Posts - WillCycle

WillCycle Adventure Fund

28/11/202221/02/2022 by Will

I’m setting up the WillCycle Adventure Fund, which will be a crowdfunded annual award of (hopefully) £250. Applicants to the fund will need to submit their request as a comment to this post, detailing why they should receive the money. I will publish all the applications in a future post, and ask you to vote on your ... Read more

Tyre-Glider

24/02/202221/02/2022 by Will

The good people at Tyre-Glider gave me two Tyre-Gliders, so I can do a review. I only need one, and will happily post the other to one of you, provided you will also do a review on it (to be published on here, along with my own). Incidentally, the pic of a Tyre-Glider is straight ... Read more

Are YOU ethical in your adventures?

08/07/202220/02/2022 by Will

Adventure, or conquest? Once upon a time, explorers set off from Europe with a view to “conquer”, and that Eurocentric view persists in some form or another to this day. If I was to ask you who discovered the Victoria Falls in Africa, you’d probably answer that David Livingston did. If you answered that, you’d ... Read more

Spring in the air

18/02/2022 by WillCycleAdmin

Different people measure the start of spring in different ways, so I expect there will be a fair few who dispute that spring is here. Sure, storms Dudley and Eunice hammered the UK this past week, but that doesn’t alter the fact that spring has arrived early. Look around you: the obvious signs, like daffodils ... Read more

C2C to see what there is to see

11/03/202217/02/2022 by WillCycleAdmin

Crossing England from sea to sea The island of Great Britain is longer than it is wide, meaning there are lots of opportunities to cycle a “coast to coast” of some sort, crossing the island (mostly) from east to west, or vice versa. There are many well-known cycle touring routes that cross northern England, with ... Read more

Monthly challenge: February

16/02/2022 by WillCycleAdmin

I thought I’d spice things up a bit for you, by setting you a monthly challenge, starting this month. These challenges will vary considerable – some will involve cycling, and some will involve walking. Most would involve being outside, but certainly not all. Why should you do it? Simple: to add some fun to your ... Read more

Is cycle touring right for you?

11/03/202215/02/2022 by WillCycleAdmin

Do you remember the sense of freedom you had when you were a child, and you could hop on your bicycle and pedal off on adventures with your friends? Have you wondered if you can ever experience that same sense of freedom and enjoyment again? Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to ... Read more

Can you hear the road is calling…

20/12/202213/02/2022 by WillCycleAdmin

…and we must answer As I’m sat here, writing this, the weather is grim outside, with rain and 50 mph winds. Raindrops streak like tears down my office window, and all the birds have gone into hiding. Originally, I was planning on riding out to Dartmoor and camp overnight, but after a very fortunate escape ... Read more

Dynamo lights, again

10/02/202210/02/2022 by Will

I used to ride with battery lights, and built the battery pack myself, using 18650 cells I harvested from old laptop batteries. My main light was a 5 x Cree T6 monster. Now, a single Cree T6 chip outputs between 700 and 1200 lumen, depending on a number of factors, including the chip itself, external ... Read more

The Age Of Wonder

10/04/202507/02/2022 by WillCycleAdmin

There is a whole wealth of debate to be had about the benefits (and there were at least a few) versus the evils (of which there were many) of the age of colonialism. This post is NOT that debate. However, I will point out that one of the things that always stuck me about that ... Read more

Giveaway – Quondam, by John Devoy

02/03/202204/02/2022 by Will

I’ve partnered up with John Devoy, the author of Quondam – Travels In A Once World, to give away a signed copy of the book. In case you’ve not previously heard of it, I’ve done a review of it here, and it remains one of the very best travel books I have ever read. I ... Read more

Snowdrops

09/02/202201/02/2022 by Will

Near where I live the daffodils – harbingers of spring to many people – often start blooming in mid-December, so they are clearly not a (locally) reliable indicator of when spring has started. And talking of spring, there are several different ways to interpret the seasons, including spring, of course, but I tend to go ... Read more

February 2022 Giveaway

15/02/202201/02/2022 by Will

We all like a freebie, don’t we? Well, during 2022, I’m doing 12 freebies! That’s right – I’m doing ONE T-shirt giveaway per month. How to enter Entering is simple, but requires a Twitter account. Just follow WillCycle on Twitter, then browse through the T-shirt designs available and pick your favourite. Next, click the link ... Read more

Cycle Touring – A Guide For Beginners

26/02/202427/01/2022 by WillCycleAdmin

A picture of a person on a laden touring bike, while cycle touring

A beginner’s guide to cycle touring? I have a lot of posts about cycle touring, but thought it’d be helpful to have a Beginner’s Guide To Cycle Touring. Specifically, a sensible guide, that ordinary people (like me) can follow to help them start bicycle touring. Bike touring is for everyone, and I’d be delighted if my guide ... Read more

Bikes On Trains – UK 2026

26/02/202625/01/2022 by Will

Can you take your bike on trains in the UK?

Can I take my bike on trains in the UK? The short answer is simple: yes, you can take your bike on trains in the UK. As ever the devil is in the detail. Most intercity trains will take a maximum of three non-folding, full-sized bicycles. Almost all trains will refuse to carry tandems, and ... Read more