Trees for Days: Bikepacking the New Forest

Join me and my lovely mate Laurie on a glorious gravel bikepacking adventure — exploring England’s historic and beautiful New Forest national park.

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In this three-part series, we spend three days cycling and two days camping through peaceful and scenic heathland and forest trails. Starting off at Brockenhurst (via a train from London Waterloo), we follow the New Forest Gravel Taster, recommended on Bikepacking.com, via Lyndhurst and Hide – stopping off at campsites en route.

Music:
Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci – Patio Song
Radiant Heart – Weep For Me
Gus Tiramini – Drifted

View the original route on Bikepacking.com: https://bikepacking.com/routes/new-forest-gravel-taster-uk/
View our route with amends for campsites on Komoot: https://www.komoot.com/collection/3541976/-trees-for-days-bikepacking-the-new-forest
The campsite we stayed at on day one: https://greenfieldscamping.com/
View this day’s ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/14571197919

If you have any questions about the route or want any bikepacking tips, please feel free to message me directly on Instagram.

Hello my friends. It is late May. The sun is shining and as you’ll have seen from the thumbnail and the video title, I’m in the New Forest. It’s beautiful. Never been here before. And ahead of us, we have three days of riding, two days of camping, some lovely New Forest bike packing action. Looking pretty promising so far. We’ve been here for about 10 minutes and it’s already glorious. I’m here with my lovely friend Lori. You’ve all met Lori before. Bike packing Norfolk, bike packing Suffuk. Shiri was meant to be joining us this weekend, but unfortunately she’s not been very well lately. So, she’s come down to the area, but just for the holiday. So, she’s staying in a hotel whilst me and Larry do our cycling. We’re going to meet up at the end for a little holiday day together. It’s going to be a great weekend. Do join us. More to come. Oh, feeling brand new. Well, isn’t it a lovely day? Oh, ving on Sunday with you. And we want to kiss. Just go right on the Sup. Say hello. Hello. Hello again, maniac. Oh, back right back in. We’re in the New Forest. What do you know about the New Forest Laws? Um, I don’t know. I don’t have any any facts, actually. I haven’t done my research. When you’ve said to your friends you went to the New Forest, what’s the first thing they’ve said? Oh, horses. Everyone mentioned ponies and horses. There’s going to be some pony action. I’ve got some facts what the New Forest was. Go on, hit me. It was founded I don’t know if found is the right word. Created by William the Conqueror. Oh, was it for hunting? He Yeah, he founded it as a a private hunting spot. Right. That’s good fact. The conqueror 1079. Good fact. So, yeah. New forest bike packing. 3 days about 100 km. So, nothing too strenuous. Each day is about 20 mi each. Yeah. Three days of cycling, two days of camping, lots and lots of gravel. Forecast is good. Um, is there anything else to say? I suppose I’ll put the route on the screen. That’s it. We started in Brockenhurst which was about an hour and a half train from London Waterloo. So, very easily accessible. And it’s a loop a looping route that I got from bikepacking.com. Looks like it’s going to be pretty flat, mostly grally, no busy roads. Seems like it’s going to be a glorious weekend. If you’ve never done bike packing before, I reckon this could be a good entry. What are you looking forward to this weekend? Pints. Definitely riding for Yeah. Trees for days, I reckon. Yeah. All right. Stay in touch. the top for now for me. Oh my love before me. Before me I have put myself on high self on high on IG. You get it love. Quick, quick, quick. Hurry, hurry. Oh, look. Walk us through your bike packing setup, Lo. Okay, we’ve got You have to project cuz of the noise of the gravel. Yeah, we have the tent and my sleeping mat here. I think there’s a pillow in there as well and a towel. Uh, what brand is the bar bag? Any ideas? Uh, I have no idea. Oh, Bersman. Bersman. Yeah. All right. What’s next? Uh, this one I just keep snacks. Got some sweets in there. What’s your sweet of choice? Today we have uh Maynard sports mix graphite. And then this one is I keep my phone and my wallet in there if uh you know any thieves are watching this. it will be in my vicinity anytime soon. And then I’ve got in here is like gadgets and like sun cream and things like that. Gadgets like what? Like a like a pasta maker and spiralizer. Exactly. Kitchen. All my kitchen gadgets. And where’d you get that bag from? Jerry made this custom made frame. So you can see Hang on. If I take that, it’s pink on this side and green on that side. Um, and then this is a this is a lorry takeover. Uh, yeah. And then on behind me and the Anglo-Saxons, we’ve got my um that’s got, you know, sleeping bag and um I think there’s a stove in there. Well, I hope there’s a stove in there so we can eat something later. Uh, and I think that I think that concludes it actually. Thanks for that. Not sponsored. Not at all. Looking for sponsorship? Uh, get Yeah, give me Well, just go via my agent, Jake May, and uh we’ll see, you know, we can make can make some magic happen. Yeah. Well, thanks for that run through of your bike packing sub. Very insightful. See the cover on the sea. Oh my lord. I let you down by the blood. I lost you. We’re already halfway in the day. Loss. I know. Hour and 10 minutes down. Very short day today. They’re all quite short. I mean, we’re just on holiday really, aren’t we? Yeah, pretty much. Just have a nice time riding our bikes. But I guess it’s all been downhill so far today. So, I guess maybe uh the next half will take us a bit longer if there’s a bit of climbing. It probably doesn’t look tough on the camera either, does it? You said that in the last video. Oh, did I? Everyone was commenting being like, “Yeah, Lor’s like, it probably doesn’t look very bumpy.” What do you think of this surface? It’s tough. Very tough. Probably doesn’t look it on the camera, but apparently it was extremely bumpy. Oh, going uphill on quite loose grally sand probably doesn’t look tough, Lori, but it is. We can assure you. Sorry about this, Lo. It’s all right. It’s my art. Your heart. gave you the sun, but you needed the moon. Thought that all you needed was a sunny afternoon. Maybe we have drifted too far now. Maybe we can scars. Come on. Overtake. Come on. You got it. Yeah. Oh, I haven’t. No. Oh, no. Not closed that properly. Great route. Lots of gates. So, we’ve just made a right turn at that junction back there, which I think is the last turn towards our campsite. So, I think the plan will be campsite, set up tent, and then head back out on the bikes with the recently emptied bags to go buy some stuff for the evening meal. Is that the plan, Lo? That’s the plan. Cooking some pasta probably. Is it pasta? Yeah, it’s usually pasta, isn’t it? Yeah. And then what might we do after that? I think we’ll have to find a local tavern in or public house. To do what exactly? Uh, we’re going to have a pint and if they’ve got a pool table, then you might be in rub beating. From memory, it looked like quite a posh pub. So, I don’t reckon it’s going to have a pool table. So, you’re off the hook tonight. Campsite incoming. Been stumped again. stumped by a gate. This is our home, Loz. I think I’m not going to do a voiceover of in this video, Loz. So, that means I need to remember to say things like, “Let’s get our tent set up, shall we?” You’re not doing a voiceover. I think I might not do a voice over this time. So, I need to remember to explain things more to the camera. We’re putting our tents up. It’s 400 p.m. The ride took us about 2 hours 15 minutes. Yeah. 32 km. What do you reckon? 50% onroad, 50% gravel. And we’ve made it to our campsite, Green Fields. So, we’ve got a little tent zone to ourselves. There’s some showers. There’s some toilets. Then, we’re going to head out, get our tent set up, head to the shop, get our stuff for the evening, and then the evening’s ours. It’s only 400 p.m. We’ve already finished. Get pitched up then, shall we? You know the meme where it’s like um you versus the guy she told you not to worry about when it comes to tent pitching. Yeah, I think I’ve outdone you. That’s what happens when you’re in the scouts. Just a little 10-minute poodle to the nearest shop, a co-op. And tonight’s dinner, pasta. The kind campsite owner also let us know that they’ve got a kitchen, so we actually don’t need to cook on our own little gas and our tiny little camping hubs. And not only that, they’ve got bloody table tennis and table football and 7in records. So, we’ve got a party ahead of us. This is absolutely perfect. Tiny bowls. Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready? One by one. We’re playing for surf, are we? Yep. I’ll serve. It’s a man on a mission if I’ve ever seen one. Very questionable fashion though. Yeah, I’ve got I’ve got a plate to get to. Yum. Have a sip for the camera, please. Camera’s here. Not over here. Here. See it? You’re not looking at the camera, are you? I’m looking at the camera. You’ve got bog eye then. What you think of the pub, Lori? I’ve not done an end to the day. All right. So, um, we had some pints. We did. Yeah. And now what? Now we’re just walking back. It’s allegedly stroll. And then what? And then we’re going to go in the tents. Yeah. And then that’s that. Then it’s tomorrow. Then it’s tomorrow. Okay. I can probably edit that to be tomorrow now. A little fade. A little fade down. Little fade. Yeah. Okay. Videos for day two and day three coming soon. If you want to watch something straight away, how about you watch last year’s video of me and Sherry and Lorie bike packing Norolk. Until then, cheers.