Cuckoo Trail Traffic-free Cycle Route
Cuckoo Trail Cycle Route Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ The Cuckoo Trail runs from Heathfield to Polegate, passing through Hellingly, Horam, and Hailsham. The trail got its name from an old tradition of releasing a cuckoo at the Heathfield Fair, and offers 14 miles of traffic-free bliss in East Sussex. This is a disused railway, and so ... Read more
Hornsea Rail Trail Traffic-free Cycle Route
Hornsea Rail Trail Cycle Route Overall Rating: ⭐⭐ The Hornsea Rail Trail links the centre of Hull with Hornsea, 15 miles further along a disused rail trail. Just over half of the route is tarred, with the remainder quite decent compacted gravel. This trail forms part of the Trans Pennine Trail, and is signed as ... Read more
Union Canal Traffic-free Cycle Route
Union Canal Cycle Route Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ The Union Canal, starts by the Falkirk Wheel and ends Edinburgh, 34 miles away. It is a contour canal, therefore has no climbing. There are three aqueducts and two tunnels and the path along each of those is narrow and cobbled, so it’s suggested that you walk your ... Read more
Cambridge Guided Busway
Cambridge Guided Busway Cycle Route Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ The Cambridge Guided Busway was originally built as a service road for the busway. Sadly, when it floods (as it does from time to time) the local authority refuses to do anything about it, claiming it’s a service road. However, when talking about what they’re doing for ... Read more
Forth and Clyde Canal Traffic-free Cycle Route
Forth and Clyde Canal Cycle Route Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ The Forth and Clyde Canal links Glasgow with Falkirk, and most of the 35 miles of towpath is tarred. It is a stunning, flat (as you’d expect from a canal towpath) route, but it’s not perfect. For a significant part of the canal, the towpath is ... Read more
Autumn blues
The melancholy of autumn While autumn is unquestionably a beautiful season, each autumn I get a sense of melancholy, a sense of almost sadness. I’m not referring to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) – though winter certainly isn’t my favourite part of the year, I’m fortunate enough not to suffer from SAD. Perhaps it’s the passing ... Read more
Cycling tattoos
Get inked! Tattoos are a highly personal, and sometimes emotive subject. Some abhor them, some love them. I’m in the latter group, but of course it’s OK for you to not like tattoos. However, we all like cycling, don’t we? And what better way to celebrate cycling than with a collection of cycling-related tattoos? Cycling ... Read more
The quest for power
Satisfying your off-grid cycle touring power needs Off-grid cycle touring is exactly what the name suggests. Just you and your bike, going places, wild camping along the way. There’s no access to mains power, so you either have to carry sufficient battery capacity with you, or find a way to generate power along the way. ... Read more
Four Ferries & Freedom
Cycling Penzance to Plymouth I spent three days cycling from Penzance to Plymouth, wild camping along the way. I wanted to do this route for ages, but kept postponing to go cycling elsewhere in the UK instead. The reason for that’s simple: I know Cornwall reasonably well, but there are large swatches of the UK ... Read more
SheCycles – Sarah
Sarah, in a brand-new SheCycles post In case you still didn’t know, SheCycles is a growing series of posts highlighting women who cycle. They’re all quite different, and all totally amazing. If you haven’t yet, do go read all the other SheCycles posts! Sarah Sarah was born in Lincolnshire, and now lives in Northamptonshire. She’s ... Read more
Penzance – Plymouth Pootle – a Travelling Ouballies Ride
Penzance – Plymouth Pootle I’ve wanted to cycle from Penzance to Plymouth for ages now, hugging the coastline. It’s an absolutely stunning part of the world, though as anyone would tell you, Cornwall is hilly. What makes things worse is hugging the coast inevitably means going up and down even more. Now to be fair, ... Read more
But you might die…
Don’t go cycle touring as you might die Ever heard anyone say something along those lines? Ever put off going on an adventure because of such worries? I have news for you: you are going going to die. This may sound morbid, but every single one of us will die. The choice you need to make ... Read more
Stealth camping in the UK
Why stealth camping? Stealth camping is wild camping done in such a way that nobody knows that you’re there. There are various reasons why you may want to do some stealth camping, but usually it’s because you may not have explicit permission to camp in a particular spot. What does the law say? With the ... Read more
Kit review: Adventuridge 2-person tent
Another tent? For the past 10+ years, I’ve been using a little 2-person tent I bought from Tesco for £12. It’s just big enough for me and my kit, provided I sleep diagonally in it – and I’m not very tall! I’ve slept in that tent during very strong winds, on Dartmoor, and I used ... Read more