Category: cycling

Posted on

NEW – Pamir Trail, Tajikistan

The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the world’s highest mountains. …

The Pamir Highway, the world’s second highest international road, runs from Dushanbe in Tajikistan to Osh in Kyrgyzstan through the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province, and is the isolated region’s main supply route. …

The Pamir Trail is a proposed 1000km+ route. A work in progress.

Jan Baaker, author of Cicerone Trekking in Tajikistan, hopes to connect the entire route in 2024.

We wish him luck. Some of the rivers can be impassable.

To learn more, click through to the PamirTrail.org.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Posted on

BEST Bermuda Rail Trail VIDEO

By BestHike editor Rick McCharles

Over the past few years I’ve spent a lot of time on the famed Bermuda Rail Trail. Hiking, running, cycling.

Sound wonderful? A long day hike on tropical islands. 🌴

However … there are a number of sections where you must walk busy roadways to regain the trail. And the Flatts bridge was not yet opened February 2023.

Without question, Rick’s new video is the most comprehensive online. In fact, if you watch all 10 minutes, you may feel there’s no need to actually do the adventure yourself. 😀

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (11min)

If that’s too long, I have a 1-minute teaser VIDEO alternative.

Our recommended itinerary starts with a ferry to Dockyard and continues past the official trail end in St. George’s — making it much longer. AND we recommended side trips to forts, light houses, and beaches along the way. BEST is to do the Rail Trail over 2 or more days.

The Bermuda Railway was a 21.7-mile (34.9 km) common carrier line that operated in Bermuda for a brief period (October 31, 1931 – May 1, 1948). …

More than 10 percent of the line was elevated on 33 separate structures of timber or steel construction spanning the ocean …

 It was said to be one of the most expensive rail lines built …

In 1984, 18 miles (29 km) of the defunct rail line’s right-of-way were dedicated as the Bermuda Railway Trail for hiking …

Posted on

Cycling Vancouver Island

Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles

My favourite month in Canada is September.

Weather is still good. Yet the tourists have mostly headed home.

I’d always wondered if it was possible to cycle logging roads — then bushwhack to the trailhead of Della Falls on Great Central Lake.

As expected, it’s nearly impossible. I never made it. 😀

But I’d wanted to do a gear check on my old Ghost touring bike in any case. Della Falls was an excuse to get out into the wilderness.

The only official campsite in the area is Lowry Lake. Very nice. But I passed by too early in the day. So ended up wild camping 2 nights.

Logging is horrible on Vancouver Island. Very few people see the vast swaths of clearcut hidden away from pavement.

BUT they certainly make the island wilderness accessible for anyone on a good bike.

I ended up camping 2 nights. The first on a sand bar in the Ash river. There are more bears than people in this part of the island. I thought I’d keep myself well clear of any animal trails.

The second night I pitched on a quiet lake where I’d stayed twice in the past.

My meandering route ended up looking something like this.

Vancouver Island is fantastic.

%d bloggers like this: