CargoBikePacking – From Edinburgh to Erfurt along Route YC

Would you take a gravel cargo bike on a 1,100km bikepacking journey from Scotland to Germany in the middle of winter?

Supported by Route YC and Hase Bikes I cycled from the Scottish capital to Newcastle, where I was joined by Mark Beaumont from Whitby to Hull on a new cycle touring route. After taking the ferry to Rotterdam I cycled through the Netherlands and Germany to Erfurt, the state capital of Thuringia. Enjoy a journey with stunning scenery and at times challenging weather, meeting people along the way and easing quietly into the festive spirit.

Camera: Markus Stitz & Mark Beaumont
Edit: Markus Stitz
Supported by Route YC & Hase Bikes

Route: https://www.komoot.com/collection/2491863/-cycling-home-for-christmas-via-route-yc-log

I first saw the Hase Gravit Dust gravel cargo bike in a magazine. I think it was October. And then I thought this is an interesting bike. I like attaching a challenge to a bike.   For me bikes are things to do stuff with, so I thought like what trip can I do on a bike like  

This. And I always think the term bikepacking has become a really fluid term. It started off   when we put bags on the bike, then the panniers came back in, now we’ve reintroduced racks again.   So it’s just become, I think, a really nice thing, this playground for all things and it’s  

Called bikepacking. So I thought why not take a gravel cargo bike bikepacking, and that’s what I did. So one of the biggest projects I had in  2023 was working on Route YC. Route YC was initially   developed by the architect of the North Coast 500, Tom Campbell. And Tom approached me if I  

Could make which was initially planned to be a driving route into a cycling route. And I took   this concept a little bit further by developing three longer routes. The longest one is 415km, the   shortest one is 150km and then there’s a cycle touring route that sits in between,   

And then nine shorter journeys. And Route YC is basically this captivating journey along the   amazing Yorkshire Coast. Fantastic cliffs, the Moors in the north, then it gets much flatter in the   south. And it’s just a really intriguing and really interesting part of Britain with amazing  

People. The people of Yorkshire are just very special in a really nice way. I guess it was really nice to be joined  by Mark Beaumont for two days. We had   jointly cycled in pretty wintry conditions from Oslo to Berlin last year and I guess this  

Time it was a bit more relaxed. Pretty windy, but we had some amazing sunrises and sunsets along the way. And it was just really enjoyable way for both of us to enjoy the Yorkshire Coast   and Route YC and also being joined by local people. Wayne met us on the beginning of the  

Third day and Lee guided us into Hull, so it was just this combination of getting to know   the region through our eyes but at the same time through the eyes of someone else was just magic. Everyone knows about the Yorkshire Dales, or even if they’ve not been they know the name. But  

These sections that we’ve explored today down the coast are maybe less well known on the bike.  But we’re linking up a bunch of cycle paths, gravel roads, quiet roads. It’s kind   of a surprising part of Yorkshire for people who haven’t been here. Yep, they should visit.

I mean there’s a lot of visitors and a lot  of people. Not so many cyclists but a lot of walkers   and tourists visit the coast. But not as many come and cycle it, like you’re doing. And   coming where you’ve been over this last three days between you both. It’s

Just nice terrain and it is getting more and more popular. The bikepacking thing since it’s   taken off has really helped cause people can just do their own thing, their own pace. So they can do   20 miles a day or they can do 100 miles a day. And it’s nice, they can just crack on enjoy it.

So the second part of the trip was cycling through the Netherlands and Germany. So for   me pretty familiar territory as well. I had the opportunity to basically cycle the bike back   to source. So it was shipped from Waltrop and I came past the Hase Bikes factory, had the  

Opportunity to do a talk, had the opportunity to talk to people who actually assemble and design the bike. So it’s always really special getting to know the people behind   what is normally just perceived as a product. It makes it just more personal and for  

Me the other outstanding thing was I think the further east I came towards Erfurt, going   past Heiligenstadt, where I grew up for the best part of 14 years. That part of Germany is such   an amazing part for gravel riding. Amazing forests, amazing off-road tracks. I was cycling through what  

I recognised afterwards as a storm, but it didn’t really deter me. I just had a cracking day on day   seven on the bike, experiencing those amazing off-road opportunities that Germany offers. And then arriving in Erfurt in  the afternoon of the 22nd of December,  

Actually still in daylight, which was a first. Normally I arrived when it was   pitch black. Yeah, just a really  nice way to kind of put one adventure   to the side and have a few days off for Christmas.