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bikepacking wales 18 multi-day off-road cycling adventures. emma kingston. vertebrate publishing softback. 161pp illus. £20
many, many years past, when queried on the province of thewashingmachinepost, a friend came to my spluttering aid, by cleverly captioning it as a repository for road-cycling culture. that, to all intents and purposes has remained the case across its 27 years of existence. however, while the post may not have changed, the category itself has morphed into something it once wasn't.
i refer, of course, to the hijacking of drop bars to match with the wider, knobblier tyres more readily associated with the offroad brigade. the modern-day velocipedinist will poo-poo my more traditional stance on such matters, but that is truly of no nevermind, since the cat is apparently already out of the box. so, while i still maintain that there are those in thrall to mountain biking who plough a furrow with greater affiliation and enthusiasm than yours truly, it may be prudent to amend the post's avatar to include at least a smidgeon of offroad at the behest of gravel and its best pal, bikepacking.
personally, i am more likely to be seen in my dotage aboard the present day equivalent of the once ubiquitous, dawes galaxy, festooned with cordura panniers, a low-rider and a bar bag. these constitute a badge that will identify me as a luddite, a term of endearment with which i am perfectly comfortable. meanwhile, life rambles on, though i fervently hope that its attempts to confine me as an old fuddy duddy, are coincidental and not personal.
hot on the heels of bikepacking maestro, markus stitz' publication of bikepacking scotland, comes this similarly formatted publication, also from the renowned vertebrate publishing, demonstrating the efficacy of undertaking a similar amount of offroad touring across wales-shire, courtesy of "self-confessed map geek", emma kingston. as if to underline the merging of genres alluded to above, ms. kingston is more of a mountain biker than one attracted to tarmac. however, mountain bikes these days often seem weighed down with suspensions and thus heavy, gnarliness, making a gravel bike perhaps more appropriate for undertaking several (18) welsh bikepacking trips.
that said, the machinery aboard which ms. kingston is photographed, bears a close resemblance to what i believe is still referred to as a hardtail. whatever your poison, there's no denying the potential adventure to be realised within the book's pages.
in her introduction, the author all but refers to the conundrum approached in the above paragraphs: Call it what you like - bicycle touring, adventure cycling, bikepacking - these are all different names for what is fundamentally the same thing. At its core, bikepacking is all about getting on a bike and going on an adventure."
the author, still in the introduction, is in disagreement with my above assertion that a gravel bike might well prove the ideal means of transport, commenting that "...a hardtail is arguably the best compromise between speed, comfort and versatility...", but bends to the wind of change by announcing at the start of the paragraph "It is a recurring bikepacking mantra, but it's true: the best bike for bikepacking is the one you already have." i admit, i can think of a few exceptions to that mode of thought, but temper it with the knowledge that owners of bikes distinctly unsuited to bikepacking, would be unlikely to consider so doing in the first place.
whichever type of bicycle you opt to employ, ms. kingston offers a comprehensive kit list of items that may well prove essential even if your outing is intended to remain compact and bijou. this is followed by the logistics of reaching the terrain of your dreams, allied to details pertaining to accommodation and wild camping, culminating in a necessary repetition of the countryside code to which i (and emma kingston) would recommend you adhere. helpfully, the author has categorised each included route as easy, medium or hard.
following a brief glossary of welsh terms for the sort of terrain you might hope to encounter, let the bikepacking begin across four distinct regions: west wales, south wales an bannau brycheiniog, mid wales and norh wales & eryri.
each individual ride features an introduction and an overview of the proposed route, before delving into a blow-by-blow examination of the prescribed parcours. this is augmented with a clearly delineated map, and sidebars concerning themselves with water access, food & drink, nearby accommodation, bike shops and other nearby routes should you intend to spend more than a few hours in the immediate region. each chapter/route is copiously illustrated, offering visual enticement to bury your bike at the centre of those oddly shaped bikebags.
additionally, the route profile is bordered with information such as the aforementioned grading, the distance, amount of climbing, what sort of terrain to expect and the location of both start and finish. the author has certainly done her homework, entirely to the benefit of the bikepacking reader.
i have never been to wales, and given my aversion to leaving my hebridean comfort zone, things might remain that way. howevers i can but admit, perusing this book, it may not take too much persuasion to change that state of affairs. if you're already down the rabbit hole of the bikepacking meme, this will be as manna from heaven; if you're keen to take those first few trepidatious steps along the route, i highly commend you acquire a copy of bikepacking wales, along with mr stitz' bikepacking scotland.
thursday 6 july 2023
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