Glorious Gravel Routes
Our selection of some of the best gravel bike routes in Europe
Gravel biking is the hot topic within cycling genres at the moment; and whilst still in its infancy, we’ve already seen gravel bike world championships taking place. All over Europe and beyond, and especially Stateside in America, gravel bike racing is the ideal cycle sport for those seeking thrills, adventure and adrenaline packed action on 2-wheels, riding the off-road gravel trails.
With so much activity taking place, and having Neil Atkinson and the guys at Focal Events as long term friends, we thought that we ought to bring you our very own selection of places to explore in Europe by gravel bike, along with the very best gravel biking events for you to enter. Add to this, our own epic U.K. Gravel Bike Coast to Coast route, and our new joint project with 3T Bikes in Italy, developing an awesome 3T Italian Gravel Bike Coast to Coast route, and there’s going to be lots of options for you to choose from here at Pedalnorth, as this new and exciting European Gravel Biking routes section takes shape, bringing you what some consider to be amongst the very best gravel biking in Europe.
Gravel Rocks – with epic events
Focal events have been creating the very best gravel biking participation events for a few years. Neil and the team were ahead of the game in putting on the now famed Dirty Reiver event at Kielder in Northumberland. They now help to plan and put on similar gravel biking events all over Europe. Add to this, the development of gravel bikes themselves in recent times; with world leading brands such as 3T having a wide spectrum of models to choose from, and you’ve got a great adventure sport to take your 2-wheeled adventures to a new level. Seeing 3T at the recent Euro Bike show at Frankfurt, their range of innovative and highly engineered gravel bikes stood out from the crowd – especially their all-purpose racing Extrema Italia bike, made from 3T’s in-house filament-winding, using a combination of high-strength/high-stiffness fibres, combined with RTM resin injection, to produce probably the best gravel bike frame in the world right now – made in Italy, the home of the white roads!
Gravel Bike Coast to Coast Routes
We first developed our own U.K. Gravel Bike Coast to Coast Route some 3 years ago, along with Beau and Callum from Voom Nutrition. It’s since become one of the best and most popular gravel bike coast to coast routes in the world. It was this success, along with recent talks with Carlo from 3T, that encouraged us to widen our gravel bike route portfolio here at Pedalnorth. The result is a new project to create 3 very special options for an Italian Gravel Bike Coast to Coast route, in partnership with 3T Bikes. The routes will hopefully be ready to ride by early 2025, with an option in the northern Italian Lakes and Mountains, a main option taking on the legendary white roads – Strade Bianche – of Tuscany, and a very special 3T choice of their own favourite gravel trails across Italy.
Inspiring the adventure revolution
Our long-term bikepacking editor, Scott Cornish, has tackled gravel racing all over the world, including the epic Atlas Mountains. It’s only right then, that we showcase some of Scott’s own favourite routes, such as the Tour de Mont Blanc, in France. With our close friend Geoff LeQuatre, former TDF pro rider and CEO of French high-performance clothing brand, G4 also taking on the gravel trails of Europe, we’ve got lots of expertise lined up, to bring you what we believe are probably some of the very best gravel biking routes in Europe.
All that you need is a sense of adventure – and maybe a 3T gravel bike, such as the already legendary 3T Primo, the original Exploro bike, that started the performance revolution, and which is equally at home on gravel, dirt & tarmac – especially the awesome Italian trails!
Anyway, take a look at our selection below, and create your own gravel biking adventure in Europe, as Pedalnorth and 3T Bikes light the spark on the best gravel bike routes you’re ever likely to ride. It’s time to join the adventure revolution!
Riding into an exciting future
We’re really excited to announce that we’re in discussions with industry leading gravel bike designers, Italian gravel bike brand, 3T. Having worked closely with them some 6 years ago, on our ‘build a bike’ project, and watching them take the lead globally with their high-performance, high-quality gravel bikes; we’ll be seeking out new European routes and adventures on 2-wheels, using the world’s best gravel bikes – from 3T.
Keep checking in, as Pedalnorth and 3T continue to bring you a selection of probably some of Europe’s most epic gravel bike routes, for you to plan your own next 0ff-road vacation. It’s time to join the gravel bike revolution!
