Camping newbie!

[92kk k100lt 193214]

Most of the replies you get on here will be from well travelled "experts" . I'm reasonably well travelled but no expert. I've done a long trip around Europe using a 24 quid 2 man tent from Amazon. Plus shortish trips to Netherlands, Germany etc. The tent is still going strong and has never let me down even at the several rally's that I've been to. I also use a self inflating mattress, a £30.00 sleeping bag and sometimes a bag liner. I won't lie and say that when camping in the early spring/late autumn I've been toastie warm but It's been bearable. Never had any cooking gear, always found somewhere for a cuppa and bite to eat. It's easy to overload the bike if you are not careful. Just my two bobs worth.

Nick.

This is a good post but I will add my bit. Camping is very personal, we all have our preferences and I travel with mates but our tastes differ hugely. Ask 10 people you get 10 sets of advice. I hit 60 last year and been camping since I was a cub scout then graduated to touring on a bicycle until I could have one with an engine in it.

You don't need to spend mega bucks and you don't need mountains of gear but you do need to be comfortable. I simply go with what works for me, I don't share a tent and when we travel we are each totally self contained. We do coordinate enough not to have 3 airbed pumps and duplicated tools and spare bits but thats as far as it goes.

I figure a tent with a porch you can sit in is a must. I have tried the small 2 man tent, forget it. I bought a new tent this week, a Coleman Coastline 3 plus. £75 [€90] on Amazon, its 140-155cm high and 7 kilos, with poles and 3 doors. Takes all the gear in the porch, somewhere to go if its a wet day This means now I don't bring the tarp, tarp poles and the separate groundsheet. My old tent with tarp, tarp poles and groundsheet was about 6.5 kilos. Its not standing height but standing height is generally hitting 9 kilos. I will be spending 3 weeks in it in the one location in France and heat, plus a lot of 3 day weekends. I got alloy tent pegs and that's shaved a lot of weight off for very small money. But don't hammer alloy pegs into the ground.....snap.

Chair definitely! If you can't sit in your tent with a book and a beer.....My 'Helinox' cost me €20 in Lidl and my mates were given one as Christmas presents.

Self inflating mat I was converted to last year cost me €20, but make sure is a 5 cm one.

I grew up with down sleeping bags and had my nice one for about 30 years and whatever anyone says there is nowt to beat them. But I have a decent Halford 3 season sleeping bag that cost me €18 and is excellent. It goes in the washing machine.

That's about €150...

After that a little Vango pocket stove and a set of Vango stainless steel pots, cutlery that cost me €3, a pair of Ikea steak knives, 2 micro tables from Amazon £12 each. Plastic plates were hugely expensive at €2. for 4 of them, Lidl again.

The sleeping mat is being replaced with one that folds along the length so it will go in the panniers.

A 50,000mA powerbank with an ET style led light has enough to charge my phone up for 2 weeks camping and more. A £20 Amazon lucky strike, but at 50,000mA it takes a day and half to charge. I added a tablet at Christmas and it powers that too. I reckon the powerbank was the best investment of all, no messing around with chargers and waiting for phones to charge up.

AND it all fits in the panniers and tank bag. Sleeping bag, mat and cookware will be in one pannier, tent/chair/tables in the other with other bits and pieces and spare clothes. Tank bag for remaining spare clothes. The top box travels too, sometimes with a folding bbq in it but generally empty for shopping and carrying acquisitions along the way.

In France we simply bought a bbq in the supermarket for €12...but if you are clever all you need is some aluminium foil to make one, stones shaped in a hollow, foil in it and light up. A wire rack is all you need with you to do that. Next morning when its cold the foil will roll up into a rubbish bag and leave no mess at all.

Now for the comfort thing...midges. Citronella candles are a must. Zip ones, or nightlight ones and set them up around you so the airflow is over you, leave them loose but unlit inside the tent.......Some places get big midges but they don't spoil it for us. Watch out for standing water or pools and don't camp beside them if you can find elsewhere. If you want ants around you toss out sweet stuff all over the place and empty the beer cans in the grass beside you.

[thebiggestjolly]

Hello Jolly,

Welcome to the world of camping, everyone has there own opinions on camping gear and very few people agree. One thing most of us like is the Helinox style chair. The one in your link is very similar and the material at the bottom is a great upgrade as they do sink a bit. Tent looks good too, big porch is a must.

If you are staying on tarmac then weight isn't too much of a concern but if you are venturing off the black stuff you need to consider lighter gear.

I thought I knew it all about camping as an ex Scoutleader and general happy camper but when I went to my first ABR camp I learnt some great tricks from other adventurers. Worth heading to one and seeing what others are doing (thumbs)

Thanks for the reply, and I'll definitely try to get to one, sounds good. Cheers!

[thebiggestjolly]

Oh good a camping thread lol...best chair are helinox copies off ebay ..lots of posta about them on here somewhere....best matt are 5cm either cheap ebay or thermarest base camp are good...

Tent i used for years oj my alp was a vango equinix 250 ...front clear window delaminated ..now have a coleman but not a huge porch...in the vango i could have 2 panniers and a seat but im 5'10 lol...maybe a wanted thread would get a good deal as some real tent collectors on here...lol..

How do you like the alp so far...mine did 200mls.to a.tank then pushing..

Yep. Realise it's a well discussed topic, I'm a little late to the party!

Can't comment on the TA yet. Arrives in the morning!

[thebiggestjolly]

Get a porch area just big enough for your gear and a tarp to sit under.
Better still pitch the tents facing each other and put the tarp between them to sit under.

Tom

Nice idea, thanks.

[thebiggestjolly]

Ive got the Helinox Chair, awesome little thing, very light, strong and easy to put up, a good £80 well spent.
As for a tent the Hubba MSR tent is the dogs but need deeper pockets, size is everything on a camping trip.
MSR light multifuel cooker for me brekkie..again, never let me down and well rated.

I looked around go outdoors before and its not the best, ideal for caravanning but for bikes there was virtually nothing. you need to aim for Light/strong/small.

I bought a Rab synthetic insulated sleeping bag recently, shaved off 2 kg of my Old Coleman and its not down filled so packs up much smaller and has more weather resistant.

I'll look into these, thanks. I wasn't overly impressed with GO, but it's the biggest, nearest shop to me, an easy introduction. I want to find the balance between not spending a fortune, but getting stuff that is suitable and will last more than 5 minutes!

[thebiggestjolly]

Best bit of kit to have is called a 'credit card, most banks supply them, this amazing bit of kit keeps you warm, feeds you decent food and supplies you a comfy nights sleep away from noisy Bikers, Kids and other campers getting up for a slash all through the night, not to mention barking dogs, buzzing insects. Then in the morning you get up have a shit shower and a shave all fresh, sit infront of a lovely breakfast. But the best bit is not having to carry shit loads of gear, your bike is running at a premium not weighed down with the kitchen sink and your Helinox chair.

Try it, it really works !! :whistle: :whistle: (thumbs)

Sarge

Luckily I already know about this trick! I'm sure we'll do this on particularly miserable nights. I'm too soft to camp for 3 weeks straight anyway!

[-Ralph-]

Comfort/warmth for sleeping are where you need to spend the money, there's nothing worse than sleepless nights and tiredness during the day. My son has a cheap 5cm mat like the one you are looking at and that's fine because he's not heavy, and kids don't sweat much. I have a 5cm Thermarest Basecamp XL which I paid £80 for, but can be got now for £60, and for me there's a big difference between that and his cheap mat. Sweat less, better comfort, better insulation from the cold. I'd recommend a more expensive mat. I also have a Thermarest compressible pillow.

Tent you don't need to spend a lot of money. I have a Lichfield Apache 3 (Vango made budget brand) which I paid £35 for and I've had it at 20 years, gets used 2 -3 times a year, it's still going strong and never leaked once. It suffers condensation, but it's not that big a hardship to open it up in the morning to get it to dry out in dry weather. If it's pissing with rain, any tent is that wet anyway. The thing that's important is you can ignore the sound of the rain and sleep, safe the in the knowledge that your tent is NOT going to leak. If you are worried about it leaking you won't sleep, and if it actually does leak you certainly won't sleep!

Sleeping bags again you don't need to spend a fortune, unless you camp November to March. If it gets a bit cold autumn or spring, wear a tracksuit, which is useful for walking around the site and going to the toilet in the middle of the night anyway. In the summer, you'll end up sleeping with the sleeping bag open anyway. You get big ones that are 210cm or even 220cm long, but make sure your camping mat is also long enough, or you might get wet feet from condensation as the hot air leaves your sleeping bag and hits the stone cold groundsheet.

The rest buy whatever suits your budget. I have a 3kw Karrimor camping stove that I picked up for £7 quid from Sports Direct in the January Sale. It's probably only worth £12 quid at any time of year. Guess what, it boils a litre of water in 3 minutes, just like any other 3kw stove, and needs turned right down for cooking on.

A 12v cigar socket extension lead so you can charge your phone and hang up an LED light in the tent is a worthwhile investment, but you need a socket on your bike which is not ignition switched, and no wanking while the light is on!

Don't put valuables in the pockets on the side of the tent, shining a torch from the outside reveals they are there, and a sharp knife has them away with no noise.

Have fun!

[Peirre]

With the list of stuff previously mentioned, he's gonna need a BMW GS to carry it and the kitchen sink

[johnnyboxer]

Best bit of kit to have is called a 'credit card, most banks supply them, this amazing bit of kit keeps you warm, feeds you decent food and supplies you a comfy nights sleep away from noisy Bikers, Kids and other campers getting up for a slash all through the night, not to mention barking dogs, buzzing insects. Then in the morning you get up have a shit shower and a shave all fresh, sit infront of a lovely breakfast. But the best bit is not having to carry shit loads of gear, your bike is running at a premium not weighed down with the kitchen sink and your Helinox chair.

Try it, it really works !! :whistle: :whistle: (thumbs)

Sarge

A man who thinks like me

[Simon_100]

Get a porch area just big enough for your gear and a tarp to sit under.
Better still pitch the tents facing each other and put the tarp between them to sit under.

Tom

Nice idea, thanks.

Yup, though Bren said there would be hundreds of differing opinions the small-ten-plus-tarp option is the way to go for me . very versatile for a range of differing conditions, including in hot places like Spain using the tarp to shade the tend during the day ...

... Don't put valuables in the pockets on the side of the tent, shining a torch from the outside reveals they are there, and a sharp knife has them away with no noise.

Have fun!

Good point, I've never really thought about that. But my tent - an old model Quechua Ultralite II - may have the solution in the bath the inner and the flysheet are black. OK, it feels like sleeping in your own grave and torchlight just disappears, so you have to be careful where you stash your stuff. It's also very, very long: I'm not so tall but still have space for a Giant Loop Coyote at the door end of the tent, nice and cosy and good for all your clothes, while my panniers, used for the camping gear, slide down the gap between the inner and the fly and act as a sort of 'pantry' while I'm camping for a fews days at one place.

Back to the tarp issue, it does more than protect from the sun ... :whistle:



Enjoy, that's the main thing! (thumbs)

Regs

Simon

PS sadly the current version the Quechua Ultralite tents aren't like this - such is 'progress'!