Life In The Saddle

Wild camping and bicycle touring or bikepacking go hand in hand. Camping in fields, on beaches, and in remote rural locations means you can choose your camping spot; allowing far more freedom in terms of route planning and far more scope to account for adverse or favourable riding conditions. Wild camping is also an incredible way to get closer to nature. It lets you experience sunsets and sunrises in secluded places, and lets you truly escape from civilisation on your bikepacking adventures. There is also the fact that wild camping is free, and it is often the only choice for back-of-beyond bicycle touring. This blog post details my personal top tips for wild camping. The advice comes from experiences on hiking trips, and bicycle touring or bikepacking adventures such as the #RoadsFromRome , #7Countries7Passes , #CelticCrossTrail , and #CoastsandCols tours. Camping in the wild is an unforgettable experience—one that should be enjoyed by all. Hopefully, this wild camping g...

I have always loved using a bike to get to places. I don’t particularly enjoy car or plane travel, but the feeling of arriving in a faraway destination under your own steam is truly unique and magical. The travel restrictions of the last few years put on hold many of my point-to-point bikepacking plans, but I have been rekindling the pursuit of ‘going places’ in the last few months… The #NorthWestRoad was designed by my riding buddy Joe and I, to make for an easily executed but interesting three day trip through England and Wales. Starting from home on the Isle of Wight, the route would take us north through the New Forest and Wiltshire to our first overnight stop in the Cotswolds. Things would then get progressively lumpier on day two – starting out with the hills of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, before crossing the border into Wales and enjoying the undulating lanes of the Wye Valley; our overnight camp spot for the second day would be close to Welshpool, well into north...

Sometimes it is fun to throw a ball and see where it lands. To drop a pin on the map and see if you can get there under your own steam. It has been a while since I have done a real long ride, but the ' Long Road North'  – from Portsmouth to Manchester was designed to be a bit of fun, with a healthy dose of trepidation. The planned route totalled 377 kilometres, from the South Coast to The North. On my previous multi-week tours, I have known that 240 kilometres a day on a fully loaded touring bike is about my max; but that I have done 500+ in one hit on a lightweight setup on several occasions (check out the #BlackForest400 and #RideTheTrafalgarWay ). This ride was on the Kona Rove tourer, with panniers full of clothes and a laptop; that all made it a bit of an unknown on the timings and speed, but I thought I would give it a shot as a long day out… The maths and planning were simple. 04:30 wake up. 05:45 ferry. 06:15am start. Pedal for 16 hours. Hopefully, finish around ...

The idea for the Celtic CrossTrail tour evolved from a desire to see unexplored areas of the British Isles. An aspiration to draw lines and make tracks: through the Scottish Highlands and North West Coast; down Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way, and through the great Welsh mountain parks. Ideas became lines on a map, and those lines evolved into a route plan and a rough itinerary. Before long, a 2000 kilometre tour took shape; a journey that for me would pioneer a passage through unchartered territory. In late spring, whilst having lunch with a good friend, he listened to the idea and became equally enthralled and captivated. So, we set dates, booked flights, organised kit, and upped the mileage in anticipation of an 11 day tour covering the length and breadth of the British Isles — the #CelticCrossTrail was born. A mid-August departure date was set, and we were prepared with kit, bikes, and equipment from some of the world's leading brands (take a look at my kit set-up here...

Copenhagen to Andorra, via some of the highest mountain passes in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and France. 3,000 kilometres. 50,000 metres of climbing. The #7Countries7Passes tour is imminent. The bike is packed, the kit list is finalised, and the route is plotted on the map. My approaching departure from the Danish capital of Copenhagen, will mark the start of my longest and hardest bike tour to date. The Route My route plans have been tweaked and modified over the last few months, but here is the current (still changeable) plan: Checkpoints/Passes/Highlights Start: Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen (Denmark) Checkpoint 1:  Villingen (Germany) Pass 1: Hochtannbergpass (1675m) (Austria) Pass 2: Timmelsjoch (2474m) (Italy) Checkpoint 2:  Merano (Italy) Pass 3: Stelvio Pass (2757m) (Switzerland) Pass 4: Col de Montgenèvre (1854m) (France) Pass 5: Mont Ventoux (1911m) (France) Checkpoint 3: The ‘Cycling House’ (...