There are so many highlights in the year, almost all of which were enjoyed while travelling through the world on my trusty bike. So I feel like now, given the poor winter weather, is a chance to highlight a few of my favourite moments that occurred before launching Tour De Dram at the end of last year.
The best trip by far was a 150Km cycle over two days from Glasgow to Pitlochry. A sodden first day as my partner and I cycled through the mist and drizzle and staying in remarkably good spirits and toasty warm if not a little damp, making it over the Campsie fells for a night at my folks’ house, where we dried off by the fire and made flapjacks for the next day’s efforts, which would be long, and due to various reasons, food intake had to be carefully considered. There was a little more than just the destination in mind; along the route, there was the Falls of Acharn, which looked like a mighty fine place if I were to pop the question I had been wanting to ask for a while now. So with my best efforts to not let anything on during the ride and braced with champagne and glasses if she said yes, and thankfully, I didn’t have to reach for the emergency whisky on that occasion. That said, the next day we did take the opportunity to visit Blair Athol, when in Rome!
With that being the clear highlight of the year, a couple of months later, we were jetting off to Nice for a two-week cycle tour to Milan, something of an engagement honeymoon if you will, with sunshine by the seaside, snow-capped mountains and drifting off asleep full of wine, waking to some of the most glorious sunrises surrounded by the very vines that produced the aforementioned fine wines we had been sampling. Accommodation was a beautiful mixture of camping on vineyards, the single worst campsite if ever encountered, and some of the most friendly folk on Warm Showers (Got to be said though we were lucky enough to sample the coldest shower on Warm Showers courtesy of Giacomo who was converting an old farm building and didn’t yet have hot water, evidently the plumbing for his shower must have gone through the artic circle. Luckily, the welcome was more than warm enough to make up for it, including his dad joining us for the first 20km of our onward cycle to show us the way out of town when it was time for us to leave
In terms of whisky, I ticked off a load in the central belt but also managed a trip each to Speyside and Islay. Being ‘Micro’ adventures of two days each, I hardly scratched the surface. Both are amazing regions, and in terms of places to cycle, Islay is a lovely size to visit on the bike. Camping left a little to be desired, but a hammock a few miles out of Bowmore was the perfect place to seek shelter. And given how remote the Island is from the mainland, distilleries certainly have their best customer practices polished up and are keen to reward anyone who’s made the effort to visit them. Speyside is a bit of a cycle from either Carrbridge or Elgin/Keith train station. The Speyside Way runs between the two, which keeps you almost traffic-free for the entire duration. I opted instead for a cheaper train only as far as Aberdeen, and tackling the 100km of steady cycling over an evening and early morning. Speyside once you are there is even more accessible in terms of active travel, Indeed even on foot you wouldn’t find the distances too far if you wanted a slow paced getaway and enjoyed a walk down the river taking in the historic water that was so successful at bringing whisky to life all those years ago and still creates some of my favourite whiskies to date.
All in 2025 was a fantastic year, with over 5000km cycled, 30 odd distilleries, breweries, vineyards and all while in good company of my loved ones, friends, or even when travelling solo, still found plenty of company worthy of keeping.
Excited to bring on 2026!