Hey Dan,

I can only speak from my own experience of France, Spain and Slovenia (from your lovely list), and absolutely agree with previous posts.

At the end of the day, people are opportunists. Make it easy enough, and even the conscientious might be tempted.

Pick a camping spot where you aren't too hidden away. If you can't see your tent, no one else will either. At the same time pitching near a lamp post can keep you awake at night (I relocated as soon as I woke up the next morning LOL).

I had absolutely no problems getting my bike in close to my tent. In some areas, where I got lazy/blaze', I was actually encouraged to put my bike next to my tent (not for safety, but because the camp site owners knew the score with bikers and figured I would be happier that way).

A lock on the tent (and also on your valuables inside it - pac-safe cables are great) make all the difference in making you feel more at ease going out for a bit. If you use combination locks though, make sure you have a light/torch with you - they can be buggers to unlock in the dark!!

Some of the campsite offices will also be happy to lock some of your things away for you.

All the better too if there happen to be fellow bike travellers at any of the sites you pull into.

Start practicing your best sing-song Spanish with all the 'tha's' for AndaluTHia


Happy camping!

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