Touring with a 7yr old!

[XRHYSX]

Me and number one son are going to try camping on bikes
we go car camping a lot as a family and him and his sister are Beavers and Cubs respectfully so nothing new there, as some of you my know he is a keen cyclist, with many miles under his belt,
well now were going to put the two together

Our camping kit is quite extensive:- 10man tent, double stove, blow up mattresses, and clothes rail... to name but a few, fits lovely in the trailer on the back of our car for a week away with the family.
Not very good to fit in panniers on the bikes... Cue some retail therapy

I got myself a little 2man tent this summer to take camping with the Beavers/Cubs as I didn't want to keep borrowing one all the time, I bought S a small folding stool the other day as he keeps sitting on mine every time I get up, and tonight after a good day selling my old motorcycling gear at the local carboot I've ordered myself a Trangia burner and stove, I had been looking at small gas burners but even the smallest ones would seem to take up a lot of precious room in the panniers an quite heavy too

So I've booked two nights at a campsite in August which we plan to cycle to and is about 20miles down the road (close enough for the wife to come rescue us if it all goes Pete Tong) then in the morning cycle around the country side and back home the next day,

I hope this is the start to some fantastic touring holidays with my boy, Will keep you posted on our progress next month

 

[BigonaBianchi]

Excellent...Im sure you'll both have a laugh

 

[jugglingphil]

Sounds great. It's good to do stuff father and son, enjoy.

 

[Ticktockmy]

There will be times when he thinks to himself what a stuffy old miserable old bugger you are as he struggles up hills and has to do the camping chores, but in 20 years he will relive every mile, and recall what a great dad he had, and will mirror himself on yourself to his own kids. Its so great to hear that dads are still doing cycling and camping stuff with their kids

 

[XRHYSX]

There will be times when he thinks to himself what a stuffy old miserable old bugger you are as he struggles up hills and has to do the camping chores, but in 20 years he will relive every mile, and recall what a great dad he had, and will mirror himself on yourself to his own kids. Its so great to hear that dads are still doing cycling and camping stuff with their kids

Ahh fanks I missed a lot of him as a baby due to my job which I left two years ago so have been really making up for it.
Its a shame I don't have any memories like that of my dad ...he's not dead, just a wan(£2

 

[XRHYSX]

Well we left Sittingbourne on a lovely Sunday morning heading the 10 miles to Faversham with no problems, a route we do quite often. After that we were just following the blue "route 1" cycle route, eventually after a missed sign, a few wrong turns and some helpful locals we found the off road cycle path to Graveney then a quiet road out to Seasalter where we had our packed lunch perched on the sea wall.
The campsite we had booked was at the other side of the Crab and Winkle line in Canterbury within a couple of hours we finally found ourselves at Neals Place Farm campsite a total of 26 miles
The boy made friends with the kids in the next pitch and spent the evening chasing frizzbes and playing football, whilst I got busy with making a Spag Bol dinner, what with all that cycling and running up and down a field for a few hours, when his head finely hit the pillow his was out like a light.

Day two started early, always does with him, we took the Crab and Winkle back out to Whitstable and picked up the Oyster Bay Trail we stopped off in Herne Bay for a bit of window shopping then carried on to Reculver for lunch and Minis Bay for ice-cream, we carried on for another 7 miles to West gate before heading back to Camp 48miles for the day, we decided to eat out for tea so headed in to Canterbury in search for a fish and chip shop.
The Crab and Winkle line runs right past the entrance of the campsite so followed it in to town we stumbled across a Morrisons so got some food for a pack lunch for the return trip home the next day, we found a lovely spot to eat our chips over looking Canterbury Cathedral

Day three homeward bound, just following the route we came, we had our lunch in Faversham then rode with a German couple who were heading for Sittingbourne to catch a train to London,
in all we clocked 106 miles for the whole trip, and he's happy to do it all again

Ready to go

Seasalter for lunch

Nearly there on the Crab and Winkle

Base camp

Making Spag Bol

After a full day cycling 48miles he was so tired, Lol

 

[jim55]

that is really superb ,i really wish id done things like that with my boy (whos now 18 and thinks his car is surgically attached to him) ,great story ,,