BIKEPACKING to every Premier League Stadium from the 2024/25 Season – Part 2

Football. Love it or hate it, there’s no denying it’s the biggest sport in the UK.
With over 40,000 clubs across the country, that’s more football teams per square mile than anywhere else in the world. So naturally I thought it would be a good little fun challenge to cycle to every Premier League football stadium for the 24/25 season

The Ride – https://www.strava.com/activities/14425180519

Find all the routes and gear here – https://www.keepsmilingadventures.com/

Make a route suggestion here – https://www.keepsmilingadventures.com/route-sugestions

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The gear i am currently using

The tent – https://youtu.be/n9GKHSf805E
Framebag – https://youtu.be/6LM3UJKDOEk
Seatpost bag – https://youtu.be/W1E_iWY6Ajo
Jones Handlebars – https://youtu.be/dhPBSdRros8
Gravel bike – https://youtu.be/Gnd_4LgTyrg
plus bike mtb – https://youtu.be/COTUOzLPbGk
gps device – https://youtu.be/BWeMmx62A9M
mtb shoes – https://youtu.be/OYVEnfXwT0k
All the gear from GNT – https://youtu.be/e5oKSoPoMk0
Vest bag – https://youtu.be/01nzgd-t550
Ortleib bar roll https://youtu.be/Uk9fLgS1ioo
Dynamo setup – https://youtu.be/SL7MhjB6Lp0
Questions answered – https://youtu.be/u1q9AEs9flE
Gb divide bike/gear- https://youtu.be/epcZ81wqFCo
Sonder looped bar – https://youtu.be/BqWGTxd2VaQ
Tarpstar tent – https://youtu.be/RcQoBdZSAb8

You’re rejoining me partway through my attempt 
to cycle to every Premier League stadium during the 2024/25 season.
So far, I’ve ridden from 
Newcastle—starting at St James’ Park—down through the Pennines and across the Yorkshire 
Dales to reach Manchester, where I visited both the Etihad and Old Trafford.
From there, I made my 
way too across to Liverpool to tick off Goodison Park for Everton and Anfield for Liverpool.
That’s five stadiums down, fifteen still to go.
Right now, I’m waking up 
beside the Trent and Mersey Canal,   ready to get back on the bike and roll into the 
Midlands for the next stretch of the journey. Getting up and on the bike early this morning 
heading off down the canal which I would be spending the majority of the day riding along, 
it’s the nice thing about this part of the country want to get somewhere traffic free just 
jump on the canal. With the sun rising so early though it makes them mornings feel a bit on the 
fresh side. And today I just could not warm up. I had quite a few miles along this canal today 
so at least I now had a little bit of company and now the sun had actually been turned on i 
was able to start to warm up a little. Being on the canal for most of the day meant it 
was easy enough to make decent progress. After a quick bite to eat id continue a 
little longer along the canal which was getting a little overgrown to be honest, but 
i would leave it before it got to bad and id be back beside the noisy traffic once more as i 
made my way towards my 6th stadium Wolverhampton. The Molineux Stadium—home of Wolverhampton 
Wanderers—has a capacity of just under 32,000 and holds a special place in football 
history. It was the first stadium ever built specifically for a Football League club, and one 
of the first in Britain to install floodlights. In fact, it hosted some of the earliest 
European Cup matches back in the 1950s. This one’s a bit personal too—Wolves were my 
grandad’s team. The story goes that one day, after they scored, he leapt up in celebration,   aiming to punch the air… but instead 
gave the lampshade a good punching 6 down and 14 more stadiums 
to go and to get to my next one i would of course just jump 
back onto the canal to get there, Villa park was my next stadium and it turns 
out as i arrived the game was just about to finish. With villa winning against Fulham. 1 – 0
Villa Park with a capacity over 42,000 has hosted World Cup and European Championship football, 
it has staged more FA Cup semi-finals than any other venue, England have played there 11 times 
over the course of three different centuries, it was the stadium where the last-ever 
UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final took place. and Villa Park celebrated its 125th 
anniversary in April 2022. More than anything, though, Villa have been 
proud to call it home since April 1897. It had been a long day making my 
way between the busy build up world, even though most of the day I was just 
following the canals them flat canals   mean you gotta pedal all the time. But it was a 
nice feeling knowing that i was now heading out a bit more into the countryside. Leaving 
the sounds of the Birmingham city behind. Part 18 I was really looking forward to this morning 
the last couples days i had been making my way through all the built-up world so it was 
a welcome change to be starting off in the countryside. Making my way through some nice 
and easy MTB trails. It was also the first morning that the sun wasn’t exactly beaming in 
the sky with some grey clouds following me over head.
Luckily it was just a few scattered showers and not the 
endless rain that’s normally following me around, But after around 30 miles so far this 
morning I’d arrive at my 8th stadium Forest
The City ground with a capacity of over   30,000 has been home to Nottingham Forest since 
they moved in on 3 September 1898 it was named in celebration of Nottingham’s newly-awarded 
city status. Between 26 November 1977 and 9 December 1978, Nottingham Forest set a new record 
of 42 consecutive league matches without defeat. The 42-game unbeaten run was completed 
over two seasons with 26 of the matches taking place in the 1977-78 a title-winning 
season and 16 in the following campaign. The reason it was so bloody cold today was because   of that wind so turning back around 
to start going south again and finding some trails that were a little more 
sheltered helped a lot. Almost too much… Part 20
the most futuristic shopping experience known to man… 
Argos. It’s like buying something online—if the internet made you walk to a store, to use their 
own computer to order it, call me old-fashioned, but They could’ve just… put it on a shelf.
But nope—I had to order it in-store, so someone in the back could hand 
it to me like it’s a sacred relic. Leicester city The King Power Stadium, home of Leicester City.
The stadium has a capacity of just over 32,000 and has been their home since 2002, 
replacing their old ground, Filbert Street. Leicester’s history is full of ups and downs—but 
nothing tops that unbelievable 2015/16 season, when they defied 5000-to-1 
odds to win the Premier League. Leicester City have won one Premier League, 
one FA Cup, three League Cups and two FA Community Shields. They are currently one 
of only five teams to have won all three major domestic trophies since 2000, making 
them the 6th most successful club in English football this century. But this season 
they are one of the teams to be relegated. Funnily enough the next stadium on my list 
to get being Ipswich meant that i would be riding from one club getting relegated to 
another, but with probably about a day or maybe more to get there i settled into the 
saddle for the rest of the day making my way through the rolling countryside. This 
side of the country felt a lot quieter. It was another bitterly cold morning the sun 
not doing much for warmth but its better seeing the sun than the rain i guess. And still 
being out in the countryside meant i was able to find lots of quiet trails, although 
everything felt a little to quiet today It turns out the reason why this morning was 
so incredibly quiet was because it was a bank holiday and that why when i did end up on the 
roads this morning it seemed like no one was around. But i was now heading towards the next 
build up place… Cambridge… But before i got there i would pedal along what is probably one of 
the nicest cycle paths that follows one of them guided bus routes. This 16-mile (26km) Bus way 
runs between Cambridge, St Ives and Huntingdon and is believed to be the world’s longest 
guided bus route. Im glad i had the wind on my back here though because i feel the headwind 
would be horrible being so open and exposed. Following this lovely little Roman road—the 
northern part called Wool Street. Wool Street is actually a scheduled monument because it was 
built to a higher standard than most—running about 10 miles from Cambridge into Suffolk.
It’s dead straight, single track, peaceful… honestly, it’s perfect for cycling.
Built nearly 2,000 years ago Can’t believe the Romans didn’t invent 
the bike while they were at it.  They built roads like this and thought, 
let’s just stomp around in sandals. It had taken a day to get here 
from Leicester but id be arriving   in Ipswich first thing to reach the 
halfway point in stadiums visited Ipswich  Portman Road, home of Ipswich Town.
The stadium holds just under 30,000 fans and has been their home since 1884. Ipswich 
Town was formed as an amateur club in 1878, but it was not until 1936 when the blues turned 
professional. After winning the Southern League at the first attempt and finishing third 
the following season. this season they’ll be the second team I’ve visited that’s 
heading back down from the Premier League. I was just about to get going towards London, 
but then I saw Aldi was about to open. If you ever want to meet the locals in any 
town—get to a supermarket just before it opens. Trust me, that’s where all the characters show up.  Breakfast this morning? A punnet of 
strawberries… and to balance it out—donuts As today was the day i was getting closer 
to London it meant most of the time spent pedalling would be back to following the busy 
roads and that can only mean a couple of things, rubbish overgrown cycle paths and loud noisy cars. It would be only a matter of time before i would 
crack open that energy drink the guy from the van gave me. It was a much, much welcome break leaving 
the busy roads behind and finding some trails that lead me away from them.. But that can 
sometimes create its only little challenges. it only took about 575 miles to get 
wet feet thats got to be a record, and now i needed to get through the 
sting nettles so a bit of gardening   was required. Getting through that though 
lead me on to some more over grown trails. It was the one-day though that i found myself 
with so much time on my hands that’s id have the chance to take a break have a wonder around 
some woodlands just to try to kill some time. It was nice being able to stop often today 
preparing myself for the busy day tomorrow. As i was meandering around trying to pass the 
time i stumbled across what is claimed to be the oldest wooden church in the world. 
I’m not sure how true that claim is, but it passed some time and i was getting close 
to that woods i was thinking of sleeping in.