The Bikepacker: Bikepacking

It's September. We're having possibly the last warm spell of the year. So it's time for one last bikepacking trip of 2021.

Once again, I headed down to Knepp Estate, destination for my first bikepacking trip almost exactly a year ago. This time I wasn't alone though. My daughter's partner Ross accompanied me and got his first taste of the joys of bikepacking.

We took a scenic 65 mile route to Knepp, winding through the Surrey and Sussex countryside. We stopped a couple of times, the first for horribly over-priced coffee at the Lickfold Inn where despite sitting outside at a table in their empty garden, we were asked if we had a reservation! From the "friendly" welcome and the prices, one has to assume the Lickfold Inn was not concerned about having no customers during the Covid pandemic!

Further along the route though, we stopped at the Lodsworth Larder and had completely the opposite experience. A lovely store with friendly, welcoming staff, delicious cakes and pastries, very reasonable prices and even a sign welcoming cyclists specifically. That's more like it :-)

Our last stop before Knepp Estate was to drop into Sainsbury's in Pulborough for provisions for the evening and the next day. Naturally we bought far more than we needed but cycling does that to you!

On arrival at Knepp Estate we checked in and then cycled into the camping field. We chose a spot, set up the tents and collected the firewood I'd paid for in advance. With a fire grate already in place, we prepared and then lit our fire at about 6pm. It was beginning to get a bit chillier so the fire was more than just decorative and kept us warm whilst we chatted and ate. And ate. And ate. Ross even grilled some venison burgers over the fire!

We hit the hay at about 10pm, pretty tired. It was not a warm and toasty night in my tent it has to be said despite thermal underwear and hat. I'm not sure what the temperature dropped to at night but summer has most definitely departed.

Here are the stats for the outbound journey.

In the morning, we had breakfast and then headed home via a more direct 32 mile route but one that includes a hill with a 12.5% gradient. Pretty tough on Ross' high-geared road bike and on my low-geared but very heavily loaded MTB. But we made it!