Category: Planning & Logistics
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No Stupid Questions: Should You Ask Permission To Wild Camp In Britain?
A reader writes: Hi Tom, Having cycled LEJOG and stayed at Airbnb and a couple of youth hostels, I’m planning on bikepacking/ wildcamping. Cycling until I’m either too tired to continue or where a convenient place appears. Questions are, do you ever get or attempt to get permission to camp or bivvy, and do you […] Continue reading →
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No Stupid Questions: How Best To Pack My Panniers For Cycling Round The World?
A reader writes: I’m keen to streamline my set-up and I’m curious to know what round-the-world pannier set-up you’d recommend… I’m thinking 2 × 12.5l front panniers, 2 × 12.5l rear panniers with an Ortlieb 31l Rack Pack and a 12l frame bag giving me around 93l storage. In addition, my front rack will enable […] Continue reading →
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Cycle Touring & Bikepacking Insurance: All You Need To Know (& Popular Insurers)
This is a detailed post about understanding and choosing insurance for cycle touring and bikepacking trips, both short-term and long-term. I do get a lot of questions on the topic of insurance for cycle tours, so this article is my attempt to answer all of them in one thoroughly researched, human-written, 100% AI-free post. And […] Continue reading →
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Do I Really Need Ortliebs? A Buyer’s Guide To Panniers For Cycle Touring
One day in 1884, Thomas Stevens left California on a bicycle, carrying a bag of gold and a pistol rolled up in a blanket, and became the first person in recorded history to cycle round the world. Today’s bicycle travellers pack a little more gear than that! That’s because we want to enjoy seeing the world, rather […] Continue reading →
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Dates Now Live for the 2022 UK Cycle Touring Festival
Good news for those of us looking forward to another year of adventures in the saddle: the dates for the 2022 edition of the UK Cycle Touring Festival have just been announced! In fact, it’s already less than a month until the event kicks off on February 12th 2022. As with previous years, the schedule […] Continue reading →
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What’s The Best Camping Mattress Or Sleeping Pad For Cycle Touring & Bikepacking?
Welcome! It’s time to deep-dive into another thorny topic (no pun intended): how to choose a camping mattress – or, as my North American friends call it, a sleeping pad – to fit the specific needs of cycle tourers and bikepackers. We’ll be looking at the various types of camping mattresses and sleeping pads, which types […] Continue reading →
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There Is No Better Time To Be Planning Your Next Dream Cycling Adventure
Now is probably not the best time to be setting off on a globetrotting bike trip. But as we’ve all discovered over the last few months, upheavals can create the ideal conditions for change – including changing the way you think. Amid much uncertainty and, yes, real hardship and trauma, this year has brought with it a […] Continue reading →
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10 Tips For Planning Your First Off-Road Bikepacking Trip
Cycling across Europe, West Asia and the Levant gave me thousands of miles of cycle touring experience. But the dirt tracks of Africa and Mongolia were very different to the smooth, well-maintained asphalt I’d grown used to. This was long before “bikepacking” was a thing, however, and I had to make do with the bike […] Continue reading →
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Как отправиться в кругосветное путешествие на велосипеде: три простых шага
Шаг 1. Раздобудьте велосипед. Какой именно — не имеет значения. Главное, чтобы он был удобным и исправным. В любом случае, без велосипеда вы далеко не уедете. Шаг 2. Увольтесь.* На путешествие потребуется несколько лет, так что напишите своему начальству в заявлении на увольнение о том, что вам, конечно, очень жаль уходить с работы, но у […] Continue reading →
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What’s Really The Difference Between Bikepacking & Cycle Touring?
Over the last few years we have seen the rise of a new sub-discipline of bicycle travel. It’s called ‘bikepacking’, and it’s become such a hit that almost every mainstream bike manufacturer now produces at least one ‘adventure bike’ or ‘bikepacking rig’, or includes the word in their marketing spiel for bikes that might fit […] Continue reading →