The Journal

Route notes & gravel travel, from the road.

The routes we scout, the hotels we find, and honest, practical advice on what a week of hotel-to-hotel gravel actually involves.

South Africa

The Farms and Small Towns Along South Africa's Gravel Cycling Roads

Seven towns, farm kitchens and a vineyard dinner — the people and places behind a week of gravel cycling across South Africa's Western Cape.

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Flying With a Gravel Bike: How to Pack a Bike for a Flight

The bike almost always arrives fine. The riders who packed carefully are simply the ones not fixing a bent hanger in a hotel car park on day zero.

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Gravel Cycling Nutrition: Fuelling a Multi-Day Tour

The riders who fade on a week-long tour rarely run out of fitness. They run out of fuel. Here's how to eat and drink across back-to-back gravel days.

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Which Gravel Cycling Tour Is Right for You? Our Seven Routes Compared

Seven crossings, one week each. A route-by-route gravel tour comparison — difficulty, climbing, season and who each one suits — to help you choose.

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Scotland

Gravel Cycling in Scotland: a Highland Coast-to-Coast Guide

Some of the emptiest, most rideable gravel in Europe runs clean across Scotland — Atlantic to North Sea, on roads built two centuries before the bicycle. A full guide to the route, the riding and the week.

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South Africa

Cape Gravel: Cycling South Africa's Western Cape

Three landscapes in nine days — the Klein Karoo, the Overberg and the Cape Winelands — over the Victorian Swartberg Pass on some of the quietest gravel anywhere. A full guide.

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South Africa

Gravel Cycling in South Africa: Why the Cape Region Draws Riders Back

Nine days of gravel across South Africa — red earth, mountain passes, and roads where the landscape is measured in scale, not kilometres.

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Cyprus

Gravel Cycling in the Troodos Mountains: a Trans Cyprus Guide

One island, two coasts, and a cedar-forested mountain range in between — Larnaca to Paphos over the Troodos on gravel roads almost no one outside Cyprus has ridden. The full guide.

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Cyprus

Gravel Cycling in Cyprus: A Route Guide to Trans Cyprus Gravel

Eight days crossing Cyprus from Larnaca to Paphos on the Trans Cyprus Gravel route — Troodos passes, vine villages, and the quiet of an island that does not hurry.

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Algarve

Tavira to Sagres: Gravel Across the Algarve

A full crossing of southern Portugal on gravel — Tavira to Sagres, away from the resorts, through the cork-oak interior to the edge of Europe at Cabo de São Vicente.

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Algarve

Gravel Cycling in Portugal's Algarve: Riding the Coast and Countryside of Southern Portugal

Eight days tracing the coast of southern Portugal, from Lagos to Sagres, where golden cliffs meet Atlantic wind and endless gravel roads.

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Pyrenees

San Sebastián to Sant Pere Pescador: Crossing the Pyrenees by Gravel Bike

One line drawn across a whole mountain range — San Sebastián on the Atlantic to Sant Pere Pescador on the Mediterranean, 780 km of mostly unpaved riding over eleven days.

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Pyrenees

Cycling the Pyrenees on Gravel: A Guide to Trans Pyrenees Gravel

Eleven days, 780 km of gravel, and the mountains that separate two countries on a single bike — a crossing from San Sebastián to Roses.

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Alps

Riding the Stelvio Pass on Gravel

The Stelvio is a paved legend — but the gravel that surrounds it is the real story. How the famous pass anchors a four-country Alpine crossing on a gravel bike.

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Alps

Gravel Cycling in the Alps: A Guide to the Trans Alp Gravel Route

Crossing the Alps on gravel bike: high passes, mountain valleys, and the moment when you realize your legs can do more than you thought.

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Tuscany

Gravel Cycling the Apennines: Tuscany's High Country

Most of Tuscany's photographs are taken low, in Chianti. The best riding sits higher — on the Apennine ridges, the climbs out of Pistoia, and the long descents into the Val d'Orcia.

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Tuscany

Gravel Cycling in Tuscany: Through the Apennines to the Heart of Italy

Three days navigating the Strade Bianche on 40mm tyres, chasing the fading light through Chianti — and the cruel final climb into Montalcino.

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The Best Gravel Cycling Destinations in Europe

Six of the best gravel cycling destinations in Europe — plus one beyond it — each a true coast-to-coast or country crossing, ridden hotel-to-hotel with the support van carrying the rest.

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Supported Gravel Tour vs Bikepacking: an Honest Comparison

Bikepacking, credit-card touring, or a fully supported hotel-to-hotel week — an even-handed comparison of what each really costs you in load, planning, risk and money, and which suits your kind of rider.

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Guided vs Self-Guided Gravel Tours: Which Is Right for You

Guided or self-guided? Both run the same routes, the same hotels and the same support van — the real choice is about navigation, pace and company. An honest comparison.

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GPS Routes and Navigation on a Self-Guided Gravel Tour

What you actually get, and do, when you ride one of our routes self-guided: the GPX files, the devices, offline maps, what happens at a missed turn, and the support van still behind you.

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When to Go: the Best Time of Year for a Gravel Tour

A season-by-season planning guide to our gravel tours — which destination rides best when, and why: weather, daylight, trail conditions, crowds and midges, mapped to the right week.

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How to Prepare for a Gravel Cycling Tour

Everything that turns a week of hard riding from a survival exercise into the best holiday you've had — fitness, bike, kit, logistics and a realistic countdown.

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Training for a Multi-Day Gravel Tour: Building the Fitness You Need

How to build the endurance for mountain passes, long valley crossings, and the unexpected — so you're strong on day eight, not just day one.

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What Gravel Bike and Tyres for a Multi-Day Tour

The bike that finishes a week of strade bianche, alpine military road and Highland estate track has nothing flash about it. Here's what actually matters — and what to stop overthinking.

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What to Pack for a Multi-Day Gravel Tour: A Practical Guide

On a supported gravel tour the vehicle carries your bags. That is not a reason to fill them. What to bring, what to leave, and what you'll wish you had.

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Why Ride With a Family-Run Gravel Tour Company

Big-operator polish or do-it-yourself freedom — there's a third option. Here's what changes when the people who scouted the route are the people who answer your email.

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How to Choose a Supported Gravel Tour: Finding the Right Adventure for Your Skills and Goals

Guided versus self-guided, supported logistics, route difficulty, and what actually matters when you're deciding whether to join a gravel tour.

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What a week of hotel-to-hotel gravel actually involves

Luggage moved each morning, a hotel waiting each evening, a vehicle on the road if you need it. Here's how a supported gravel week really runs.

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What's Included in a Supported Gravel Cycling Holiday

Guides, GPS routes, daily luggage transfer, a support van, hotels and food — and the things you still arrange yourself. The full included-versus-not list, stated plainly.

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What Is a Supported Gravel Tour? A Complete Guide

Hotels booked, luggage moved, a van behind you and the route sorted — here's exactly what a supported gravel tour is, what's included, and how it compares to going it alone.

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