About

Bikepacking found me in 2020 as I rode my first Tour Aotearoa (TA), starting at Cape Reinga in the north of New Zealand and completing at Bluff in the south of the South Island, 3000km and 26 days later.

There is a walking TA - called Te Araroa, or the Long Pathway in Maori - which is popular with hikers and follows  a different route.

I loved the simplicity ofpedal-eat-sleep-repeat, the challenge, the grovel, the new friends. I immediately said I'd do it again. Then Covid impacted our plans, and we all stayed home for 2 years.

In 2022 my friend Anna took on the TA challenge, so I jumped in for TA#2. Again it was the best fun on a bicycle, and at the end of it I wanted more. More distance, more scenery, more challenge, and travel restrictions had been lifted so I started to plan...

In 2023 I traveled north to ride the European Divide Trail (EDT), from Portugal to Denmark (5200km). The full trail runs from southern Portugal to the Arctic Ocean coast of Norway (7601km), but my visa restricts me to 90 days in EU, and I didn't want to rush through this experience, so I elected to ride to Skagen in Northern Denmark.