I’ve spent so long deliberating over what to write alongside photos from this trip, and I honestly have no idea why. It’s not like it wasn’t fun or hard to recount, but more of a ‘why bother you with the detail’. The images do enough of the work that I thought the writing would do, and what I really want is a home for them on the blog somewhere finally.

Uploading this at the end of summer, I had no idea how much of a deal ‘bikepacking’ would become over the last 4 months – maybe that’s why it felt weird writing about it then. It felt a bit surreal at the time, putting this all together as novices and setting off from the Velodrome. It looks like Summer 2025® really was the year everyone packed up their bikes and went camping, and I’m here for it.

So – instead of trying to be clever, here’s a dump of pics from the Hands® and Peak Magazine: Swift Campout 2025. Love to the entire Happy Camping™ crew for making it happen.

Photos by me, Tom Frimley and Matteo Lucherelli. More snaps from James Sofokleus over at Peak Magazine