Jim has never found it difficult to dream about adventures, whether at night when asleep or with his eyes open wide. This approach has taken him all over the Scottish Highlands where he grew up; Spain, the Alps, the Southwest of the US by hiking, climbing, skiing and more recently by bike. He is a qualified Mountain Bike Leader and also holds the Winter Mountaineering & Climbing Instructor Award.

Jim has bikepacked all over Scotland, including The Capital Trail, The Deeside Trail, an offroad coast to coast to celebrate his 50th birthday, The Badger Dicide and The Moray Trail - six times so far! In 2019 he also rode unsupported over 1100 miles on The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route through Alberta, British Columbia, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

In the summer of 2022 Jim created and rode his own version of the Lands End to John O' Groats route which was 1200 miles long with over 62,000ft of ascent. On the way he met lots of interesting local people, sampled great places to eat and stay. The route was a blend of quiet backroads, bridleways and committing mountain tracks and trails. This experience has made him want to share a small version of this with others to help them then go on to have adventures of their own with a similar ethos of community and leavenotrace on the way .

This is how rideawaybikepacking came about!

Guests of rideawaybikepacking are people who are already experienced cyclists who would like to try bikepakcing for the first time, or those who are reasonably active and want to try out a new activity in a way that is sensitive to and supportive of local communities.

They will all be people from all over the UK, Europe or worldwide who value the importance of buying from local suppliers and respect the environment by adopting a leavenotrace philosophy. Where possible they travel here using public transport and bring their own bikes too.

Grantown on Spey is a small town by the River Spey at the edge of the forests and mountains of The Cairngorm National Park. From here we ride on a variety of simple tracks and trails of low technical difficulty beside the river, farmland, woodland and open moors. Open spaces on the ride are a major theme with views of the distant mountains, sometimes the sea and woodland.

Please click here to read the rideawaybikepacking

Responsible Travel Policy.

Jim created rideawaybikepacking because he is passionate about bikepacking, appreciates the value of supporting local communities and businesses as well as providing all guests, without regard to race, gender or sexual orientation or nationality a unique all inclusive experience of guided bikepacking.