wet then you'll sweat like a pig while you pack everything away on the bike, even if you're wearing breathable waterproofs (With 100% humidity there's nowhere for the sweat to evaporate to!)
If it's also cold then all of the above is twice as uncomfortable.
It can be done, and some do it, but I'd suggest a cheap hotel/B&B is a MUCH better option for most.
Not sure if there's an equivalent for phones, but if you're using a satnav, google "Archies POI", it's a list of campsites you can put on your satnag. I've done a couple of trips where we haven't planned routes or camp sites until mid afternoon, and then just looked for something the area we're heading towards. On a couple of 2 week trips around the Alps it let us down twice: one place was closed and we just went for another one a few miles away; and the other turned out to be a sensibly priced Gite, with some other bikers already staying, so rather than a campsite so we stayed there instead
Campsites all have showers so don't let that put you off.
Campsites all have showers so don't let that put you off.
Do it!!!!
It's one of my favorite things. if you want specific kit recommendations that's fine, but in short (if you're not taking a pillion) I'd recommend some soft throwovers, a cheap tent, a bedroll and a decent sleeping bag. Keep (minimal) clothes in a binliner and take a pillow case to stuff them in for sleeping.
The more remote you go the more kit you'll need, so don't do that initially - you might hate it! Go somewhere in walking distance of a bar and in range of Deliveroo or similar.
Gratutious pics of bikes loaded up with kit follow:
Allowing elderly Enfield to cool down after seizing on the way up a mountain in Wales. Once it had calmed down we continued to our destination...
Elderly Enfield alongside another elderly Enfield with a tent pocket (sidecar). I think we were waiting for that one to cool down this time after climbing out of some town in the Chilterns...
Rusty Italian crap loaded to capacity;
Motoglamping:
Take a trailer for all your essentials. On this occasion it was filled with the brother in law's hair care products (pictured).
It's one of my favorite things. if you want specific kit recommendations that's fine, but in short (if you're not taking a pillion) I'd recommend some soft throwovers, a cheap tent, a bedroll and a decent sleeping bag. Keep (minimal) clothes in a binliner and take a pillow case to stuff them in for sleeping.
The more remote you go the more kit you'll need, so don't do that initially - you might hate it! Go somewhere in walking distance of a bar and in range of Deliveroo or similar.
Gratutious pics of bikes loaded up with kit follow:
Allowing elderly Enfield to cool down after seizing on the way up a mountain in Wales. Once it had calmed down we continued to our destination...
Elderly Enfield alongside another elderly Enfield with a tent pocket (sidecar). I think we were waiting for that one to cool down this time after climbing out of some town in the Chilterns...
Rusty Italian crap loaded to capacity;
Motoglamping:
Take a trailer for all your essentials. On this occasion it was filled with the brother in law's hair care products (pictured).
Be flexible.
Agree with lightweight - and pack to keep the weight low to minimise impact to the bike's handling.
If the weather's good, then fine: it's the lightweight tent (fits inside pannier) and a beer watching the sun go down. If not, then get on the phone and find a decent pub / hotel. On a trip, alternate between the two and enjoy the great outdoors one night and hygiene and decent food the next. If your kit (and kit-list) is light, then carrying it around for intermittent use isn't such a hassle and you're more inclined to deal with a "spartan" night under the stars when you know there's the prospect of comfort the next if you want it. When you have the ability to camp or stay under a roof, your plans can get more flexible as well.
I have been wanting to do north Scotland for some time and I have (from other ventures) a reasonable amount of lightweight kit. My rough plan was nearly wild camping (there's a website with membership) for those camp-by-the-beach moments and booking.com or whatever for other nights. I don't really care for a "touring site" with lots of big white boxes on electric hook-up, so nearly wild & hotels is my happy medium of the 2 ends of the touring spectrum!
As for food, then I have a stove and would bring something like Firepot meals to rehydrate at camp. If there's a local shop / cafe, then fine I can score some food there, otherwise the Firepot stuff is small, light and has a long shelf life (tastes decent as well).
Agree with lightweight - and pack to keep the weight low to minimise impact to the bike's handling.
If the weather's good, then fine: it's the lightweight tent (fits inside pannier) and a beer watching the sun go down. If not, then get on the phone and find a decent pub / hotel. On a trip, alternate between the two and enjoy the great outdoors one night and hygiene and decent food the next. If your kit (and kit-list) is light, then carrying it around for intermittent use isn't such a hassle and you're more inclined to deal with a "spartan" night under the stars when you know there's the prospect of comfort the next if you want it. When you have the ability to camp or stay under a roof, your plans can get more flexible as well.
I have been wanting to do north Scotland for some time and I have (from other ventures) a reasonable amount of lightweight kit. My rough plan was nearly wild camping (there's a website with membership) for those camp-by-the-beach moments and booking.com or whatever for other nights. I don't really care for a "touring site" with lots of big white boxes on electric hook-up, so nearly wild & hotels is my happy medium of the 2 ends of the touring spectrum!
As for food, then I have a stove and would bring something like Firepot meals to rehydrate at camp. If there's a local shop / cafe, then fine I can score some food there, otherwise the Firepot stuff is small, light and has a long shelf life (tastes decent as well).
Another vote for 'do it'.
I went away for 3 nights last summer on an MT07.
Tips:
- as mentioned above, you may feel cramped with all your kit on board. I squeezed mine into a 30l+20l Kriega combination.
-worth spending money on gear that can be rolled up small.
- don't bother with cooking equipment unless you're heading to the middle of nowhere.
- take bike boots you can walk around in.
I went away for 3 nights last summer on an MT07.
Tips:
- as mentioned above, you may feel cramped with all your kit on board. I squeezed mine into a 30l+20l Kriega combination.
-worth spending money on gear that can be rolled up small.
- don't bother with cooking equipment unless you're heading to the middle of nowhere.
- take bike boots you can walk around in.
I've done it a couple of times. First time a trip to Morocco in 2005 with my sister and her husband. Overnight ferry to France, then camped through France and Spain and ended up in Morocco. A year later I went with a mate, three two-night stops in Berlin, Prague and then Krakow; didn't use the camping gear at all for the first week as we used hotels, but we carried it all that way so that on the way back we camped in Austria and France taking a week to come back through the mountains.
You don't really need much - a few cheap t-shirts for under your riding gear and some spare pants and socks. Most of the time you'll be wearing leathers or textiles unless you're making longer stops near towns you want to spend time in. You can always buy some more in a supermarket and throw the old ones away.
I took the lightest sleeping bag I could, a blow-up mattress and used a sweatshirt as a pillow. Also a tiny gas stove, one pan, and some powdered hot chocolate - after a chilly night's sleep in one or two places that felt very luxurious!
I think this was in Austria, the metadata on the image says 17th May 2006 at 1411, so I guess we'd probably just arrived after a relatively short day's riding. The red R6 is mine, the SV had previously been mine but I sold it to my mate to help fund the R6 a few months earlier.
You don't really need much - a few cheap t-shirts for under your riding gear and some spare pants and socks. Most of the time you'll be wearing leathers or textiles unless you're making longer stops near towns you want to spend time in. You can always buy some more in a supermarket and throw the old ones away.
I took the lightest sleeping bag I could, a blow-up mattress and used a sweatshirt as a pillow. Also a tiny gas stove, one pan, and some powdered hot chocolate - after a chilly night's sleep in one or two places that felt very luxurious!I think this was in Austria, the metadata on the image says 17th May 2006 at 1411, so I guess we'd probably just arrived after a relatively short day's riding. The red R6 is mine, the SV had previously been mine but I sold it to my mate to help fund the R6 a few months earlier.
Quality gear is expensive, particularly if you figure out you hate it and only use it once.
Mindset is probably the biggest factor in whether you’ll enjoy yourself or not. My friends and I have done it for years but when someone joins us for the first time you can usually tell if they’re going to enjoy themselves pretty quickly. Bad weather, mechanical issues and cooking disasters can either make it a nightmare or give you a story to tell and laugh about depending on your point of view.
Mindset is probably the biggest factor in whether you’ll enjoy yourself or not. My friends and I have done it for years but when someone joins us for the first time you can usually tell if they’re going to enjoy themselves pretty quickly. Bad weather, mechanical issues and cooking disasters can either make it a nightmare or give you a story to tell and laugh about depending on your point of view.
Moulder said:
Unless it is really a must a hotel is far better.
the cueball said:
Book a hotel??
Triaguar said:
Don't do it!!
black-k1 said:
a cheap hotel/B&B is a MUCH better option for most.
LOL. OK, so I already do trips that involve hotels so this will be something different, otherwise it's just the same ol'.
The plan is to just get away on a nice Saturday, no rain, camp, and then come back on Sunday. No need to take time off work, and I can do it when I want. I was going to wild camp, as there is a bunch of crown land you can use. Campsites are nice but need to be booked way in advance which sort of defeats the object.
Good call on the air mattress and wet wipes! I'll take something to make coffee, and some snacks, but other than that don't want/need to cook, so that will save some luggage.
Get a tent that pitches the flysheet (outer) first. That way, you can keep all your other stuff in the bags until the outer is up to provide some shelter from rain or sun. Once the outer is up, you can take a breather and change out of your bike gear in the relative shelter before finishing camp.
Don't bother waiting for the tent to dry in the morning, and don't bother folding it either. Just give it a shake and cram it in the bag. It's not going to be in there long enough for damp to be an issue and it'll get aired the next night anyways! This applies equally to condensation during pleasant weather as it does to rain.
If you have hard panniers, they can be handy for sitting on.
Bring a little memory foam pillow, or some item of clothing you can bundle up to do the same job. It's surprising how useless the 'built-in' air mattress pillows are.
Don't bother waiting for the tent to dry in the morning, and don't bother folding it either. Just give it a shake and cram it in the bag. It's not going to be in there long enough for damp to be an issue and it'll get aired the next night anyways! This applies equally to condensation during pleasant weather as it does to rain.
If you have hard panniers, they can be handy for sitting on.
Bring a little memory foam pillow, or some item of clothing you can bundle up to do the same job. It's surprising how useless the 'built-in' air mattress pillows are.
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