Summer Gathering
Length
Trip Style
Camping, vans + glamping options
Terrain
Challenge
Suitable for all levels
Distance
Mixed gravel & tarmac
Price
20km - 70km per day
£115. Subsidised spots available.
Basecamp Gathering
2 nights
Dates
Location
Lake District, England. Satterthwaite
6 - 8th June 2025
Accomodation
SOLD OUT!
Ringfenced tickets are available for under-served groups.
Send us a message for the code, then click below to use it on Ticket Tailor.
Sign up to our webinar series to learn more about our Summer Gathering and 4 x fully funded spots up for grabs (applications open until 5th April).
Each webinar has a special focus, but all are open to everyone. Click below to register.
Webinar & funded spots
Webinar #1: Friday 28th March, 7pm.
With Asma Amla (she/her), one of last years funded spots recipients and champion of Muslim women riders.
Webinar #2: Monday 31st March, 7pm.
With Emily Williams (she/her), co-founder and director of Every Body Outdoors
Webinar #3: 31st March, 8pm.
With Emm Whitaker (they/them), SITW rider leader from the queer/non-binary community .
Want to apply for a fully funded spot? Click HERE for full info and to apply. Applications open until 5th April.
We're bringing back the summer Sisters In The Wild vibe to the Lake District for our 5th annual gathering, bigger and better than ever. Expect two days of gravel riding, skill building opportunities, communcal grub, and basecamp fun, surrounded by a supportive and inclusive atmosphere. There’ll be optional add on skills opportunities on Friday too - expect a full day women-led mechanics school, off-road skills coaching, and more.
Our basecamp is on the doorstep of the lush Grizedale forest, where there'll be space to pitch your tent or van for the Friday and Saturday night, or stay in a basic camping pod/yurt.
Daytime will see a variety of ride options for you to go out and explore some of the finest Lake District gravel. Whether you want to go and smash out a full day epic, or join a confidence building, guided ride, we’ll have an option to suit.
However you spend your day, we’ll all come together in the evening back at basecamp share communal dinners and stories around the campfire. Expect bikepacking focused talks, films, mechanics lessons and much more thrown in as well.
Highlights
✔ Our biggest community event of the year, back for it’s 5th year.
✔ Englands finest gravel riding and swim dips aplenty
✔ Gravel rides from 20km to 70km every day.
✔ Great for solo riders - lots of space to meet new riding buddies.
✔ 2 communal dinners included
✔ Tonnes of basecamp talks, skills sessions and
✔ Option to book additional skills coaching or mechanics on Friday
Pricing Info
A standard ticket is £115, which gives you space to pitch your own tent on our camping field, 2 communal dinners, and access to our rides and basecamp activities. A limited number of subsidised tickets are available for those facing financial barriers to joining (£75).
Riders can add a spot for their campervan (£25) or add one of the campsite’s glamping options.
Optional Add Ons
Full day women-led mechanics school on Friday (£125)
Full day off-road gravel skills coaching on Friday (£125)
Glamping upgrades - no need to bring a tent (Camping Pods (BYO sleeping mat + bag) - £70, Yurts - (BYO Sleeping bag) £ Various)
Campervan spot (£25)
Gear loan - Tents, Sleeping Mats and Navigation Devices (from £5)
Cancellation policy
Refunds are available up to 45 days before the event. After this point, you’ll be able to transfer your ticket to someone else of your finding up to 14 days before the event. We may not be able to accommodate new dietary requirements after this day. View full booking terms and conditions here.
What’s included?
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Space on our camping field fro Friday and Saturday night for you and your tent. Campervans can be brought for an additional £25 (limited spots)
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Around the rides we’ll have a bunch of skills sessions and inspiring talks, Expect mechanics drop ins, adventure stories, yoga and wellness, and confidence building skills sessions.
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Dinner on both Friday and Saturday night is included, and will be vegan friendly.
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Each participant will be provided with a specially curated collection of routes and route briefings via Komoot, and a free map bundle to access/navigate them.
These will range from 20km to 70km, with a mix of terrains and challenge level on offer to suit a mix of riders.
In general, the rides will be self-navigated and not guided. However, we will have a limited number of spots on confidence building guided rides on Saturday, and a rider buddy up to help solo riders find a great gang to ride with.
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We’ll facilitate space on Friday night for those coming along solo to meet fellow riders! We’ll also be facilitating a Rider Buddy Up on Saturday, to help people find folks to ride with across all the ride routes,
We love that many people come to our gatherings solo, and work hard for people to connect and find riding buddies.
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Riders can loan tents, mats, navigation devices and bags from our library for a nominal fee (donated to charity) over the weekend
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Not included
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Breakfast, lunch and snacks are not included. We’ll make sure you know where you can pick up food on the ride, and have options available at basecamp for breakfasts and drinks. You’re welcome to bring your own cooking equipment to make your own stuff.
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Riders can bring their own bike, or hire via our partners at Country Lane Cycles who will deliver and collect to basecamp. See FAQ for info.
Riders should carry simple tools/spare for their bike in case of bike issues. See our FAQ section for details.
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Riders are responsible for getting themselves to and from basecamp. See our FAQs section for travel info and public transport suggestions.
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We highly recommend riders take out public liability for cycling through an operator like Cycling UK, Bikmo or Yellow Jersey.
Membership of both Cycling UK and British Cycling includes this.
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This is a self supported riding event, and there are no support vehicles or rider pick ups available. Riders should be comfortable riding self supported and be responsible for themselves if issues occur.
That being said, we are a super supportive community, and know that you’ll have a checkpoints, basecamp first aid and mechanics, and a supportive community of 300 other riders out there to help!
Basecamp info
Basecamp
Lake District, Cumbria, England. Grizedale Campsite, Low Bowkerstead Farm, Sattherthwaite, LA12 8LL
We'll be back tfor the 4th year at Grizedale Campsite , near Satterthwaite in the Southern Lake District. Arrival is from 5pm on Friday, depart Sunday evening by 6pm.
We’ll have a camping field, and a separate parking field, and the campsite has a 11 camping pods and 3 yurts available for booking through us. There’ll be a few locations spread around the site where we’ll be running our sessions, and a large open barn for our main talks and rider briefing.
There'll be parking available on site, with lift-sharing encouraged through our rider whatsapp and Facebook groups. The closest train station is Windermere (1 hr 5 min cycle). or Ulverston (1 hr 10 min cycle)
Loos and limited showers available on site and there will be breakfasts and drinks available.
Vans and campers
With the additional Campervan ticket (£25), vans can be parked on the tent camping field. This is subject to dry weather, and in the case of muddy field, we may need vans to park on the parking field - 2 min walk from the tent field
About the riding & bikes
About the rides
Our core route options are self-navigated and self-supported, meaning riders are given access to the routes, and head of to ride in what ever style and pace they want. Our routes are Gravel Rides, focused on getting off-road and away from tarmac.
“Off-road/Gravel”, in the lake district can mean smooth cycle paths, forest roads, singletrack, rocky bridleways, muddy fields and everything in between!
Riders should be self sufficient and carry their own navigation, tools, spares, first aid and snacks
With this in mind, it’s important that you have a bit of experience riding off road, know your own abilities and when it might be safest to take your bike for a walk.
If you're new to off-road riding, you can sign up to one one of our free guided rides! We’ll have around 50 spots available, with signs up a couple of months before the event. These routes will be around 20 miles.
Route options will range from 20-ish miles to 70-ish miles. Expect a decent amount of climbing in all the routes. Riding in the Lake District is rarely flat, but always worth it!
This is not a race but a social ride, so you are free to ride as much or as little as you want.
Expect some very short sections of hike-a-bike and rougher terrain on the longer routes.
Recommended Bike
Our routes are focused on getting off-road, so we recommend using a bike with 38mm tyres or larger.
The most important thing is that your bike is in a good condition and safe to ride, so we’d recommend having a safety check of it before the event. If you are newer to off-road riding and are hiring a bike for the weekend, we recommend renting a hardtail mountain bike. These tend to have thicker tyres, suspension, and good gearing, and are great for building confidence.
E-Mountain Bikes are very welcome, but due to limited charging spots at basecamp, require a (free!) add on to your ticket.
Bike tools and spares
Riders should bring simple tools and spares to take on their bikes whilst riding. See our FAQ section for a packing list.
Bike hire
Bike hire is available, and we have partnered with Country Lane Cycles to arrange delivery and collection of bikes to basecamp. See our FAQs for more info.
Travel to basecamp
Ride sharing
We love that our riders connect before events to share lifts, and will set up an optional rider whatsapp group to help riders connect before the event and share travel plans. You can also join the SITW rider share facebook group.
Public Transport
Our basecamp isn’t super well served by public transport, but our closest train stations are Windermere and Ulverston. Different train companies have different rules on bike carriage. Please ensure you check the bike carriage restrictions on any trains you book, and be sure to book your bike on the train if required asap. Those arriving by train will need to cycle (1hr 10 min), taxi or lift share between the train station and the site as there are no buses to basecamp. We’d recommend asking in the whatsapp group (shared at booking) or for potential ride shares.
Arriving by car
Our basecamp is nestled in the Lake District. We’ll have a parking field and a camping field,
Mechanics & Gravel Skill School
On Friday, there is the option to add a full day (9 - 4pm) Mechanics School, or Gravel Skills School to your booking. These are great ways to build confidence in your off-road riding and basic mechanical skills, and can help give you the confidence to get out riding and adventuring independently. Spots for both of these are limited will have ratio of max 1 tutor to 8 riders. Led by our crack team of SITW coaches and mechanics, these are great opportunities to invest in developing your skills.
Gravel Skills
We’ll begin with building some foundational skills at basecamp, before taking them out in to the wild on a local ride.
Read full info about the itinerary here
Mechanics School
If you’re looking to build on the free basic puncture sessions we run, our small group mechanics class are the perfect next step. Over the day, we’ll cover more topics in depth, including Gear Tuning, Brake Adjustments, and how to check the parts on your bike for safety and feel empowered to go to your local bike shop knowing what the issue is.
Read full info about the itinerary here.
FAQs
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Refunds are available up to 45 days before the event. This applies to both tickets, upgrades and Friday schools.
After this point, you’ll be able to transfer your ticket to someone else of your finding up to 14 days before the event. We may not be able to accommodate new dietary requirements after this day. View full booking terms and conditions here.
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This is intended to be an accessible event and we have a few riding options available. But the right bike, a reasonable level of fitness and a bit of off-road confidence will stand you in good stead. If you’re newer to off-road riding, sign up to one of our guided rides. Being able to ride around 20 miles, in hilly terrain, and a bit of experience of off-road riding is a good baseline target.
We will have around 50 spots available on guided rides, aimed at newer off-road riders, with a friendly pace and support from a qualified guide. We’ll release sign up to these a couple of months before the event. We’d recommend using the time before the event to build some experience and confidence.
You may find using a Mountain Bike rather than a gravel bike helps to build your confidence. Mountain Bike hire is available locally.
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Yes! We welcome e-mtb that are suitable for riding off-road. Due to limited charging points at basecamp, you will just need to add a free e-bike ticket to your order.
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What spares and tools to bring
2 x spare tubes and patches
Small pump
Tubeless plugs/spare sealant if running tubeless tyres
Multitool with what you need for your bike e.g. allen keys
Spare set of brake pads (specific for your bike)
We also recommend bringing a few spares that are specific to your bike. We don’t expect you to know how to fit these! But having them to hand can mean our team or local bike shop is better able to get you back on the road.
Chain quick link
Spare derailleur hanger
Extra brake pads just in case!
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Bike hire is available for the weekend , and we have partnered with Country Lane Cycles to arrange delivery and collection of bikes to basecamp. See our FAQs for more info.on Friday evening or early Saturday morning (TBC). They have hardtail MTBs available, which are great bikes for off-road riding, Please note, if you have booked an additional Friday school, you will need to arrange your own pick up of the bike.
Country Lane Cycles is located next to Windermere train station, so if arriving before 5pm you may choose to pick up and ride to Basecamp. Alternative bike hire options available for collection and riding to basecamp include:
Total Adventure Bike Hire (next to Windermere Station): https://total-adventure.co.uk/pages/book-your-bike-hire-here
Ghyllside Cycles in Ambleside: https://www.ghyllside.co.uk/bike-hire/
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We expect to have a similar number of riders as last year, with around 300 - 350 expected to join in total.
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For our meal at basecamp, we will try to accommodate dietary requirements shared at time of booking. There’ll be a spot to put this on your booking form. Vegan, Veggie and Gluten Free will be fine. However due to the small food prep area, we may unfortunately struggle to accommodate serious allergies due to the risk of cross contamination. feel free to drop us an email with any questions.
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We highly recommend riders take out public liability for cycling through an operator like Cycling UK, Bikmo or Yellow Jersey.
Membership of both Cycling UK and British Cycling includes this.
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Riders need to be able to ride a bike safely, and we would recommend being able to ride 20 miles in hilly terrain to get the most out of the weekend. Some off-road experience is recommended, We’ll have different ride options for all fitness/experience levels. You can, of course, also choose not to ride at all!
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Unfortunately not. Please do not arrive at basecamp earlier than 5pm on Friday unless you have booked a gravel school or mechanics school on the Friday.
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We’ll share a recommended paacking list in our Pre Event info. Key things will be:
Bike, helmet, tools and spares
Camping gear
Clothes to ride in
Clothes to hang out at basecamp
Something to carry your water, snacks and layers on your bike
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Yes, subject to availability. Just book through Ticket Tailor.
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Camping is available at the campsite on Sunday, but please be aware we will be packing down the event, and common areas will not be accessible.
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Absolutely! One of the things we loved most about our summer event was hearing from people who came alone how many new freindships were started at the weekend. We work hard to create spaces for people to meet and ride together.
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We’ll have local heroes on site serving us dinner (included), and open for riders to buy drinks, breakfast and treats. Feel free to bring your own food if you want. There is no shop close to basecamp, so best to bring anything you want with you.
Dinner will be vegan and gluten free, and we will capture any other dietary requirements at booking.