A good nights sleep

[mercalia]

wax earplugs very good and cheap

maybe practice sleeping at home on/in the gear you will use when camping? work out whats best for you?

[hufty]

Another earplug recommendation, from years of research as I am a light sleeper: the egg-shaped orange and yellow ones that you get from Millets and other camping shops. If you insert them orange end first then as they expand there is a tendency for the plug to go further into the ear rather than to work its way out. I don't mean they will get wedged in for ever or burrow through to the brain so deep that you can't pull them out, I just mean they keep in place better that way round. YMMV of course.

[slowpeddler]

My sleeping problems were solved when I bought an Exped down mat.

john

[simonineaston]

my home is a boat so getting rocked to sleep is the norm...

It's interesting what becomes 'normal' - I remember sleeping on frigates and wot-not. The noises and movement would be enough to 'wake the dead', but your brain just normalises it all after a while. Back on land, I took to leaving the radio on for some reason, and now if I turn it off, I seem to wake up because it's too quiet - I can't get back to sleep until I turn the radio back on... strange thing, the mind.
Oh and BTW try a lavender pillow

[horizon]

I'm very surprised at the recommendations of either ear plugs or alcohol (I took the suggestion of a sleeping tablet to be in jest). This forum is littered with posts from people worried about the security of their bike or their personal safety at night. Even if not wild camping (for which the idea of ear plugs would be plain daft), hearing what is going on and having your wits about you seems to be to be self-evidently useful for a cycle camper. I don't think being able to hear noise really interferes with sleep, as the previous poster has also pointed out. I suppose that going to sleep with earphones, listening to music (or the Shipping Forecast), may be OK though that still leaves the problem of removing them. I do accept that tents have thin walls but that may be to one's advantage from a safety point of view. In my experience though it's car campers not cycle campers who forget this and work off their bottled-up energy through noise and alcohol at everyone else's expense late into the night.

[simonineaston]

I'm very surprised at the recommendations of either ear plugs or alcohol

Me too! Sure, alcohol intake means you'll nod off quickly enough, but as for ensuring a Good Night's Sleep - forget it!
But as for ear-plugs, they have their uses. I'm a late convert. Nowadays I always have a set of the light foam ones with me. For the occasions when you haven't had a chance to become accustomed to a noisy environment, like a one-night ferry crossing or a particularly noisy camp-site, they're invaluable, but as for using them habitually, I'm not so sure. Half the point of cycle-touring (at least for me) is getting-away-from-it-all and if I go somewhere where I have to use earplugs to sleep - well, I've gone to the wrong place! They're nice to have with me though for the reason stated above and one thing's for sure - they don't weigh much!
These days, more than a large glass of wine more-or-less condemns me to a poor night's sleep one way or another.
(Believe me, those lavender pillows work... )

[bigjim]

I have never had any safety issues camping with the bike. Tie the bike to your foot if you are that bothered.
I have very acute hearing so any noise really affects my sleep. My wife is a terrible snorer and I regularly used to move into the spare room in the small hours.
I have now discovered wax earlpugs. I've tried all the rest and none work. The wax ones give me blissful nights sleep and I never travel without them.
A tent is a noisy place. No solid wall between you and whatever is out there. Nature is very noisy and the birds startup before first light.
For me a good pillow seems to be the thing that gives me a good nights sleep. However I have not found a good light pillow. I usually rely on a stuffsac with my clothes in. Any recommends?
I slept on bubblewrap last year and had a decent nights sleep. Even in the dew/condensation, soaked, single skin tent.

[jags]

bigjim the thermarest medium size pillow is fantastic as is your blog the best i've come across.to late tonight to get through it but good for another time.

dont forget the pillow and the Sleeping pill.

[bigjim]

bigjim the thermarest medium size pillow is fantastic as is your blog the best i've come across.to late tonight to get through it but good for another time.

dont forget the pillow and the Sleeping pill.

Thanks for the positive comments. Nice to know it's being read.
I'll look up the pillow. As it says on the blog, I'm a lazy weight weeny so I'll have to see.

[sandman]

I think simonineaston understands my situation better than most, and I have to say that "normal" sounds are heard when asleep and its the"unusual" sound or motion that wakes you,the lavender pillow sounds interesting although my memories of lavender are a great grandmother who was 4'8" in all directions refused to speak english, and thought Owain Glyndwr was the best thing since sliced bread,and I suspect she was the real Welsh dragon so lavender may just give me nightmares
However the ferry is booked, Marengo is getting a good servicing and my partner has given me a shopping list she wants from holland.
I will bore you all with the results after my jolly to the Netherlands
regards
John

[Sweep]

I agree that alcohol doesn't aid sleep though a fair bit of wine or good beer at the end of a day's pedalling is very nice.

I usually sleep very well but I can recommend these.

Unfortunately now only available through the questionable Amazon after Sainsburys stopped selling them.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestial-Seaso ... pytime+tea

When I use them at home I sometimes wake at about 2am feeling that I've already had a full nights sleep.

I also find that they make my dreams more vivid, or maybe they just make them more memorable.

I realise that this maybe makes me sound like a new age crystal worshipper but assure you that I'm not.

[Trigger]

100 miles in the legs and some booze usually means I could fall asleep in a hedge bottom.

[mercalia]

well being really tired out helps a bit...... I also carry some wax earplugs.. Finding the right mat also important, other wise u keep on turning and turning trying to find a comfortable position. No easy task I think.

[Trigger]

I'm very surprised at the recommendations of either ear plugs or alcohol (I took the suggestion of a sleeping tablet to be in jest). This forum is littered with posts from people worried about the security of their bike or their personal safety at night. Even if not wild camping (for which the idea of ear plugs would be plain daft), hearing what is going on and having your wits about you seems to be to be self-evidently useful for a cycle camper. I don't think being able to hear noise really interferes with sleep, as the previous poster has also pointed out. I suppose that going to sleep with earphones, listening to music (or the Shipping Forecast), may be OK though that still leaves the problem of removing them. I do accept that tents have thin walls but that may be to one's advantage from a safety point of view. In my experience though it's car campers not cycle campers who forget this and work off their bottled-up energy through noise and alcohol at everyone else's expense late into the night.

Depends on the ear plugs, I used to wear them every day for 12 hours in a very loud press shop, whilst they reduce the mega loud stuff it was still possible to talk to someone at normal conversation level and hear them perfectly clear, in fact it was easier to have a conversation with them IN because they reduced the loud noise of the press that would drown out a conversation if you weren't wearing them.

I use the same ones that I did at work, 3M yellows. Nice balance between reducing noise but not making you totally deaf, the problem with the really thick ones is that they can mess up your balance and make you feel a bit sick, plus if they're that good you could miss the alarm clock in the morning!

[eezypeazy]

In the interests of science, I experimented last Friday, using red wine as an aid to sleep, whilst staying overnight in a bothy in Kielder Forest. I can confirm that I slept soundly until 0530, when the first rays of daylight revealed a light snowfall outside. After breakfast I set off through the snow and cycled 20 miles with my loaded bike.

In the interests of science, I shall repeat the experiment again, at least twice, later in the year, substituting Guinness for red wine on one occasion, and hot chocolate on the third.