camping tour

we are going on a camping tour very soon - aiming to stay away from motorways, cities and camping sites. . . hoping to camp out in the wild away from people in general (yes, were unsociable)

anything you recon i will need thats not ovious . . bike maintenance stuff, sleeping gear, food ect ect.

any of you got any stories that you would care to share to help us ?

or any useful tips and stuff ?

also - if were gonna do this properly, we are gonna need a few axe's and knifes - but not really sure how it would look if i got pulled with a bag full of knives - so doubt we will bother.


did i mention we are gonna do this on 125cc commuter bikes ? are we mad ? . . . . probably

Originally Posted by bikageboy

we are going on a camping tour very soon - aiming to stay away from motorways, cities and camping sites. . . hoping to camp out in the wild away from people in general (yes, were unsociable)

I'll be doing this in september whilst walking the length of the Pennine Way

Originally Posted by mysteryjimbo

I'll be doing this in september whilst walking the length of the Pennine Way

have you done this before ?
are there any restrictions/policys in say national parks and stuff ?
were either gonna go to wales or scotland.

I'm off to do this next week. Most national parks will allow you to camp pretty much anywhere although you can't take a vehicle more than a certain distance from a road usually. Check the website of the national park(s) you intend to visit.

Originally Posted by bikageboy

anything you recon i will need

Bog Roll

Originally Posted by bikageboy

have you done this before ?
are there any restrictions/policys in say national parks and stuff ?
were either gonna go to wales or scotland.

Yep. You're not supposed to do it. It's all classed as private land. I've contacted them in advance though (this is how i found out) and the official who is in charge of the Way said its "traditional" to arrive late and leave early when camping wild. It's ok as long as you don't leave any traces. So no BBQ'a etc.

Don't worry too much about camping/cooking in national parks. I know you're not meant to, but in literally hundreds of hours spent in them, I've only once seen any sort of 'official' and that was a mountain rescue bod training a dog. Naturally though, respect the place and don't have bbqs/leave litter. To cook I'd recommend you use a trangia (slower to cook than gas, but I find it's more compact than a gas stove once you factor in the pots and pans you need). Camp out of sight of the roads and you'll be fine.

If you're not very experienced at camping etc. (I mean real camping-not at a campsite with toilets, a shop and a showerblock) doing it somewhere very remote may not be the best idea, unless the person(s) you're going with know what they're doing. Thankfully, unless you're in northern scotland, you're never more than half a days easy walk to some sort of civilisation, but that's a long way/wait if you've got a broken leg etc.

Take a good quality leatherman/similar multi-tool. Worth their weight in gold when you need one camping. Are you trained to use axe's/saws? I'm not being funny, but if you don't know what you're doing (and aren't wearing the right footwear- some touring bike boots wouldn't be appropriate), aside from being dangerous (see above point about injuries and distance from civilisation), it'll take bloody ages to cut through any significantly sized wood. Personally, if you just want an axe for wood for a campfire, I'd not bother. Just camp within a KM or so of woods and just collect loose wood from there and break up large bits by hand/foot. You can use bungees from your bike's luggage to tie the bundles of wood together for easier carrying.

I wouldn't have a campfire in a national park though unless you're very careful/considerate with the site of it. If it's on grass, you should dig up strips of turf from where you want to site it and once the fire has burnt down, put them back afterwards (not practical on a bike- you really need a spade). Ideally, find somewhere with dried mud like a forest floor and clear the site of flammable material and cover it in mud after the fire. Similarly, if the smoke from your fire can be seen from a road, park rangers will investigate.

If you're going to be doing any sort of walking at all (more than a km or two), don't wear biking boots on the bike, wear hiking boots. Safeish on the bike and far less to carry. Take a pair of sandals/trainers for relaxing around the campsite. Your feet will hurt if you're in hiking boots 12+ hours a day and your feet aren't used to it. If you buy hiking boots for the trip (army surplus stores do decent combat boots cheap) make sure you break them in round the house before you leave.

Oh and in case it's not obvious- don't syphon petrol from your fuel tank to start a fire unless you're going to die of hypothermia otherwise

//scoutLeaderModeOff

Originally Posted by Ceri JC

Don't worry too much about camping/cooking in national parks. I know you're not meant to, but in literally hundreds of hours spent in them, I've only once seen any sort of 'official' and that was a mountain rescue bod training a dog. Naturally though, respect the place and don't have bbqs/leave litter. To cook I'd recommend you use a trangia (slower to cook than gas, but I find it's more compact than a gas stove once you factor in the pots and pans you need). Camp out of sight of the roads and you'll be fine.

Etc etc

Excellent tips for me. I've paid attention.

Originally Posted by mysteryjimbo

Excellent tips for me. I've paid attention.

One of the guys I learnt a lot from was a keen cyclist, but always warned about mountain biking and camping because the extra range you have on a bike compared to on foot means you're likely to get to more remote areas so more dangerous when things go wrong. Also, it's harder to ride with a broken arm than it is to hike with it in a sling. I'd hate to hear what he thought of overlanding on a motorbike

Who're you going with? Is at least one of you (preferably 2 in case the first aider is injured) half-competent at first aid? Don't worry about attending the most recent courses, as long as you can do basic things like CPR, recovery position, make & tie a sling etc. and spot hypothermia/fever, you should be fine. Don't overlook the need for it though: I don't mean to be morbid, but things can and do happen when hiking (I've seen axes stuck in people, broken limbs, hypothermia, etc. as well as less serious, but still needing medical attention things like largish cuts) things that'd just be inconveniant and a couple of hours in hospital in a built up area can mean death in the wilderness. Don't let that put you off though- very few people coof it and the benefits outweigh the risks and the advent of mobile phones have made it even safer.

Leave a copy of your route (including 'escape routes', should paths be closed/areas flooded) and approximate times/days you'll be in places, with someone back home. That way if you're more than a day late home, mountain rescue will have a fair chance of finding you. Unless you're going hunting/nature spotting, or are a military-freak, go for high-vis in the colours of your kit rather than green/black (apart from your tent- green is good for camping illegally and not being spotted and if you need to make it high vis you can always tie something hi-vis to it). Not just for accidents/but being able to spot each other from a distance is useful if someone wanders off.

Take a decent first aid kit with you and chuck a pack of immodium tablets in there- they're well worth it if the party get food poisoning from undercooked sausages and the toilet paper is running low. As with all camping gear, don't carry anything in the kit you don't know how to/aren't prepared to use.

Oh yeah, if things do go wrong, don't ring mountain rescue unless it's really serious. They get ****ed off when people want to be airlifted home because they're going to be a day late back to work or they can hear 'creepy noises' outside their tent.

I'll shut up now, or I'll go on all afternoon.

In addition to Ceri's excellent advice, if you're straying far from civilisation then take OS map(s) and compass and know how to use them.

A few years ago, I did half of the Pennine Way with my ex, who had a gold D of E award and zero common sense. "What are you taking a compass for?" she asked. She soon found out in some of the more remote moorland. Without it we would have got horribly lost in bad conditions.