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Cycling UK and OS Maps launch campaign to get people out on a bikepacking adventure once a month

Organisations encourage people to explore the outdoors while helping care for the environment

Cycling UK has teamed up with OS Maps to challenge cyclists to undertake an overnight bikepacking adventure out in the open at least once a month over the next year.

The initiative is aimed at helping people enjoy the outdoors through encouraging bikepacking and wild camping while fostering a culture of conservation.

Whether sleeping under a bivi bag or in a tent or hammock, participants are encouraged to post photographs of their adventures to Instagram using the hashtag #12nightsoutin1year, with hundreds of pictures uploaded already.

Cycling UK and OS Maps bikepacking Cotswolds bivi

Each month, there will be a monthly competition in which people who have shared their pictures can win prizes related to cycling and navigation.

During the opening month of the campaign, running until the end of June, the winner will receive an annual subscription to OS Maps, an OS Dry Bag and an Alpkit Brukit stove, and anyone registering to take part in the challenge will be given one month’s free Premium access to OS Maps.

Monthly winners during the ensuing year will have their names entered into a grand prize draw in May 2022, with a chance to win an OS Trail 2 GPS, worth £344.99 and which gives access to the entire OS Maps range.

Nick Giles, Managing Director of Ordnance Survey Leisure said: “We passionately believe in the benefits the great outdoors can bring to us all. 

“Through our award winning app, OS Maps, we are proud to help connect people with the outdoors through comprehensive mapping and routes at your fingertips.

“The last year has shown that you can still deliver adventure from your doorstep, and we are delighted to be working with Cycling UK to encourage people to keep challenging themselves to try something new, with OS Maps being a central tool to helping people adventure more by bike over the next year.”

Among those who have embraced the challenge are adventure cyclist Vedangi Kulkarni, originally from India, and who in 2018 took a break from her studies at Bournemouth University to become the youngest woman to ride around the world.

Vedangi - Credit Callum Howard-1200px

> Bournemouth University student becomes fourth fastest woman – and the youngest - to cycle solo round the world

“To enjoy the British countryside, it doesn’t take much more than the curiosity to explore what’s just around the corner, the OS Maps app, and adequate snacks,” said Kulkarni, who is now based in Christchurch, Dorset and helps people worldwide plan their own outdoor escapades through her business, The Adventure Shed.

“Add some camping gear and a bike into the mix and I’m sure you’ll have a lovely night under the stars!

RobertSpanring_TentReview_Guildford_April2021_-1311404-1200px

“You don’t need fancy kit or to travel to far flung places to have an adventure and discover the wilds of your local region,” she added.

“With everyone looking to get away this year but not necessarily able to travel far, Cycling UK and OS Maps’ challenge gives an incentive for people to get outside and discover new sights round where they live.”

Besides prompting people to explore the countryside now lockdown restrictions are easing, both Cycling UK and OS Maps are encouraging entrants to consider their environmental impact and to remove from the rural areas they visit more than they take there, to leave it in a better condition than they found it, a philosophy known as Leave No Trace.

Leave no trace

Sam Jones of Cycling UK, who has himself undertaken a bikepacking trip with nights spent in the open at least once a month during the past two years, explained: “Anyone who enjoys the countryside, whether they’re walking, riding or running will have seen that all too familiar blight mark of others’ passage: litter.

“12nightsoutin1year will be just as much about you enjoying nature, as ensuring it’s in a better state than when you found it.

“Trash free trails are something we can all work towards every time we head out.”

To help get people started, Cycling UK has also produced a short video showing ways in which a bike combined with a tarpaulin can be used to create overnight shelter.

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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7 comments

Avatar
lio | 2 years ago
2 likes

I always love the idea of bivy bags and tarps but when I get the scales out they never seem to make sense compared to a light weight tent.  If it rains then I think a tent you can sit up in is probably going to be a nicer place to be.

If you've got deep pockets you can get a 1 man tent big enough to sit up in that packs to the size of a bakedbean tin and weighs 500-600g.  e.g. a Vango Hydrogen or Big Agnes, etc.

Probably takes more time to put up than a bivy and tarp set up I guess though.

Anyone with more experience care to comment?

Avatar
Smiffi | 2 years ago
3 likes

I really love the idea of riding as far as I want in unknown areas and then setting-up camp for the night after eating my fill either in a pub or catering for myself at the camp.  Unfortunately it's not legal in England or Wales with the exception of Dartmoor.  The alternative is booking yourself into a campsite which defeats the ethos and constrains you to a set daily mileage.  It's such a shame we don't have the same rights as in Scotland to wild-camp.

Avatar
visionset replied to Smiffi | 2 years ago
2 likes

Only a civil matter same as tresspassing.  Stealth is your friend there are no repercussions. Leave not a trace and don't stuff it up for others.

Avatar
HoarseMann replied to visionset | 2 years ago
0 likes

visionset wrote:

Leave not a trace and don't stuff it up for others.

It's the perfect crime... https://youtu.be/MhiKCa7rQMM

Avatar
David9694 replied to Smiffi | 2 years ago
1 like

I'm nursing the same sort of ambition - 5 miles around my home I can think of some possible camping spots from 14 months of lock-down walking where you'd be unlikely to disturb or be disturbed. Can't imagine trying in an unknown area, or if I did I wouldn't find it very relaxing. 

Avatar
brooksby | 2 years ago
0 likes

I don't see the appeal of camping, outdoors, at all...

Avatar
Philltrz replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
10 likes

Don't worry, they're announcing a "virtual bikepacking challenge" in parallel, you just have to fall asleep on the sofa after a turbo session.

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