The bike racks all around Covent Garden were full last night as we welcomed lots of cyclists to hear Mike Wells talk about his Cicerone guide Cycling the North Coast 500: A cyclist-friendly guide to Scotland’s NC500.
‘It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.’- Hemmingway
Our Map of the Month for March is The Ultimate UK Cycle Route Planner.
This best selling UK cycle publication gives an overview of all the main signed UK cycle routes – the only publication that has all these together on one single map.
This map features:
Continue reading Map of the Month: The Ultimate UK Cycle Route PlannerFrom Destinations: The Holiday & Travel Show in London’s Olympia, The Stanfords Travel Writers Festival welcomes author and eco adventurer Kate Rawles. She talks to author Ben Aitken about cycling the length of the Andes on an eccentric bicycle she built herself.
Pedalling hard for thirteen months, she witnesses the devastation of goldmining and oil drilling but finds hope in the incredible people working to regenerate habitats and communities. As she reaches the ‘end of the world’, she realises that to tackle biodiversity loss we all have a role to play.
Continue reading ‘8,000 Miles in the Andes by Bamboo Bike’ with Kate Rawles: Stanfords Travel Writers Festival 2024“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.” -Ernest Hemingway.
If you are feeling inspired to plan a cycling adventure, here are some of our favourite cycling maps to take you around Europe.
Continue reading European Cycling MapsAre you the kind of person who can’t walk past a plaque or a monument without reading every single word? Here, Steve Silk, the author of The Great North Road, talks us through his five favourites along the 400 miles between London and Edinburgh.
As a crucial route linking London to Edinburgh, the Great North Road has been Britain’s backbone for centuries. Kings, queens, soldiers, rebels, mail coaches and highwaymen used the road to get from A to B. One hundred years later journalist Steve Silk went on pilgrimage by bike to explore its history. At a slower pace it’s easier to notice key markers and signs of the past that surround us…
Continue reading Monuments and Markers along the Great North RoadHeading off with a tent and a stove strapped to your bike is very much in fashion at the moment. Some people insist on calling it ‘bikepacking’ if any of your ride is off-road but really it’s just cycling and you don’t need any fancy kit or a special bike. Nor do you have to go to the Alps or Patagonia. Most of us have a canal or a riverbank or a stretch of coastline near us just crying out to be explored and camped on. Here are some things to take into account before you set off:
1. If it’s your first time, go in summer. The idea is to have fun and there are no prizes for suffering or survival. In fact there are no prizes
2. You can use any bike, but do get it serviced. Nobody wants to be fixing their bike in the middle of nowhere or worse, pushing it home in the middle of nowhere.
3. The one thing you might want to think about changing on your bike is a set of chunky tyres. Road tyres can struggle with a loaded bike on loose ground. If chunky tyres don’t fit on your bike it’s maybe not the best for bikepacking.
4. Pick a destination and route you like. There are no rules – you don’t have to ride a hundred miles or break any speed records.
5. Make sure you’re allowed to ride and camp where you plan to go. That’s easy in Scotland because you can go on pretty much any open ground and track but in the rest of the UK you’ll want to check the rights of way and the attitude of land owners.
6. Take a map. Maps aren’t just for navigation they’re for browsing before and during your trip to give you ideas and to understand the place you’re in.
7. Take your time. The joy of bikepacking is to spin along in a low gear and to stop whenever the fancy takes you. Smell the flowers and hug the trees. Chat to everyone you meet.
8. Eat. Eat plenty and eat well. You are burning calories quicker than you think. If you’re only out for one night you don’t need to just survive on NATO ration packs you can do some proper cooking in advance and take it with you to heat up on a stove. Wilderness gastronomy is the next big thing and you heard it here first.
9. Take your time pitching your tent. Good sleep is invaluable so have a lie down on the ground first to find any lumps and bumps hidden in the grass. Think about where the sun will be in the morning and what view you want when you open the tent flap in the morning.
10. Unless you’re into the whole sobriety thing take a couple of beers or some wine or whatever mood enhancer works for you. There are few things more satisfying than being slightly tipsy while you watch the moon come up with a wee campfire on the go somewhere wild.
And there we have it. Cycling on rough paths is for everyone. You don’t need body armour or a hipster beard. And don’t worry about how old you are: this is for folks from eight to eighty eight (apart from the not being sober thing, obviously). It’s cheap, it’s fun and it can transform your life. Just respect the land you’re riding and camping on and don’t worry about getting lost or doing it ‘wrong’.
Have fun out there.
-Alan Brown
Overlander: Bikepacking coast to coast across the heart of the Highlands by Alan Brown is available to buy now for £9.99.
