What’s more fun than bikepacking? Taking your son and nephew bikepacking, that’s what!
Given that George is only seven years old, I figured we’d start small and ease him in to the world of bikepacking. Strictly speaking this isn’t his first adventure. The astute amongst you may remember we took him on the Mawddach trail family bikepacking trip a while back, but he was in a Weehoo trailer then, and that’s cheating. So, where to go? Well I figured our best bet was the Lon Las Cefni, a mainly flat route from the village of Llangefni on Anglesey to the beautiful Newborough pine forest and beach. Link : https://www.sustrans.org.uk/find-a-route-on-the-national-cycle-network/lon-las-cefni-anglesey/
So technically camping in Newborough Forest is not permitted, however I was relatively relaxed about it given we were going to have a very low impact on the area, leave no trace and we planned to arrive late and leave early. No bother!
Id decided to use the “new to me” fat bike, not because the terrain warranted it, but just because it was new. I pumped the tyres up higher than normal as the majority of the route would be paved, gravel at best, and to be fair the fatty really can fly along! All this talk of sluggish, self-steering beasts is nonsense if you just pay attention to the tyre pressure.
George was riding his Hoy Bonally 20, it’s a great little bike but the frame size does mean strapping bags on isn’t easy. I could have put everything in a rucksack and thrown it all on my bike, but I know George would have felt a bit left out. So, I bodged together a seat pack using a small dry bag and a voile strap and stuffed this with pyjamas and wooly stuff, I strapped my 3l Lomo bar bag to his bars to carry waterproofs and used my top tube bag, fitted against his seat post for inner tubes and snacks. His little legs did a great job propelling his bike the nine miles or so to the forest. My nephew Will joined and proved himself an absolute star on his Specialized Crosstrail loaded up with panniers.
The boys were kipping in my, not so bikepacking friendly Vango Ark 200, while I pitched alongside in my SMD Skyscape Scout. Still love this tent! I had picked up some freeze dried meals from GoOutdoors, I forget the brand but they were absolutely minging. Next time we’ll take the half mile detour to the Newborough chippy. After dinner we all went for a wander in the forest for the obligatory game of soldiers with sticks for guns and George showing us how far he can throw things… Then we retired to the tents for a few games of top trumps, before going to sleep.
The next day we headed through the forest to the, already busy car park to brush our teeth, refill water and grab some food. After which we headed back the way we came to meet up with family. The boys loved the trip and so did I. Here’s to the next one.
Bikepacking on a budget 