Cycling UK Forum

Gosh, all this talk of Spacepackers makes me feel quite nostalgic! The Plus was my first decent lightweight tent, bought with money from my aunt, shared with my sister. I got the greater use of it.
Fabulous, versatile tent! I double-poled mine if conditions dictated. Being tall, the fabric on my face was a pain, so I got RS to make up 4 extra guy points, with links through to the inner. Effective.
Used the flysheet alone quite a bit. 3 of us on a winter trip around Knoydart and others, worked well. 4 of us on a winter trip to Beinn Fhionndlaidh from Alltbeithe! Some sacs had to go outside.
Sadly, mine is too old to rely on, replaced by one, then another Nallo 2. But I'd suggest few tents offer so much versatility. Tough, too, survived some hefty storms.

Happy to help further, but don't really know about signage, I'm afraid.

I hope not too late?
I expect you've seen this:
https://www.freewheelingfrance.com/wher ... -ways.html
We've cycle that route several times but weren't especially aware of the Voie Verte. You'll see that '5' isn't really a geeen way.
Are you hoping to wildcamp? How long have you got?
There's a nice campsite at Le Conquet, near a fab beach, north of the town - which is one of our favourite places.
We take the little passenger ferry from Brest to Le Fret on the Crozon Peninsula. Lovely! But it stops at the end of September.
Our return to Roscoff usually is along the R Blavet from Hennebont then the Nantes Brest Canal. Lots of opportunities for camping there, but bear in mind wildcamping is generally illegal in France. Be discreet!
In Gouarec, there's a wonderful campsite run by English Kate and Geoff, who run a cycle touring business too. Well worth visiting.
There are voie vertes running back to Morlaix, on old railway routes. But we find them tedious after a while, very limited views. And awful in the wet as the sandy surface sticks to everything, gumming up the works.

We don't bother with towels. Just use a standard face flannel - in a dark colour so it dries quicker. If wrung out, it'll dry you adequately. Also used for drying the tent, and feet after river crossings if walking.

My wife and I both use extension stalks/brackets so that the lights are below the bar bag. We've done this for years, works well. They lower the light by about 4", just enough. We can still access the switches.

andrew_s wrote: ↑16 Jul 2023, 10:16pm

Rob D wrote: ↑16 Jul 2023, 12:34pm FWIW, the Hilly 'sand' colour blends in remarkably well in many terrains. Much better thsn their green tents.

"Sand" has become darker of recent years, and would now better be described as "Brown"

It's not gone as dark as the green though, which could be mistaken for black in poor light.

Andrew, is this a less-good colour, do you think? I remember camping at Coruisk and Loch Etchachan, where the Nallo was pretty well invisible. At Coruisk, I was actually beginning to think the tent had gone, when we returned to it one day.

Littlegreycat, thank you, really useful stuff.
Jackrabbit, thanks too. I don't understand why you think our wish bizarre? I've wanted to visit NZ for >50 years, originally for some serious walking. We're now too old for that, but I'd still like to go.
Re cost of travelling there, yes, probably high. Does that itself not give a good reason for trying to keep costs down by wildcamping, especially as we'd be away for about 3 months? (And this wouldn't be our only trip in that year). But wildcamping is a delight in itself, regardless of cost saving. If it's not allowed in NZ, that's a great shame. Much of our enjoyment of the arctic trip last year was the camping spots we found. Some were 'make-do', where we managed to find a corner near the road, sheltered from the rain, but others were absolutely stunning, 4 in a row at one point.
Anyway, as I wrote at the outset, it's early days in our planning. The issues with roads and camping are beginning to dissuade us, maybe to do a south to north of Norway could be more appropriate? But we're not ruling out NZ yet.
I suppose hiring a camper at another time remains an option, too.
Really appreciate all the advice above. What a great forum!
Rob

Many thanks both, for your comprehensive replies. Much appreciated. Useful link to DOC, and good tip about ensuring the bikes are clean.
Re Tour Aotearoa, we have 32 & 35 x 700 tyres on our fairly robust touring bikes. Would these cope, or would it be hell? They are essentially road bikes, but have coped with very rough roads and occasional tracks in a few countries.
Thanks again,
Rob

Interesting thread. We tend to camp off campsites, away from people. Sometimes there are no trees etc, so put one bike on top of the other, using 3 locks including a hefty D lock, to make things harder for thieves. Then we cover with a camo groundsheet, which helps to conceal the bikes.
It's always a concern!
I'm interested in the alarm option - assume there's a thread of two on this?

FWIW, we use a Nallo 2 for backpacking and cycke touring, including 3 months mostly cycling in northern Scandinavia last summer. Absolutely love it.
Sometimes use a Nallo 3 GT if we want more space, but less so now, preferring the smaller weight, packed size and footprint of the N2. We just managed to squeeze it into a tiny space by a huge lake in Finland last summer - and there was no other option. It has a very large porch, plenty of room for all the panniers, bar boxes etc, with plenty of room for cooking.
I have double pole sets for both these and the Akto, nice to have if likely to be very windy, such as Patagonia and Kyrgyzstan.
The N2 is in sand colour, which really blends in well, with the reflective bits taped over.
The groundsheets are incredibly tough. I've only once got a small hole in > 20 years of using Hillys.

Thanks Simon. Glad to hear you enjoyed your trips. Sad to hear how bad the roads can be. As we'd be away for several months, we'd need to keep costs down by wild camping as much as poss, which doesn't sound that easy.

Hmmm, will keep looking into it! Keep the replies coming!
Thanks,
Rob

Jackrabbit, thanks, v useful. Thanks everyone!
Sooper8, nothing wtitten, tho we kept a detailed log. It was an absolutely wonderful trip. Good weather too. 6 weeks without sunset, plenty of northern lights later. 31c in Finland so the lakes and rivers were incredibly warm. Ironically, we had 32c in the Moroccan Sahara in April, just 1 degree warmer. And we were right up in the top of Finland too, way north of the arctic circle.
Happy to help anyone thinking of such a trip.

That trip having been so good really makes us wonder about the difficulties of a trip to NZ.

Hi both, thanks. I should've mentioned we'd be on road bikes, fairly robust tourers, but not great for endless rough tracks. 32 and 35 mm tyres, 700 wheels.

I've seen reports that the roads in NZ are not the safest for cyclists, narrow, single lane, no verges and truck drivers etc who don't respect cyclists. Is this a big issue?

V early days, but I'm looking at a possible tour from one end of New Zealand to the other, to celebrate a significant birthday. Pointers to suitable websites etc would be appreciated, please.
But one thing puts me off; apparently wildcamping is not easy there, with lots of potential sites fenced off, signs up saying no camping.
By contrast, for my wife's significant birthday last year, we biked >2500 km around the arctic, Norway and Finland, then walked in the mountains on the Norway/Sweden border over 3 months. Endless stunning camp spots, one of the great aspects of the trip.
So I worry that the restrictions in NZ would detract from the experience.
Does anyone have any experience of such a trip?
Thanks,
Rob

FWIW, the Hilly 'sand' colour blends in remarkably well in many terrains. Much better thsn their green tents.