Pictures of your tents.

[Sweep]

+1 bigjim - I enjoyed your blog as well.

[pjclinch]

sounds more and more like a sleeping rough as a down and out..... sounds pretty grim

There again you describe wild camping to quite a few people and they'll be appalled that you can suffer such privations (I mean, digging your own lavatory and carrying out the soiled paper!). And quite a few who couldn't take a formal campsite with a block for cooking and hot showers...

If you have decent kit it's not really roughing it, it's just you're a bit less insulated from the outside (that'll be the "outside" you probably wanted to get out and appreciate in the first place). I generally prefer a tent but every now and then I'll just use a bivvi bag, and once in a while you've just got to sleep on the beach without needing a tent around you.

Pete.

[jamesgilbert]

And quite a few who couldn't take a formal campsite with a block for cooking and hot showers...

Very much agree.

On a bit of a tangent, it's interesting how much 'sleeping rough' Patrick Leigh Fermor does on his walk across Europe (that is, when he's not being invited to stay with the local landed gentry). He never makes a big deal of it, and you get the impression he just had a coat to sleep on. It was the good old days though.

[fluffkitten]

For the times when you want to be at one with nature.

Loving these, this is pretty much the way I camped from the late '70s through to the late '90s while I was still living in Australia so they're bringing back some really good memories. Used the poles from a cheap two person a-frame, the fly from a three person a-frame and a large plastic sheet, very cheap and startlingly effective.

Unless there are biting things anyway.

[simonineaston]

When my friends first bought their place in northern Brittany, it was literally a shell (well, it was after we'd finished attacking it with lump hammers and a mini-pèle) We stayed there for a couple of seasons and they were some of the best hols I've had recently. The nearest neighbour, Christian, a keen hunter, tried to scare us with tales of wild boar and killer deer and these tales alway seemed to come to mind as I settled down to sleep in the open barn. The wildest animal that managed to wake me turned out to be... a hedgehog - very noisy in proportion to their size, at least at 3a.m.!
For about 3 visits, we had one tap of cold water, no lecky and did what the bears do, there being a convenient wood at back.
Haven't enjoyed anything as much as that since, really!

[bigjim]

I find country [no urban teenagers] bus shelters in Europe pretty good for an overnight stay. Need to be up before the first bus though, although quite a few shelters seem to be abandoned.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
We all like getting back to nature, and I carry the minimum I need which if its chilly overnight I shiver.
I do tend to take a sleeping bag which matches the forcast weather.
But if you are elevated in britain then the temperature is not matching the beaches and citys, even in summer.
Flying things which bite and a sharp overnight shower can not be predicted so we have to be practical.
I have a Bivvy Bag which I hope to use this year for some ultra camping on some tours in the UK.
Its very cheap and probably a bit cramped, after my first try I will probably buy another larger one which is more comfortable and allows storage of gear.

On my 24h cycle rides I tend to nap on a plastic bag cut open to make a body length damp proof layer to put on a grass verge next to road.
I have various plastic bags at 60 grams and heavier.
I also nap on a open bus shelter, I last fell asleep for an hour and a half and woke with my teeth chatering, I was at a high point and had to cycle down hill and it was a hour before I walmed up No sleeping bag used here.

This is all ok for a night or two but a longer trip would need better comfort.

Dual use items are good at weight saving but it NEEDS to be used for both to be an advantage.
You could take a fishing rod and use it for tent poles but will you also catch your supper with it.................................

[Neilo]

although quite a few shelters seem to be abandoned.

Sort of like the one outside my house that the council refurbished last week, they made a nice job of it. The bus service stopped 3 years ago, we get one free bus to Asda on a thursday morning.

[mercalia]

I find country [no urban teenagers] bus shelters in Europe pretty good for an overnight stay. Need to be up before the first bus though, although quite a few shelters seem to be abandoned.

ah dont know if any old people here who heard of Tony Hancock - Hancock's Halfhour? I think 1950s, 1960s esp on radio. One of his storys "the wild man of the woods" he started out camping in the local bus stop, his cave..... very good cave paintings....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T0dVCdAqxI

[ipswichcycler]

I woke up and the walls and doors of my tent had disappeared...

[bigjim]

Any special reason to use the Tarp? You can't be going lightweight, as your other gear, panniers, barbag, bike etc are not lightweight?
Is that a campsite?

[ipswichcycler]

I wanted to try it out as I'd done cycle camping and was looking for something new also I wanted to be out in the woods rather than sheltered away from them. I'm not too concerned about light weight as I usually cycle with 3 litres of water but I don't want to carry things if I don't need them. It was a chance to find out what I do and don't need. Although having said that I felt I was travelling fairly light but heavy and light is all relative and it depends on how strong you are. The frame bag is something new that I'll try out next time I'm heading out. It was in woodland but with permission.

[freiston]

I've only just got back into cycling after a long break, and I haven't got back into camping (yet?), so here's a scanned slide from about 1981, North Norfolk coast (Weybourne) - tent is a Lichfield Mistral, plus a home-made cooking shelter and a home-built bike based on an old Viking vision 531 frame. I used to guy-rope the bike up and unload the panniers whilst still on the bike - at the time, my young teenage mind considered there to be kudos in guy-roping the bike upright.

[fatty]

I have a gelert solo at the Moment but on my last trip in may I got a little panicked and claustrophobic. Ipswichcycler what tarp is that and what size is it... Could be what I need for both trips with me and the boy and or dog. Or just on my phone.

[leftpoole]

http://www.pbase.com/leftpoole/tents