The Cycle Touring Festival has featured frequently on CyclingEurope.org in recent years and I’m delighted to say that it is back in 2019. Here is how the organisers – Laura and Tim Moss – explain it:

“We really believe the Cycle Touring Festival is different.

Unlike other festivals, we don’t have rows of stalls selling you stuff. Our focus is on stories and practical workshops. If you want to buy stuff, you can go to a shop.

We deliberately don’t sell day tickets. Part of our ethos is about building community. People arrive on Friday as strangers, and leave on Monday as friends. We believe that day tickets would take away from this sense of community.

All tickets include food for the whole weekend. We believe that eating together brings people together. We’ve shared meals with people around the world and we think it’s a great way of building new friendships.

We avoid tales of bravado and macho competitiveness. Cycle touring is accessible to anyone and we want to spread that message. It doesn’t have to be about going fast or far. It’s simply about exploring the world by bicycle. That might be for a weekend, or for several years. All are welcome at the festival.

Cycle touring is a niche discipline and the festival exists to bring us together. Visitors to the festival have often commented that they’ve found their ‘tribe’. Over the course of the weekend, an incredible sense of togetherness is created through the sharing of experience and  knowledge, and lifelong friendships have been formed. Many people come on their own, but aren’t alone for long.

It’s hard to express in words what the festival is like – you’ll just have to come and see for yourself.”

I have given talks at the festival in 2016, 2017 and 2018… but in 2019 I have nothing to say so I’ll be shutting up and just listening. Another reason to snap up a ticket! Buy them here.