Cappucino

Trav­el­ling with a part­ner drastic­ally changes the dynamic of bicycle tour­ing. I can’t deny I’ve enjoyed this rel­at­ive hedon­ism, because I am pas­sion­ate about food and cook­ing when I have the oppor­tun­ity to par­take of it, and these are three of the culin­ary spe­ci­al­it­ies of Italy, which also remain very afford­able as long as you avoid the tour­ist hot­spots — which on a bike trip is rel­at­ively easy.

It’s been a wholly dif­fer­ent exper­i­ence, in fact, this final ride. In all hon­esty, I’d made up my mind to put my own desires and ways of doing things to the back of my mind. This was to be Tenny’s trip, not mine – I’ve spent plenty of time explor­ing Europe in the past, so it was my job to gently coax her through the pro­cess of trav­el­ling to Eng­land and enjoy­ing the exper­i­ence of get­ting there by bicycle (and carry all the luggage).

She is still very much find­ing her feet, and it’s been quite a test, as we’re not well matched in stam­ina or exper­i­ence, but after a month I can feel that she is begin­ning to adapt, and to learn the les­sons I learnt when I star­ted out; the biggest of which is that the point of trav­el­ling by bicycle is not to reach a des­tin­a­tion, but to watch the world unfold on the way there. For someone like her who has only ever boarded a vehicle in anti­cip­a­tion of reach­ing the end of the jour­ney – and that’s most people alive today – it’s actu­ally a far more dif­fi­cult adapt­a­tion than it sounds.

Stealth-Camping in Puglia

We’ve wild-camped a few times, which is some­thing Andy and Mark and I never did in West­ern Europe (aside from one night in a coun­try park on the out­skirts of Hunt­ing­don). Back then, we had developed a highly refined pro­cess of giv­ing local people the oppor­tun­ity to help us find a field/shed/garden/garage to sleep in, which was a great way of get­ting ourselves into all sorts of unusual situ­ations, and we were all very much on the same wavelength when it came to want­ing to do that.

Continue reading this article on Tom’s Blog, Ride Earth.

Sleeping under the Saharan stars / Flickr photo by tom-ride-earth.org

Andy and I managed to procure product sponsorship for most of our major pieces of equipment, and this article will explain how we went about it, and what worked and what didn’t. I hope that it will save you some time and increase your chances of success.

But before deciding whether or not to pursue sponsorship for your trip, you need to decide whether your time would be better spent working in a full-time job to earn the equivalent amount of money. Seeking sponsorship is an intensely time-consuming, frustrating and regularly disappointing process, for which you will need skin like old boot leather, the persistence of black shower mould and absolutely no hobbies or significant others to attend to.

Continue reading this article @ Tom’s World Bicycle Travel Blog

Spitzkoppe campsite / Flickr photo by Tak from HK

Campfires and beer

Memories flood back to you as you become aware of your surroundings. The previous afternoon the custom-built overland truck carrying all camping necessities, pulled up at a wild camp at the base of the beautiful Spitzkoppe, a granite outcrop rising some 1700m above the surrounding gravel plains of central west Namibia. The granite rock became a playground as you explored its heights and crevices. As the sun dropped to the horizon, the dust in the air over the gravel plains created a magical African sunset, the suns rays reflected burnt orange off Spitzkoppes granite rock. A magical evening was spent under the clear starry sky, Barking Geckos called while you sat around a glowing campfire sipping a Windhoek lager with your fellow campers and guide.

Another day another destination

After a tasty breakfast of French toast, hot tea and cereal prepared by your guide, with communal effort, camp is packed up and you board the overland truck to head off to the next exciting destination – Etosha National Park. Many hours are spent travelling on board the overland truck, its kind of part of the overlanding experience. Rough gravel roads, dust, the rattle and shake of the truck, African tunes of “The Best of Johnny Clegg” playing in the background, a competitive card game enjoyed by your fellow travellers, as you watch the African savannah pass by.

Three giraffes / Flickr photo by naddel@weltfrauschaft

As you enter Etosha National Park in northern Namibia, the pace slows right down and everyone grabs a window seat to start the game spotting in this popular game reserve. Here your guides experience and knowledge of wildlife is brought to light. If she is worth her salt, she will be interpreting the signs of the bush to you, not only identifying the animal, bird, tree, rock, insect, snake species but giving you some background on their habits and habitats. Being a Field Guide means being able to interpret the African bush and all overland guides are registered field guides.

Not for everyone

Overland Safaris are not for everyone and a clear understand should be obtained before heading out on one. They are adventurous, active and continuously on the move. It’s a wonderful way to experience the major highlights of a few countries. Large distances are covered and you will travel with a relatively large group of people. You will get dirty, some camps don’t have showers and you will need to be prepared to rough it. The tour does not always run to schedule, sometimes a flooding river will stop you in your tracks or your guide will have to test the trucks 4×4 abilities and sometimes get stuck, which then requires your assistance to push. The guides have a great ability to create excellent teamwork within the group and most of the time these safaris are excellent fun!

Southern and East Africa offer a diverse range of exciting overland safaris aimed at the budget traveller. These range from 7 to 56 days long and can traverse multiple countries.

Nick Weston in Readers Digest

Nick first featured on Make Travel Fair back in November last year when he wrote a series of articles about his experience on the Channel 4 TV show Shipwrecked, based in the Cook Islands.

• Shipwrecked: Surviving The Cook Islands
• Shipwrecked: Surviving the Cook Islands pt.II

Nick has recently been interviewed by Real Travel Magazine about his Shipwrecked experience, and been written about by Reader’s Digest Writer Rebecca Tyrell after he took her and two youngsters for a wild camping weekend on Dartmoor.  We recently added his blog ‘HUNTER-GATHERING: Wild & Fresh Food‘ to our blog network.

“Its not every day you get to see yourself, something about you or something you’ve written on the pages of a magazine. In my relatively short time on this planet I have had a few appearances that I have been pleased with…others not so much – Shipwrecked coverage in the likes of More/Heat magazine were amusing to say the least, I even once made the press board outside the village shop in my early 20’s (not for the right reasons I can assure you…), So here are a few of the clips for your perusal, just click on the picture of the scanned in pages and you can zoom in and have a read.”

Read Nick’s article about his recent media coverage @ HUNTER-GATHERING: Wild & Fresh Food

Well done Nick!

The Scilly Isles / Photo by Nick Weston

Granted we don’t have the most agreeable climate when it comes to ticking the most important holiday boxes.  Sun and heat are the highly sought after factors for most people…oh and beaches too. But don’t we have beaches here? For me, adventure and experience are way more important than temperature and solar rays, though they are quite pleasant. We live on a small island by global standards, we have islands off our island in the hundreds, most of them uninhabited, and those that are pass their time in a state of glorious rusticity.

We are a nation that has more than our fair share of rainfall, grey skies and the occasional ray of sunlight. Britain can be rubbish, especially now in the darkest of winter months. But how can you belittle a perfect British summer day? Every year at the first signs of summer, Brighton, Bournemouth and even Skegness are swamped by the great unwashed who have been patiently waiting for the day to come. Our last few summers have been wet, so shouldn’t we be used to rain by now? Rather than complain about it, why not embrace it. The thing is, there is just sooo much I haven’t seen in this country…and that gives me serious cause for concern.

Isle of Skye / Photo by Nick Weston

I’ve seen the adverts for New Zealand on the box, yes great…I do think it kind of looks a bit like this country, but on the other side of the world. You can bet your ass they would have filmed Lord of the Rings here if it had not been so built up!  Some of the best holidays and short breaks I’ve ever had, have been here. I love popping down to some ramshackle cottage in the back end of nowhere in Devon or spending some time on a Scottish island, fishing, having BBQ’s on the beach, eating some good local nosh and drinking some fine local brew. Even If I get the chance to go down to my mother’s cottage in Sussex, I feel happy and rejuvenated.

Hit the road

Two things that have really pushed me to see more of this island we call home have been surfing and fishing. Once I had taken the first major step to independence and passed my driving test 10 years ago, this country opened up hugely. Although most journeys usually involve the A303 to the end of the road (Stonehenge is the most obvious milestone on any journey out west), my Peugeot 205 did get to go North during my Uni days at Newcastle and subsequently, most of the Northumbrian countryside got well acquainted with the soles of my shoes.

Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland / Photo by Nick Weston

The problems with trying to explore our island up close are unfortunately on the increase. Nowadays campsites in the Devon & Cornwall, and no doubt other parts of the country are geared towards the happy campers with gas stoves, frame tents, caravans and head torches. Unless you are a family or couple you are unlikely to be able to pitch up, don’t even ask about having a campfire… it ain’t gonna happen. What is camping without a fire? I would like to say that it is health and safety gone crazy, which it could well be, it seems as though the fun police are all for making life sterile for the masses.

One reason I like to go abroad, is to escape the Natives. Don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of time for my countrymen and women, but I can meet them at home. You only have to experience getting a cheap flight out of Gatwick South Terminal at some ungodly hour to understand what I am getting at. Tatooed skin heads in their England shirts, orange wives clad in velour tracksuits and screaming kids that seem to know more swearwords than me. On that particular occasion, I felt I had seen the last of them for at least a week. They wouldn’t want to go to Fuerteventura, land of big waves and not much else. Then my girlfriend pointed out Fuerteventura was one of the Canary islands…oh no!

Where to go? What to do?

Dartmoor secret spot / Photo by Nick Weston

Over the years I have managed to sift through all the rubbish and find some carefully hidden gems, but to share those with you would be high treason, I like them how they are. Much to my girlfriend’s dismay, we always tend to camp, but since we now have a briefcase gas stove, throw-up tent and blow-up mattress, she has seen the more comforting side of sleeping under canvas: when camping you don’t always have to rough it. The way I tend to plan out my treks around the British Isles usually begin in front of the computer:

• Look at a map and decide what you wish to do and where you wish to do it.
• Go to www.multimap.com, here you can get a good look at your destination, by flicking between the OS map and the Aerial views. The landscape will be revealed and place names will be shown.
• Type in the name of a nearby farm or village into Google, search for campsites, if none appear, try and get the number of a local pub and give them a call to see if they have the number. It just so happened I once called a pub in a small village on Dartmoor and asked for the number of a local farm, turned out the farmer was sitting at the bar a little half cut. We had a chat and after arranging a small fee (£3 per night) his field by an amazing stretch of river was ours!
• Its always best to ask local farms if they do camping or can suggest somewhere near that do, never presume they will say “Alright boy, you can ‘ave me field”. It is also worth asking about having a fire, quite often its fine and they will even sell you some wood too.
• Finally, If you cant find somewhere to pitch for the night, don’t be afraid to do it wherever you are, just don’t leave any rubbish and move on early.

Our car turns into the A-team van when we go away on a short break, because there is so much we want to do. The little Peugeot strains under the weight of surfboards, food, camping stuff, a smoker, spear guns, fishing gear, skateboards, climbing garb…anything that you may need to face the unexpected. But it is always worth it, I get so frustrated turning up at a beach in the middle of nowhere only to find a perfect break with no one out and the surfboard is back in the flat in London.

So with the credit crunch in full swing, dust off the road map of Britain. Travelling at home is the new travelling abroad. This country was once great and it still is, you just have to look a little closer to see it. Think Orkneys, Anglesey, The Black Mountains, Dartmoor, Northumbria, Inverness and the Outer Hebrides. Pack up the car and drive…you never know what you might find.

Time to reflect

Camping outdoors, getting ‘back to basics’ and enjoying the raw purity of natural surroundings is one of the best ways to travel. It connects us to nature and allows us to reconnect to the natural cycle of life.

I was introduced to camping by my parents. They would take my sister and I during school holidays to National Parks Reserves throughout Australia. My father coordinating camping equipment, my mother making provisions for food. It wasn’t long before we operated as a smooth team; pitching the tent and organizing the site in record time. We would go for walks during the day. Swim in the river or ocean and return to camp at dusk to build a fire, cook diner and share stories until our eyelids drooped. It was during these times that I also learnt something of basic bush survival. Learning to read and understand the environment and respond accordingly.

There was a lapse of camping days during adolescence when camping with my parents wasn’t so cool. I began to camp again in India, when traveling to remote regions. Initially out of necessity as a lack of basic infrastructure calls for you to come prepared. But finally I chose to camp from preference. I enjoy being close to nature and furthermore enjoy the company of people who live close to nature. As much as I like the vibrancy of India’s urban centers, it is in the rural villages and remote regions that I feel a greater sense of calm and connectivity. To nature, her peoples and to myself.

Nature and Wildlife enthusiasts would sympathize with this and are themselves not strangers to camping. Neither are social anthropologists and ethnographers who often camp in remote regions to study ancient cultures. Our oldest cultures and indigenous peoples inhabit the most remote geographical regions. I am always amazed at the ability of Orissa’s indigenous communities to transform hostile landscapes into fertile settlements. I often camp in these regions to appreciate where and how these communities live, as much as to connect with the people.

The indigenous communities in Orissa are in step with nature’s cycle and the seasons of harvest. Giving in the to the rhythms of nature can be humbling and challenging. It is this spirit of cooperation that I most admire about Orissa’s indigenous peoples. And what I enjoy most about camping.

Camping is a great leveler. It strips people of their pretenses and allows their soul to breathe. In groups camping becomes about building teams. Living in close quarters with basic amenities cuts through the formalities of contrived social occasions and hits at the core of who we are. There is nothing like a campfire to unleash the storyteller amongst us!

Big Pit mine, South Wales

Once out of London, a 2 hour drive west along the M4 brings you to the Severn Bridge, gateway to South Wales – a region transformed during the industrial revolution by the coal and iron mining industry.

Privatisation of coal mines by the conservative government in the early 1990s led to widespread closures and had a catastrophic effect on the local economy. Several old mines now provide visitors with a glimpse of an industry and way of life still fresh in the minds of many.

When the Industrial Revolution began in the 1700s coal extraction grew from small scale, easily accessible surface mining, to large scale workings that followed the coal seams deep underground. Originally one of the main uses for coal mined in South Wales was to feed furnaces used in the production iron from the abundant seams of iron ore in the region, but coal soon became the main primary energy source for industry and transportation in the western hemisphere.

As the industry grew the miners began to form unions to fight for better wages and working conditions. The main union was the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), founded in 1888, which had 600,000 members by 1908. Much of the ‘old left’ of British politics can trace its origins to coal-mining areas. Mine workers went on strike in 1926 in a bid for improvement of working conditions, and again in 1984 in opposition to increased job losses as a result of mechanisation.

The coal industry in Britain was nationalised in 1947 after the importance of maintaining coal supplies had been realised in both world wars, and it remained in public ownership until the 1980s.

The emergence of alternative energies supplies such as oil, and natural gas in the late 1950s brought competition to the coal mines, and as time went by the industry began to contract making many pits uneconomical to work. The National Coal Board was eventually privatised by the conservative government, and throughout the 1990s many pits were sold off, virtually closing down the industry.

Big Pit Mine in Blaenafon closed in 1980, the site is now a mining museum and guided tours by headtorch are led by ex-miners through a labyrinth of passages 90m below ground. It is part of the National Museums of Wales and entry is free.

Carreglwyd campsite is located in Port Eynon on the Gower Peninsula, overlooking the village and bay. Westerly facing fields provide pitches that are flooded with sunlight on a clear morning. Facilities are basic but the showers are hot and clean. At £9 per person for a tent pitch the price seems a little expensive but not unusual for the Gower Peninsula. Rhosilli Beach is a 10-15 minute drive away and a great example of the sort of coastal treasures that exist in the UK, so often sought by taking holidays abroad.