Back in March 2020, we had booked a week off to go on a road biking holiday to check out some of Tenerife’s long climbs and stunning scenery, with the aim of improving our climbing and general fitness before our three week trip to Krygystan scheduled for June 2020.
Unfortunately, the pandemic swept across the world and we were left watching the news, hearing the inevitable announcements, firstly that coronavirus had made it to Spain, then to the UK, and then confirming that the FCO had advised against all essential travel to Spain.
So onto Plan B…
We still wanted to take a week off work, and the UK wasn’t in lockdown at the time. Pubs and restaurants had just closed, but shops and campsites were still open. Exercise outdoors was suddenly widely encouraged. We flhad read about the Great Norh Trail a while back, an off road biking trail starting in Derbyshire, not too far from home in Nottingham, and linking bridleways, canals, byways and small roads all the way to the North of Scotland. Why not?!
We had gravel bikes, 700c wheels with fairly wide tyre clearance, off road tyres and I’d bought Nathanael some bikepacking bags for Christmas. I found the cheapest saddle bag I could online and made a makeshift handlebar bag out of a dry bag and some straps (more on how well thay worked out and our kit in general later…).
People had already started to panic buy food, toilet roll, etc. We were worried knowing we’d have to be a lot more self-sufficient without the option of popping into a cafe, and went to Ultimate Outdoors to stock up on dehydrated expedition meals (more on those later, too). I also tried to pick up some basics from Asda…
The weather was forecast to be stunning, sunny and dry but cold at night. The sleeping bags we had weren’t ideal but would have to do. We wouldn’t usually plan on camping in the UK in March, and that came with it’s own challenges in terms of kit packing. But after a few attempts and a LOT of rearranging and elimination, we were as ready as we were going to be for a trip planned in a week.
Needless to say, we didn’t get very far before we had to come home due to the new UK lockdown restrictions. We set off from Nottigham and made it to New Mills that night, via a very welcome and unexpected cup of tea at Belper Bike Barn. Even more welcome was the mini-farm shop and choclatier we found at the campsite.
That night it was announced that by the end of the next day the UK would be in lockdown. We had a choice to turn around and cycle home or carry on for a day and get the train back. We chose the latter, carried on to Marple, and then headed back to Nottingham, disappointed but with a new love for off road bikepacking!
So needless to say, our June trip to Krygystan didn’t happen and we were left with unused annual leave. We’re now on the train to Stockport, a bit better packed and a lot more organised, and, even better, we have two weeks this time!
Our world. My lens 