We are NOT hard-core cycle tourers.... They are the ones you see camping wild or at the campsite with minimal equipment, stubble grown completely into a beard (in the case of the men anyway!), tiny tent that you can hardly squeeze into never mind stand and one set of clothing to last months on the road.
We like our creature comforts which is a little difficult when you have to carry it. I did a lot of research and augmented much of our standard camping gear which has been brilliant for many years with lighter/smaller versions. In the case of the children, family and friends were very generous and gave birthday presents related to the trip
Things which have been brilliant:
Thermarest prolite plus regular: plus because they are slightly thicker than the standard ones. The kids had standard half length ones which roll up really tiny - thanks to uncle Andrew! - they are never going replace my bed, or even the set up of even thicker ones and duvets we normally take camping, but it's a big improvement on the floor. Due to the temperature in France we were able to unzip our sleeping bags and lie in them for extra padding with a double sheet I brought over to top.
Sea to summit collapsible crockery: Plates, bowls and cups which fold down flat and can also be used as a chopping board! - thanks mum!
Ortlieb panniers and dry sacs: I have my trusty old karimore panniers which are beginning to show their age, but everyone else has ortlieb. The bar bags have been brilliant for the kids to store their special things in and for our quick access stuff. The dry sacs have kept sleeping bags dry/clean, been used as food storage on top and inside the trailer.
Crocs: we love them for camping!
Altura kids cycling shorts: all 3 have theses shorts aged 7-9. Hannah is finally fitting them snugly, the twins are a bit baggy round their skinny legs, but they are nicely padded for long days in the saddle and durable. Worn without undies! (I just wore cycling pants and normal shorts)
Thermarest chair: these are just parachute material with a couple of strengthening poles which you slide your thermarest into and voila, a chair! It will NEVER replace a chair with legs, but it does give some back support and is more comfy on the bottom than the floor. It folds up really small and is very light to carry - we brought 2 with us.
Folding washing-up bowl: I bought ours about 5 years ago cheap from a camping shop and there are many on the market now, but in France there are never any plugs in the sink and often you have to fill up your hot water from a tap elsewhere. Also with a family of 5 it's easier to have something to put all the washing up into to carry to the sinks and stop everything getting covered in sand. Invaluable. Ours is showing its age now and the plastic is beginning to rip, so I'll be buying a new one for next year. Sea to summit do a tiny folded up one or Outwell sell a collapsible one which would take up more space.
Loom Bands: became a craze just at the right time. They are very light, don't take up any room, cheap and can be taken apart and re-done time and time again.
Doodle pads from asda + mini colouring pencils: brilliant for the coach and for rainy days. They all wrote stories, drew pictures and coloured in.
Vango burner and gas: this was new as our camping ones were too big and heavy to take. The burner folds into a small plastic box for storage, you have never seen a kettle boil so quick and the gas lasted 5 family meals as well as numerous cups of tea and hit chocolate!
Vango Omega 600XL tent: I have mixed feelings about the tent...vango changed the design of their tents a few years ago and they took away the double zips on all their doors which I don't like and when you open the main doors when it's either raining or the tent has dew on it, the inside of the tent gets wet puddles. It's also essentially a small tunnel tent which means it won't stand up without being pegged (unlike a dome tent), which can be problematic in some areas. Having said that, this tent was the lightest tent of its size (6-man - although we left the smaller bedroom behind and fitted very easily into the 4-man bedroom at the back) weighing in at 8.2kg which in the trailer was ok - you wouldn't want to put it on the back of a bike, or you would have to split it between two bikes. We wanted everyone in one tent and there is plenty of head height in this one - we could just stand in the porch. It was quite quick to put up - we left both the bedroom and the porch groundsheet attached which made it quicker - Adrian became a real pro at it!
Kindle: loaded with books for adults and children - the battery lasts ages - we haven't had to charge either one all holiday and they have been well used.
Thermarest medium travel pillow: Adrian and my luxury item! I didn't fancy arranging clothes as a pillow every night! - it rolls up and has expanding foam inside. It's quite bulky for panniers, but well worth the space!
Solar panel charger: we had a small one, but saw other tourers with much larger ones (which would be better). I kept it in the window of my bar bag when cycling and it charged significantly to top up our phones for blog writing and GPS. Adrian also brought a 'pebble' and 'mophie' power pack - which we charged whenever we had access to plug sockets. We used these to give our phones full charge when needed.
Burley cargo trailer: I bought this second hand from eBay as they are very expensive new. It has definitely been worth it as it's the lightest one I could find at just over 6kg and considerably lighter than the old double children's trailer we would have taken. We had a bit of a panic for a couple of weeks leading up to the holiday as the bike hitch it came with was the older design and not suitable for bikes with disc brakes (which Adrian's mountain bike has), but we managed to get the newer fixing from America via a pilot friend in the end.
Cargo net for the trailer: this was brilliant for tucking quick access stuff into, drying clothes when cycling or carrying our lunch when the trailer was full.
Tie-down straps: lots of them - for securing everything from the sleeping bags on the back of the bikes to extending the washing line.
Emergency food and water: always carry extra water, a full evening meal and snacks - you never know when you might need it. As adults we could probably cope, but children are not so forgiving and need regular sustenance!
Things I would bring next time:
Chair!: I would need to do lots of research by it would be great it I could find a lightweight chair that I could carry!
Small Dust pan and brush: we always bring one camping, but didn't think we could afford the space in the trailer. I was wrong! The tent got covered in sand daily so that by about day 5 it was like a sand dune in there! We gave in and bought one which was much bigger than the one I would have brought from home!
Sink plug: I forget that the French campsites are so different from English ones. A plug would have been useful when washing clothes.
Tarp: we survived perfectly well without one on this trip, due mainly to the larger size of our tent. When it's raining it would be nice to still be able to sit outside. It could also double up as a bike cover or ground sheet if needed.
Proper sized scissors (Adrian says): I brought nail scissors and first aid scissors and only one sharp knife (which wasn't very sharp!). We also has a couple of penknives with an assortment if knives on them, but apparently, the best thing for cutting chorizo is scissors!
Things we wouldn't bother bringing:
We didn't use a lot of the first aid kit - a few wipes, a plaster and some savlon and only one inner tube from the bike repair kit, but I'm not sure I would risk slimming any of that down as I only saw my first chemist in Arcachon and passed bike shops fairly infrequently... Any extra maintenance would have meant a detour - something you definitely want to avoid with children.
Pretty much everything else we used.
Adrian says he wouldn't bother bringing boxers with him next time as all he has worn all holiday are cycling pants and then gone commando the rest of the time :-)
Things I would do differently next time (and I am sure there will be one)!
Adrian: make sure the GPS is working properly!....
