Hey all,

This year my wife and I are doing our very first bike tour with a tent.

We plan on driving around Scandinavia (a good 10000 KM route), primarily in Norway, but with a few thousand KM's in Sweden. We will be driving every day, so we wont be staying at any one campsite for more than one night.

We need all the advice we can get. We've never done anything like this before. We've done lots of travel on our bikes, but never with a tent.

How do one handle bathing? Do we bring our own towels, or can such things be rented at the campsites?

How about stuff like electricity (for email and such)?

Cooking? We've bought one of those cute little Trangia stoves, and we've practiced a bit with it here in the safety of our home - once you get the hang of it, it's quite fun actually. I guess there's probably a few good tricks for that as well?

Clothing? What to consider?

Basically we just need any and all advice for more experienced campers. We've scheduled 3-4 weeks for the entire trip.

Hope someone can help.

Sincerely,
Thomas & Trine

Well T&T that is one really big question you have posted - of course, many many questions actually.

Please take a look at the other parts of this website - the other forums - there are quite a few about camping kit which will give you lots of guidance about what to take, what is considered to be the best of each type etc etc.

On one of your questions: do take everything that you think you will need - you won't be hiring towels for instance at any campsite that I have ever used (and I have been in a few, although not in Scandanavia but I don't believe that will be very different from other bits of the world!).

You are driving you say, so there is no need to travel light - you can get all the bulky luxury items that you wish! You are "driving" a bike!!
OK , read all of the other forums & travel light!!

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Dave

Already on it! This forum is, simply put, a treasure-chest of information..

That was actually one of the big ones for us, and we have in fact already bought a few of those light/fast-dry/camper towels. But how on earth do we manage to get them dry in time? Packing a wet towel is not exactly the greatest concept ever. Or am I missing something?

Riding, we're riding!

Damn my miserable english skills. I handle my native tongue (Danish) a lot better.

Thanks a bunch Walkabout, and thank you for taking your time to help.

Sincerely,
Thomas

No problem!

Hang the damp towel on the bike as you ride, but don't let it get into the back wheel or the chain! You can stuff it under a bungee or two.

A few years ago, my wife would sit on the folded towel during the day in place of the fabled sheepskin seat cover - she found it quite comfortable and it raised her up a bit in the saddle.

ps Your English is fine, and I am not Bull***ting you - much better than my Danish of course.

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Dave

Hi TL, the camping towels dry out pretty quick once you've given them a good wring out. for a quick wash you can always use wet/baby wipes which you can get at most pharmacy's. E-Mails, internet cafe, or rent the occasional hotel room. Clothes wise I always pack as light as i can, unless your'e going out to nice restaurants etc i only take one casual outfit that will keep me looking presentable, the rest of the time you'll be in your bike clothes anyway.

The less you take the lighter the bike will be and the more fun it's going to be to ride those twisty norwegian roads.

One useful thing i like to take is a lighweight tarp, good for keeping gear dry under if your tent is a bit of a squeeze, and easy to string to a tree etc.

Good luck with your trip.

A very tiny tip,
when using your stove use a windbreak of some kind. it can halve cooking time.

hi T&T
well if you plan to use camping sides (not wild camping) you are OK using a tent... well I'm saying that be course I'm just back from Sweden a few weeks ago.. now my mate and I used Hammocks (Hennessy Hammocks) there are trees all over the place and you don't need a flat even serves, even if it's wet no problems than, less bulk to carry as well... Oh well yes I guess Trine would not like to be on here own in a Hammock all the time... so you better off having a tent together....

but one serious tip, get your self some head-nets for the mozzys at night and if you are around woods and lakes or Trine will hate you for ever...

The electric bits are best stored in a thin water tight bag with a roll-tight lit.

uskyld jag har glimed teller non dask men de er tyve or siln jag were over po Fyn.... tar de rolit og hyger did....

spooky

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The trouble is that he was talking in philosophy, but they were listening in gibberish.

In Scandinavia, most campings also have small wooden cabins that you can rent. It gives toy a little more room to get things dry. Some more expensive cabins even have a toilet and shower.
When I was touring in Scandinavia last year I had some rainy days and then a cabin is much better then a tent. Also I don't like packing my tent in the rain.

__________________
Jan Krijtenburg

My bikes are a Honda GoldWing GL1200 and a Harley-Davidson FXD Dyna Super Glide

My personal homepage with trip reports: https://www.krijtenburg.nl/
YouTube channel (that I do together with one of my sons): motormobilist.nl

Sometimes I really feel bad because of some people tease with someone's English.

I didn't know this site is belongs to native English speaking people only when I was joining. I haven't met any word about this too.
Instead of correcting kindly and nicely, why people try to tease?

At least thie people can speak a foreign language. What about you? Can you speak Dan at all?

I think we all have to respect more to other people who dares to speak a foreign language and can mix and confuse sometimes about technical subjects and grammer.

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"where the traveller goes, nobody knows ! "

Hi Samy,
I imagine you are referring to the quoted post; pour moi est ist OK. Il est nur ein kliene "post" - an "add on" (peut etre un joke?).
So, je voudrais to permit this now and again!

Forgive me, I am not taking the piss, I just don't mind posters putting in an occasional phrase (so long as they don't expect me to understand it as well - my language skills are hopeless, as demonstrated here).

Best wishes,

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Dave

Well well, we all call us self travelers.... with out speech... what would you do... ?

OK here we go... 1st of all, I used to speak Danish better than English, thats for a start... living 3-1/2 years in Denmark when I was age 18.... "so I'm NOT taking the piss" why not being nice if possible and the world community can grow a bit closer....

and for all of you who can't understand my phrase at the end of my last post:

uskyld jag har glimed teller non dansk men de er tyve or siln jag were over po Fyn.... tar de rolit og hyger did....

(sorry I forgot to tell some Danish, but that's twenty years ago I have been on Fyn... take it steady and in comfort....) the spelling is a bit do bumpy...

I spend 8 years on that rock called the UK... I learned that the UK-people have a great respect for those who speak more than English, and it's rather a compliment saying things like: [..ps Your English is fine, and I am not Bull***ting you - much better than my Danish of course...] will say: "oh never mind your bumpy English, it's better than my Turkish, German, Danish, French, Spanish..." ... so... don't judge to hard it could hit your self if you want to buy a few bits on a "Bazaar in Huddersfield / UK" or any where els on your next trip.... you would not have any problems speaking Turkish over here in Berlin... native Germans call it "little-Istanbul" you could call it "mini-Yew York"... my next door neighbours are from: Turkey, Russia, Poland, Japan, British, Yanks, Thai, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Spain, France, Ireland, Brazil, Italy and some from Africa, east-Germans and west-Germans... you name it, it's all here, all in a surrounding area of may 100 meter around me, every day. I like it a lot....

now, if I would speak more than three languages, I would give every one some warm welcome in his or here native languages on there way... and one more thing, I think HUBB is a great place where people know about how to handle the way non native English folk who want to share common interest .... isn't that traveling and exploring the Globe ? a bumpy phrase is part of it...

spooky

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The trouble is that he was talking in philosophy, but they were listening in gibberish.

Hi Thomas & Trine,

I toured Norway a couple of years ago and found it to be a wonderful experience. Our little group of five bikers found there were three types of camping;

Firstly - free camping.

This involved setting up camp in area's that had no facilities, other than the ground that you set your tent on. Very handy as they were cheap but not something you could use every day.

Secondly - camp sites.

We found these to provide various levels of comfort, from basic but clean sites, where all had very good shower facilities to fabulous sites that had sauna's pools etc. Every site we used was perfect, just that some provided more options than others. One site even had under floor heating in the bathroom area's keeping your tootsies warm!

Third and finally - Hytta's.

These are log cabins that varied from a basic shed like unit, complete with heating and cooking facilities, to more grand designs compete with several bedrooms, bathrooms etc. Fantastic value.

I'd recommend that you use the standard camp sites but every few days treat yourselves to a Hyyta. This then gives you a treat where you don't have to break camp in the mornings, you can have a laze in bed (most of them you need to use your bedding) and you can dry out any of your wet gear.

As for towels, I always use the high absorption camping versions and find that they dry off really quickly.

We also managed to wash our smalls by putting hot water into a large sweet jar, adding a bit of washing concentrate then attaching it to the rear of a bike. At the end of the day your clothing is well washed and just needs a rince and drying!

One last bit of advise is to use Statoil fuel stations, as you can buy a coffee mug for about £5-00 but you get free coffee at all the stations! Great idea. They also provide cheap hot foods, should you fancy a snack.

Have a great time and take plenty of film/digital storage as you'll need it.

Oh I forgot, most of the Norwegians speak English better than we do!

As for Emails, well there are plenty of internet cafes around and in the quieter area's we were allowed internet access at some garages! Now I can't see that happening in England can you!

Enjoy.

Hi Tl

Look for a HUBB community where you're going.

Expect prices to be 3X what you pay at home.

Norway is beautiful.

A big thank you to all of you!

It's great for us "newbies" to hear (and hopefully learn) from more experienced travellers.

We're really looking forward to this trip - doing the whole tent thing is going to be a completely new experience for us.

Life is good..

Just look out for the rain Thomas - if it is anything like the UK at present when you are in Norway then you will be dodging the floods (and they have had some of their own in the recent past).

What bike are you riding BTW (perhaps two)?

Good luck with the camping and keep reading the threads!

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Dave