Go! Mandrake bikepacking - SE Asia, Madagascar, UK & more

Our final beachfront hotel in Goa gives us a brief taste of how many foreigners choose to experience India. It’s significantly more expensive here and the sand is hotter than the surface of the sun, yet the sweaty sun worshippers persist in their mission for the perfect tan. it was nice to catch up with […]

3 Mar 2025

Going Goa Gone

Sometimes it can be information overload out here – a cacophony of colour, sound and smell so the helpful signs we encounter along the way can form anchor points in our memories. Here are just a few of our favourites from India….

26 Feb 2025

Give us a sign

The landscape and climate have changed dramatically by the time we reach Hampi. This unfamiliar arid landscape leaves me wondering why such a significant city was built here in the first place. Many of the huge boulders that make up the landscape here bear the marks of a thousand strikes with a hammer and chisel […]

23 Feb 2025

India Karnataka

Hampi and you know it..

The unwelcome and nagging pain of an old injury (I’m fine, just in need of some time resting off the bike) and the sudden realisation that it’s February already, led us to fully experience the complexities of Indian driving from the inside. Thank goodness the car had seatbelts. Early on in our trip we’d realised […]

15 Feb 2025

India Karnataka

Can we have the bill, please?

Since our last blog Gez has celebrated another trip around the sun and we’ve been zig-zagging our way north west ish through Karnataka via Devadana, Shivamogga and Sagara. Seeking out fun bridges and Dracos as we ride. The wildlife here is truly amazing and every time we set foot even slightly out of the Western […]

13 Feb 2025

India Karnataka

I don’t like cricket

After a brief foray to the coast for a coconut or three we remembered that we are just not beach people (unless of course the surf is up) and state highways are absolutely not fun to cycle on. So we found another random hill to sweat up and headed back inland to Madikeri, in the […]

3 Feb 2025

India Karnataka

We are Coorg

A few days before our flight from London in November 2024 I was fortunate enough to bump into a hand full of Keralans who are currently doing an outstanding job holding our NHS together. This chance encounter provided us with a list of recommended places ‘away from the crowds’ and what stunning recommendations they have […]

21 Jan 2025

Waylaid in Wayanad

At a height of 2240m, Ooty and the surrounding peaks definitely qualify as proper mountains. As well as being a hive of human activity these mountains are absolutely full of wildlife – check out David Attenborough’s “Asia” series on to find out just how full! We had hoped to employ the Ooty “toy train” to […]

9 Jan 2025

India Tamil Nadu

Tigers, Bears and Dynamite

old pics from the river

1 Jan 2025

old pics from the river

The icing on our Keralan Christmas cake was a stunning bike ride down through tea plantations to Anakulam. The relaxing downhill we’d both decided on was punctuated by tea stops, delicious biryani and an unexpected jungle scramble (er, I mean shortcut) neither of us had bargained for (thanks for that Komoot). Unexpectedly sweaty, we arrived […]

25 Dec 2024

Hope you packed your trunks..

It was the week before Christmas… and our clothes were still wet. On the plus side, we found some kinder weather, cooler climes and insanely beautiful hills. With aching hips, soggy bottoms and stiff necks we downed tools and set up camp in Munnar. At altitudes of 1500-2000m, Munnar has tea plantations as far as […]

23 Dec 2024

Top station

Being boaty types we always keep one eye on the weather just in case. It’s a useful habit for cyclists too… although we haven’t quite worked out which weather app we should trust here yet. The rain in Kerala falls mostly on the two idiots on bicycles. Very occasionally it’s better (and more fun) to […]

20 Dec 2024

The rain in Kerala falls…

We landed in Trivandrum, India just over two weeks ago and with a few hundred ish kilometres under our belts we are beginning to understand some of the things that make Kerala Kerala. The huge variety of curries available means we will be needing at least three months here to try them all! Dosa breakfasts […]

12 Dec 2024

Namaskaram Keralam

After Christmas we took the Montenegro fast boat to El Nido, Palawan. Our bikes lashed to the front of the boat with drivechains soaking up all the salt water delivered by the rough seas. El Nido is a busy place, with manic tourists rushing everywhere, many trying to cram everything into a couple of […]

23 Feb 2024

The jungle is massive

When we’re not marvelling at the wonders of nature from our bikes we’ve been enjoying cooling down in 28 degree bath water seas. The Philippines is home to more than 52,000 species, more than half of which are endemic to the Philippines. Although the evidence of climate change is painfully obvious in some places, the […]

3 Feb 2024

Thanks for all the fish

From venomous sea snakes to Chinese cargo ships, the next leg of our Philippines adventure has offered up an unexpected variety of close encounters. We left you last time as we boarded our second ferry from San Jose to the town of Coron on Busuanga Island. I’m hoping that (assuming you read the last post) […]

6 Jan 2024

Fish and Ships

It’s been quite some time since our last adventure, so we didn’t hang about in Manila – jet lag ignored, bikes rebuilt in a day and we set off South (well, across the city to hop on a bus for the first bit, Manila is basically a slow moving car park, it would have taken […]

30 Dec 2023

On a pushy? But How?!

This trip is quite different for both of us. Gez has had to sit still for prolonged periods of time, Myanmar isn’t quite ready for the way we like to travel and we are both earning our keep by working on UK stuff while we’re on the move. All of these things have slowed the […]

12 Feb 2020

Incidental Meditation

Right, I feel like we can discuss this now, after two weeks of keeping as still as he possibly can, his foot has not gone a funny colour and has definitely not fallen off.. So much of life revolves around the sea here and the most comfortable form of travel is by boat. It’s no […]

29 Jan 2020

We’re Going To Need A Bigger Boat

Welcome vicarious explorers, you find us beginning our new year in the city of Myeik, gazing at the Archipelago islands across the Andaman sea. Golden stupas adorn almost every hillside. Hard wood multi-story fishing boats glide across the calm waters like giant snails inspiring thoughts of pirates and buccaneers. In my daydreams we buy one […]

18 Jan 2020

The City with four names

This Twixt-mas we have mostly been bouncing around in speed boats. Border crossing days can be stressful with confusing conversations, over enthusiastic touts and incomprehensible signage. When you are trying to contend with your combined nerves, heavily laden mountain bikes and all of the above in 30+ degree heat it’s all too easy to become […]

1 Jan 2020

Mingalaba Myanmar

Perhaps by now some of you are wondering where the blooming blogs are? I confess that yes, we have been gadding about in the sunshine with massive grins on our faces, surrounded by the wonders of nature but we have also been working on websites and spending less money here than we would need to at […]

3 Mar 2019

Blooming Blogs

Just so you know, I am really not a fan of competitive sports. Apart from Kick Start (1979-1988 motorcycle trials series on BBC) I have never enjoyed watching them and, no I have never been picked for the hockey team. We visited Ile Sainte Marie about four weeks ago while waiting for a boat that […]

6 Aug 2017

Kick Start

It has been more than two months since our last mountain expedition and I suspect that after this one our habits may change a little… Pic Boby at 2658 meters above sea level is the highest climbable peak in Madagascar. We spent a few days hanging out with the local lemurs kidding ourselves that we […]

30 Jul 2017

Up a mountain…

Our train arrived at Manakara station four days later than scheduled and set off for Fianarantsoa 73 hours late. The 12 hour journey that took 22 and a half hours to complete (several hours of which was spent rolling backwards). This was considered a great success by all involved. Despite the amazing views and stunning […]

12 Jul 2017

Rumble in the jungle

Following an advanced course in contortion …picture 35 people squeezed into a burnt out minibus in 36 degree heat, now add several tonnes of luggage to the roof and throw in a few live chickens. Hotwire the ignition, drive for 8+ hours without a break, slow down occasionally to squeeze a few more people in […]

11 Jul 2017

Plan C, Mora Mora

Gez and I are not very good at sitting still but this is a skill that we have been forced to hone over the last few weeks… We took our time in Antananarivo, carefully planning where we would go and how long for. Following some local advice plan A (heading south on the RN7) went […]

21 Jun 2017

Mora Mora

We have been travelling by bike since early October and to be honest the novelty of packing up the bikes, hand washing clothes every day and not knowing where we will sleep has kind of worn off. I long for some creature comforts; running water a flushing toilet and machine clean clothes. I also long […]

5 Jun 2017

Creature comforts

Having worked so hard to gain more altitude than we’d ever gained before we made a pact; we will enjoy the downhill, we will not speed down hill and miss out on looking at all of the views. The idiom “change your mind like the wind” makes so much more sense now than it ever […]

1 May 2017

Purest Green

Think post-apocalyptic, parched earth, dry riverbeds, mini tornadoes and an ever increasing wind gusting to the point where it is strong enough to blow you to a standstill on a 1 in 4 hill

28 Apr 2017

Mustang Valley

We check the weather forecast again in Yak Kharka. Regardless of which site we look at the message is the same, just 24 hours remaining before heavy snow starts to fall in the valley we are trying to escape. We had planned to take two full days to make the pass from here and I […]

25 Apr 2017

Over the top!

So it seems that we are in a race against the elements, the next few days are critical – if things swing out of our favour we could be stuck in the mountains for weeks, or worse forced to retreat. Before I explain, let’s just recap on how we got here… Kate and I have […]

17 Apr 2017

Please step up

Type 3 fun. Not fun at all, not even in retrospect. As in, “What the hell was I thinking? I really hate scree slopes. In my humble opinion they take all of the fun out of most outdoor activities unless the scree slope is covered in at least 3ft of compacted snow and I am wearing […]

15 Apr 2017

Type 3 fun

Altitude sickness is not to be taken lightly. Ignoring the symptoms could put you in hospital or worse, assuming you can afford the $2500 fee for an airlift that is. DON’T PANIC! We’ve done our homework, there will be no alcoholic drinks or caffeine consumed. We have lowered our salt intake and will be drinking […]

14 Apr 2017

High!

Taking the long way round has it’s ups and downs (did you see what I did there?). With 139km under our belts already (Pokhara to Chame) we are very pleased to see that our just giving page is also off to a very promising start. Once again, thank you to everyone who has already donated, […]

2 Apr 2017

Softly softly catchy monkey

Hearing a tourist complain that the solar powered water heater hasn’t worked (overnight during a thunderstorm) and that the wifi is patchy reminded me that many of us live in very privileged bubbles. It’s nice to step outside of that world, to share a meal and a smile with someone you’ve never met before and […]

30 Mar 2017

Full circle, the long way

Mountain biking the high-altitude Himalayan trekking route, raising funds for Community Action Nepal.

26 Mar 2017

Mountain biking the Annapurna Circuit

Kathmandu airport is quite a hectic place. The queues and confusion in the visa application hall reminded us that a new country (as well as excitement and adventure) meant a new language and different ways of being. The first thing to catch us off guard was the head shaking. Here shaking your head and shrugging […]

23 Mar 2017

Swahgat garnu Nepal

This young man’s story and the people he has encouraged to help him along the way echo and amplify the hope we found in Phenom Penh. Sarath Proeun began learning English at the pagoda, taught by monks, just as most boys in Cambodia are between the ages of 7 and 13. He continued his education […]

13 Mar 2017

Knowledge is power

Crossing the Cambodia/Thai boarder on bicycles was easier than we had been led to believe. It seems that crossing borders on funny looking bicycles is a good way to avoid scams and pitfalls that are so commonly discussed on the internet. I’m sure we skipped a couple of queues as well. Slightly underwhelmed by the […]

28 Feb 2017

Bangkok. Off.

Myanmar!

4 Feb 2017

Myanmar!

At it’s height the Khmer empire spanned Cambodia all of Thailand, Laos, parts of Myanmar and Vietnam and Angkor was the capital of the kingdom. Angkor Archeological Park was (and I guess still is) the largest pre-industrial city in the world, this historical site is so immense that even after we’d spent $60 on a 7 […]

29 Jan 2017

Angkor Waaaat?!

As human beings we have the ability to encourage each other to excel, be different, explore, discover and achieve, this power can generate ambition, creativity and fulfilment.

19 Jan 2017

Hope for a brighter future.

It is an understatement to say that Cambodia has had a rough time. Following the decline of the once-great ancient Khmer civilisation with Angkor Wat at it’s heart, fierce struggles with neighbouring Vietnam, colonisation by the French, and no doubt many other things I have yet to learn of, Cambodia has endured a harsh modern […]

19 Jan 2017

Places that should not exist.

Cambodia has so many important and complex stories to tell that we could not possibly do them justice in this blog. We strongly recommend that you read up on Cambodian history (recent and ancient), visit this beautiful country if you can and that you seek your facts from a range of sources as there are […]

1 Jan 2017

Welcome to Cambodia

There are a handful of things that still manage to fill me with childlike excitement. Elephants (which we have yet to see on this trip), riding my bicycle and messing about in or on the water. When Gez suggested that we leave Vietnam and enter Cambodia by speed boat, I let out a small squeal of […]

1 Jan 2017

Cambodia Vietnam

Look at what you could have won…

It’s getting dark now and I’m tired. Just a few more kilometres to go… I had been riding incredibly carefully since we noticed the crack in the rear rim so the impending darkness made me very nervous. These Crossmax wheels may be super lightweight but they were built for serious off road riding, 40km after […]

27 Dec 2016

Escape from Siagon (part deux)

Ho Chi Minh City (also called Saigon) is home to 10 million people – the most populated urban area in Vietnam. Saigon is big, noisy and busy – not really our kind of place. We arrived, saw some things, picked up some bike spares, visited a dentist, bought some sweets, began to suffer respiratory problems […]

20 Dec 2016

Escape from Saigon

Not being natural city types, we approached Hội An via the coast road from Da Nang avoiding as many built up areas as possible and bracing ourselves for another busy city. As we reached the final leg of our 80km day and found ourselves cycling through rice fields rather than the outskirts of a city, we […]

12 Dec 2016

Hội An is special.

After spending much time underground in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park, we were in need of some altitude again. Continuing South via Dong Hoi, we arrived at Huế – the old capital of Vietnam from 1802-1945, during the Feudal Nguyen Dynasty. 19th Century soup & Karaoke At the heart of Huế, surrounded by the Perfume river and 2 moats is […]

10 Dec 2016

Hải Vân Pass: gravity in Vietnam

I thought that between us we had done our homework however, when travelling in a country as vast as Vietnam I think it may be impossible not to overlook something …we nearly overlooked the largest cave in the world. In our defence Hang Sơn Đoòng is quite well hidden in the jungle of Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng […]

28 Nov 2016

Echo

A few weeks ago we followed a dinner recommendation and ended up eating some of the most delicious vegan food we have ever tasted (in the business end of someone’s garage). The creator of these Vietnamese vegan treats (and part owner of the garage) recommended we visit Ninh Bình on our journey south. Ninh Bình […]

28 Nov 2016

Tam Cốc-Bích Động

We started this cycling adventure in Northern Vietnam, in what probably used to be a small town or village called Sa Pa. While the rice fields of Sa Pa are truly beautiful, progress, modernisation and tourism are rapidly beating this place into a very different shape. Construction teams are everywhere, any time from first […]

24 Nov 2016

Off the beaten track.

It’s probably fine…? Health and safety would both appear to be a term that is very much lost in translation. Vietnamese kitchens are blackened or mouldy rooms where flies buzz over warm raw meat. Restaurants are garages or tiny plastic chairs of doom nestled under tarpaulins seated on broken paving slabs. Vietnamese building sites are […]

7 Nov 2016

It’s probably fine…?

As we approach the end of our second week in Vietnam and in light of all the adventuring evidence gathered to date we have drawn the following conclusions: The Vietnamese are a very friendly and incredibly patient people. We are carrying too much stuff. Even when it’s cold here it’s still hot. Spring onion flavour […]

25 Oct 2016

xin chào

Having been in the recovery position for a couple of days now (if you can call cutting the daily mileage in half and avoiding the odd hill “recovery”) I feel I am ready to broach the subject of doing things you thought you’d never be able to do. I can confirm that Mr Roy Castle […]

22 May 2016

Thank you for watching.

I had imagined our final day – our triumphant descent to the Atlantic coast – to be warm, sunny, downhill and accompanied some kind of fanfare (Eye of the Tiger, The Final Countdown or something like that on brass). But it wasn’t to be.. Despite delaying our departure for an hour or so in the […]

20 May 2016

Eye of the Countdown (The Final Tiger)

I am so pleased we didn’t rush this bit. Despite our repeated (bordering on desperate) requests for salad last night, we were presented with a plate of all things fried, with some extra fried things plonked on top and a small dish of what tasted like Heinz tomato soup as a garnish. Breakfast was a […]

18 May 2016

No entiendo ensalada

We have a confession to make. After the day we had yesterday we decided to give ourselves a break. On deciding this we were lucky enough to stumble upon, what is quite probably the nicest place we have visited so far. The hills in this area of the French Pyrenees look like freshly cooked muffins […]

17 May 2016

Lost in France

No breakfast for the hungry. Having eaten all of the “spare” food last night we had 40 kilometers before us with nothing but gummie bears, a small amount of stale bread and anything we can find lurking in the bottom of our rucksacks for fuel. Food has definitely become fuel on this journey. I find […]

16 May 2016

Cold. Hungry. Tired.

We timed our day off well. We watched the rain fall all day from the comfort of the hotel bar where we sipped coffee and ate Spanish omelette (good, but not as good a Luli’s). some time to sit in a white box and stare at the wall As well as escaping the rain, I […]

16 May 2016

Broken links

For those of you who may have thought (myself included) that, as we near the end of our epic challenge, it would all effectively be “down hill from here”… think again. Today’s climb provided us with some of the most beautiful views we have seen to date as well as some significant thigh burn (she […]

13 May 2016

It can’t be that steep.

Today was the day. I shall remember it always, the day I made it up the mountain before Gez…. To those of you who know Gez well (the same man who ran across the Alps for fun shortly after we first met and has competed in the UK national mountain bike championships) I can tell […]

12 May 2016

Race you to the top?

While we successfully dodged the big thunderstorm the other night, we were always going to get caught in the bouts of of rain that were due to follow it for several days. Today was one of those days. It was raining when we woke, still raining when we left the campsite at 8am and continued […]

11 May 2016

Rainy McRain Face.

As some of you will be aware, we narrowly avoided a massive soaking last night (thank you weather app, we owe you one). Our hotel room was very comfortable (thanks for asking) and I finally had the dinner I have been dreaming of for the last week; a plate full of green beans that definitely […]

10 May 2016

If you go down through the woods today…

A number of people have asked me about the gear we have for undertaking this trip. Here’s a little summary of what we have with us and how it is working for us… Bike luggage: All the bike mounted bags are from Alpkit – a UK company the makes good quality, functional and good value […]

9 May 2016

Gear Trans-Pyrenees

All the gear…

Our night and morning in Castejon de Sos revolved around getting my bike running again. Thanks to the Pyrenean fixer, we were ready to go by 11am – a very late start for a 60km day taking us over 2000 meters, but at least I’d be able to stop at the other end. As we […]

8 May 2016

Where eagles dare…

My bike, a race-bred Yeti ARC, has seen better days. Aside from all the creaks and squeaks she’s developed over the first 300 miles of the Pyrenean beating: the back brake is empty – no oil, nothing at the lever. The front could do with a bleed too and I have had to put a […]

8 May 2016

The fixer

Today’s story is all about how just much of a quiet word we would like with the chap who wrote the route we’ve been following. Footpaths can be lots of fun on foot however, Pyrenean footpaths, on mountain bikes can definitely do one ….particularly the really thorny bits. We were doing well this morning and […]

6 May 2016

Feeling a little flat?

Have you ever seen a pack of vultures dinning on the carcass of a cow? It is actually quite scary…. and yes the collective noun for vultures is a venue but that sounds more like we’ve been out clubbing than scaling the Pyrenees… Out route today has been mostly by road following local knowledge that […]

5 May 2016

The vultures are circling

Our ride to Os de Civis yesterday was fairly uneventful compared to previous days but it was incredibly warm. Despite the locals warnings that today’s route was covered in deep snow and impassable (by 4×4 and quad bike at least), the 40 kilomtere ride over the high mountains was lovely and only required a few […]

4 May 2016

It’s All in the planning…

¡Holá! Or should we say Bonjour? I am sure you will be pleased to hear that we were back in the saddle again today. I am writing this post from Andorra and feeling very pleased that we followed our host’s advice and stayed an extra night in the mountain refuge (Cap De Rec). The smell […]

2 May 2016

Más vale tarde que nunca!

“¿Systema Cole-man?” Si! The shopkeeper headed off into the back room. He had a look of contentment available only to the sole vendor of screwtop gas canisters in Spain. After some rummaging (or perhaps a fist fight with a Pyrenean bear of Slovenian descent) he returned, smug face intact and gas canister in hand. Yes, […]

1 May 2016

“¿Systema Cole-man?

One of the many nice things about biking in the mountains is that you can creep up on the wildlife quickly and quietly*, like this fella, Alan. Alan is a friendly marmot who lives in the Spanish Pyrenees, not far from the borders with France and Andorra. Alan has lost his friend Steve. For anyone […]

1 May 2016

Alan!

The clue is in the name…. My birthday consisted of 14 hours in the saddle with side orders of snow, freezing fog, blazing sunshine and then the darkness. The snow looked quite pretty when it started falling but we are in the real mountains now and snow means trouble, especially when you are travelling super […]

1 May 2016

La Bastida

Just in case any of you have been wondering (…and I’m guessing you all have). Pushing a fully laden touring mountain bike up hill to 2145mtrs above sea level to then try and ride it down a series of partially snow covered ski slopes that sit on top of some very slippery scree is, without […]

29 Apr 2016

Yes, I am sure it’s a lovely ski slope…

Today has been all about uphill slog, heavy rain, cows and low cloud… In between rain storms we have been picking our way through fields of horned cows and their new born calves. The cows have very strangely shaped udders and humps at the back of their neck up here in the mountains so we […]

28 Apr 2016

Big udders…

Some things that I have learned since I started cycling across the Pyrenees: 1) Bears live in these mountains! Slovenian bears in Spain – one can only imagine what el correo diario would make of that. Ok, the footprints we found may have been a very big dog, but I can’t think what would have […]

28 Apr 2016

Here, there be bears…

Transporting our bikes by air to our start point was (much to our surprise) quite painless and with the support of our friend Kenny so was the late night journey into Barcelona. We spent the following morning putting the bikes back together and packing our stuff into the frame bags. We got the 14.16 train […]

28 Apr 2016

So far, so good…

Ok, so this is it… Our bikes are serviced, we’ve got all the bits and bobs we need, just one more party to go to and a bit of frantic packing and we’re on our way to Barcelona.. While checking the route over I have discovered something – it looks like there is over 27,000 […]

23 Apr 2016

Measure twice, cut once.

Raising funds for the Bedford Hospitals Charity & Cancer Research UK

20 Jan 2016

Bikepacking the Pyrenees

Some old photos form two trips to Iceland in 2014. Definitely want to return with bikes.

3 Oct 2015

The top has come off the mountain