Get four inspirational cycle touring books in one! Cycle Touring For Beginners will inspire confidence to the most bicycle-shy, and if you need more encouragement, three tales of cycle tours in France and Wales will have you hankering to dust off your wheels and take to the road.

Cycle Touring For Beginners

This concise guide covers everything beginners and more experienced cycle tourers need to know, including what you don’t need in order to enjoy cycle touring. Covering what sort of bike you need, how fit do you need to be (not super-fit) and whether or not you should bring luxuries (of course you should), Cycle Touring For Beginners encourages you to try exploring your world by bicycle, whether that’s an overnight trip in your own county or a two-month tour in another country, and whether you’re staying in guest houses or camping. With encouragement and tips on everything from how to eat to keep yourself healthy to what to bring in your tool kit, this book will have you itching to saddle up and start your own bike touring adventure this weekend.

A Slow Tour Through France

When Marie and her partner Adi spent two months cycling around France with a tent, they weren't trying to break any records; they just wanted a bit of sunshine for a change.

France enchanted, but the weather had other ideas. During nearly 2,000 slow miles they struggled with hailstones, hills, bad knees, and the scarcity of tea pots - only to find, as if they didn't know it already, that no matter what the weather and the road throw at you, life is still better on the back of a bike.

Southern France In Low Gear

During a cycle tour in France in 2012, Marie’s legs started talking to her. A year later, pedalling up the first long hill in Corsica, The Legs piped up again.

‘And how long is it for this time? Two months? And we’re going where? Oh, just to the Atlantic. Fine. No problem.’

With the same sturdy old bikes, the same stoic Legs and the same measure of stubbornness and stamina, Marie and Adi chug around Corsica, pedal through Provence, skirt the Cévennes and plod through the Pyrenees. With encounters with booted eagles, friendly farmers, cycle tourers of all description and a thrilling glimpse of the Yellow Jersey, the hilly regions of France charm them once again.

A Short Ride Round North Wales

Proving to themselves that a cycle tour needn’t be a cross-continental expedition, Marie and Adi pedal out of their front gate and off into the Welsh summer. Six short days spin out into miles of lanes, crisscrossing borderland valleys and majestic uplands where they discover new lanes and vistas in their home of North Wales, rediscover old ones, and remind themselves once again that there’s no better way of exploring than on the back of a bike.

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