Is cycle touring a load of faff?

gsk82
gsk82 Posts: 3,464
edited September 2019 in Tour & expedition
I've been looking at getting a new bike for winter and for touring. I've been thinking that before i buy a touring bike i should try some touring. I've got use of my dads hybrid and panniers and i can borrow a tent and sleeping bag to. So all nice and easy...

But bloody hell how difficult is it to find a campsite that actually accepts tents and is somewhere near where i want to go? I wanted a marked off road route, so the trans pennine trail from Liverpool, back to home in hull looked ideal. Alas, the plan has been scuppered by a lack of showers and toilets in tent friendly fields!

Does anyone have any tips on finding campsites?
"Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago

Comments

  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,728
    Your favourite bike, a backpack and B&B. Sorted.
    #whoneedsfaff
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • mercia_man
    mercia_man Posts: 1,431
    Finding a suitable campsite for cycle camping in the UK is more difficult than France, for example. Probably the best on-line resource is UK Campsites. If you are doing a lot of camping you might consider joining the Camping and Caravanning Club which has a national network of larger sites plus 1,400 small certificated sites exclusive to members (10 tents max).

    https://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/index.asp

    https://www.campingandcaravanningclub.c ... mallsites/
    https://www.campingandcaravanningclub.c ... MIQAvD_BwE
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Never had problems camping on sites at all ?
  • mtb-idle
    mtb-idle Posts: 2,179
    IMHO tents are a faff and for me at fast approaching 55 years old damn uncomfortable. B&B or hotel all the way from this voter...
    FCN = 4
  • mercia_man
    mercia_man Posts: 1,431
    Don’t put off the OP before he’s even tried cycle camping. He may even decide he likes it.

    Carrying all your gear gives you the choice of staying on an official site, wild camping or a B&B. I personally find that B&B solo touring in Britain is very expensive for more than a couple of nights. Most sites charge a solo camper £10-£15 a night - far cheaper than the £70 or so I pay at B&Bs or small hotels. I enjoy the occasional comfort of a B&B but camping gives me freedom rather than a feeling of staying in someone else’s house.
  • mtb-idle
    mtb-idle Posts: 2,179
    Mercia Man wrote:

    Don’t put off the OP before he’s even tried cycle camping. He may even decide he likes it.

    I agree but in fairness he was coming to that decision on his own anyway hence his OP :lol:
    FCN = 4
  • mercia_man
    mercia_man Posts: 1,431
    MTB-Idle wrote:
    Mercia Man wrote:

    Don’t put off the OP before he’s even tried cycle camping. He may even decide he likes it.

    I agree but in fairness he was coming to that decision on his own anyway hence his OP :lol:

    Yeah, I have to confess I gave up cycle camping when I reached the age of 60 - partly because I felt I was too old to sleep on a pad on the ground any more but also because I unexpectedly inherited enough money to buy a camper van. That gives me the best of both worlds.

    There’s a lot to be said in favour of cycle camping. I’ve had some fantastic holidays over the years. But you do need to be fit - hauling camping gear over mountains is physically much harder than whizzing around on a lightweight carbon road bike. And a proper touring bike with strong wheels, low gears and stable geometry makes all the difference.

    But by the time you have forked out on a touring bike, tent, cooking gear, panniers and sleeping bag you will have paid the equivalent of many nights in a B&B!
  • gsk82
    gsk82 Posts: 3,464
    I managed to get a campsite between Rotherham and Donny last night, so gave this touring lark a go. I caught a train to Stockport, leaving me about 120 miles home, mostly on the trans pennine trail. I was riding my dads boardman hybrid, which seems to me to be pretty much a mountain bike. I carried clothes for the evening and a change of cycling kit for Sunday. Plus the tent, sleeping bag and sleeping mat.

    The train was an hour late, followed by a 30 minute deluge and some poor signing, which resulted in me been only half a mile from Stockport station 2 hours after i should've got off the train. This lead to my relaxed day of cycling becoming a little stressful as i worried I'd end up camping in a bush.

    In the end i made it to the campsite in decent time by getting off the trail and hitting the road. It was the best part of the ride.

    Anyway on Saturday i also purchased a used condor fratello off eBay as a winger bike. So I'll be giving road touring and a B&B a try
    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
  • hdow
    hdow Posts: 184
    Try credit card touring in Norway and you'll have to sell not only your campervan but also your house. If you want to tour Norway that is
  • cycleclinic
    cycleclinic Posts: 6,865
    You need to join the camping and caravan club. May good sites with facilities are open to these people only. We just stayed in one but in a motor home the sites we go to know are with this fascist card. It keeps the riff raff out apparently.
    http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.
  • apreading
    apreading Posts: 4,535
    I love camping when hiking through wilderness, when you can just wild camp anywhere remote with a water source.

    When cycling I really dont fancy it though - would rather enjoy my cycling without hauling all that extra weight and stay somewhere more comfy that will also store my bike securely.
  • bigjim
    bigjim Posts: 780
    If you do a lot of touring, lightweight camping gear will soon pay for itself when you factor in the cost of B&Bs. I avoid camping these days in the UK as even in summer the nights can be cold. Have you thought about Youth Hostels. I've paid as little as £10 a night and they are pretty good these days and much more social than a B&B. You'll need earplugs though.
    Nothing to prove. http://adenough1.blogspot.co.uk/
  • landmannnn
    landmannnn Posts: 13
    Have you tried pitchup? https://www.pitchup.com/search/?q=chapeltown
  • manglier
    manglier Posts: 1,208
    I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the YHA yet. I've had fantastic tours using Youth Hostels, much cheaper than B&B and more convenient than camping. Less kit to lug about so you can go lighter although not quite as light as credit card touring.
  • baron_o_buchlyvie
    baron_o_buchlyvie Posts: 21
    Buy a hammock and tarp instead of a tent. Comfiest night's sleep you'll ever have, plus they're lighter than a tent, and much much cheaper. My DD Hammock is still going strong 14 years after I bought it. I switched to their new "tree hugger" system but the whole thing (hammock, THS and tarp) set me back under a hundred quid all in.

    Cycle touring isn't a faff. It's an adventure.
  • cllowryglen
    cllowryglen Posts: 28
    Where abouts in Hull, I was from there before I moved to London for work so its always nice knowing someone is from the same place.

    I bikepacked LEJOG last year and the freedom it offers to just stop whenever. You are not beholden to a set distance to get from hotel A to hotel B, you can get some surprisingly light tents these days the msr carbon packa down to waterbottle size and weighs very little.

    I always used pitchup.com when I was feeling like I would be stopping within an hour or two and I generally always found a place. Sometimes simply cycling up to a site and asking for a space. Because you are only staying 1 night and generally have very little gear they generally say yes if they have the space. And in Scotland you can camp anywhere and they have pretty good off road areas for it.
  • cllowryglen
    cllowryglen Posts: 28
    Where abouts in Hull, I was from there before I moved to London for work so its always nice knowing someone is from the same place.

    I bikepacked LEJOG last year and the freedom it offers to just stop whenever. You are not beholden to a set distance to get from hotel A to hotel B, you can get some surprisingly light tents these days the msr carbon packs down to waterbottle size and weighs very little.

    I always used pitchup.com when I was feeling like I would be stopping within an hour or two and I generally always found a place. Sometimes simply cycling up to a site and asking for a space. Because you are only staying 1 night and generally have very little gear they generally say yes if they have the space. And in Scotland you can camp anywhere and they have pretty good off road areas for it.
  • davidof
    davidof Posts: 3,036
    Last time I cycletoured (about 30 years ago) I just had a bivvy bag and lightweight sleeping bag and wild camped
    BASI Nordic Ski Instructor
    Instagramme
  • cllowryglen
    cllowryglen Posts: 28
    davidof said:

    Last time I cycletoured (about 30 years ago) I just had a bivvy bag and lightweight sleeping bag and wild camped

    I haven’t tried a bivvy the weight is terrible but i couldn’t last without my sleeping bag
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    You'll die if you just sleep in a bivvie unless you get the weather juuuuust right, and even thrn its rubbish.

    Sleeping bag inside bivvie bag. No tent needed, just basha up.
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    edited September 2022
    davidof said:

    Last time I cycletoured (about 30 years ago) I just had a bivvy bag and lightweight sleeping bag and wild camped

    this with a basha.

    3 poles
    3 bungees
    4
    pegs
    roll of para cord

    sorted, weighs less than a kg
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • me-109
    me-109 Posts: 1,915
    Last time I cycle-camped (over 35 years ago) I used a 3-man centre-pole tent (with porch) that weighed a ton, and probably a Trangia method stove. Bike weighed about as much as a small car, brakes were shit. Glad I had a triple chainset then. Spent one night sleeping in a stone bus shelter (just because). Had another night camped on someone's lawn - huge garden, just pulled up and asked. Got invited in for tea. Wonderful couple and the woman originally came from the same part of town as me (this was about 50/60 miles away). Brought me out a boat load of bacon sandwiches and huge jug of coffee the following morning. One of my lasting memories of the whole trip.
    The camping bit has certainly come on these days but weight can soon add up. Faff depends on what you get out of it. A bit of wild camping or cheekily asking to kip on a lawn when you're miles from anywhere can give you some surprising experiences.
  • mikes-brother
    mikes-brother Posts: 29
    Try this website for ideas/inspiration: https://bikepacking.com/

    I’ve had some awesome adventures bikepacking.
  • davidof
    davidof Posts: 3,036
    World Champion X country skier Laura Dahlmeier is bike packing in Croatia this week, looks wonderful, that balkan sunshine and everything


    BASI Nordic Ski Instructor
    Instagramme
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,237
    tent camping and cycle touring is probably where I draw the line... possibly the only thing I pretend to be too old for
    left the forum March 2023
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,728
    If you can't get a decent shower and a proper bed then it is too much faff.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    Tbh, camping , sleeping rough, bashs'ing up whatever you want to call it, of any definition or form, sucks.
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • briantrumpet
    briantrumpet Posts: 17,857
    MattFalle said:

    Tbh, camping , sleeping rough, bashs'ing up whatever you want to call it, of any definition or form, sucks.


    Enjoyed the reaction when I was waiting at Portsmouth with my SuperSix with smallish saddle bag, with nothing more than shorts, T-shirt, flip flops, deodorant, phone/tablet, passport & waterproof jacket...

    "Where are you going??" I asked this couple, both with panniers attached to very bit of bike. "Doing a few days in Brittany" the reply.

    "Where are you going?" they asked me. "The Alps" was the reply. Hotels and B&Bs have a lot going for them, not least the aforementioned showers and proper beds.
    https://www.facebook.com/unanglaisendiois
  • froze
    froze Posts: 203
    mtb-idle said:

    IMHO tents are a faff and for me at fast approaching 55 years old damn uncomfortable. B&B or hotel all the way from this voter...

    I'm 70, I use a tent and sleep on the ground when I go touring or camping. Of course, I use an inflatable camping mat, the one I got is very comfortable and I sleep on my side which makes most inflatable camping mats fail.

    What was wrong with your tent? Rain flies and any fabric on the tent that might get wet in a rain storm needs to be treated for improved water resistance when they're new and before every season. Any tent, no matter of price, is subject to wet through if they get too much rain, but proper treating it keeps the tent pretty darn rain tight.
    Tents today due to backpackers and bike packers are made lightweight, and when that happens rips can occur so you need a tent repair kit. But otherwise, tents today are pretty nice considering. Was it the weight of the tent that bothered you? You can get tents in the 1.5-pound range and less if you want to pay a lot of money. My tent weighs 4.5 pounds with groundsheet included, I'm fine with that weight. Was it the amount of time it took to put the tent up? Most tents today can go up in less than 5 minutes by a novice, and go down even quicker.

Categories