Best Gravel Riding in Dorset! Brother in the Wild 2024

Brother in the Wild is an event that takes place on the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula in Dorset filled with pine forests, dramatic coastal cliffs, beaches and endless gravel tracks. Riders set up camp in the heart of a nature reserve and spend two days riding the gravel trails, country lanes and single track that link up across the region.

The routes, ranging from 30 to 50 miles, dip in and out of local towns with several pubs, cafes and wild swim spots along the way.

After breaking my wheel on the 2023 event, I’m very much looking forward to finishing a whole weekend at BitW for the first time.

A big thank you goes to: Velo Domestique Cafe in Southbourne for organising the ride out on Friday.
Brother Cycles for organising the full event.
Jimmy’s coffee for feeling us as we cycled.
All of the riders that I spent time with over the weekend. It was an absolute pleasure to spend time on the trails with you all.

Here is a link to the routes for the weekend: https://tinyurl.com/4wtztzuk

Music:

In And Out Of Love (Tigerblood Jewel Remix) (Instrumental Version) – The Eastern Plain
Knockin on Whoever’s Door – The Big Let Down
Say It Again 2.0 – Chris Shards
Slow Beginnings – Staffan Carlen
Wanderlust – Osoku
Venetian Blinds (Instrumental Version) – Mattias Tell
Awakening Wilderness – Tellsonic.mp3
If You Don’t (Instrumental Version) – Holy See
Caught You at the Perfect Time – Superintendent McCupcakes

brother in the wild is a two-day bike packing gravel riding camping and sea dipping Festival that takes place in Dorset on the aisle of perbeck the perbeck peninsula is filled with pine forests dramatic Coastal Cliffs beaches and endless gravel tracks Riders camp in the heart of a nature reserve and spend the weekend exploring gravel tracks country lanes and single tracks across the area this is my second time at brother in the wild last year my weekend was cut short due to a major mechanical after hitting a BAL Doner downhill hopefully this year I’ll be able to enjoy the full weekend after destroying my wheel last year I’ve been much happier riding brother in The Wild on my sirly bridge club here we go all ready for brother in the wild let’s do it my local cafe and bite shop V domestic organized a 25m ride out to brother in the wild V does a fantastic job of being the central Hub of the bite Packer community in southorn nothing quite beats turning up to on what feels like the first sunny day of the year to go rideing camp with a group of awesome [Music] [Music] people I do love living by the beach this seconds from where I live now we get to go and buy cage from [Music] it we made our way through Bournemouth sticking to cycop paths and quiet country lanes where [Music] possible it’s been two years since I moved to the Bournemouth area and I’m still founding new routes and areas to explore as much as I enjoy traveling I focused on exploring places closest to home over the last couple of years I don’t think I’ll ever run out of new places to see even on my doorstep it’s been 4 and 1/2 years since I finished the world bite trip and one of the areas in my life I wanted to build on was creating a community during my travels I was fortunate to be invited to ride bites and hang out with people who had already established their own communities and themselves much of what I’ve done over the last few years has been solo rides so spending the weekend with lightmed people is a real Joy Community doesn’t just happen overnight it takes time to put in the work turn up and be there for other people building a community outside of work has been invaluable jobs can come and go but getting outside and riding bikes will always be in my life good boy [Music] [Music] hello upon arriving at the campsite we were given a reusable cup and mug we then settle in for the evening and wait to get around the fire the sun setting gave us this beautiful display to close a fine first day up brly Wild [Music] [Music] we’re so happy with how she’s developed [Music] [Music] pleas see you in a bit mate on day two we set off at about 10:30 after a very lazy morning heading off as a large group to explore the hills and Coastline of the [Music] [Music] perck oh it’s been a beautiful start to the day we’re going up a big hill beautiful views look at this you are very calm cows thank you very much have a nice [Music] some of the cycling the perck is quite Technical and challenging last year when I was at brother in the wild my ego wouldn’t allow me to stop and push the bike these days I’m much more content with taking it easy and slowly it means I get to enjoy the scenery more and spend more time talking to friends [Music] [Music] occasionally at find myself alone on the route as I’ve been stopping to take shots such as these over the last few years I’ve taken a much more relaxed approach to making YouTube videos after documenting my world bite tour in 2018 and 19 I felt pretty burnt out and I needed a break from filming I’ve taken time over the last few years to fall in love with Adventure and cycling again most of this is down to putting the camera away and simply enjoying being out this event is my first attempt in 6 months to try and create a video and tell a story filming a bike ride adds a completely different Dynamic to the day carrying the camera equipment flying the Drone and talking to the camera all take away in some way from the cycling but they also add a different perspective as I stop more frequently to appreciate the Landscapes and on this ride there is no shortage of Landscapes to appreciate [Music] [Applause] hello sorry got a caramel or a mcka mcka mcka thank you so much this is wonderful I’d love to give a big thanks to Jimmy’s ice coffee for fueling us and giving us free super cold coffee on this beautiful day right boys all right down here is where I came off last year make sure people see where we’ moment of Peace we’ve got past a lot of the Walkers oh there’s some more can I get a yeah yeah go for it look look at [Music] this Chapman’s pool is my favorite place on the jurass Coast I wild camped here a couple of years ago on one of the hottest days of the year I watched the most beautiful sunset on the horizon just behind these Cliffs is forever going to be one of my most favorite places in the world [Music] this is my favorite spot in the per goodbye Chapman’s pool the square and Compass no day at Chapman’s pool is complete without a visit to the square en Compass this beautiful old Pub is well loved by everyone that visits by both locals and tourists thank you sausage well yeah oh feel quite lethargic me I do after sitting in the beer garden for far too long getting going again was pretty tough we had one last big climb left for the day but first we took a minor detour to see some dinosaur footprints does anyone want to see dinosaur footprints they’re just in that field over there my fa FM of time there’s no way I’m missing oh yeah now I feel slightly guilty for bigging up the dinosaur Footprints as I thought they were pretty impressive the first time I saw them and I was kind of expecting a bit of a reaction like this and it just so happens that the footprints left here from millions of years ago are from Brachiosaurus sods which are also the dinosaurs from that scene in Jurassic Park which we will go back to in a minute like dinosaur foot beist put FM is this going to make your film for us mate yeah M yeah what do you think what do you think of the dinosaur footprint oh mate it looks like potholes I mean there are a few in the New Forest I see I I think you’ve being ungrateful if I’m honest ungrateful you need to use that section in the where her head turns she stands up and she’s like and not to disappoint Rich who gave a great bit of director’s advice here is a real life brosaurus and look at these guys I don’t see why everybody else wasn’t reacting like this when they saw the dinosaur footprints pretty cool if you ask me back to the cycling we made our way down priest way named as it was a route a local priest used to walk between his churches in worm Travis where we just come from and swanage on the coast this route is outstanding it’s fast pretty downhill particularly going west to east as we made our way ready for our final big climb [Music] the [Music] house it is I had to come past you I got no lower gears so I just got to power keep the legs moving yeah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] as the day came to a close we cycled fast and hard on the smooth country lanes the prospect of a shower and pizza are awaited it’s funny how my stomach can help me to cycle faster when it can anticipate food is on the [Music] horizon and that is the end of Saturday brother in the wild what a day what a day is that the queue for the showers yeah open up your leg [Music] after a quick breakfast and being unsuccessful on the raffle it was time to depart for the Sunday sips and dips route as this was the final day we saw a mix of locals such as ourselves packing all of our stuff onto our bikes ready to go home and others leaving their stuff at the campsite ready for a final fast day of the weekend day three brother in the wild what a weekend it’s been lucky [Music] very happy to be outle my head should have been more cautious I got what I been before made [Music] I tell the truth you I here we go there’s a lot of uh cyclists dashing into the sea [Music] we made our way home along the busy Bournemouth prominade this was such a good weekend it’s very much set the tone for a summer of bike rides and more nights in the tent that is the end of brother in the wild 2024 it’s been a pleasure till the next one goodbye he sneaking up on you there’s nothing you can do the things about the poo o ooh it’s sneaking up on you there’s nothing you can do this things about the Boom [Music]