The Great British Escapade North and South Downs is a self-supported bike-packing event in the South East of England now entering its sixth year with May/June 2025 being the event's eighth edition. 

Suitable for MTB or Gravel Bikes with around 50mm tyres this event has been created to be an excellent introduction to longer bike-packing events that allow newcomers to the sport to gain valuable experience and confidence whilst also still providing a decent challenge to those more experienced with self-supported riding.

The route is 65% off-road with a distance of 480km and 8500m of climbing - with a late afternoon start and just over three days to complete the course there will be plenty of challenges to deal with whilst never being very far from civilisation and have the convenience of finishing in the same place you started from.

The route is tough and it is challenging with the most common description after the first editions being EPIC!

What and When

The Great British Escapade is a self-supported bikepacking adventure ride. It is 65% off-road and requires a mountain bike, ‘monster cross’ bike or a gravel bike with around 50mm tyres to complete.

It starts in Canterbury on Thursday 29th May 2025 at 17:00hrs and will come to an end no later than 1900hrs on Sunday 1st June 2025 when the finish and live tracking will officially close. There will be two checkpoints on the route - the first near Guildford and the second at Alfriston on the South Downs Way which all riders must pass through.

Full GPX files for the route will be shared with all participants a month before the start day.  See our website for more information about the route.

What Does it Cost?

Entry Fee – £75.00 per individual entry PLUS £25.00 per individual entry for the rental of a tracker and the live tracking – this is a mandatory requirement of the event. 

We have tried to keep the entry fees for the Escapades as low as possible - they cover our costs which include some cool stuff for all our participants, make a contribution to our chosen beneficiary charities and cover a little bit of our time. Our aim is to make these cost effective for you to take part in and hopefully tempt you to have a go at our flagship event the Great British Divide at some point in the future!

What Do I Get?

Included in the entry fee are –

A bloody great big adventure through all the best bits of the South East of Great Britain…

Rental of a Follow My Challenge Tracker

Live Tracking from Follow My Challenge

A full GPX track of the route (which will be released to you two weeks before) for you to download to your navigation devices and follow.

An Enamel Camping Mug with the Escapade branding.

An embroidered event patch and a bike frame sticker (we all love them!)

A Brevet Card for your passage through the checkpoint and as a record of your journey and ride time.

Mandatory Requirements

The requirements for participation can be found on our website here

Terms, Conditions and Rules

The terms, conditions and rules for the event can be found on our website here -PLEASE READ THEM! By entering this event you confirm your acceptance of our terms, conditions and rules.