A cycling holiday is a pleasant and rewarding experience, but packing up to go is always a delicate transition from “take the kitchen sink” to “leave it all behind, just grab your toothbrush”.

There is a fine line between having all the necessities and being so overloaded you can’t take a one per cent gradient on the first day.

So you leave all the creature comforts behind? You survive without TV, running water and perhaps even the ability to cook in the effort to save weight so you don’t have to lug it all up a hill.

That’s the rub with cycle touring and camping – the less the better as you are the only one pulling all that stuff so now imagine towing a caravan….by bike!

Yes cycle caravanning is now a trend and there are plenty of options.

Someone sent me a link to a rather expensive collapsible Danish travel-trailer the other day, designed and rolled out on the production line for masochistic cycle types or perhaps those with high maintenance partners.

Weighing just under 45kg unloaded, it’s only really designed for short-distance tours and for those who can’t imagine sleeping under canvas for even a night.

It is part of the new scene of “Glamping”, which means you are technically outside in the wilderness but you didn’t forget to hook up to the amenities.

But the Danes aren’t the first to cater for this strange new area of cycling. Their Wide Path Camper is just the tip of the iceberg.

There are many other strange designs to buy and build or buy off the peg on the internet and there is even evidence that this strange phenomenon of cycle caravanning popped up as long ago as the1930s.

The best design I have seen so far has been by a guy called Alexander Main, who is cycling through Portland with a home-made cycle caravan, with just a suitcase of belongings but a solar panel to recharge devices and his electric bike.

His ethos is bike heavy but cleverly combines two lifestyles, the minimalistic and the nomadic, so his caravan is much more than a short-term holiday solution.

His trailer is a self-sustainable micro house.

A self-sustainable micro house is fine in fair weather, but I wouldn’t want to be pulling it though a storm.

Personally I couldn’t see myself using any cycle caravan, definitely not without an electric bike at the front.

I’ve towed heavy loads around Oxford for the day and that’s enough.

“The thought of cycling along country lanes with all that weight makes me sweat just thinking about it.

Admittedly, I would love to see one in the flesh and sleep in one It is probably quite cosy – just as long as nobody expects me to pedal it to the campsite.