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New book - Gravel Rides Loch Lomond & The Trossachs

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❄️ The Best Season New film from 🇳🇴 — now live. En

❄️ The Best Season
New film from 🇳🇴 — now live. Enjoy the frost.

#winter #norway

The Best Season | A Cargo Bikepacking Journey in N

The Best Season | A Cargo Bikepacking Journey in Norway 🇳🇴

Launching 20/01/26 9pm on my YT channel

#winter #cycling #cargobike

Launch Day 🎉 The book is out! I poured my heart an

Launch Day 🎉
The book is out! I poured my heart and soul into this one and hope it inspires some amazing journeys.

Huge thanks if you’ve picked up a copy—and yes, the next book is already almost 50% done 👀

Gravel Rides Loch Lomond & the Trossachs - Out Now

#gravel #cycling #scotland

New book. New routes. Big scenery. Gravel Rides:

New book. New routes. Big scenery.

Gravel Rides: Loch Lomond & The Trossachs launches 15 January — from easy spins to challenging adventures across the national park and the Argyll Coast.

Available in bookshops & online.
Signed copies via the link in my bio.

Happy gravelling 🚵‍♀️

Each Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday at 5.40am we ri

Each Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday at 5.40am we ride bikes. Same route, same meeting points & same coffee stop. The @edinburghdawnpatrol is based on the simple concept of the @oslodawnpatrol - and it was amazing to be back after a few weeks in 🇳🇴 and welcome @rstotty to our ride - a ODP regular.

If you want to join us, simply rock up at 5.40am with your bike (and lights):

Tue & Thu at St Andrews Square
Wed at Cairngorms Coffee

A recap in pictures from a great weekend in London

A recap in pictures from a great weekend in London — capturing moments from recording the Endurance podcast from Mark Beaumont live at the Adventure Travel Show.

A brilliant way to kick off 2026, and a fun challenge behind the camera.

I love not only outdoor photography, but also photographing people and waiting for the right moment to capture the atmosphere and energy of a place.

Mark’s podcast, supported by Enjoy Travel, is live now, featuring an inspiring mix of people and their stories.

Loved the show, and look forward to return next year.

A cycle-friendly base in Alyth, designed for slowi

A cycle-friendly base in Alyth, designed for slowing down and travelling lighter. Home of the @dirtdash_cc events & @bikepackingscot

Secure bike storage, drying space, route ideas, and room to plan the next ride — all in a comfortable, thoughtfully run house. Welcome to @forillonalyth

Part-powered by solar, cutting electricity costs from £932 → £274, even with higher occupancy. Lower impact, same comfort.

Perfect for bikepacking trips, workcations, photoshoots, or a few quiet days exploring the Cateran landscape.

👉 Bookings via the link in bio 🚲🌿 or drop us a message, we would ❤️to host you

#gravel #cycling #scotland

Pics from the last feature I wrote in 2025 for Sin

Pics from the last feature I wrote in 2025 for Singletrack. A journey to not only the home of the Delta Blues in Aransas, but also along Crowley’s Ridge, which is an island in an area otherwise dominated by large-scale farms.

Here a short teaser, the full feature will be out in February in the magazine,can’t wait!

‘I have travelled extensively, written various guidebooks and made short documentaries. While I enjoyed a lot of the places I explored from my saddle, only a few had had a lasting impact on my life. And while every second journey on Instagram these days is epic, life-changing or mind-blowing, I reserve those attributes for the very few occasions that, for me, deserve it.

When I hand back my car at Memphis airport, walk through security and have time to reflect (I have allowed much more lead time due to the US government shutdown), it is the Delta, in the southeastern corner of the state, which is the biggest surprise for me. For the cycling, but also as the birthplace of the Delta blues, and subsequently most modern music I enjoy. And the people I met along the way. That wonderful combination of music history and endless opportunities to ride on lonely gravel roads does the trick for me. ‘

And please feel free to come to the Adventure Travel Show this weekend in London, I will be there both days, and onstage on Sunday.

#gravel #arkansas

Winter cycling - one of my most favourite activiti

Winter cycling - one of my most favourite activities. With minus seven outside we had to activate log burner number 2 in the house - and I won’t lie, I was contemplating staying indoors & reading this afternoon.

But I have the right kit, a bike with studded tires & all it took is that little kick to layer up & go out riding. 15km turned into 30, then into the final 61.

I never owned any indoor cycling equipment & don’t think I will - what seems cold & uncomfortable is actually really enjoyable.

The world looks very different in winter, and the feeling of achievement coming back from a winter ride is unbeatable.

Different from what some media outlets try to tell you - cycling in winter isn’t any more dangerous - if you have the right gear and experience - and that’s what you can only gain by actually cycling. If you enjoy being out in the cold, give it go.

Good ideas multiplied - nice to start 2026 not onl

Good ideas multiplied - nice to start 2026 not only with the Oslo Dawn Patrol crew, but also with a positive news story. I believe that communities can have a very positive effect on more people cycling, and that’s why I used the same concept from Oslo & started it in Edinburgh.

But good ideas need an audience - that’s why I am very grateful that Alastair Dalton from the Scotsman has made to Dawn Patrol his first good news story for 2026.

And a crew from the ride will join this year’s four-day Doddie ride in March to raise funds for the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.

Here are 20 of my favourite pics from the Dawn Patrol Road & Gravel rides in 2025 to inspire you to join us in ‘26. Just rock up at 5.40am.

Check out the article in the bio.

A great end to one & a good start into another yea

A great end to one & a good start into another year. Cycling to friends, chats & dinner, 5am start for the Oslo Dawn Patrol & cycling home. May the new year continue with such simple pleasures. Have a good one!

Last of the 2025 smiles & miles. Thanks to Chris f

Last of the 2025 smiles & miles. Thanks to Chris for the music, and the @oslodawnpatrol crew for a fab morning.

Family time in 🇳🇴

Family time in 🇳🇴

A Merry Christmas & thanks for following my advent

A Merry Christmas & thanks for following my adventures & misadventures in 2025. I spare you a long post - but this picture from my cycle in 🇳🇴 last January fits well in the festive season. I will enjoy sone quality time off & look forward to new adventures in 2026. Have a wonderful festive season, Markus 🎄

The Edinburgh Dawn Patrol - It has transformed fro

The Edinburgh Dawn Patrol - It has transformed from an idea in September 2024 when I returned from Oslo, to a bunch of people that otherwise wouldn’t have met. There is something magic about the simplicity of the Dawn Patrol, started by @hans.flensted in Oslo - simply turning up, riding bikes & enjoying a coffee afterwards.

A big thanks also to the people that helped spreading the word in The Edinburgh Minute, The Scotsman, Cycle, Keep Edinburgh Thriving & Edi.bike.

I am off to Oslo soon -and hopefully able to join @oslodawnpatrol forva few rides.

No harm in talking about books — just in case you

No harm in talking about books — just in case you need a last-minute gift idea 📚

I’m heading off to Norway next Monday, but until then I’m happy to sign, ship, or deliver any of the five books to inspire your own (or a friend’s or loved one’s) cycling journey.

From 22 December to 11 January I’ll be taking time off to write the next book.

Link to order in the bio.
Orders over £30 — and within Edinburgh city centre — delivered free 🚲

#bikepacking #cycling #books

Reel brilliantly captured by @_h0ggle

Across the Kingdom of Fife in a day. Last Thursd

Across the Kingdom of Fife in a day.

Last Thursday Itested the last two routes for the third Gravel Rides book with @joshreids 📚

We first crossed the Tay and ride through Tentsmuir Forest to Leuchars, and were then joined by Rich Webster from the Fife Countryside Trust on our way to Glenrothes.

From there we climbed into the Lomond Hills & enjoyed the rest of the route to North Queensferry in the darkness, including a short chippy stop. And to round the journey up, we cycled back to Edinburgh.

With 16 routes mapped now, I look forward to add the words to maps & images. It’ll take a while until you can get the book (Spring26), in the meantime I have five other books as the perfect gift waiting in my living room. On a short section our route crossed over with route 6 from ‘Bikepacking Scotland’ and route 5 from ‘Great British Gravel Rides.

Thanks to Josh & Rich for a great day in the saddle. As all the routes in the upcoming book are accessible by public transport, you don’t meed a car to get to the start & back from the finish - this route is served well by Scotrail & Ember.

You can find out more about my books on my website or @bikepackingscot’s website

Three pictures to illustrate the route-planning pr

Three pictures to illustrate the route-planning process for my books. Sometimes planning and riding a route is wonderfully straightforward. Sometimes it absolutely isn’t. I enjoy both scenarios, but route-planning is often an unpredictable task.

The finer details are what matter to me: easy access, how slower and faster sections are spaced out, how trails behave in the wet, any risk of flooding, and how increased usage might affect the landscape and other trail users. There are plenty more factors, but too many to list here.

I always start by mapping a route online, then revising it as often as necessary on the ground. These trips are ideal for gathering images and videos that bring each route to life. Recently, I’ve been experimenting with the heat-map feature on Komoot, which is a surprisingly useful guide when choosing initial lines. Switching between layers—walking, cycling, satellite—also helps with decision-making: long-distance paths such as the Fife Coastal Path or Fife Pilgrims Way stand out clearly in the walking layer, while NCN routes appear in the cycling layer.

Because a book needs to function as a complete whole, each individual route is then assessed in terms of how it works alongside the others. This cycle of refining, re-riding, and re-planning continues for as long as it takes to reach a set of routes—and a book—I’m genuinely happy with.

Next up: picture editing, the writing stage, and everything that happens on the Vertebrate Publishing side. But I’ll cover those in another post.

Now over to you: What’s the biggest factor that influences your route choices? And are there any trails or areas you’d love to see featured in a future book?

Lovely to see an article about my work in today’s

Lovely to see an article about my work in today’s Sunday National — and amazing to get such positive feedback for Gravel Rides Loch Lomond & The Trossachs.

You’d think I’d take a break after two books in a year… but I genuinely love the whole process: curating routes, riding them, refining them, and capturing the journey in photos and video.

Winter’s short daylight hours are challenging and inspiring in equal measure — which is probably why most of my riding happens in the so-called “off-season.”

Here’s a little teaser from the next project: Gravel Rides Edinburgh, Fife & East Lothian.
This one rolls through the glorious Lammermuir Hills, past the hill where I pitched my first camp on a singlespeed round-the-world trip, and along sections of the East Lothian boundary that kept Mark Beaumont & me inspired during the pandemic.

More on the new book soon — I’m almost finished with the research.

If you’d like any of my current titles, you can find them on my website.

Impressions from a new route in the making 🌊 fir a

Impressions from a new route in the making 🌊 fir a new book project— huge thanks to Fife Council for giving me the opportunity to explore this beautiful part of Scotland over the last week.

Setting off from Dunfermline, my journey followed the Firth of Forth and through the East Neuk, then continued along previously unexplored paths to St Andrews before heading into the stunning Tentsmuir Forest. The Fife Coastal Path was a great source of inspiration for discovering the northern end of Fife (with a few diversions of my own), and my return route took me through Falkland and the Lomond Hills, mainly following the Fife Pilgrims Way back to Dunfermline.

The route is almost complete — if you’d like to try it out, just drop me a message.

#fife #scotland #adventure #gravel

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In my latest film I discover the joys and challenges of winter bikepacking. I throw all my gear, experience and resolve at enjoying a sub-zero, 680-km tour of Southern Norway in January on the Tern Orox S12 from Eidsvoll to Gjøvik, Lillehammer, Ringebu, Dovre, Folldal, Alvdal, Budor and back to Eidsvoll in Southern Norway.

Check out the route here: https://www.komoot.com/collection/3259404/-tern-orox-winter-norway

The Best Season - Winter bikepacking in Norway on an e-cargo bike

Cycling on an e-cargo bike through Norway in January.

#travel cargobike #norway

The Best Season - Launching 20/01/26 8pm

More about my new book - what routes are included, the backstory to the book and more.

Interested in a signed copy? Order yours here https://forms.gle/Z7b51ZEa5r9EfHNL9

Available now - Gravel Rides Loch Lomond & The Trossachs #gravel #travel #scotland

You can order your copy now at https://bikepackingscotland.com/books

Enjoy 16 routes in Scotland's first national park and Argyll.

Available to order now! Gravel Rides Loch Lomond #gravel #scotland #adventure

Pre-order now at https://bikepackingscotland.com/books

Enjoy 16 routes in Scotland's first national park and Argyll.

Pre-Order Gravel Rides Loch Lomond #gravel #scotland #adventure

Pre-order now at https://bikepackingscotland.com/books

Enjoy 16 routes in Scotland's first national park and Argyll.

Pre-Order Gravel Rides Loch Lomond #gravel #scotland #adventure

All over Scotland volunteer trail associations take good care of wild trails. I documented a day in the life of the volunteers of the Tayside Trails Association, using the Tern Orox as their companion getting the trails ready for the Scottish Enduro Championships in September 2025.

Directed and edited by Markus Stitz
Featuring Graeme Berry, James Dearsley, Gary Martin and Finn.
Music by Epidemic Sound
Supported by Tern

Trail Building with the Tern Orox & Tayside Trails Association at Ballo, Coupar Angus

Supported by DexShell my new film features a new Bikepacking Scotland route from Culross to Kilcreggan.

Check out the full film on my channel.

More on the route: https://bikepackingscotland.com/coast-to-coast-bikepacking/

Overland Teaser - Coast to Coast Bikepacking supported by DexShell #cycling #bikepacking #gravel

Enjoy the first route from my upcoming book 'Gravel Rides Loch Lomond & The Trossachs and Argyll. Supported by DexShell, who provided excellent waterproof socks for the trip, this film takes you on a bikepacking adventure from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde.

Find out more about DexShell: https://dexshell.com/
Full route and description: https://bikepackingscotland.com/coast-to-coast-bikepacking/

Overland - Coast to Coast from Culross to Kilcreggan - Supported by DexShell

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