There’s an inescapable reality about cycle touring and wild camping: there’s no on-suite bathroom with built-in shower. Personal hygiene is important at any time, but certainly comes to the fore when cycle touring and wild camping. Having said that, there are many things you can do to maintain personal hygiene. Wipes or flannels to the … Read more
Tired of cycling the same old routes, and ready to broaden your horizons? Then this post if for you! This is a long and detailed guide, so set some time aside to read all of it. What makes a good cycle route? Ask 100 cyclists that, and you’ll get 100 different answers. However, there will … Read more
Some people can only be happy when they things to moan about, and in the absence of valid reasons, they’ll invent some. Those people will try and tell you that the UK somehow is an awful place to explore by bicycle. Don’t listen to them! The UK is a stunningly beautiful country, and the best … Read more
The Internet is awash with glitzy, highly-polished tales of jaw-dropping adventures in stunning and exotic locations, illustrated with often wonderful pictures. That’s the show-reel, to draw you in. Do not for one moment think all adventures are like that! Sooner or later, something will go badly wrong on an adventure. That’s all part of the … Read more
Aero bars, also called tri-bars, are attached to your bike’s handlebars, with the primary purpose to get your body into a far more aerodynamic position. They’re mostly used by riders doing time-trials or triathlons (hence the tri-bars moniker) but they do offer benefits outside of those two fields. I recently ordered a set of aero … Read more
I’m well aware that Nike has copyright on that phrase, which is why I changed it a tad here, but I expect even the mighty Nike will agree with what I’m saying here: Stop putting it off and just do it! (Strictly speaking, I’m agreeing with what Nike so aptly put in their slogan, and … Read more
You heard about Couch to 5k, right? This is vaguely similar, only instead of trying to get you to run 5 kilometres, let’s get you cycle camping. Said hey babe, take a walk on the wild side I make no secret of the fact that I believe wild camping is the best camping. There are … Read more
The Internet’s awash with cycle touring packing lists – there’s one on here, too. However, there are at least two very important items that most packing lists forget to tell you about, but we’ll get to those in a bit. Daft as a brush Have you seen videos, or read write-ups of people cutting their … Read more
I want to tell you about Ireland. My Ireland. No, I’m not Irish, and obviously I don’t own the place. That’s not what I mean when I say my Ireland. My Ireland Each of us live our own lives, and we have our own experiences. When I talk about my Ireland, I’m referring to my … Read more
One of the things that’s important to accept before going cycle touring is that things can, and often do go wrong. Being mentally prepared for that will leave you prepared for when things do go wrong. With that said, here are the annoyingly-long list of things that went wrong on my Wild Atlantic Way ride. … Read more
Suddenly, almost abruptly, the adventure is over. For over two weeks I’ve been pedalling ever nearer to Galway. On the final day of any real cycling, I did an urban wild camp in Galway city, close to the banks of Lough Atalia, and not overly far from the Eye Cinema. The getting home part I … Read more
My Wild Atlantic Way adventure is, in cycling terms at least, all done. I’m writing this while sat in Galway train station, where I collected my pre-booked ticket to Dublin. Homeward bound Today has been a fairly long day: Doolin to Galway. I’m not a big fan of the entire area from Spanish Point to … Read more
I had a sort of enforced rest day. With only 80km (50 miles) left to cycle to Galway, I’m well ahead of schedule. The only constant is change Unfortunately, the person who kindly offered to host me in Galway on Saturday night fell ill and I had to somewhat change my plans. Originally, I’d have … Read more
The changes I was forced to make to the route, after my bike started breaking, meant that I ended up well ahead of schedule. That, in turn, means that the last few days of my ride were going to be very short days. As I write this, I’m only 50 miles from Galway – that’s … Read more
As I’m still well ahead of schedule, today was only ever going to be a short day. Mike the Pies Originally I planned to end yesterday’s ride in Listowel, which seems a very nice town. I charged up my phone in a pub called Mike The Pies (yes, that’s its name!) When I asked about … Read more