The Kit

Having used hotels and B&Bs on the first few trips, the departure into camping was fairly sudden. It came about by a desire to spend less and as a consequence, go more often. Like most major decisions, it was the product of a phone call the night before a trip. In this case, before the Interlaken and the Alps Trip where we said "we'll discuss it tomorrow". On the basis of that I packed a sleeping bag.

Seated on the ferry we resolved to "give it a go" but not go over the top. We're not talking eating ration packs & cooking, just sleeping in a tent.

Upon arrival in Calais, we headed to Mamouth, a hypermarket before our obligatory fuel stop. There in aisle 18 we found a selection of about half a dozen tents, each handily with a little miniature model to show us what we were buying. We each settled for a three man dome tent priced at 45 Euros, around £30, this equates to about two nights in a French B&B, and with that in mind, we bought them safe in the knowledge that so long as we camped for two nights, it effectively hadn't cost us anything that we weren't already going to spend.

I bought a small semi inflatable roll mat & Steve bought a full air bed.

The tents were a good buy. The first night, with instructions in French & Russian, it took us an hour to pitch both. The second night, about twenty minutes and with time I can now be fully pitched and unpacked, bed made, etc. in about twenty minutes. The second night, we found out how good the tents were. Torrential rain and neither of them leaked a drop.

Steve has since upgraded to a four man dome tent. Although taking up more space on the back seat, he (we) have the added benefit of a dry porch area big enough to sit & boil up drinks when it's wet. The down side of up-sizing, the added time that it now takes Steve to pitch and pack up.

I've now changed my tent but remained with a similar three man dome tent, purchased as an eBay bargain after I ripped mine erecting it in the dark. (£18 +p&p) from Tentastic.

The roll mat is lightweight and makes firm ground bearable.

The airbed sent Steve dizzy inflating it and he has since purchased an electric pump which fits into his BMW power socket. It had the added irritation of raising him off of the floor several inches, so he slept with his face in the roof of the tent. This is one of the reasons he replaced his tent with something bigger.

The first camping trip taught us how much we appreciate our caffeine first thing in the morning. Our next camping purchases were a single gas stove, a lightweight pan set and with it, the bare minimum to make a cup of coffee. Cup, cutlery, (coffee jar small enough to fit inside the saucepan) and a corkscrew. Milk is always French long life in a plastic bottle with a screw top and sugar is paper sachets acquired whenever we stop.

Hein Gericke also produce the Tuareg Handlebar Bag which is ideal for holding change and tickets from the autotolls. A selection of bungees and cargo nets as spares, and baby wet wipes come in handy to clean the visor. Then, to comply with the law, a first aid kit, spare bulbs, and GB stickers for the bikes.

My luxury item is a camping chair from Decathlon. Packs small enough to fit on the back of the bike but it means I could never take a pillion!