The preoccupation in Britain with cycling as a sport makes it easy to overlook other aspects of life on two wheels. For example, cycle touring is a pursuit as old as the bicycle itself.
Now reinvented as ‘bikepacking’ the business of setting off to ride and camp, taking with you only as much as you can carry, is as pure a cycling experience as you can have.
The excellent bikepacking.com describes ‘a synthesis of mountain biking and minimalist camping; it evokes the freedom of multi-day back-country hiking, with the range and thrill of riding a mountain bike. It’s about forging places less travelled, both near and afar, via single-track trails, gravel, and abandoned dirt roads, carrying only essential gear’.
Some of the bikepacking chronicles describe epic rides through the red deserts of the American west and beyond, but don’t let the lure of far flung destinations stop you starting with a short overnight route near home.
To help get you started, we have a Quechua three-person tent to give away.
The design of this tent uses two-tone dye on the entire outer lining to reduce its CO2 emissions by 20% and the company can repair it if it gets damaged to give it a second life. To be in with a chance of winning the tent, simply leave us a comment at the bottom of the page and let us know where you’d pitch it.
The ethical choice
The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Over 30 years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance , breakdown cover and mobility scooter insurance while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.
The Good Shopping Guide judges us to be the UK’s most ethical provider.
John
Yes for me, please. This is exactly what I need for an upcoming long haul bike ride. 🙏🙏🙏🙏
Stephen
I love my home and village, but I’d pitch this ANYWHERE else! It’s been a long period of working from home, social restrictions, etc. and I really need to get away please!
Richard Scrase
Hello, I’d pitch this at our favourite seaside campsite – do I have to tell you where it is? I’m sure you are lovely but it isn’t usually at all crowded. All right then, its’s http://www.whitesands.co.uk just outside St David’s.
Steve H
I’ve canvassed my friends and after some intense discussions and some tense stand-offs, we’re all in agreement that this tent is for us!
Paul
I’d pitch it the next time I can go to a festival!
Ben Young
This might convince my wife to go to some festivals such as Tribe of Doris with me.
Bryn Gwyndaf Jones
Perfect & couldn’t be better for the bike.
Vincent Procter
Great a two-tone tent that’ll match my two-tone summer cycling legs. It’s a yes from me.
Paul Doe
Looks cool !
Good weekends
Paul
Olly
Perfect for a trip across Dorset. I would pitch it on the beautiful Jurassic Coast
Darryl Sunnick
Striding Edge…Lake District!
Gary Moon
I’ve a friend who lives in the Highlands & plan to ride up there this would instantly sort out my accommodation for the trip to him
Pege
That would be a great tent for our planned rides in the next year or two.
molly daniel
Would love this! I’d take it to Cornwall and pitch up as close to St Loy as possible!
Peter S
I would pitch the tent when wild camping all over Scotland and shortly in the Shetland Islands, the most Northerly part of Scotland.
Paul Evans
This would be great for some fun activities with the kids over the summer hols.
Helen Bowyer
Cycling to summer festivals
Phil Gregg
Nice Tent. Compact. Light (1.1kg per person). Shared between three cyclists (or one and a half tandems) this would really make an economical way to to explore the UK.
Jonathan Baldwin
I’d pitch it in the garden outside my friend’s house in Wales – I’ve not seen her and her kids since the pandemic started. We’d need to arrange a pulley system for tea though.
Peer
I’m supposed to be doing the King Alfred Way in August but this rate a tarp isn’t going to cut it! Really need the rain to stop now, otherwise, I need to learn how to swim in my sleep!!
a different john
would be a local pitch for us – Haystacks, Lake District – cycling their from home of course
Fran
Oh, that looks a perfect partner for my new gravel bike and my upcoming trip to the Outer Hebrides. Yes please……!
John A
This would be perfect for my son to take to the Peak District in September. He’s tried to repair his current tent, but with 2 broken poles and a leaking flysheet I think it might be time to replace it.
Mick Leary
When we have friends to stay, their kids would love to sleep in this out in our garden, where they could listen to the Barn Owls, and watch the bats flying about as the sun goes down.
Pat
I would pitch this where there are no flying ants. Unless, of course, the dye reduces ant-attraction as well as CO2 emissions. (It’s disconcerting when your tent becomes a writhing black blob!)
Andrew Richardson
I would like to have a go at cycle camping. For starters, the Coast and Castles route with a great pitch on the Northumberland coast on night 1, then “wherever I lay my hat (helmet)”!
Mark
not going anywhere this year so we’ll be pitching this in the garden, should get 3 of us and the cat inside
Paul Andrews
Looks like just what I need for my next adventure to complete my END to End for September 2021, Lancaster to JoG. Travelling the first leg with a weighty hotel tent was in no ways fun.. It would be great to have some less KG’s to complete the journey and spare the fuel.
Alex
I’d love to pitch this tent on a trip down the Portuguese coast!
James
Looks a great addition to the cycle!
Dave
I’d pitch it on a wild camping 🏕️ spot close to a beach only accessabilccessable by cycle and foot.
Dave
I’d pitch it on a wild camping 🏕️ spot close to a beach only accessable by cycle and foot!
David Gray
Very minimalist. Looks very small in the photo.
Yousaf Mirza
Looks great. Count me in for the draw. 🙂
Paul Soane
Overlooking the beach watching white horses. And playing White Horses by Jackie
Jon PENNYCOOK
I’d pitch it at Windmill Campersite on the Isle of Wight (I’m going there next month, but unfortunately I won’t be staying in their converted helicopter!)
Ewan Cushan
Somewhere with the right balance of wildness and facilities
Pamela
I would love this for cycle touring. Minimalist camping with a bike. Great
Alan
Interesting to learn that the dyeing is so carbon intensive. Would an undyed option have 40% lower emissions then?
Henry
We’d cycle through the Forest of Bowland with our toddler on the back and pitch up at Edisford Bridge campsite ready for a quick paddle in the river and a ride on the miniature railway. And we’d be ever so grateful!
Finn Blackmore
Finn (Aged 7) says:
“My Dad promised to take me camping two years ago. We still haven’t been, and he hasn’t even bought a tent yet! Help him out, please…”
All donations gratefully appreciated 😜
Pam Jibson
Somewhere in the Peak District so that I can accompany my daughter on one of her climbs 🚲⛰⛺️
Kerena
Have always wanted to try bike packing but our current tent barely fits in the car!! Would love to head up to Scotland and enjoy the freedom to camp wherever we end up!
Kath McNulty
Kyrgyzstan! As soon as the overland route opens up, I’ll be off.
Regards
Kath
Simon
France
Michaelbicycle
Just the job for overnight breaks on longer bike rides around our beautiful countryside.
Greg
Brilliant environmental tent. Yes please.
inge
My bike and I would love to spend the night under that tent! Who cares about the other two people!
Eric ludlow
Home is wherever I pitch it…
Mike Croker
In the back garden first (never a good idea to first pitch a new tent in the wild), then the world’s my oyster!
Douglas Coghlan
I’d be pitching this in The Cairngorms!
Jim Woodlingfield
Definitely, we would go camping in Northumberland!
james
Just perfect for my touring bike.
I would go up to Cape Wrath in Scotland and camp next to the beach at Kearvaig.
Nick Longson
I am off to play at the off the tracks festival
Les Gunbie
I’d pitch it in a field in Sussex …
Peter
I’d pitch it at one of the many music festivals I’m looking forward to getting back to
Huw Thimas
Pitch at Pwll Deri, Pembs. Stunning views of the coastline, birds and dolphins. Excellent base for a cycling holiday around Pembrokeshire coast.
Mark B
I need a tent to keep sleepovers out of the house! Yes please!!
Jamie J
Does anything beat getting intense with a close friend or two…?
Kate Platt
I’d pitch mine by the sea so I would sleep to the sound of the waves. Green. Powerful.Beautiful.
robert peel
i would like to have this tent
Rory
I don’t have a long haul bike trip coming up but would still love to win this tent!
J Reid
How wonderful. I’d love to pitch it in a quiet spot and enjoy the stars.
Karen
Quechua camping bug starts with a sleepover in the garden. Our 4 year old granddaughter will join 4 generations of
Karen Beaumont
Fun and freedom starts with a sleepover with grandma in the garden with a Quechua stowed in Annabelle’s little bike basket. One day a gap year in Aus, French motorway Aires and Greek Island stopovers as well as Suffolk rambles await perhaps.
Clive
I would pitch this somewhere in Scotland or Wales where the right to roam and wild camp still exists, unlike in England.
Ly
How wonderful. Love the design. I’d be pitching this on Dartmoor, my favourite place to be.
Beans
I’d pitch it somewhere on the letter ‘e’ as we spell ‘refugees welcome’ in GPS tracks to raise money via Thighs of Steel…and make a world record in GPS writing while we do it!
Mark
Anywhere my bike takes me, now we have FREEDOM!
🏝
Gary
What a great way to get some much needed freedom and adventure. Wherever I pitch my tent, that’s my home !
Abbi Gutierrez
I’m going bike packing this weekend for the first time. I’m taking a cheap little festival tent and really hoping it doesn’t rain or get too windy! I’d love a proper lightweight tent to take. Tonight we’re staying close to home in the Mendips near Bristol but I’d love to explore further such as the Brecon Beacons.
Howard
But most of the CO2 will come from me …
Dave single
Bike packing in wood wold or Weald
In hill-country forest or field
With a tent from the weather you’re sealed
– and camping is better two-wheeled.
Andy Dark
It certainly looks like great piece of kit. For me i would pitch it up on the grass area above the beach in Botany Bay at Margate. A great place to wake and look out on to a huge, huge expanse of morning sky.
David Hunt
This would be great for any camping trip, be it by bike or on foot.
Sarah
A tent with so much going for it. A brilliant way to enhance your cycling adventures.
Andy Giddy
Looks great for a family off road adventure!
Peter Soper
I lent my tent to a work colleague, got it back minus poles, have since lost touch – so this would be a great replacement.
Bethan Greaves
Me and my partner would use this for our mini-moon in the Quantock Hills next spring!
Charles May
The Adventure Travel Film Festival next month, where I’m volunteering while researching routes for my next “big trip”.
Euan Thomson
“The design of this tent uses two-tone dye on the entire outer lining to reduce its CO2 emissions by 20%”
What on earth does this mean? What is two-tone dye? Does it absorb CO2 and keep going on doing so over and over again whenever the tent is used? Or does using this dye result in a 20% reduction in the CO2 emissions during manufacture of the outer lining?
Clive
I’d cycle 15 miles to Liverpool where my grandkids live and pitch tent on their back lawn to give them their first experience of camping and show that holidays don’t have to mean hotels abroad.
Jen
This would be great
N Harrison
I would love to pitch this tent in the middle of The Avebury Stone circle in Wiltshire during both the summer and winter solstice in order to capture the energy of the stones I would lie in the tent and just soak up good vibes and renew my energy before leaving there to return to day to day life.
Ash Kotecha
Yes please. I would use it Music Festivals. I need one this coming week-end at Wickham Festival.
Toity
Perfect now that my husband isn’t able to cycle and camp – no sharing the load any more! 🙁
Shane
I’m in!
Perfect for a weekend ride out into the Peak District.
Del Pickup
This would be an ideal tent for me to pitch as I cycle the length of Hadrian’s Wall.
James
That looks excellent – sign me up
Steve Green
That would be ideal for the tour of Scotland later this year.
Vicky French
Life begins at 62, bikepacking with a sustainable tent – my dream’s come true.
Susan Lancaster
This would give us a bit more space (now that we’re in our mid-60s) than our current tiny 2-man tent. Looking forward to getting back in the saddle for a long-distance jaunt but maybe it will have to be nearer our home in Wales next time. Cycle touring with all your gear (in our case just two panniers each) is the most perfect form of freedom you can experience!
Lesley Carol
Would pitch this tent on a hill with a fabulous view and watch the sun go down over my bike wheels.
Frank
Last week I attempted to complete the coast to coast cycle ride but could not get accommodation in Consett so got the train home. We would have set up in Consett if we had had a tent😊
Vanesssa
It would have to be Northumberland and Scotland for the first trip following the coast and castles route with friends.
Helen
Perfect for my planned cycling adventure around Italy!!!
PhilipT
I plan to do a coast to coast and LEJOG next year so I’d be pitching this tent the length and breadth of the country.
Jim B
Hi. I’d go to Dartmoor with this tent.
Cheers Jim
Zizzie Moore
Having the peace of mind with a good insurance company I’d definitely take this on my first bike packing adventure and pitch up by lakes and streams and forget any worries