Brighton Bimble – the start

Brighton Pier

Brighton  Bimble? A have a slowly-expanding list of highly-detailed cycle touring route guides, called GoCycle guides. GoCycle bike touring route guides don’t simply show you the way. No, my bicycle touring guides act like a tour leader, and tells you about the landscape through which you’re cycling. A GoCycle guide will keep you on track, … Read more

Back to basics – how to wild camp in the UK

Wild camping in the rain

Camping  in  the  wild,  or  wild  camping? What exactly IS wild camping? As a South African, I was baffled when I first encountered the term “wild camping”. I soon discovered that, to most Brits, if you say “I’m going camping”, what they understand you to mean is that you’ll be camping on a formal camp … Read more

The Rhine – a logistical nightmare

Cycling  the  Rhine The Rhine is one of Europe’s biggest rivers, and is steeped in history and folklore. From spectacular Alpine views, around the source of the river in Switzerland, to battle-scarred WW2 (and earlier wars) fortifications, to fairy-tale castles, beautiful valleys adorned with vineyards, plus much more, it has something for everyone. No wonder … Read more

Bampton Cycle Shelter

The Bampton Cycle Shelter

A  cycle  tourer’s  dream What’s a Bampton Cycle Shelter? Is it a new kind of cycling infrastructure? Well, yes, and no. Many cycle tourers, like me, prefer to wild camp when touring. Wild camping brings with it some challenges: for starters, in England and Wales, more often than not, wild camping is trespass. Though I … Read more

Wild camping and the new PCSC Bill – a guide for cyclists and hikers

Is wild camping in the UK a crime?

Did  the  PCSC Bill  turn  wild  camping  into  a  crime? Such a deceptively simple question, but it turned out to be rather difficult to get an answer to it. Well, at least a straight, reliable answer. I’m a huge fan of wild camping, and personally find the UK’s new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill … Read more

Welcome To My Garden

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

Carry On Camping – quest for better campsites

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

Giveaway – Food For The Road

Food For The Road - a cycle touring cookbook

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

Preparing for a longer cycle tour

Is  longer  cycle  touring any  different? There isn’t a simple yes or no answer to this question. Yes, it’s different, because it’s longer. No, it’s not different, because you’re still cycling, and carrying all your gear. Both preceding answers simply look at one aspect of cycle touring, but the reality can be far more complex. … Read more

The making of a GoCycle route guide

GoCycle  –  route  guides  you  can  trust You may have wondered what goes into the making of a GoCycle route guide, so I’ll explain the process here. GoCycle guides are multi-day leisure/touring route guides. If you’re a regular visitor to WillCycle, then you would know I’m a huge fan of cycle touring and cycle camping. Alongside … Read more

The American Dream

Camping overnight, on a mountainside

Cycle touring the UK – a post just for Americans The USA is an extremely varied country, and in that respect, Americans are so spoilt for choice when they go cycle touring. The average American cycle tourer can effectively choose the climate they want to go cycle touring in, because the country is so large. And … Read more

10 good reasons to go cycle touring

Top  ten  reasons to  go  cycle  touring Everyone likes a List Of 10, right? Well, here are 10 Good Reasons To Go Cycle Touring  The freedom!   You get to experience the landscape in a far better way  It’s very good for your physical and mental health  It’s good for the planet  It’s good for the … Read more

Your first cycle camping trip

Cycle camping at Redlake, as part of a mini cycle tour

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

Wild camping & cycle camping in the UK

Cycle camping (mainly wild-camping) and cycle touring tips and advice

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

Earth, wind, fire and ice

Cycle camping at Redlake, as part of a mini cycle tour

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

Are YOU ethical in your adventures?

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

Spring in the air

Different people measure the start of spring in different ways, so I expect there will be a fair few who dispute that spring is here. Sure, storms Dudley and Eunice hammered the UK this past week, but that doesn’t alter the fact that spring has arrived early. Look around you: the obvious signs, like daffodils … Read more

C2C to see what there is to see

Hadrian's Wall

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

The Age Of Wonder

There is a whole wealth of debate to be had about the benefits (and there were at least a few) versus the evils (of which there were many) of the age of colonialism. This post is NOT that debate, though I will point out that one of the things that always stuck me about that … Read more

Cycle Touring – A Guide For Beginners

A picture of a person on a laden touring bike, while cycle touring

A beginner’s guide to cycle touring? I have a lot of posts about cycle touring, but thought it’d be helpful to have a Beginner’s Guide To Cycle Touring. Specifically, a sensible guide, that ordinary people (like me) can follow to help them start bicycle touring. Bike touring is for everyone, and I’d be delighted if my guide … Read more