For the next five weeks, travel writer Simon Parker is cycling the length of Britain for Telegraph Travel, from Shetland to the Scillies.
But how might a long-distance, unsupported bike tour be different in these uncertain Covid-times?
Watch the video to see his 127-mile-cycle from the north to the south of Shetland.
We’ll have a video of Simon’s full journey from Shetland to the Scillies when he finishes his trip in a few weeks.
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the whole idea of this project is to cycle the length of the british isles to try and gauge how britain is feeling at a quite cagey and paranoid time as a travel writer i’ve been lucky to travel all around the world i’ve cycled across the united states i’ve cycled across europe and the thing that always jumps out to me about being on these adventures on a bicycle is just how friendly people are when they see you traveling across a country or a continent on a bike what i really want to try and find out on this adventure is is that atmosphere still going on in somewhere like britain have we become quite scared of each other have we become quite scared of interacting with each other even at a safe distance so i’m going to be wild camping i’m going to be meeting interesting people to really try and get to grips with how britain is feeling right now so i’ve started off at the knuckle flugger lighthouse which is essentially the northernmost point of britain and it’s a marker which really signifies the very top of the british isles i’ve met some really interesting people so far even if it’s just waving to people from the safety of their vehicles generally speaking the reception i’ve had has been a very friendly one everyone’s very keen to chat to me at least outdoors anyway and coming somewhere like shetland this is a totally outdoorsy sort of place i don’t really feel like there’s any reason why i couldn’t have an adventure like this here because i am spending all of my time on my bicycle in a tent cooking outdoors and when i do chat to people they’re at a safe distance so i really want to try and prove that even right now at this crazy time in our lives there are adventures we can have right on our doorstep in the grand scheme of tourism in britain i can’t imagine too many people come up to shetland it really is quite far away and it generally involves at least two or three flights to get here from southern england especially but when you do get here it’s a stark bleak and really quite wild place i spend most of my time just cycling plus shetland ponies and cattle and sheep which are just free roaming around the gently meandering hills the cycling is quite tough because it is really quite windy up here a lot but that’s all part of the challenge and you find places like these these beautiful wild secluded places and i really don’t feel like there are any other people around for probably dozens of miles and there are very few places in britain that you can find that these days