I’ve owned a Café du Cycliste lightweight jacket for a couple of years now, and while it’s probably one of my least-used pieces of kit, it’s also one of my favourites. Beautifully made, functional and great looking. They know their stuff. So browsing through their new Ultimate Guide To Bikepacking and Adventure Cycling you get the feeling that the advice is solid and garnered through experience and the attention to detail they put into their clothing. Even if you’ve never strapped a framebag to your bike, this may well spark the adventure flame deep inside you. What you need, what you don’t, where to go and how to get there, it’s all covered to the nth degree.

Bikepacking. Adventure cycling. Brevet. Audax. There may be no umbrella term that covers every variation of exploring this world by bicycle, because in reality it’s each to their own. Race or relaxed, trans-continental or single-night micro-adventures, self-supported autonomy or credit card minimalism. Different methods and style mean there are many variables in the make-up of every bikepacking adventure. There are, however, some essential elements and this is a guide for those with wanderlust from those with experience. A guide to get out. Out there, somewhere.