Spoke 1: The stuff we’re made of (ZL)

Featuring 10,000km Arriba's first ever guest writer, Zael Ligertwood

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From time spent in a classroom to traversing countries by bike; from being in hyperdrive, juggling a never-ending to do list, just about keeping head above water to a slower pace and focused concentration on the trail ahead; from a frantic scrambling in a quest for productivity to simply noticing and being here: what stuff are we made of? What happens when we choose the outdoors?

As soon as the school bell rang for summer, I set off on my first bike-packing trip with the sole aim of reconnecting with nature while moving my body. After seven years in classrooms where blinds were drawn so screens could be seen - the outside world shut out in favour of Shakespeare quotations in need of memorising, projected on a wall for thirty weary bodies - my love of teaching had dwindled. It was time to recharge.

I pedalled over the soul-stirring Picos de Europa, gifted by serenity at 1550m as Pico Cortés and Poznán majestically towered over and cow bells jingled. I watched the sun rise and fall, transforming skies from dusty pink, bright magenta to burnt orange and crimson.

I found peace riding under moonshine, marvelled at sprinkled, glimmering constellations and fell asleep to crashing waves. I was stunned by the sheer force of winds, extreme heat and scorched earth. Wet roads after a downpour swept me off my bike more times than I’d like to admit. I continued to move sometimes alone, sometimes with new and old friends, my family or my partner, along three Camino Pilgrim routes.

We realise we are made of tough stuff when we challenge ourselves, shift gears into new rhythms, immerse fully in all the outdoors has to offer. And when things go wrong as they sometimes do - a fractured elbow three minutes into our trip, a sliced up ankle, stolen bikes - we realise plans change, along with moods, thoughts, weather patterns, seasons, and in its place leaves all the more room for potentiality.

Unfortunately, the outdoors has become a privilege, not a right, and many don’t feel welcome or cannot access nature’s many benefits. Three-quarters of UK children spend more time indoors than prisoners¹, and children living in deprived areas are nine times less likely to access green spaces than children in affluent areas².

We need to open up these beautiful places and enlivening activities. We should see diverse faces of all ages, backgrounds, abilities, tackling tarmac roads, single-track and trails on bikes of all shapes and sizes. All bodies need the opportunity to tune into the ‘rest of nature’s cycles’ which Lucy Jones believes can provide a ‘tempo and rhythm in an often rudderless modern world’³.

Luckily, organisations like The Calvert Trust are on it, offering adventure breaks for people with disabilities. Through being warmly challenged by the magic of mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, and ever-unpredictable weather forecasts, we grow in pride, strength and feel at ease in ourselves. As one guest described, clad in a zip-line harness, seated in his wheelchair, ‘it is goldmine of a place that makes us remember we are made of the same stuff’.

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In 2022, Zael rode 2700 km over 41 days across Spain. From Santander to Seville and back up along the Portuguese coast via Lisbon, Porto, and Bilbao to Bordeaux in southern France.

In 2023, she took on the Granguanche route across the Canary Islands: 514km and 10,080m climbing over 9 days.

Soon after, a 2-week 950km Balkans tour led her from Thessaloniki, Greece over 11,700m of elevation to North Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro and Croatia.

She's just returned from the European Divide mountain-bike route, cycling from Hamburg in Germany 1317km to France, with 13,000m of climbing over 18 days.

Her dream trip is exploring the Khangai Mountains in Mongolia. But for now, she has much of the UK’s beauty still to see.

Find all of Zael's routes on Komoot here.

1. The Guardian, ‘Three-quarters of UK children spend less time outdoors than prison inmates, survey finds,’ March 2016

2. R. Balfour and J. Allen, ‘Local action on health inequalities: improving access to green spaces’. Public Health England, September 2014

3. L. Jones. Losing Eden: Why Our Minds Need the Wild. Allen Lane, 2020

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Zael is a Yoga & English Teacher based in London.

She cares lots about encouraging young people to read, write, debate, listen, breathe, move and rest.

Instagram @zaelmoves

If you’d like to guest write on 10,000km Arriba, you’d be most welcome.

You can write about any bike based experience, whether that entails a bikepacking trip, a chronic cycling addiction, or simply a moment in time that you deeply cherish.

Let me know in the comments.

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Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Instagram | Komoot

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