Where the Wild Things are

How off-grid can you go on a bikepacking trip? Chris pedals onto Dartmoor accompanied by bushcraft expert Haze Outdoors to find out

- Chris Barnard

The sun is rapidly disappearing below the horizon. I look around me - barren moorland in every direction. We continue along the section of sheep-trodden singletrack that we've been exploring until we find a shallow gulley, sheltered by a wind-blasted tree that wouldn't look out of place in Wuthering Heights. My companion sizes up the terrain, dismounts, kicks some sheep poo out of the way and flips his bike over onto its handlebar. "This'll do it!" he exclaims. We've found our home for the night.

GREEN MAN

The bikepacking scene is in many ways a perfect manifestation of what I love most about mountain biking - that feeling of attrition as you conquer huge terrain bit by bit, of being free and unconstrained. It's just you, the bike, the big skies and the rolling hills... as well as all that heavy crap you're hauling. I've always wondered, do you really need the energy gels, the two-man tent, the gallons of water and the 5G tablet with power bank? What if you were to only pack the stuff that's essential to your survival - could you find the rest out in the wild? I want to find out, and I want to come back in one piece.

The problem is, I don't know much about the flora and fauna of the UK, so I've got some help for this one. Paul 'Hazy' Hayes, also known as Haze Outdoors, is a popular You Tuber and podcaster, and an expert on bushcraft and wild food, who's slept under the stars more times than he's cooked hot dinners on a camping stove. This mountain-conquering spear-fishing, mushroom-foraging, Yorkshire lad is definitely the man for the job.