uciflylow

I practice for a few days before going on a tour by sleeping on the floor with my pad and pillow. The thin stuffed pillows that compress work very well for me as well as a small radio to listen to for a little while before bed. I use ear plugs and find that in this part of the country that a small battery powered fan is a godsend, due to the heat that lingers into the night.
As was poster before, I don't use much of a pillow any more, even at home.

toolboy

I share your concern about having a good pillow. Memory foam solved it for me. It is quite compressable and mighty comfy! On short tours where I have more room I take the small plush covered memory foam pillow I bought at a local store, but I have also used a small piece saved from a mattress cover. Get a nice soft zippered bag sewn (or buy one if you can find it) with enough room for both the foam (about 2 inches thick) and a shirt or fleece to bring it up to the required height. Zzzzzzzz......

Poppabear

There are numerous ways to stay warm while using a hammock. Pads, under quilts are two methods that come immediately to mind. Check out www.hammockforums.com. It s probably the definitive source for information on camping with a hammock.

Spudd

Thermarest pillows are really nice, firm enough for support but roll up to a fairly small size for travel. You just have to store them unrolled at home and only roll them for the trip.

Rowan

From what I have read, the Exped mat that antokelly already has is about the best you are going to get for comfort without spending yet more on a hammock and associated paraphenalia. It really does sound to me to be mind-based rather than comfort-based.

One question, anto -- how rehydrated have you been when you finally retire for the evening? Do you have an urge to get up during the night to pee, or have to?

The reason I ask is that on long randonnees, I can be absolutely exhausted, but have trouble slipping into the most comfortable beds you could find and getting to sleep. My mind keeps racing, and I think some of it has to do with being dehydrated.

antokelly

Rowan you could have hit the nail on the head, i'm a tea/ coffee addict so i end up getting up 3 maybe4 times a night .i have all the best gear exped down mat exped pillow great s/bag ,i find it very hard to lie flat to be honest and the pillow thing is a problem as well.
mind you i'm a good cyclist and enjoy the Craic as we say here in Ireland, so it's not all bad if only i can sort this sleeping thing out all would be rosy in the garden..

Rowan

Yes, I thought Craic would be on the list somewhere. It would be irresistable to an Irishman!

That tea/coffee thing might be a significant issue, both in terms of getting up to pee (and the dehydration) and keeping you awake.

Experiment next time -- have a coffee early in the evening, but drink water before bed. It might help.

BartJ

Ditto on the Thermorest. When pitching a tent on a snow bed I use a closed cell pad in addition to the Thermorest. Forget the lumpy "clothes" pillow. Get a pillow stuff sack and put a down vest in there. You will have the nicest pillow! Once I started to do that I got a much better sleep on the hard. A down vest compresses to nothing and is nice on chilly mornings.

cyccommute 

I've tried compressible pillows in the past. All they do is compress or squish out so that my ears are covered but they aren't doing much 'pillowing'. Big Agnes sells air filled pillows that are adjustable, firm as you want them to be and stuff down to a very small size.

staehpj1

The same here. I found all of the compressible camp pillows had that problem and were stupidly expensive to boot. I find that a regular pillow from a fabric store maybe 1/4 the size of a bed pillow costs 1/5 as much, compresses about as well, and is firmer. They typically can be jammed in a compression sack with the sleeping bag and still have it compress to the same size.

Lately I have been taking a very small pillow case and a down vest as a pillow. It weighs about the same as the pillow and can be worn for cold weather as a vest.

truman

Sleep out more. It gets easier the more you get used to it.

MMACH 5

There have been three times that I've had trouble sleeping in the wild:
1. This last April, the campsite's tent area was on a barren peninsula, jutting into the lake. The wind was making a lot of noise whipping my tent walls around.
2. Last summer, I packed an old tent with hardly any ventilation. Way too hot for sleep.
3. Camping with the family when I was about 11 years old. One night, I insisted on setting up my own site, down the trail a bit. I had a blanket and a tarp lean-to. At one point, I heard a critter rustling the leaves on the back side of my lean-to. I was afraid to peek around to see what it was and spent the rest of the night, flat on my back, eyeballs darting side-to-side and chin slightly quivering.

MNBikeguy

Just ordered the deluxe pillow from your link.
Thought I'd upgrade from the bag of clothes or lumpy pannier method...
Thanks cycco

antokelly

as i said i did bring a home pillow last time out used the compression sack to pack it in worked a treat, just this time i clean forgot it.
rowan the CRAIC is an everyday word here in Ireland but you know that already.
thanks folks for all the advice much appreciated.

Clem von Jones

Camping is pretty much impossible without a thermarest-style self inflating pad. You only need a short 47" one under your torso, your legs don't really need support unless you're a fatty. I use my fleece jacket and pants in a stuff-sack for a pillow.

Carbonfiberboy 

Ride a tandem with your wife. I have no problem going to sleep in our double bag. Pillow, smillow. Gimme a warm back anytime.

antokelly

carbonfiberboy would love to tour with the wife but cycling is not for her sorry to say.
my god i seem to be the only one that suffers insomnia when camping, i was full sure there would be loads of other suffers who knows what exactly i'm going through.

zoltani

I've had a few restless nights when the temp was below what my sleeping bag (or pad) was rated.....other than that I sleep OK if I have a decent pillow.

cyccommute 

I've had mine for about 5 years now. It's nearly perfect. With the Big Agnes sleeping bag, it is perfect since the bag has a pillow pocket No more nocturnal pillow chasing around the tent

simplygib

Inexpensive "alternative" pillow: Get a stuff sack and stuff it full of those grocery store plastic bags that otherwise would end up in the landfill. They compress down quite nicely for travel but fluff up to make a nice pillow as well. Experiment with the amount of stuffing until it's where you like it. Cover the whole thing with your fleece or some other type of soft clothing. Works great and costs nothing if you already have the stuff sack.

antokelly

ah you cant get them bags for free on this side of te pond they cost 10 cent each .

djb

i dunno, but I would think grocery bags would be awfully "crinckly" as in sound crinckles.

MassiveD

My big secret is that my bed at home is really hard. As a result sleeping in a tent is about the comfort I am used to. A nice grassy field and it could even be an uptick. I normally carry a pile jacket, I just roll some other stuff up in it, and use that as a pillow. I can't really explain it, but I am more pillow sensitive at home.

Tansy

I've always been a stomach-sleeper, and it's hard to figure out where to put my head in a mummy bag. It makes sleeping in a hammock somewhat tricky, too. I'm working on training myself to sleep on my back, but I feel so vulnerable that way - anything could fall right on my face, you know?

bwgride

I too sleep on my stomach at home. However, I use a hammock when camping and like you have had to adjust to back sleeping. You may be familiar with this -- some hammocks offer flat lies if one sleeps on the diagonal. While not flat enough for me to be comfortable on my stomach, I can sleep sideways in the fetal position in my hammocks. I've found that to be a good alternative to the back position on some nights.