An alternative to camp sites I only recently became aware of Welcome To My Garden, and I already think it’s a superb site. So what is it? That’s easy to explain: much like Warmshowers offer overnight accommodation to cycle tourers, Welcome To My Garden offers a camping spot for the night in people’s gardens. In … Read more
Cycle camping in the UK Camping is great – that feeling of waking up under canvas is a great start to the day. Of course, wild-camping – as in camping away from formal camp sites – is the best, but there are issues with it, too. For starters, some people prefer to have showers and … Read more
Food For The Road Food For The Road is a new cookbook with a difference: it’s aimed specifically at cooking delicious meal, using just a single pot. The booklet is small – intentionally so – and will take up no space at all in your panniers. It contains 19 recipes, one of which is for … Read more
Best-laid plans, and all that On Sunday, I had a gorgeous ride. Unfortunately, some 2 miles from home, things changed rapidly. While cycling downhill, along a very narrow rural lane, I crashed. From the state of my bike’s front wheel, it seems something must’ve gotten stuck in the spokes, breaking at least 10 spokes an … Read more
A mass campout? Indeed! You are invited to participate in the WillCycle Mass Campout, on the 18th of June, 2022. Now we dealt with when it will happen, we’ll swiftly move on to where it will happen. Here’s where things get, well, interesting. A virtually physical event Wait, or maybe a physically virtual event! This is getting confusing, … Read more
The Cheshire Ring If you’re a regular visitor to WillCycle, you’d know that I’m quite a fan of cycling the very many canals in the UK. The reasons are simple, and very obvious: canal routes are often extremely stunning, are almost entirely traffic-free and are relics from the Industrial Revolution. I freely admit to being … Read more
Food, glorious food I have a confession to make: I’m not a foodie. In fact, sometimes I’m quite envious of people who seem to find far more pleasure in food than I ever would. To me, food is primarily fuel. As a result, I’m not a good source for recipes. However, the people I interact … Read more
Excitement! The night before you set off on your first ever cycle wild camping trip on your own, you will probably be nervous. And more than a little excited! It’s a big thing you’re doing – stepping out of your comfort zone, and into the unknown. Of course, when we’re nervous, we’re most likely to … Read more
Trangia copy? Yes, mine’s not an official Trangia, but a very well-made copy that you probably wouldn’t be able to tell apart from the original. Why did I get a copy? Easy – I wanted just the stove, and didn’t want to spend much, as this will be my backup stove. Why a backup stove? … Read more
Warmth – an essential element Many people tell me they won’t go camping unless the weather is very hot, as they don’t want to be cold overnight. If done right, even in surprisingly cold weather, you should be able to stay toastie-warm. The tips I listed below should help you remain warm. Active or passive … Read more
What is wild-camping? Wild-camping is camping away from formal camp sites. In the UK, wild-camping is legal in almost all of Scotland, but against the law in England and Wales (with the exception of parts of Dartmoor), unless you have explicit permission from the landowner. Here’s where things get a bit complicated: yes, wild-camping is … Read more
Camping gas explained Gas cartridges for camping stoves mostly use butane gas, which is cheap, and in mild to warm temperatures offers good performance. The trouble with butane is that it really performs poorly in the cold, and your gas stove may completely fizzle out just when you’re most reliant on it. Manufacturers of such … Read more
Cold-weather camping I’ve been forced to delay a planned winter camping trip on Dartmoor by a combination of having to do out-of-hours work over several weekends, and the severe weather we’ve been having for a while. Seriously, going camping in such a remote spot as I was planning to, while there were 80+mph gales blowing, … Read more
Adventure, or conquest? Once upon a time, explorers set off from Europe with a view to “conquer”, and that Eurocentric view persists in some form or another to this day. If I was to ask you who discovered the Victoria Falls in Africa, you’d probably answer that David Livingston did. If you answered that, you’d … Read more
Crossing England from sea to sea The island of Great Britain is longer than it is wide, meaning there are lots of opportunities to cycle a “coast to coast” of some sort, crossing the island (mostly) from east to west, or vice versa. There are many well-known cycle touring routes that cross northern England, with … Read more