How much is (cycle) camping these days?

[D.A.L.E.]

How much are we all paying for a pitch on a campsite these days? I'm talking turn up on a bike with a small tent camping, not car camping.

It's probably me being out of touch, but this had me loudly exclaiming 'ow much?!



It's 30 quid a night in the bunkhouse down the road and that includes a full English. 15 quid pn seems bonkers for a bit of grass.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That looks average to me, now. Unfortunately. In fact possibly better than average in that they do at least have a separate small tent rate. I think the lowest I've paid post-pandemic is £10, and that's a sort of "mate's rates". Even in Yorkshire(!) they were charging at least £11!

[Paul H]

A few years ago I had a tenner top limit, it's now double that and sometimes I'm still struggling to find somewhere.  Camped twice so far this year, £9pn and £14pn, another booked for later this month is £18pn, a site I regularly used to stay is now glamping only from £35pn with a minimum of 2 nights.
Must have been a tough few years for campsites, if they're now finding people will pay those prices, good luck to them, but two other trips I have planned are now Travelodge and Premier Inn for a few quid more.  I think many sites are licensed X pitches, if so it doesn't seem unreasonable to charge similar prices regardless of how you got there.

[quixoticgeek]

I've paid variously between €7.5 and €18 here.

If it's clean, with warm showers, and a nice location I don't mind paying at the higher end of this.

J

[Canardly]

Small businesses are really struggling. One of our favourite cycle related cafe venues has just had to close down and it was very good indeed. So l imagine camping locales are also trying to stay afloat. Whether people will be able to afford/wish to pay these increased rates  remains to be seen.


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[andrewc]

On my last couple of trips I've been paying from £10 for basic farm sites to £20 for a full facility place aimed more at vans & caravans.  One place (Southwold) had an official fee of £32.50 for a single tent, but dropped it down to £15 for me. 


I think the backpacker/cyclist rate at the C&CC official sites is less than £10, but you have to be a paid up member.

[quixoticgeek]

If you were happy to pay a fiver in 2000. Then the bank of England calculator says that should be £8.86. Where as a tenner in 2000 is £17.73.

So given I was paying about £7.50 in the early 2000's, then 15 quid now seems entirely reasonable.

J

[Kim]

If it's clean, with warm showers, and a nice location I don't mind paying at the higher end of this.

This.  Also, I'm willing to pay a hefty premium for the convenience of not have to scrabble about for coins or tokens with my eyes full of shampoo.

[D.A.L.E.]

A few years ago I had a tenner top limit, it's now double that and sometimes I'm still struggling to find somewhere.  Camped twice so far this year, £9pn and £14pn, another booked for later this month is £18pn, a site I regularly used to stay is now glamping only from £35pn with a minimum of 2 nights.
Must have been a tough few years for campsites, if they're now finding people will pay those prices, good luck to them, but two other trips I have planned are now Travelodge and Premier Inn for a few quid more.  I think many sites are licensed X pitches, if so it doesn't seem unreasonable to charge similar prices regardless of how you got there.

Wild. I had a "tenner at most" rule when I did more touring a few years ago, looks like that will have to be rethought...

Usha Gap campsite just outside of Muker in Swaledale is still "only" a tenner for cyclists, which seems reasonable as it was a decent site last time I was there - https://ushagap.co.uk/prices/

Mind, I've just remembered being charged a tenner for the luxury of camping outside of the Tan Hill Inn last year with Deano. We haven't been back.

[campagman]

I think the backpacker/cyclist rate at the C&CC official sites is less than £10, but you have to be a paid up member.

Not the club sites. It would cost a bit more but the saving was never enough to make me join.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I stayed at a large C&CC site nr Kidderminster last summer on my way up to the York Rally. I can't remember the cost but it was fairly reasonable and I think they might have given me a backpacking rate even without being a member. At any rate, it wasn't enough to stop me staying at the same place again on the way home, especially as the facilities and location were good (not beautiful in any way, just convenient etc).

[Kim]

7.50 rings a bell, but it's one of those things that requires manual intervention (and there's some complication with the old farts' rate).

My usual approach to Club sites is to book online for convenience, and if some kindly member of staff ends up tapity-taping and refunding most of it when I turn up on a bike, all the better.

But sadly C&CC membership fees only make financial sense if you're camping as a family in a large tent or caravan, or actively attending DA or section meets.  They do gain you access to Certified Sites, which can be more important.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Do they gain you access to Certified Sites? I understood you had to self-sufficient in toilet terms to stay on those, as they're really just fields with a septic tank.

[Canardly]

No we have stayed on certified sites with the usual facilities, although they can, as you  point out, be more primitive.

[andrewc]

Do they gain you access to Certified Sites? I understood you had to self-sufficient in toilet terms to stay on those, as they're really just fields with a septic tank.

Some are, some aren't.  It requires careful perusal of the guide, or setting the "toilet" filter on the search function.  DAHIKT......

[Wowbagger]

"Toilet filter"... it conjures up such a lovely image.

[Kim]

Do they gain you access to Certified Sites? I understood you had to self-sufficient in toilet terms to stay on those, as they're really just fields with a septic tank.

Some are, some aren't.  It requires careful perusal of the guide, or setting the "toilet" filter on the search function.  DAHIKT......

There's a widespread view amongst the Club's caravannist majority that backpackers/cyclists dig holes...

[Cudzoziemiec]

Do they gain you access to Certified Sites? I understood you had to self-sufficient in toilet terms to stay on those, as they're really just fields with a septic tank.

Some are, some aren't.  It requires careful perusal of the guide, or setting the "toilet" filter on the search function.  DAHIKT......

There's a widespread view amongst the Club's caravannist majority that backpackers/cyclists dig holes...

I noted an orange trowel strapped under the down tube of a bike in the latest Arrivee. Page 29 from memory, someone doing Race Around the Netherlands. But I don't think the caravannists (or anyone else) would be happy with holes dug on sites.

[D.A.L.E.]

Some more Northumberland campsites

Stonehaugh is a tenner - https://stonehaughcampsite.com/rates-and-terms.html

Winshields is 11£ - https://www.winshieldscampsite.co.uk/home

And Coombe Crag is only a fiver - https://www.coombecragcamping.co.uk/

[mrcharly-YHT]

Cyclists and walkers are welcome to wild camp in scotland.

Certainly on the OH, there are multiple beaches with toilet blocks and a tap outside. Putting up a tent out of the way is perfectly fine and free. People do prefer it if you spend a bit of money on the islands (there are lots of community cafes that sell excellent cakes, seems to be an island thing and probably accounts for my waistline these days).

[mzjo]

Where Ms mzjo and I are going this week (on the Nantes-Brest Canal so not necessarily the least demanded part of the world)
https://camping-lepainfaut.fr/fr/Emplacements-de-camping
https://www.campingducanal.fr/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/TarifcampingEmplacement.pdf

On some campsites we looked at, being two with two small tents works out much the same as being two sharing a bigger tent (and not much cheaper than two with a car-based palace). The randonneur pricing seems to be based around 1p/1tent. An interesting novelty (for me anyway) is phone recharging lockers (around 50c/night seemed to be about the rate) and paddocks with hay/forage for horses/mules. Not sure about the phone charging but the ones that we are using certainly offer horse trekking facilities. I would be expecting decent sanitaires as a norme, they do get inspected after all!

A nice feature on some is the randonneur reserved area. No booking, just turn up! (and hope there isn't a mass concentration!)

[Kim]

An interesting novelty (for me anyway) is phone recharging lockers (around 50c/night seemed to be about the rate)

I've encountered this sort of thing at a couple of continental sites (everything from payment lockers to a weatherproof box with a gadget shelf and a load of sockets).  Yet to see similar in the UK.

It seems like a good idea: Avoids the problem of people leaving things plugged in in the wash blocks, and more useful for small-tent-campers than electric hookups.  It's also just the thing for e-bike users.

[quixoticgeek]

I've encountered this sort of thing at a couple of continental sites (everything from payment lockers to a weatherproof box with a gadget shelf and a load of sockets).  Yet to see similar in the UK.

It seems like a good idea: Avoids the problem of people leaving things plugged in in the wash blocks, and more useful for small-tent-campers than electric hookups.  It's also just the thing for e-bike users.

Increasingly in .NL I'm seeing campsites with dedicated e-bike charging setups. Such as this one on a site I stayed on in Zuid Limburg a couple of years back.



https://www.campingaandebeemden.nl/faciliteiten-camping-zuid-limburg/

It was a nice quiet site, I paid €18 euro per night. Looks like it's now about €22. Very much aimed at people who aren't a solo cyclist.

J

[Kim]

Fantastically Dutch that it doesn't have so much as a wheelbender to support the bikes...

[quixoticgeek]

Fantastically Dutch that it doesn't have so much as a wheelbender to support the bikes...

Yep the sorts of people making use of these facilities are the sort that think it's OK to use a kickstand on a train...

Often it's a pair of ANWB bikes... with the associated attitude of the riders...

J