I know this guy from some where, can’t remember where?  Somewhere up north?

I was lucky enough to go and stay over with Naomi for a week in Sardinia. She has a lovely new place which as well as being her home is the new base for Skedaddle Italia operations!

This 15 day mountain biking route from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic is a challenge. It is 1000 kms (about 620 miles) of around 30,000 metres (18.6 miles), or nearly 100,000 feet of ascent – and, of course, descent.

When I did it there was one ‘rest’ day of about 54 kms and 1400m of climb (i.e. Ben Nevis) and the last day to the coast was only 46 km and 1346m of short killer climbs. (If you think Antonio would make the last day easy, think again).

                Cycling diaries
   (not Che’s … but mountain biking)     

Avenidas run norte and sur
creating a grid with oriente and poniente calles
around the parque central
in Antigua Guatemala

When people think about cycling in Spain, the destination that usually comes to mind is the Pyrenees.  So when a group of us talked about arranging an offroad cycling holiday in Spain in May, no-one quite knew where the Picos de Europa were, or what to expect when we got there. The tour company bumph said it all: “Blessed with all the ingredients for a truly memorable mountain biking holiday, and surrounded by a panorama of majestic, snow-capped peaks, the Picos de Europa remains Europe’s best kept secret”. Lovely, evocative words on paper, but what would it really be like?

Canyonlands - a bunch of rocks and sand .. well yes but also the destination for yet another group of intrepid Skedaddlers keen to hone their riding/hiking/drinking/altitude acclimatising skills.

To describe a Skedaddle holiday ( sorry - adventure ) involves many superlatives - Canyonlands is no exception!

I caught the train from King’s Cross on Friday nite to Settle via Leeds. Met a girl Barbara on the Settle train who was also doing the mountain bike weekend. Andy the tour guide picked us up in the van and we then drove to the cabin near Ingleton. The stone walls along the way are spectacular. They are (dare I say it) better than those in the Cotswolds. The rolling hills (not a lot of trees around) reminded me of the highlands in Scotland.

“What I don’t want is a weekend surrounded by testosterone charged blokes who’ll make me feel inadequate on a bike” that was my plea to the man from Saddle Skedaddle, organisers of mountain bike holidays.

I must admit, it was the name of the company that caught my eye. It sounded fun.  Adventurous but light hearted, not taking itself too seriously. How I like to see myself I suppose!

September in the Rockies
There cannot be many places in the world where in the space of two weeks, in more or less the same mountain range (OK, so I am not a geographer), you will see such a variety of different landscapes. From the granite faces of Banff, through the red rocks of Glacier National Park and high grasslands of Montana, via the brittle, yellow, steaming cliffs of Yellowstone, finally to the awesome beauty of the Grand Tetons around Jackson Hole. We certainly did not expect that almost every day of the trip would at one point or another take our breath away.

“Grand Canyon and Moab offer the opportunity of exploring one of the natural wonders of the world, and one of the best mountain biking locations - all in one 15 day adventure”. That what the brochure said and after stumping up the required dough I just turned up at the airport - it was that easy, I even persuaded my girlfriend to come along. This brochure was from ‘Saddle Skedaddle’ that had passed my way one miserable morning in Derby and this particular trip caught my eye. The only question one needed answering was “can I take my SPD’s ?” (Yes) - everything was provided, along with food, transport, accommodation, etc.

If you think you’ve already visited the most diverse and spectacular country in the World, and haven’t been to Chile, then maybe you should think again.

Saddle Skedaddle’s three week adventure to Chile explores three completely different areas of this amazing long thin country and it offers something for everyone superb biking and hiking, culture, geography, geology, meteorology, history, good food and last but not least killer local alcohol.

Have you ever taken your bike with you on holiday, given your bike a little change of scenery from the slug road!!

Bill and I have had two super holidays in recent years cycling around Orkney and Denmark (fairly flat terrain!) but last year we did something a little bit different and went on an organised trip. I am master of holiday planning in our house so I decided, with some trepidation I might add; to join an organised trip with a cycling holiday firm but the experience was fabulous. We went for a 10 day trip round the Lofoten Islands of Norway.

This superb desert biking adventure focuses on the deep south of Morocco, a land of big skies and stark mountain ranges where mud-brick kasbahs appear to rise up out of the desert, sitting in tranquil palm oases and framed by dramatic backdrops of snowcapped mountains. We ride along Morocco’s dirt roads, taking us from Marrakech to the Tichka Pass, the highest in the High Atlas, and then southward, descending along the Draa Valley to the fringes of the Sahara Desert.