The forest was full of fungi. All sorts popping out of the ground and old tree stumps. Loads of coral-like Staghorn. Wish I knew more about which are good to eat. #mushroom #fungi

Rode one of my favourite routes on Sunday. Cold but beautiful weather. Past Minch moor, the three brethren (land border markers?), and over Bowhill. Route has a bit of every type of riding and a lot of climbing. #scotland #biking

Tough ride yesterday. Heavy rain and even some hail. The mud has returned. Time to dig out winter shoes and gloves again. Made for some beautiful scenes though in the weird light. #cycling #scotland

Took my new bike for an evening ride along the coast. Was rewarded with a pretty nice sunset! #biking #brompton

The mushrooms are beginning to return. And some pixie cup lichen. Weekend ride in the warm wind and exploring some woods. #cycling

I now, to my surprise, own a Brompton! Put in an offer on eBay. It was somehow accepted and as the guy lived nearby I just got it. Wow this thing is fun to ride!!! And surprisingly speedy.

Took train out to Tweedbank and rode back home. Figured out a new link though the hills from Glentress wind farm through to Glencorse. Took a bit of exploring to find a passable path! Legs tired today after all the pushing and hill climbing. #biking #scotland

An Austrian friend visiting who's now heading off to ride the Pictish trail across Scotland. Not jealous at all 😩. He carrying so much stuff though! Obviously warned him to watch out for the wild haggis as they get especially aggressive in breeding season! #bikepacking #scotland

There’s been three crashes involving a driver hitting a cycling this August. They happened in the same week. This is unacceptable. We’re riding in protest of Edinburgh’s indifference toward cyclists this Friday 22nd August at 7pm. Meet at Middle Meadow Walk. Tell and bring everyone you know

A day of hitting the big climbs. Dusty trails were really fun to ride down. Sunny but not too hot. Rode past a guy who started shouting my name so I stopped to find I didn't know him at all. He has a friend with the same name who looks similar 😆. Had a nice chat anyway. #biking #mountainbiking

Big fire on Arthur's Seat just now. Looks like a lot of the south side of the hill is burnt. Took a divert from normal route on bike ride home to avoid the smoke. #edinburgh

Bike ride before the storm. Pretty hot. Legs still tired from doing so much walking on holiday. The wee pond water level was much lower than normal, although the dragonflies didn't seem to mind. #biking #mountainbiking

Back from a family holiday in Paris. Train all the way from Edinburgh. It was fun and easy. Eurostar apologised for ONLY going 270km/h due to some works on the line! First time in Paris for daughter...she loved it! #traineurope #paris

Torrential rain storm and an ominous message. Probably time to abort and head home while I still can. #cycling

Morning ride before I need to do other stuff. Beautiful morning...going to be a hot day! Nice to be out while the city is quiet...especially on the road sections. #cycling #edinburgh.

A very wet ride out to the west. Long push through boggy lands. Soaking feet. Chatted to another biker pushing the opposite way. Think I've figured out the loud creaking noise is my seat post, not my BB as I thought. Weird how bike noises trick you! #biking #scotland

BTG day 9 - last proper day. Best breakfast of the trip. Misty beautiful but damp forest trails in early morning. A climb up a rock pillar ladder for an amazing view over the forest and down into the valleys below. Followed the Elba up to Dresden. #bikepacking #germany #cycling

BTG day 8 - High hills. Riding down and old bobsleigh track. A wild, and quite scary, lightning storm very close by. The first rain of the trip. Continuing to roughly follow the German/Czechia border. Stayed at house of an absolutely crazy man. Pear brandy. #bikepacking #germany #czechia #cycling

BTG day 7 - Czechia border. Maybe favourite day of riding. Crossed the border a few times. More open meadow like ground on the Czechia side. Some interesting buildings and towns. Lots of tough paths and trails. Creepy sculptures in the forest. Ran out of water. #Czechia #bikepacking #cycling

BTG day 6 - climb to a cliff top castle, a gorge, river trails, missing bridges, plenty of pushing. Stopped for evening in a lovely little family hotel with a beer garden. #germany #bikepacking #cycling

BTG day 5 - crazy loud frogs, giant wind turbines, sublime forest trails. Getting hotter every day. Saw a big, rough looking cat slinking though the forest. Wild cat? Wasn't sure about doing this trip solo, but having a great time! #bikepacking #germany #cycling #biking

BTG day 4 - exploring the "murder hole" cave tunnels. A crazy path up a steep hillside. A lot of steep climbs. Some great gravel tracks through the forest and over hill tops. Ended in the lovely town of Ellwangen. #bikepacking #germany #cycling #biking

Riding the BTG day 4- a great view of the Zeller Horn. Lots of forest paths and gravel. Lots of steep climbs and decents through the forest. One crazy path down and mountain. Finishing in the beautiful town of Bad Boll.

Riding the BTG day 2. Schaffhausen - 120km. Quite hot (for me anyway). A big climb back up to the route. Amazing forest riding. Mix of gravel and rooty paths. Nice views from the plateau the route follows for a while. Finding water is a bit tricky along parts of the BTG.

Just finished riding a good section of the Bike packing Trans Germany route. It was excellent! One of the best fun trips I have done. Here's some photos from day 1 where I took a detour along the Rhine to visit some friends.

Had a fun ride exploring some woods and gravel trails with Jay. Rode back over Kincardine bridge and past the Kelpies. Took a look at his vintage Venom bike with it's set back saddle. Fun to ride but very weird!

Started to ride the Capital Trail loop late on Friday, planning to camp. Was enjoying the night riding and before I knew it the sun came up. Was feeling good so just kept going. Stopped in Peebles for a breakfast and then rode all the way back. Brilliant ride! Fast dusty trails! #scotland #biking

Yesterday took bus out to a site for work. Then rode back home over Benarty hill. Absolutely lovely evening! Some great little trails as well. Hungry by the time I got back though!! #cycling #scotland #mountainbiking

Rode right up to Stirling castle and back last weekend. There's some pretty interesting things to see. Clackmannan tollbooth and mercat cross from the 1600s where prisoners were chained. A view of the town which looks quite Italian. A big pyramid. #cycling #scotland

A slightly damp canoe around the islands on Loch Awe. Interesting castle ruins on one of the islands. Lots of geese around. #scotland #canoe

An excellent bike ride yesterday from Peebles. Pretty much all new trails to me. A gravel ride through a windfarm. Some steep climbs. An fast, fun, and long descent. And then an interesting sigletrack climb back over to the start with an angry farm goose along the way!

Amazing weather yesterday. Took a route trying to hit all the highest points so a LOT of climbing. Legs feeling it today. Discovered a new path which looks great to ride in the opposite direction. #cycling #biking #scotland

Just back from a bike ride. Time for a nice sit down and a......god dammit!

Day 3 of my 2 day ride! Still crazy windy. Rode past Dunbar around the coast past North Berwick. Bridge on map was impassible so had to backtrack. Some great views of the mighty Bass rock. Just when wind was at its strongest it also started to pour. Stopped at really nice cafe! #cycling #done

Rode along the Berwickshire coast. Amazingly beautiful, but hard going, and with a fierce headwind. Much slower than expected. Fun ride! #cycling

1st day of 2 riding up the coast from Newcastle. Great weather, but a bit windy. Route told me to go down a motorway so I had a bit of a weird divert. Some really cool stuff to see along this coast! Pretty easy riding. #cycling

Late start after a late night. Had to use old bike due to a brake break. Nice ride out to the west hitting a couple of the hardest climbs. A horse of course. Amazing sunset! #biking #cycling #scotland

That time of year again 😔. Wondered why it was so hazy for the northern section of the ride. Good article: https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/02/17/muirburn-and-the-government-failure-to-implement-wildlife-management-and-muirburn-scotland-act-2024/

First proper t-shirt day! Great ride from the beach to the hills. Felt fast as everything is dry. Explored some new areas and found good path missing out a road section I never enjoyed.

Nice ride yesterday. Some proper sunshine! Crazy clouds and light later on. Brake problem that was easily fixed while sitting in the sun. #biking #cycling #edinburgh #pentlands

Well, a lovely commute. Finally felt like proper daylight and the paths were pretty dry for the first time in ages........and then...a branch attacked my wheel and my rear brake disc. Surprisingly the wheel was ok so I just removed the disc and continued with only a front brake. #cycling #biking

Damp and very cold. Some great views in the low cloud though! Snow on the higher hills. Fun tracks back through the woods. #biking #scotland

Cold wind today. Hard to get motivated to go out but glad I did. Did a long ride out to the west. Lots of paths were waterlogged so ended up sticking to the main tracks.

Nice ride at the weekend. Cleared some paths of fallen trees. Discovered a couple of new paths. Explored an area I've not been before. #biking #scotland

Replacing the spikes. Lost more than I initially thought!

First half or today's ride was great, if a bit icy. Out over the local hills and moorland. Then came some heavy sleet which was quite unpleasant. Quite a few trees down due to the recent storm. Cleared some paths as I went. Shooting hut blown away completely. #biking #scotland

Broadly I’m not interested in reasons why things have not happened. Which group have failed to deliver. Etc etc. Until our children and others have safe routes to schools and other destinations I’ll keep asking. London and Paris are doing it. Why are we not. We are being failed.

Rode the Strathpuffer 24 hour mountain bike race. Amazing conditions; -12c and lots of snow and ice. 17 hours of darkness. Very difficult cycling but loads of fun. Sunrise was pretty great when it finally arrived. #biking #scotland

Hmmm...wondered why I was having problems. Worn gear and snapped a tooth right off. Only 6 months old as well. (GX sg1275). #biking

Wintery ride yesterday. Should have put my ice tyre on. Still great to be out in the snow though. Very quiet out on the hills. #biking #scotland