Bikepacking Wales by Emma Kingston

Bikepacking Wales, by Emma Kingston, is an extremely informative and very useful book if you're looking for a weekend's adventure. With routes from all over Wales and truly impressive levels of detail about them, it's a brilliant place to start looking for adventures across the country.

The book contains 18 varied routes across four different areas: west, south, mid and north Wales. Length and difficulty are handily denoted in the key, grading the routes from blue (easy) to red (medium) and finally black (hard). There's a handy recommendation for the best sort of bike for each route, too.

One of my favourite features is the fantastic knowledge of local places to eat at, stay at or visit. This really makes planning very easy. You're even given contact numbers, where they're available, plus info on train stations, bike paths, alternative routes, nearby bike parks and more. The maps are incredibly detailed.

Handy infographics break down key details such as surface types by percentage and the elevation. For each route you'll find coordinates for the start and finish points, along with key words to use when finding the area, on Google maps and the like.

Kingston provides comprehensive advice on preparation and kit, including full recommended pack lists, what style of bags to go for and what to put where. This makes the book very beginner-proof and a handy guide when embarking on your first trip into the wilderness.

The pictures throughout really complement the routes, and make for very appealing and engaging viewing. It really gives a sense of what is to come, and they highlight some of the best bits of each route.

Another great feature is being able to download GPX files from the links in the book. Plenty of guide books include these now, and it makes life so much easier than having to trace routes across from paper to digital format. The only issue I found was with the QR codes – on my phone, an iPhone 12, I just got an error every time – but as the routes are all easily accessed via the website, listed in the book, it proved a minor issue. It's all clearly explained and easy to use, too.

> How to plan the perfect cycle route and follow it on your bike computer

Bikepacking Wales comes in at £20, which feels very reasonable for the bountiful content inside – the detail and knowledge here far outperforms anything that can be found online, and it can feel very nice to get back to some paper maps to plan over.

My personal favourite has to be the route around the Gower, which proved easy to get to, great fun to ride, and blessed with as many pubs as beautiful views! It, like this book, is highly recommended.

Verdict

Packed with detailed knowledge and insight, this is a brilliant way to find adventure in Wales