We Leave Every Cycle Camping Trip with a Trail of Cheerios.....

This weekend we decided to take both kids cycle camping, the first time for Georgie (who's 16 months old). We have camped in the old campervan since Georgie was only a few weeks old, but haven’t cycle camped since her arrival. We were only planning a one night trip, and local too, only 20km, from Kendal to Gibraltar Farm Campsite, Silverdale in Lancashire.

Perfect, well we thought so...

Blistering heat when we set off on Saturday at about 10.30am, but we were prepared with suncream, lots of drink and food. The bike ride went really well but was really hilly and with the heat was hard work. Dave had two panniers full of belongings, and the trail gator on with our 5 year old, Ollie. My bike was stacked high with two panniers full of sleeping bags, food, clothes and then the tent, as well as the fully laden trailer with Georgina in.... and the fifth member of our family Georgie's beloved toy "Rabbit".

We had a lovely picnic stop about half way on the Square at Milnthorpe, and then headed to our final destination. The last few kilometres were the hardest and steepest and were very hard work, the bikes seemed to have gained weight rather than lost it with eating all the picnic food! By the time we arrived in Silverdale around 3pm we were all tired and stopped at the shop to buy the ice lollies we'd been promising Ollie all the way for pedalling so well. The kids had really enjoyed the journey, Georgie lounged in the trailer chatting and sleeping.

After 24km (a little more than we had thought) the campsite was a welcome sight. We pitched the tent and the kids spent over an hour excitedly rolling around inside it together. I can’t believe how much fun they had in an empty tent! Then suddenly it then dawned on me.... it’s a 2/3 man tent... and there's now 4 of us... and both kids sleep like starfish! HELP! Oh well we'll manage I thought!

We had a lovely stroll back into the village and found a lovely curry house for tea, then back to the campsite as it was getting really late and we knew it would be an early start in the morning. Georgie found the excitement of the tent too much and I was relieved I'd left the front wheels of the trailer attached (and lugged the extra weight) to change it into a pushchair and we pushed her to sleep while Ollie had chance to get to sleep in the tent, before moving her in too. All was quiet, we were shattered and went to bed soon after the kids knowing they would probably wake at sunrise!