Camping while cycle touring means on top of your and your baby’s kit, you need a tent, cooker, sleeping bag and air mattress. While cycle touring and camping seemed romantic when there were just two of you, it seems heavy when there are three.
The alternative is staying in hotels which providing you’ve carefully planned your tour, is easy going and a shower and comfy bed (and sometimes a swimming pool) are very welcome after a day on the road.
Hotels provide baby beds and high chairs and the breakfast buffet is normally loaded with food babies like such as yoghurt, puréed apple and croissants.
Weather and baby can shorten the distance you cover each day, so it can be hard to predict where you’ll be in a few days’ time. We found planning one night ahead worked best, calling a hotel in our next destination to book.
Alternatively you can find a hotel by stopping at the Tourist Information office when you arrive in a town. They will help you find somewhere to stay, even ringing around for you if you ask.
How To Carry A Child on A Bike: Trailers v Seats
Take care when travelling during holidays. We once found ourselves cold and wet in a tiny high altitude village in France where every single hotel bed was booked as it was a French holiday weekend. We ended up sleeping in a freezing caravan, shivering under the blankets and using sheets for towels.
The challenge of dining out when your baby is already asleep in the hotel is a problem no longer. An app called Babymonitor works just like a baby monitor using two smart phones, calling you if there are prolonged periods of crying (you can set how sensitive the app is).
Where previously we’d taken turns at eating dinner and watching the baby, the Babymonitor freed us to enjoy dinner at the hotel restaurant together, safe in the knowledge that the little one was sleeping soundly.
