chefisaac

What your routines when you pull into a camp site?

And what are your routines in the morning before riding?

staehpj1

I carry little gear and keep it simple. It will vary with the trip, the day, and the site, but can be as simple as:

Evening

1. Roll out bivy on ground
2. Inflate sleeping pad and place in bivy
3. Unpack sleeping bag and put on or in bivy
4. Pitch tarp if weather looks like it might rain, sleet, or snow
5. Figure out whether to cook, eat something cold, or ride into town to eat, then do it
6. Hang food if necessary
7. Lock bike if necessary
8. If unexpected rain comes and tarp isn't up just lay it over bivy and gear

Morning

1. Retreive food if necessary
2. Eat a granola bar or cook
3. Pack up tarp if it is out
4. Pack sleeping bag
5. Pack bivy
6. Pack sleeping pad
7. Unlock bike and ride off

Machka 

Upon Arrival ...

1. Set up tent and stuff in tent
2. Lock bicycles
3. Change into something non-cycling if I happen to be wearing cycling clothes
4. Eat snack
5. Go for a walk around the area to see the beach or the local shops or whatever
6. Eat dinner
7. Wash up
8. Browse the internet, download photos and/or read


Departure Prep ...

1. Wake up
2. Do morning toiletry process (shower etc.)
3. Eat breakfast
4. Pack up stuff in tent and tent
5. Unlock bicycles
6. Check area to make sure we haven't forgotten anything
7. Go


It's more or less the same sort of thing I do when I'm not on tour.

andrewclaus

I also camp very simply, it just what I do when I don't want to ride any more and typically very late in the day. I've typically already eaten my main meal and washed up somewhere. So I just pitch my tarptent, throw my stuff in, maybe have a snack, secure my food and bike if necessary, jot some notes in my journal, and sleep. Reverse in the morning, maybe eat some fig newtons while doing so. I'll stop for breakfast after an hour or two of riding when I find a nice place to stop, whether a picnic site or cafe.

I'm not very fun to camp with.

indyfabz

Let's see. A few things....If it's not raining and there is a chance of rain, I will try to wait until it starts raining before making camp. I also wait for more people to show up and take the best sites before selecting one of my own.

If it's later in the day and I need food, I don't check out the hours of the local stores and restaurants until I am good and ready to get food. If they are closed by then, so be it.

If it's cold, I won't build a fire, but I will if it's hot.

In the morning, if I have a long day ahead of me, I sleep in, especially if there is a chance of bad weather later in the afternoon. That increases my chances of arriving after local business have closed and being able to pitch camp in the rain. Short day and I am out of the box before sun up.

See where I am going with this?

Machka 

When I toured Queensland in December 2004, that's what my cycling partner and I did.

It was very, very hot (over 100F most days), so we were up at about dawn and quickly packed things up. Then we cycled for a couple hours, stopped for breakfast, and kept going till about noon or 1 pm. By then it was too hot to continue so we would either stop in a shady area in a town or stop at the beach for several hours. During that time, we would eat dinner.

At about 4 or 5 pm, we would keep cycling for a 2 or 3 more hours then find a place to pitch, and collapse for the night.

imi

Somedays the only thing I can manage is to get my bag out, crawl into it and fall asleep

xilios

When we get to the campsite:
1- Set up the tent.
2- One of us goes for the shower while the other sets up sleeping gear.
3- The other one goes for a shower while the first one starts cooking.
4- One of us gets the drinks while the other does the dishes (usualy the one that cooked gets the drinks).
When leaving:
1- One of us goes to wash up while the other packs the sleeping gear.
2- The other goes to wash up while the first starts with breakfast.
3- The one that made breakfast starts packing the panniers while the other one does the dishes.
4- We both put up the tent and check to see if we didn't forget anything.

antokelly

i would scan the camping area to see where would be best spot to pitch tent (if possible).
i then get out my wee trangia kettle fill it up and put in on the boil.
then i try and pitch my tent (akto) before the kettle boils ,hasn't happened yet
ok so tent up tea made i relax for 20 minutes or there abouts then its shower time.
after 1 hour in the shower well why not, i saunter back to tent cup coffee radio on relax.
in the morning i'm usually up with the birds so if its nice weather i'll go for an early morning walk come back have brekie more tea /coffee plan my next 50 miles and gone.
if its raining and theres a cat on site i'll give him a kick over the nearist hedge just to get me going

MichaelW

Fire up the Trangia with a kettle of water.
Put up tent (Akto)
Blow up mat
Unroll sleeping bag
Put drybags with into porch.
Sort out evening wear
Pay any campsite dues
Say hello to neighbours
Check out campsite for any single babelicious chicks
Scoping is interrupted by Trangia finally coming to the boil.
Have a nice cup of tea.

Rowan

This is one of the most important aspects of camping, in my opinion.

I've spent up to 10 minutes considering where to pitch a tent (and 10 minutes is quite a long time). I've even got out the compass to check the sunset-sunrise direction and sought out some decent shade. Plus there is the ground -- looking for roots, rocks and spiky plants. Oh, and there is orientation of the tent door.

It might seem somewhat onerous, but it's not really. I have found that I get it right around 95 percent of the time.

After that, it's a matter of putting up the tent, setting up the bedding, organising the panniers, cooking gear and bike security.

In the morning, it's off to the ablutions block, breakfast, pack-up and breaking camp. The trip to the ablutions block might also include getting water for breakfast needs, and to replenish on-bike bottles.

Having the panniers organised so everything has its place and is in its place makes pitching and breaking camp much more efficient.

Boudicca

That's mean.

If there's a cat on site I will give it an extra cuddle, just to compensate for your meanness.

hyhuu

I see that your idea of fun (touring wise) is quite different from others'.

antokelly

only joking Boudicca but then again

xilios

[QUOTE=Rowan;15631258]This is one of the most important aspects of camping, in my opinion.
I've spent up to 10 minutes considering where to pitch a tent (and 10 minutes is quite a long time). I've even got out the compass to check the sunset-sunrise direction and sought out some decent shade. Plus there is the ground -- looking for roots, rocks and spiky plants. Oh, and there is orientation of the tent door.
QUOTE]

Same here, making sure the tent will get as much morning sun as possible to dry, not be in some kind of dip (in case it rains it wont flood), close to a barrier like a hedge (in case of stormy weather) and stay in the neighburhood of other campers (motor homes or caravans) so we can ask to charge our phones, laptop, rechargeable AA's and they can watch our stuff if we go for a walk, shopping or out to dinner.

Machka 

Here in Australia it's more like ... making sure the tent will get as little sun as possible in the afternoon, evening, or morning. It'll dry, no worries there. But early morning sun can make the tent unbearably hot. I've woken up feeling really dehydrated because the tent was too hot.

xilios

What a differance between Australia and The Netherlands Spring and Fall we have to drag ourselves out of the tent in the misty and cold mornings. So the morning sun is really welcomed.
We do have to save our pennies and do a tour of Australia some day.

Machka 

Yes, come on over! We've been to The Netherlands, and liked most of it. We were there last summer (August 2012) and aside from the first day or two, we had some really nice weather.

xilios

We'll take you up on it (as soon as we save our pennies), we've been following yours travels

Doug64

+1 It is also that way in the Pacific Northwest.

This is the title slide for one of our presentations. We had rain 35 days out of the 90 days we toured . The last 3 weeks were spent in The Netherlands, in late August and early September. Guess which day was consistently the warmest,driest and had the most sunshine It was still great riding in NL.



Yes, It is a Saturday near Enkhuizen, NL

Western Flyer 

End of day
Make a cup of tea.
If weather permits sun and air out the sleeping bag
Drink tea
Make a cup of tea
Pitch tent and weather permitting leave as open as possible to air and dry out.
Drink Tea
Make a cup of tea
Start dinner
Watch sunset and enjoy a cup of tea.


Morning
Make a cup of tea
If weather permits air out sleeping bag and tent
Drink tea
Make a cup of tea
Start breakfast
Eat breakfast and drink tea
Clean up and pack up and try to leave site better than I found it.
Drink last cup of tea for the morning
Roll-out and ride

skilsaw

I dig the lint out from between my toes, roll it in little balls and flick them at the cat.

Unfortunately, even if I start the tour with a partner, I usually end the tour alone. I 've been told it has something to do with my personal hygiene.

PS it must be true because you read it on the internet.

antokelly

great post like you i do love my tea great way to relax.
and kicking cats over hedges.

antokelly

no more to be said.very good.

Booger1

Somedays I wake up grouchy.....other days I let her sleep late?