E-Bike Wild Camping
hello welcome to The North It's the arse end of summer perfect camping weather and uh i'm out for an e-bike camping trip I'm gonna look for a place to camp overnight it's gonna be about 45 kilometers to the campsite that's a big ride the weather's behaving uh sun's just come out but the clouds the rain clouds have been chasing me all this time hopefully it stays dry let's see it's uh yeah it's it's half past two now so i've got another hour and a half's ride got dog with me he's coming with so uh let me show you how I'm riding Naden's looking dapper in his fishing jacket aren't you mate? this is my ride my thunderbird 2 carries everything carries dog the only reason i got it is i think because i got the dog and i wanted to do more camping with the dog so here we go yeah it looks a bit precarious right now to be honest i'm not quite happy with this setup this is the uh the dry bag i take for paddle boarding uh it seems to bounce around a lot it's a lot of weight in there I'm quite happy with the Ortlieb panniers they don't seem to be going anywhere other than that it's a good ride ah stopped for more than a minute and the mosquitoes started biting so let's make tracks Hop up right people here we are we're off and it's just started to rain i'm about 10 kilometers into the ride don't mind the rain to be honest this jacket's waterproof this is actually my snowboard jacket but it's doing the job keeping the rain off me keeping me warm keeping me dry Woo! i'm riding on the rain's coming down quite heavy now i'm riding on the flood protection embankment it's uh it's quite open normally i would seek shelter and just wait for it to die down but i mean i'm dry i mean at least top half of me is dry my bottom half is saturated getting all the weather today sun's come out finally I'm drying up actually it goes quite quick when you're moving 25 kilometers into the journey Naden was looking a bit miserable i'm enjoying it actually it was quite fun it was coming down pretty hard but i really enjoyed it it's nowt but rain is it it's not gonna hurt you just thought i'd stop to the side and see how my mate's doing let's have a look y'alright mate? Hey you've done good haven't you, come on stretch your legs mate go on bit of a shake and he's off good lad okay we're almost at journey's end it's been a nice ride i don't think the rain put a downer on the trip I think it's just absolutely stunning here, it really is we've got about 10 more minutes to ride thighs are burning but i'm trying to keep my uh my battery going for as long as possible it's done really well actually to be honest i've been going for it when it was raining i was really bombing it and at the moment i'm doing a steady 24 kilometers an hour one bar on the battery but it looks like it's got me to where i want to be it's really cool that's the fun about e-bikes it just makes you want to go further really i was a bit of a traditionalist when it came to bikes i've had road bikes I've had mountain bikes I've had city bikes all kinds of stuff yeah and i never liked the idea of an e-bike oh yeah yeah you know if you got perfectly good working legs why bother but that's the thing i would not bother with a manual bike going this far because by the time you get to your destination you're knackered you know i don't want to be rocking into a campsite all hot and sweaty and all right i think we found the spot release the hound! right uh tents going here i think what i'm gonna do is i'm gonna put a ridgeline from this tree down to here and i'm gonna have my tarp like a diamond shape i've done it before works quite well especially with the bike i can uh I can stick it underneath keep it dry keep it out of the way it's a bit perilous up on that tree but i got it okay tarp's up it's time to bring out the tent I'm itching like mad mosquitoes are going crazy today oh let me talk you through the set up now whoa i'm sweating cobs i'm gonna hang my jacket up it's warm anyway we're here now my home from home river's gorgeous i'll show you in a minute all right all right so i ballsed up basically put the tent on the wrong way around so the door should have been on the front here but uh yeah it's on the side now so I'll have to be on my hands and knees to get in never mind uh also i just the way the land lies i just couldn't uh get a flat ground facing the river which would have been nice it's a really nice view uh but never mind i mean i'm only in the tent to sleep anyway so i'll get up with the sun yeah but here we go so i've got this diamond tarp set up here right now it's kind of like um doubling up as a garage as well i can stick my bike in there um a few other bits and yeah the sand is the ground is quite the ground is quite sandy which is perfect because a bit further down it's really stony difficult to get your pegs in i don't want to be digging but yeah hey we're here we made it this is where things get really comfortable now finally set up my chair stick my beer in the river so it's nice and cold take my shoes off make sure that they dry get some food or maybe a brew that'd be good despite me being in the middle of nowhere i still like to lock my bike up and there are three ways i've got a u-lock cable and a disc lock this one's got an alarm on it i think that's a bit overkill i don't know i guess if i'm gonna go for a walk with the dog Naden come here pinching my shoe nah that's my glove here thank you hey can't go camping with kids can't go camping with dogs go out it's better to be safer sorry i don't know bit of peace of mind it's crazy how many keys i've got for all these locks i don't even know which one this is i'm off to find some sticks to dry my boots and i'm going to need a hammer as well see what we've got sticks hammer hammer hammer big stone will do Naden took the stick didn't he bring me the stick bring me this stick that's my stick yeah i was gonna say i'm gonna use the porch to put my feet down while my shoes are drying but when you're camping with a dog you can find that sticks go missing thank you daddy's stick you pesky thief! don't touch my sticks leave it Still columbus 1492 pale ale never tried it before so it'll be interesting to know if it's any good i do prefer it a little bit cold it's quite warm my pale ale leave it don't touch it's my treat no it's not a bad brew that if i say so myself also got myself a pan au chocolat from the bakery this morning and all order has been restored in the world bring the stick bring back swiss cruise liner going about four knots it takes some doing that going upstream really slow going I bet it's dead posh in there it's golden hour here on the banks of the Danube dog's still swimming in the river being a dog that's what i like getting a bit cold my shoes are non the drier and i'm getting a bit hungry so i might put some food on soon ah really spectacular the mosquitoes have died down it's not windy it's not raining i mean i was so lucky with the weather right let's talk bikes i bought this e-bike last month and uh i've been looking for chances to the reasons reasons to use it basically because i don't ride that much but when i do i want to ride far i'm a bit reluctant to to praise the bike to be honest i'm a bit superstitious like that you know i don't want to say oh it's a great bike a great bike and then tomorrow it will fail on me but uh hasn't happened yet the carrier on the back can hold the bike itself can hold a lot of weight i mean i've got a lot of weight on that bike already and uh felt stable felt safe the range on them batteries are incredible so i rode about 46 kilometers today uh one bar left on the end you know you can can still keep going yeah it's a lot of fun as well i think that's what you're paying your money for it's it's not the same as a manual bike of course when you hit a hill you lose your pace with an e-bike you can just power all the way up that hill it's a thrill as well i mean especially the off-roading with the fat tires it's it's a lot of fun it's a lot of fun going through mud okay we got light okay we ain't got food yet let's get this going oh we're cooking now all right dinner time it's all right one makes it better it's not bad for a packet macaroni and cheese it's not bad so wow that's bright whoa how do i turn that down okay it's half past eight sun went down an hour ago just had my dinner sorry i'm a bit distracted because there's a cruise ship coming up in the night with all the lights on so i wasn't planning on having a fire but my shoes haven't dried out and i think it would be nice to have a little fire going before bed so i'll do just that not a lot of dry wood around after that rain but i got some good firewood from home that'll keep me going it's good to have a bit of reserve though nothing above me looks good made these wax biscuits not so long ago from Ikea candles they smell really nice made from cotton pads i get about five minutes of fire from it which is good and it's long enough to get a fire going so just well i normally just break it in half and then fold it like this get all the fibers loosened up get it lit there we go it's going nice lets get some firewood in there just the smaller sticks there you go finally got my my shoes my insoles and my socks drying out by the fire i'm gonna have some dry feet tomorrow cheers yeah yeah that'll do me it's been quite an adventure so far cycling through the rain getting here when it was dry setting up camp went well everything i brought i've needed i have to be honest this is the first time i've gone solo camping well solo i'm with the dog but usually i go with my mates and um it's a totally different experience it really is it's um it's definitely it's like time doesn't exist because when you're with your mates it's um you know you you have to think about eating together you have to think about getting up and packing up together at the same time it's nice to just have your own time to relax to go alone is is definitely um it's definitely good for the soul good for the soul nice to get out of that box apartment of mine and just be out here by the river with the dog yeah life's good cheers fires out I can hear voices it's amazing how sound travels here over the water that's on the other side of the bank so yeah fire's out um you're about to turn in for the night it was a really cool evening didn't get my shoes dry though maybe tomorrow back to the campsite dog's ready for bed you've got your bed here come on out good morning i hope you slept as well as i did woke up to the most glorious sunrise this morning half past six i got up didn't rain overnight however it looks like the river rose quite a bit plans for today? just relax enjoy the good weather while it lasts play with the dog pack up and go all right let's go for a walk come on so we both just got back from a long walk by the river we're about to pack up now set off and get going 45 kilometers to go so of course this battery got me all the way here but uh one battery was never going to be enough despite the good range um so i ended up buying an extra battery so i thought since i'm going to be carrying a big heavy piece of equipment like this around i might as well protect it so i ended up making a sleeve for it out of foam and it's simply just if i ever have an accident on the bike if i ever fall that the battery doesn't get damaged and um also in the colder temperatures it keeps it nice and warm as well simple way to swap it out you just need the key really simple twist to unlock another good thing about the sleeve is it keeps the contacts nice and clean when it's in my bag when i'm traveling with it just simply fits into place like that and i'm good to go homeward bound we're riding off into the sunset one more hour to cycle it's been a great camp the bike's performed really well from me and Naden thank you for watching and we hope you join us on our next adventure ta-ra for now wow you
2021-09-08 01:58
