The Best Bikepacking Routes in the UK

Badger Divide

Heart of The Highlands

212 miles / 3-6 days

From Inverness in the north to Glasgow in the south, the Badger Divide is a fantastic option for discovering the Scottish Highlands by bike with a fraction of the commitment or technical riding prowess required to take on the iconic highland loops like the Highland Trail 550 or the Cairngorms Loop.

A play on the well known Baja Divide of the eponymous Mexican peninsula, the Badger Divide is an ideal and fairly accessible long weekend adventure linking up several well established existing trails.

With long winding gravel roads, forest tracks and back lanes as well as a touch of the chunkier stuff, you’ll want a capable trust-worthy gravel bike although you could certainly get away with something heavier duty (i.e. a mountain bike) if that’s what you have available to you.

Despite travelling through some pretty remote terrain, you’ll find plenty of resupply points as well as bothies, hostels and camp grounds to spend the night as well as of course an abundance of wild camping options. Being in the Scottish Highlands though, where weather can be notoriously savage, you’ll want to keep his one for the fairer summer months and probably still keep an eye on the forecast before you leave.

Finishing in Glasgow, the Badger Divide lends itself nicely to connect with Second City Divide for the ambitious ‘Double Divide’.

Second City Divide

Rough Stuff of The North

400 miles / 5-8 days

There are certainly faster, more efficient ways to cycle between these two cities, but you’ll struggle to find a more rewarding one. Snaking through vast wind farms, large open grassy moorland, rocky bridleways and tarmac roads, the Second City Divide makes for a fantastically varied and challenging journey between Glasgow and Manchester.

Along the route, you’ll take in some of most iconic landscapes of The North, from Kielder Forest to the Yorkshire Dales and beyond, including a cheeky traverse over the top of Cross Fell, the highest point of the Pennines.

It’s a route that has been carefully constructed over several years of map inspection and reconnaissance missions which clearly shows with a great sense of flow and some of the best all road riding in the UK.

But it’s not a route to be taken lightly. It’s challenging at times steep and rocky and isolated so it’s definitely one best suited to those with a bit of prior bikepacking experience, a bike that rides confidently off road and a good level of fitness. There are great transport links at both ends and at stages throughout which makes it logistically a lot simpler and meaning there is no reason why Second City Divide can’t be broken up into smaller weekend strike missions.

Old Chalk Way

The Neolithic Coast to Coast

357 miles / 4-7 days

Ok we might be slightly bias with this one as our very own BASE editor Chris was one half of the team to put it together, but what’s not to love?

The Old Chalk Way loosely follows England’s oldest road, an old trading link between South Coast and North Sea as a newly established route designed specifically for gravel bikes. The terrain here is mixed but not technical, with wide hard packed gravel, grassy byways and chalk double track and forest fire roads following a route steeped in history as it takes in some of the most important historical sites of the south of England.

There are train links close to the start and finish points as well as countless opportunities to bail out along the way which makes this a great opportunity to break up into smaller sections and its close proximity to London make it an ideal option for the weekend warrior without bags of time to commit to something longer.

While a gravel bike suits the non-technical mixed terrain, there’s no reason why you couldn’t ride a range of bikes here, from an allroad option with 35+mm tyres to a mountain bike with far more rubber.

East Devon Trail

Bridleways, Cream-Teas and Birdwatching

115 mile / 2-4 days

The only loop in this roundup, the East Devon Trail is a fantastic new bikepacking offering from Katherine Moore with a focus on local wildlife.

This is a hilly and often overlooked part of Devon. Connecting bridleways and forest tracks around this Area of Natural Beauty you’ll want some tyres with a bit of grip to see you through but as with all of these anything on the spectrum between gravel bike and mountain bike will do just fine.

With wildlife viewing a central focus, riders are encouraged to pack their binoculars for the journey as the route passes by several nature reserves and bird hides along the way.

Conveniently reaching over the border in Dorset, the East Devon Trail makes the ideal linking route to the Old Chalk Way for those riding from Exeter or just looking to extend their ride.

Trans Cambrian Way

The Heart of Mid-Wales

100 miles / 2-4 days

Often overlooked by the national park status of the Brecon Beacons and Snowdonia, the Cambrian mountains of Mid Wales are the focal point of some of the most remote landscapes in the UK.

Heading west out of the Welsh border market town of Knighton, unsurprisingly there’s a fair bit of climbing to be done across the Trans Cambrian Way heading to the mouth of the river Dyfi on the Irish Sea.

Expect singletrack forest trails, quiet lanes, reservoirs, bothies, river crossings and epic night skies. A mountain bike is likely to be the best tool for the job here, but a sturdy gravel bike with an acceptance regarding hike-a-bike will do just fine.

As much of this route travels through pretty remote landscapes you’ll need to be strategic with your resupply points making sure to make the most of shops, pubs and cafes when the opportunity arises.