Rides bikes, paddles sea kayaks, takes pictures. Life on the road & my home in Cornwall.
Stories of person-powered life and adventures by bicycle and sea kayak, at home and further afield. Car-independent life in Cornwall, UK, and longer, thoughtful journeys by bike in mostly high and empty places. There is also street photography, if you like that sort of thing.
A look at the "Junk Trunk", an 18 litre Carradice-style roll-entry handlebar bag for bikepacking, touring, and just riding around, that is available as a downloadable sewing pattern from The Functional Sewing Project. Read more »
Some fine Basque gravel in good company, and the ride home. It turns out there are six ferries between Bilbao and west Cornwall, and as you know, bikes and ferries go... Read more »
Teruel to Zaragoza, and some muddy bits in between.... Read more »
A long weekend bikepacking with friends in the Cambrian Desert of Wales Read more »
My Surly Big Fat Dummy.. a supertanker of a cargo bike that has proven to be way more fun loaded, and unloaded, than I... Read more »
It is a long, long, and spectacular climb to the Arabel Pass, and a few days on the trail that made me very happy... Read more »
It's been in the Surly Catalogue for more than 20 years, what possible relevance could the venerable Cross Check still have in a world... Read more »
A ride on tracks and trails through the empty heart of Wales. Read more »
The winds of the high puna of northern Argentina and Chile are infamous amongst touring cyclists. They are to be expected but every so often, as with weather anywhere, the winds can reach an intensity somewhat greater than might normally be expected. One of those days turned into one of the most testing days on two wheels I can remember, far more intense than anything I recall experiencing in ‘windy season’ down in Patagonia, probably … Read more »
It is a long, long, and spectacular climb to the Arabel Pass, and a few days on the trail that made me very happy... Read more »
Bikepacking through the remote, desolate northern corner of Chile, via the Lauca and Volcan Isluga national parks, and on into southwest Bolivia via the... Read more »
In which it can be demonstrated that the future belongs to the unwashed riders of old steel fixed-wheel bicycles... Read more »
A workshop project to make a set of laminated wooden mudguards for my Surly Big Fat Dummy. Made from a blend of oak and... Read more »
Technically “The Empty Quarter” applies to the Rub’ al Khali desert on the Arabian Peninsula, however I’m going to use a little creative license and use it to describe the last few days on my bike from Laraos; it could equally apply to parts of Bolivia and the Puna de Atacama in northern Chile and Argentina so I reserve the right to use it again. As usual I’ll use pictures rather then a tedious narrative to … Read more »
Some street photography from Buenos Aires and Villa Mercedes to wrap up seven months of bicycle travel from Peru. Read more »
A medium-sized provincial town deep in the heart of Argentina, about 700km west of Buenos Aires, may seem like an odd place to end... Read more »
Thought I’d sling up a few impressions of Córdoba city. It’s alright; colourful, busy, good icecream. I’ll say goodbye to friends here this evening... Read more »
To my mind one of the greatest things about a bicycle is the ease with which it enables new friendships and shared adventures. The... Read more »
A windy spring afternoon at the beach with my Fuji x100f. Read more »
Autumnal pictures and ramblings of minimal consequence.... Read more »
A series of street snaps from a long overdue return Read more »
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men... a change of plans and a spot of street photography from Vitoria-Gasteiz. Read more »
.. or puffins and other places. Sea kayaking in the Small Isles with a side-trip to paddle around the seabird nesting colonies of the Farne Islands. Read more »
A brief respite from the relentless wind and rain, with spells of actual sunshine, afloat amongst the granite of... Read more »
A round-up of snaps of a sea-kayaking flavour from the west of Cornwall... mostly. Read more »
An impromptu sea kayak journey along the coast of Cornwall from Saltash to Sennen Cove. 190km over four and... Read more »
A look at the "Junk Trunk", an 18 litre Carradice-style roll-entry handlebar bag for bikepacking, touring, and just riding around, that is available as a downloadable sewing pattern from The Functional Sewing Project. Read more »
It took me a while but here's a quick look at what I did with my friend's used Fairlight Faran frameset ahead of a spot of touring in, hopefully, sunnier climes... Read more »
Revisiting my Surly Cross Check in its role as an all-weather, all-road, all-day mile muncher, and a new camera waist pack by way of enjoying some time at my sewing machine again. Read more »
Something of an ode to the fixed wheel bicycle and why I still love to ride them. Read more »
Bikepacking through the stupendous Spiti Valley in the Indian Himalaya, as part of a two-wheeled exploration of the Spiti and Kinnaur Valleys. Read more »
It’s always ‘challenging’ returning home after a decent adventure but this time seems to have been, or rather ‘is’, particularly difficult. All I can... Read more »
I had a little bit of time in Delhi… I found street photography quite difficult. Despite the obvious potential it is the sort of... Read more »
Winding it's way northeast through the Himalayas of Himachel Pradesh, the rough, landslide-prone Hindustan-Tibet Highway is an engineering marvel and makes for a great... Read more »
I’m really happy, got my Inner Line Permit. It had been on my mind a little because I kept hearing and reading all sorts... Read more »