Category: Philosophy Of Travel
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What Is Cycle Touring (aka: Bikepacking)?
This post is part of a series of inspirational short essays exploring the who, what, when, where and how of cycle touring and bikepacking. Getting on a bicycle and going somewhere new is one of the most accessible ways to have an adventure. It doesn’t need to involve quitting your job, spending years planning, or embarking upon an odyssey of self discovery. It doesn’t need to look heroic on social media. It doesn’t require “epic” days in the saddle, or energy gels, or a Strava subscription, or lycra. Nor does it have to involve physical hardship, highway traffic, vast mountain… Continue reading →
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The Best Way To See The World Is On A Bicycle, And Here’s Why
When you get into a car, or onto a train or plane or bus – even when you leave the house on foot – you do so almost always with the intention of arriving somewhere. You have a destination in mind, and your chosen mode of transport is simply how you’re going to get there. When you pack a suitcase, buy a ticket, plan an itinerary or open a guidebook, you are participating in a kind of travel that casts experiences as individual options, and places as destinations to go to and return from. Time spent actually in motion is something… Continue reading →
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Planning A Really Long Bike Trip? Ask Yourself These 7 Critical Questions First
I know the title of this post might sound odd. For the last 15 (wow… 15!) years, I’ve been banging on about the sheer awesomeness of going on bicycle adventures. I’ve been doing it so consistently that I’ve now published more words on this blog than in all six Lord Of The Rings books combined. Why, then, would I want you to question your dream long-distance bike trip? I’ve been around long enough to have seen a great many bicycle journey-based projects come and go. And – though you’d be forgiven for not noticing – they don’t always end well. One highfalutin example… Continue reading →
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What Exactly Does ‘Freedom’ Mean When Travelling?
Freedom – or the sense of it, at least – is the one thing that keeps bringing me back to cycle touring. I have all practicalities whittled down to a slender routine; there is nothing more to learn from the act itself of travelling by bicycle itself. Yet back to it I come, year after year, because of the sense of boundless liberation that comes from simply being on the road. At least, I thought it was freedom. Then someone pointed out that my adventures had all involved using money to get where I was going – just another tourist with… Continue reading →
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Leaving Your Comfort Zone Is Not Something To Avoid
Adventure cycling demigod Alastair Humphreys has just launched a new short film of his recent bike & bothy adventure in the Scottish Highlands. (A bothy, for the uninitiated, is a remote mountain shelter which is free for public use.) It’s really good. And if you’ve never come across bothies before, it’s a fantastic introduction to their unique subculture. Watch it here: It’s also created the perfect opportunity for me to write a follow-up piece. (Thanks, Al!) Because ‘biking and bothying across the Scottish Highlands’ is a good description of the first bike trip I ever did, way back in 2006 – way before this blog… Continue reading →
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Bikepacking Vs Backpacking: Is There A ‘Best’ Way To See The World?
This is a blog about bicycle travel. Given that, many of my readers may be wondering why I’m questioning whether pedal-powered transport is the best way to the world. Because we all know bikepacking (or bike touring) is best… right? I’m hardly qualified to convince anyone otherwise. Although I have also walked across nations, I still find a greater sense of contentment in pedalling through new landscapes than I do from almost anything else. (Fixing my bike is the only other thing that comes to mind!) But in 2014, after nine years of almost exclusively travelling the world by bike, I branched out.… Continue reading →
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15 Unorthodox Ways To Train For Cycle Touring & Bikepacking (Bicycle Optional)
So you’re dreaming of life on the open road on that epic long-distance cycle tour or bikepacking trip. Yet you’re doing nothing proactive about it, because (among other reasons) you think you’re not fit enough. The odd commute or day-ride isn’t enough; it’s waaaaay too big a leap from your current lifestyle to the kind of physical fitness required for that big bicycle-mounted adventure. Right? Well, no, actually. For most people in this scenario, the truth about training for long-distance cycle touring or bikepacking is actually this: Training yourself mentally will serve you far better than attempting to train yourself physically.… Continue reading →
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What Happens When A Non-Cyclist Spends 3½ Years Travelling The World By Bicycle
When I tell people I rode a bicycle 15,000-odd miles across Europe, Africa and the Middle East for fun, but that I’m not a cyclist, I get some funny looks. I try to explain that it wasn’t thunderous thigh-muscles I wanted but visceral life experience, fresh out of university with a head full of theories and not a job opportunity in sight. No commitments, no prospects, and no desire to grab a backpack and bus the planet’s roads: the combination of bike and tent would allow unmatched freedom, and screw the wild-camping laws while I still rode in countries that had… Continue reading →
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It was a summer’s day in 2006
It was a summer’s day in 2006 — was it really eight years ago? — and I was driving my dad’s Vauxhall Astra to my very first job interview. The position in question was for a database designer in a software house in Barnstaple, Devon. I was 22 years old with a good degree in Computer Science. Getting a proper job was exactly what I was supposed to be doing. It was a summer’s day in 2007 — was it really seven years ago? — and I was about to ride my new bicycle for the very first time. My best mate Andy and I had finished… Continue reading →
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“Did you ever think that this would become your life?”
I received an email the other day from another long-term traveller about a project I’m currently working on. At the end of the email was the following: “P.S. When you set out on that first trip, did you ever think that this would become your life?” A damn good question with more scope than befits a private email exchange, I thought. (Thanks, Jamie!) First, what is ‘this’, exactly? Well, this blog, I suppose, and all else that it directly supports, for that is all most people see. But I spend more time working on this blog and projects derived from it… Continue reading →