Camping kit on Eurostar?

[babybat]

We're planning a trip to France with our bikes, and were planning to get the Eurostar for the first bit of the trip. Usually when we've gone camping we've taken ferries, and the security restrictions on what you can take are not as strict. Having checked the website, it seems that the little cans of butane which fuel the camping stove won't be permitted. We also usually take a small (sheathed) kitchen knife and a Swiss army knife; the website says non-locking knives with a blade under 3" are okay, but I don't know whether they're likely to be more stringent when we actually get to security control.

Has anyone had any experience of taking camping kit through Eurostar security? Should I be planning to go to the first branch of Decathlon we pass for camping gas and a pocket knife, or do they tend to be okay if you explain that it's camping gear and nothing more sinister?

[Lipsiensis]

Gas is definitely a no no .

I was super cautious and didn't pack a knife, and declared my pegs and mallet at St Pancras . No one gave a stuff.

We bought a knife in France at the campsite, and I forgot to chuck it at the end of the holiday, so that went through the X-ray machine in Paris. They stopped me, I sweated profusely, and then it turns out they wanted to see my little camping stove.

[babybat]

Thanks! I reckon we'll be heading to a branch of Decathlon when we get there then. I'd sooner be ultra-cautious than risk them chucking my favourite camping knife!