WillCycleAdmin

Christmas

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Peace  on  earth  and  goodwill  to  all  mankind I make no secret of the fact that I’m not a big fan of Christmas. Sure, it’s great for younger kids, although you do need to question the sincerity of a religious festival that involves – by default – lying to children: “Why, of course Father Christmas … Read more

2021 in review

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2020 was a bastard! There’s no way of pretending it was anything else – so how did 2021 measure up? Obviously, ’21 remained dominated by COVID, and as I’m writing this, upward of 146 000 people have died from COVID in the UK alone this year. Undoubtedly vaccine rollouts have massively reduced deaths, but as … Read more

The death of wild-camping in the UK?

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wild-camping is simply the best

Wild-camping, at least in England and Wales, is strictly speaking against the law, unless done with the explicit consent of the landowner. Here’s where things immediately become murky: against the law is not the same as being a crime. In fact, under the law (at least in England and Wales) trespass is a civil offense, not a criminal offense.

What this means in practice is better explained with an example: Imagine you own a piece of land somewhere, and I trespass onto that land, for whatever reason (but I’m not breaking any other laws, and certainly not damaging anything on your land). In this scenario, your options are extremely limited. Basically, you can ask me to leave. If at that point, I humbly apologise, and start packing up, legally there is nothing further you can do. If you tried to frogmarch me off your land, I can charge you with assault, which is a crime, and if you break anything of mine, that may incur some extra charges.

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Tabloid Article Writer

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Life is hard for tabloid journos, so I created a helpful Tabloid Article Writer to help them out, giving them some free time to spend at Lockdown Christmas parties at 10 Downing Street. Refresh the page for variations of the article.

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Cycloffee – city edition

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Cycloffee  is  like  a  treasure  hunt,  but  with  coffee  shops For full details of the original (and national) Cyclofee game, please read this post first. Not everyone will want, or be able to participate in a game that’s deliberately spread across the whole UK, and from the outset I figured there’d be room for city-based … Read more

But baby it’s cold outside…

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Person walking in snow, as part of cold-weather camping

Tips for staying warm You’re used to cycle touring and cycle camping in summer, but how do you stay warm in winter, while still going riding (and hopefully camping)?  Hypothermia can be a killer, so from the outset you need to be able to manage your plans, so you can avoid it altogether. Your ancestors … Read more

SheCycles – Sara

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This SheCycles post introduces you to Sara

Time for another SheCycles post! This time, I get to introduce you to the incredible Sara – she’s on Twitter as @SezRamos and on Instagram under the same name, so make sure you follow her. In case you still didn’t know, SheCycles is a growing series of posts that highlight a bunch of completely different, … Read more

There’s a long, long trail a-winding…

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A  simple  question:  Which  is  the  UK’s  longest  traffic-free  cycle  path? The UK has quite a collection of traffic-free cycle paths. Some are better known than others, and some are far longer than others. Some have smooth tarred surfaces, while others have unsealed, and often muddy surfaces. Some are simply obviously better than others, but … Read more

LEJOGLE Relay

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LEJOG is a British cycle touring rite of passage. It is short for Land’s End – John O’Groats, and refers to cycling between the two destinations. Prevailing winds mean most people start at the bottom and cycle up, but a fair number cycle it in the opposite direction, when it’s referred to as JOGLE. The … Read more

Idle ramblings

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I have a very busy mind – it’s chaotic at times – and I’ve long known that cycling calms my mind, especially longer bike rides. It is for this reason I prefer to cycle outside – I ride for the pure enjoyment of it first, then for transport or leisure, and lastly for training. There’s … Read more

Book review: Along The Med On A Bike Called Reggie, by Andrew P Sykes

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I’ve reviewed two other books by the same author before – his 1st book, and his last book. This review is for his second book, which I only fairly recently purchased and read. Sykes is on Twitter as @CyclingEurope, so give him a follow and he has a podcast, with full details available at his … Read more

Crash card

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Nobody ever wants to crash, especially when that crash involves being hit by a driver. In fact, most of us don’t even want to think about that! What I’ve learned from painful personal experience is that shock will impact on your behaviour, and decisions after a crash. You are extremely likely to make poor decisions, and to … Read more

SheCycles – Nadine

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Nadine on her bicycle

In this latest SheCycles post, we hear from Nadine Ansorg – she’s Nadine_Ansorg on Twitter, and you should definitely follow her. Nadine offers insight of being a woman who cycles, both in the UK and in Europe, especially Germany, where she’s originally from. SheCycles is a growing series of posts in which a wide array … Read more

A suggested cycle touring pack list

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Happy cycle camping! A hand holding up a tin mug, with Happy Camper printed on it

Why  do  you  even  need  a  cycle  touring  pack  list? If you’ve read anything else on here, you will realise by now that I’m very enthusiastic about cycle touring. So much so, I have an entire category dedicated to cycle touring, and another dedicated to cycle camping. Of course not everyone who goes cycle touring … Read more

Preparing for a cycle tour

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How do you prepare for a cycle tour? How do you prepare yourself, so your cycle tour is pleasure, not punishment? No, this post will not turn into a detailed, structured training plan (though it does contain a link to a simplified training plan). If you were preparing to tackle the Hour record, I’d expect … Read more

Frazer’s Tour – Part 3

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This is the last instalment of Frazer Goodwin’s guest posts, in which he recounts his adventurous 1 400km ride from Belgium to Sweden, and his return to Belgium. If you haven’t already done so, I suggest you read Part first, then read Part 2. Part 3 This summer I managed to cycle from Brussels to … Read more

Frazer’s Tour – Part 2

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This is Part 2 of Frazer Goodwin’s 3-part guest blog about his 1 400km ride from Belgium to Sweden. If you haven’t yet, I suggest you read Part 1 first. Part 2 I finally completed a bike ride in the summer I’ve been thinking about and planning for years – riding from my home in … Read more

Frazer’s Tour – Part 1

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This guest post is by Frazer Goodwin – he’s on Twitter as @FrazerGoodwin and you really should follow him. Frazer is English, but lives in Belgium. Enough from me, I’ll hand over to Frazer now.

Part One

“Aren’t you too old to travel that far on a bike?”

It’s a question I’ve been asked by both friends and family. But I have finally managed to complete a multiday bike ride I’ve been planning for years – a ride from my home in Brussels to my in-laws place in Sweden on an island north of Gothenburg. When I posted that I’d done it on Facebook, a good friend here in Brussels simply responded “Nuts”.

Well, I didn’t get to ride that far at 57years of age by just climbing on the bike and setting off. So this short series about my bikepacking will start with the planning and preparations I undertook before the next post details the trip itself and then a final one will review what I’ve learned and plan to do next…

I have been thinking of riding to the island off the Swedish west coast where my in-laws have a house for a couple of decades. It is after all where my wife and I married more than 20 years ago. I had planned the ride in detail for last year, but the pandemic kyboshed it then. I managed to turn it into a tour of the Netherlands to at least use some of the accommodation I’d already booked. And that trip provided me with a lot of insight about how both my bike-setup and I coped on a multi-day bikepacking trip.

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DayCycle – Drake’s Trail

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Drake’s Trail is a 20-mile long cycling (and walking) route, mostly on traffic-free disused railways, linking Plymouth with Tavistock, and incorporates the Plym Valley Trail. The entire route guide for Drake’s Trail is now available as a PDF, for you to easily download, print and take along on your ride Feel free to use this … Read more