Initially my mad idea was to go camping away from home to simulate 'real' conditions but I was soon persuaded that it is not necessary - after all the house and the campsite is less than a mile apart. No need to spend money on a fake night - just camp in the back garden!
Anyway, we packed all the panniers and did our short 9 mile circuit ride. My bike performed very well - almost sighing with relief that it's finally a touring bike as that is what it's been since birth. At some very slight ups I felt I had a bit of a load but generally it was just another very pleasant ride.
Back home we unpacked the tent and proceeded with setting it up. The tent is daughter's borrowed by us and slightly bigger - a 3 man dome with an enclosed porch - than Mr B's 2 man (very) older version (never would've worked anyway as it is too small to put our panniers in for the night and it also tapers down towards the feet so sleeping mats wouldn't have fitted ).
Mr B will need to embrace patience which isn't always his virtue. Despite the 3 Atom being a much smaller tent than our large polycotton which we usually take to France, there was some impatience when poles got slightly stuck when they were threaded through. Careful now - don't want to sit with a ripped tent even before we've set off! I can see dark days after each ride when we need to pitch and both of us are tired.
So pitching done (with arguments about where it should be pitched on the back grass) and both mats and sleeping bags unfolded, mat and pillow inflated (very easy!) and ready for the night we went back into the house for an evening in comfy chairs and dinner before retiring to the cold English outdoors at 10pm.
Falling asleep was easy but it didn't last long. I woke up with my arms freezing despite being inside the sleeping bag and after employing all types of warming up tricks like rubbing arms, curling up, lying on my front, I just couldn't go back to sleep. Time? 2.30am
"Are you awake" I ask
"I am now" muffled reply from the dark shape next to me
"I am absolutely freezing!"
"Do you want to go back inside?"
"Yes please..."
Well that was the end of our English tent trial.
Despite the failure to stay the night, lessons were learnt.
1. Patience when pitching is paramount
2. How to inflate my sleeping mat
3. How to fold both my sleeping mat and bag away in the morning making small packs of both of them
4. Don't forget you need layers when sleeping in a thin tent! Memories of French nights springs to mind when the nights really cool down despite very hot days
5. When repacking the panniers make sure that they are the same height so that the rackbag doesn't look like it's about to fall off!
Better next time in Brittany!
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| Posing at the Village shop just after our trial run |
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| We thought it worth that you see the load from behind! |
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| Tent pitched in the backgarden ready for the nights' inhabitants |
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| The porch area of the tent was useful to store our luggage in the night |
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