Tent/Camping security in Europe
 

Hi,

My better half and I have a trip planned for later this year, a long haul tour of Europe.

France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden & Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithunia, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Rep, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, back through Slovenia to Italy, France then Spain with a long stop in Andalucia.

We plan to spend 5 months travelling and then 3 months living in the mountains in Andalucia.

We hope to spend most of our travelling time camping, rather than staying in hotels, from a cost point of view. Once we get to Andalucia, we have accommodation arranged.

We have a few questions about camping security:

Will most camp sites let me keep the bike next to the tent?

How safe is it to leave gear in the tent and go out for the day?

If it is not safe in the tent, what suggestions do you have?

Has anybody kept their gear in train/bus station lockers?

We have previously only done short trips to Europe and have always stayed in hotels, B&Bs, etc.. and left the gear in the room.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Dan

My advice would be to stay in camp sites away from cities. Cities is where the trouble brews. I have camped for many years and twice had things stolen: first time in a camp outside Dover, towels and sleeping bags were taken during the day. Second was in Oskarshamn in Sweden, where a side bag of a tank bag was taken during the night. This was attached to the bike, so easy target. The bag was the big loss, as it is no longer made and so irreplaceable.

Another advice: put your tent where it can be seen by other campers. Meet your neighbours, they may well protect your stuff during the day simply by knowing you.

Having said all that, it's probably pretty safe out there.

So far I never had any probs parking my bike next to the tent.´I think the advice re tent neighbours is a very good idea.

Now and then I love camping in the wild - in Romania, Montenegro, France, Germany - whereever. Never had any problems. Of course I always selected the spot carefully so it could not be spotted easily. These were of course only one night stays.

Thanks for the advice beddhist, much appreciated.

We camped in Europe for a year. In the entire time only one thing was stolen. While we were visiting Paris we had left the bikes in the campground (the one in the park in Paris) and when we came back the valve stem caps off my wife's bike were missing.

Usually the tent didn't have much in the way of valuables when we went sight seeing, locking the laptop and other valuables in the saddlebags.

I found that camping actually felt more secure than hotels because you are right there with the bike, always in sight. The few times we hotelled I was always worried about the bikes. European campgrounds are usually fenced off (as opposed to the North American parks) so there isn't that much opportunity for people to just "walk by" and nick something.

Here is our website about that trip: www.ekke-audrey.ca

Have fun!


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Ekke Kok
Redwood Meadows, AB
'89 R100GS
'03 R1150GS Adventure

Thanks for the help everyone.. much appreciated.

Great site too Ekke.

Greetings from Croatia

On your page you must write HRVATSKA instead Hvratska.

We spent nearly 4 months in 03 traveling, camped almost the whole trip. Romaina, Bulgaria, Turkey, pretty much everywhere.

We left our gear in the tent, and in retrospect only once that I can recall, it was a little risky.

Even in a few big cities, we left our gear.

I was more concerned with the hotel thing as mentioned above, and leaving a loaded bike when away from the bike. We had a light weight cover we used in some cases but not often.

My suggestion, just use common sense.

Thanks Nikola, I'll fix the proper spelling of Croatia!

I've camped throughout most of Europe and never felt it was unsafe to leave stuff with the tent.The making friends-with-your-neighbours is a good bit of advise if you are concerned though.I too like to camp wild whenever i can and try to find out of the way unseen places to do this on the principal that if you can't be seen,nobody knows you're there! Otherwise i try to find a municipal camping ground as they're usually about half the price of privately run camps and nearly always have excellent facillities.All allow you to have the bike next to the tent,and some even have changing room style lockers in the main building.Most are short walking distance from the centre of the village/town and despite this are quiet.The manager/manageress is usually friendly and a wealth of local info(where you can get the best bread,things to see,etc...).

One really nice thing about camping in Norway is that you are allowed to camp pretty much everywhere, even on someone elses private property as long as the grounds are not "worked" and as long as you are not a nuisance to the owners... meaning that you can camp outback in a farmers woods without his permission (he is not allowed to refuse you), but not on his front lawn. Stay a few hundred meters away from his house and not in his field and you will be fine, though asking for permission is allways wise, and polite. If you ask for permission they will likely offer you a shower, maybe even a cup of coffee or a meal(people always offer other people coffee in Norway). Hey, if you are lucky they might even have a sauna that you could use.

As for security... if you stay away from tent sites with lots of young interrailers or other broke traveelers, then theft should not be a problem. As for Norway, I'd bet that you are more at risk from having your stuff stolen from other travellers than camp site employees, etc. Still, petty theft occurs everywhere, even at the Vatican (someone even tried to kill the pope, I mean that guy did not want to risk having to wait in line when it was his time to go to hell). In short, you are not safe anywhere, not even at home. As for violence, incidents in the scandinavian countries would either be a freak incident, or as a direct result of you having done something making you really deserve it. As with pretty much anywhere, drunk people are your greatest threat, especially young drunk men, with the risk increasing exponentially the larger the group of drunks are... whether it be theft, violence or destruction of property. If you stay in a camp site full of plastered teens, hooligans or what not, then be wary... if only families, german senior citisens in trailer homes, or peace lovin traveeling geeks that JUST HAVE TO SEE the Van Gogh Museum are around, then sllep outside naked with your rolex sticking out your butt.

But it is the same everywhere, the culprits always go for the easiest or most lucrative target. If you lock your tent and/or luggage with a simple padlock, don't flash your valuables (including booze), etc, then you are less likely to be ripped off than those that are less careful.

Personally I have never had anything stolen anywhere, but I have allways been precautious. Precautious means peace of mind, and a more enjoyable time, even if your stuff never was in any real jeapordy anyways.

Amen to Wheelies Norway chat. I've only felt safer in Japan. Never felt dodgy leaving stuff in campsites etc. I'd say the UK is as bad as anywhere, some of us are right riff-raff. Personally never had anything nicked camping in France, Norway, Slovenia, Austria, Belgium etc. or the UK for that matter but usually reasonably on gaurd.
Matt

[This message has been edited by Matt Cartney (edited 13 January 2006).]

I've camped all over europe & morocco, never had anything messed with. What I always do tho, when I'm gonna be out of site of my bike for awhile, or at nite, is put a cover on it. they are cheap, and pack small. If folks cant see whats under it, they usually wont mess with it.


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www.guzzidoug.com

Stayed at a campground outside of Venice (Venezia) and met all of those that camped near me, and like mentioned above, gave me a great feeling of safety and security when I left the tent out for a long day of touristing.

A small padlock on the zippers of the tent always makes me feel secure. Although it is not very secure it will deter casual theft.
Have a great trip.

One of those wirelocks for bikecycles (that locks to itselfe) are good for seuring helmets,jackets, and all other thing that you can loop the wire throug.
And its cheep.

Happy camping!

Have a look at these for securing your helmet and gear to the bike.I spoke at length to the guy from pacsafe at a trade show last week and i'm very impressed with the concept!Totally waterproof,theftproof soft luggage! www.pac-safe.com

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Just going for a short ride on my bike....

[This message has been edited by JonStobbs (edited 21 January 2006).]

I have 2 metres of 5mm steel cable sheathed in plastic; when threaded through my gear i.e. helmet, boots, jacket, tank bag, rucksac, boxes.
the opportunist thief would need a fork lift to shift shift my stuff. Its cheap, lightweight, gives 80% peace of mind and seems to work.

PS also requires a half decent padlock.


PK

Hi, have camped all over Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia and so far nothing touched, I also put small padlocks on the tent when out for the day, it wont stop anyone slashing your tent to get stuff but that kind of thing generally atracts attention. Only time I ever had stuff knicked was from outside a hotel in India, my 5 litre water carrier and a tank of fuel dissapeard, guess they used one for the other and they managed it without waking the sleeping night watchman.
Chris.

Safe as houses
 

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!

Probably stating the obvious here but if and when parking the bike near or close to the tent park it in such a way that if it does for whatever reason fall over it doesn't fall on you in your tent or your neighbour! Strong winds in ireland nearly caused this to happen to me.
Generally speaking on the security theme, my theory is out of sight out of mind, bie covers are a good thing. Lock your tent up as best you can within reason and take anything really essential i.e money, passports, bike keys etc with you.

You use a kevlar tent right?
 

well you should with your reputation
TTFN
Martha

I've been camping all over Europe for the last couple of years (well most of Europe) and never had any trouble. Of course if you make it easy enough people might feel tempted and steal something but as long as you're careful enough (careful not being spelled p-a-r-a-n-o-i-d!) you should be fine

For instance, I remember last year on Corsica, when the only thing I locked securely to a tree was actually my bike, didn't even have a padlock on the tent or anything. When we left the campground during the day I had my rear hard case and my panniers locked securely to the bike, and sometimes we even didn't feel like it and simply left'em in the tent but had all our valuables with us. That's all the precautions we took during our entire trip and we ended up fine.