You Woke Up Where??

[ipswichcycler]

She still there

She was absent before my arrival. It was just what I needed. A heater to dry my clothes, electricity to charge phone.  No shower or washing facilities other than a sink in communal toilets.

[cycladelic]

Sometimes a situation presents itself and you just have to take advantage.

Yes - that reminds me...

About 25 years ago, in northen India - heading into Kashmir - I slept on the floor of a cafe in a ramshackle village. The owner gave me permission.

After crossing south from Loas into Cambodia in 2005, and riding for a few hours in the dark on an unmade road, a wide river blocked the path. I ended up sleeping outside on a market vendor's bench/display.

Another one from back in 2005. It was a national holiday in Italy and all accommodation was full, so we found the small, local train station and slept in the waiting room. Luckily there were some long benches inside the place and we had it to ourselves.

Then there was the first time I went to Norway, almost 30 years ago. I'd booked a room, but after  having a few drinks in town and meeting a young blond, I ended up at her place. Probably the worst night's sleep ever.





 

[il padrone]

1985 Hollow Mountain wind caves in the Grampians.

[Danneaux]

Rock and ice ledge, 2900m Steens Mountain, taken from my sleeping bag. Bike behind me for obvious reasons.

Best,

Dan.

[richie thornger]

There is a definite theme going on here, two camps as it were.

The beautiful & natural
and the dodgy/hilarious/bizarre urban

I must say I've revelled in the latter and it's been fun too turn a "nowhere to camp" situation into "that will make a great photo" situation.
I would never of dreamed of sleeping in some of the more bizarre places pre bicycle touring and now it's as much a part of the fun as the beautiful ones.

Camping is strictly forbidden in urban parts of Dubai/Sharjah in the UAE. Big signs at the front of every park and public space telling you what you can't do. They read like a tick list of a bicycle tourers requirements.
So knowing this and having heard a few horror stories about the UAE Police with foreigners I did what I would recommend to everyone. Go to the Police Station. Explain you have a tent and no money for a hotel and ask if you can sleep in the Police Station. If they say no it's then their responsibility to deal with you.
The Policeman in charge of Sharjah station gave me his mobile number and sent me to one of the man made beaches and told me if anyone gives you any trouble get them to call me

[IronMac]

Sorry for no pics but here are a couple of my more memorable nights while on tour:

A. Concrete floor of a garage in Turkey...they were having a party next door.
B. Top of the roof of an abandoned post office at the bottom of a wadi in Jordan.

[Matt2matt2002]

Yes - that reminds me...

About 25 years ago, in northen India - heading into Kashmir - I slept on the floor of a cafe in a ramshackle village. The owner gave me permission.

After crossing south from Loas into Cambodia in 2005, and riding for a few hours in the dark on an unmade road, a wide river blocked the path. I ended up sleeping outside on a market vendor's bench/display.

Another one from back in 2005. It was a national holiday in Italy and all accommodation was full, so we found the small, local train station and slept in the waiting room. Luckily there were some long benches inside the place and we had it to ourselves.

Then there was the first time I went to Norway, almost 30 years ago. I'd booked a room, but after  having a few drinks in town and meeting a young blond, I ended up at her place. Probably the worst night's sleep ever.

Did you ask for your money back?

[jags]

i slept under a haystack so there 

jags

[Slammin Sammy]

Did you ask for your money back?

 

[jags]

  now now sam be kind

[il padrone]

One Easter tour that I organised with my cycling club, we booked on an overnight train to a nearby town. Should have arrived there at midnight, but being Easter we were on an extra, later service. We arrived in the town at 2am (2am in rural Victoria EVERYTHING is dead). I organised for the railways clerk to unlock the waiting room door and eight of us stretched out our sleeping mats across the floor for four hours kip.

[JimK]

oh train stations.

must've been 1978 or so, I was living in Philadelphia. A friend from Princeton told me that the photographer Frederick Sommer was leading a seminar and that I really should come participate. Well I must say it was a pinnacle experience! But I hadn't really looked at the train schedule to get back to Philadelphia. There was a "dinky" train that shuttled folks from Princeton to Princeton Junction, maybe four miles. I walked to the station & apparently had missed the last dinky. So I walked to the Princeton Junction station in hopes of catching a train. I remember being stopped along the way by the police and being asked to show ID & explain my behavior. Yeah, forget any trains that late! Passenger trains, that is. Oh yeah the freights run past all night. It was plenty cold and no heat in that place. Lucky I found some newspapers to sleep under... I caught a wicked cold from that night as it was! And those freight barreling through every hour or so, the ground shaking.

Life!

[Mart]

Several years ago doing the Welsh 3000's bivvied on the top of Snowdon in foul weather. We couldn't find anywhere flat for all of us so broke into the building site where they were re-building the cafe and kipped on the newly laid concrete slab. 'Woke up' in a couple of inches of slurry/water.

Utterly unpleasant.

[cycladelic]

Did you ask for your money back?

No. The funny thing was, I had met a Dutch couple who were also touring. They were super cheap. They only drank tap water and were carrying their own breakfast cereal with them from home. I told them that they were welcome to come and wash in the room I'd booked, and they did. There was enough room for them to sleep on the floor, and we later went out for a beer. After meeting the blond in a nightclub, I gave them the key and disappeared. They they were slightly worried when I didn't turn up until 8am the following day.