Quick version: Earlybird tickets for the 2nd UK Cycle Touring Festival are on sale! Click here to get yours.
Last year’s inaugural Cycle Touring Festival turned out to be a really powerful celebration of bicycle travel, and a massively enjoyable way to spend a weekend. If you came along last time, I hope you’ll be joining us again! And if you didn’t, will you consider coming along this year?
Set to return for late May bank holiday – that’s May 27th-30th – the aims of the festival are again twofold:
Firstly – as mentioned – it’s a celebration of this thing we love called cycle touring… or adventure cycling, or travelling by bicycle, or whatever other name you prefer. That means tons of like-minded people coming together (carefully) to share stories, make new friends, drink beer, and be merry, before collapsing into their tents. This spirit of camaraderie was, for me, the best thing about last year’s festival.
Secondly, it’s a been designed as a big hearty welcome for newcomers to cycle touring, with a programme of talks, workshops and panel sessions on the basics of planning and executing bicycle trips.
In other words, if you love the idea of cycle touring but don’t know where to start, start at the Cycle Touring Festival!
I’ll be popping back over from Armenia for the event, and if you check out the speakers lineup, you’ll see a list of familiar faces will be coming back for seconds as well. Laura and Tim will once again be running the show, and it’ll be in the same impressive rural venue as last time – Waddow Hall near Clitheroe in Lancashire.
As well as that, we’re hoping to invite the recipient of the newly-launched Janapar Grant come along for a crash-course in cycle touring – as well as bags of encouragement from the community – before they depart on their journey. (They’ll be getting a free ticket, naturally!)
Check out the UK Cycle Touring Festival website for more information. Earlybird tickets have been on sale for a few days already – the deadline for the discount is Friday 19th February, so take advantage now if you’re planning to come. (£10 is at least another three pints on the Saturday night!)
Not in the UK? Please don’t feel left out – if you’re based in Europe, you can probably fly to Manchester for less time and money than the train from London! From the airport, it’s a cheap and easy train ride to Clitheroe, then a 20-minute walk to the venue.
See you on May 27th-30th! Who’s coming?
Something to add?