With bikepacking, you can create wilderness adventures right from your front door. All you need is a well-packed bike, a little bike-maintenance know-how, some navigation and wild-camping skills, and the whole world becomes your playground. This course covers all this and more, from the heart of the beautiful Peak District.
Bikepacking is a true wilderness adventure, combining the freedom of long-range, multi-day trips with the thrill of riding a mountain bike, carrying only your essential gear. It’s about seeing more, doing more, and going to places less-travelled, which are sometimes right on your door step. The idea behind bikepacking is that you explore on trails and dirt tracks by day, and set up camp anywhere you like by night - in the woods, in a field, on the side of a mountain, by a lake. On a bike, the possibilities are often endless as you can cover more ground. With this beginners guide to bikepacking, you’ll learn how to plan and roll out your own adventures, with the opportunity to rent any kit you don’t have already, meaning that it really is open to anyone who wants to try their hand at exploring the world by bike.
Based in the heart of the Peak District, we’ll have the cream of the crop in terms of rich and varied routes, with breathtaking scenery. Alongside route-planning, the course will also cover off-road mountain biking skills, bikepacking kit requirements, packing techniques, and basic bike maintenance. As a key part of bikepacking is venturing into remote locations, you’ll also learn about wild camping including what to take, where to sleep and how to make food.
(Landowner permissions have been granted)

Day 1

On Saturday morning you'll meet your guide to go through your kit, what to take, how to pack the bike, basic maintenance and route planning. You'll then head out into the Peak District at a gentle pace with plenty of stops - you'll spend the day riding off-road, going through skills and techniques before finishing up at a beautiful secluded wild camp spot in plenty of time to set up before it gets dark

Day 2

After you've enjoyed a night sleeping under the stars, on Sunday morning you'll pack up and slowly cycle back, enjoying the scenic views of the National Park along the way. There will be time to cover any other skills that you want to learn about and you can choose from an easy or more challenging ride back! You’ll likely finish at a cafe in the early afternoon before arriving back at base, where you'll unpack and get the chance to ask for any final advice and tips. After that you're free to head home or carry on exploring!