RIDE, COOK, CAMP, REPEAT: AN EPIC 5-DAY OFF-ROAD EXPEDITION ON THE BEST TRAILS IN NORTHERN SPAIN

NEXT AVAILABLE DATES: MAY 2025 / first week of SEPT 2025

THE LOCATION

Spain’s climate, history and geography make this possibly the best trail-riding in the world. Anyway, it’s definitely the BEST riding within 30 hrs drive of London!

THE TRAILS

Spain has about four million km of trails for us to ride. My mission is to learn as many as I can and share them with YOU.

THE CAMPING

Learn first hand how to ‘rough-camp off the bike’ but with simple gear. It’s teamwork, self catering and yet we live like Kings. Come and find out how…

“Quite simply the BEST week on a motorcycle I have EVER done!”

MARC POTTER – EDITOR MCN

THE MINI MONDO EXPLAINED

INFORMATION

THE VERY IMPORTANT BIT

I am big on the teamwork low-budget DIY kick. That’s what I am going to immerse you in. If this sounds awful, it probably will be.

If you are a show-off, a prima donna, vaguely selfish and really into doing things ‘your’ way then do NOT come on this trip. If you are the kind of person who thinks insulting people is funny (and then follows up the insult with “I was only joking”) can you please not come on this trip.

The compressed nature of the living means we need team players who want to get stuck in. Not the riding, the admin: washing up, gathering wood, puncture repairs, setting up camp, etc. You’ll be working non-stop and I need you to relish that.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

I created the route that you will ride. If you sign up to a Mini Mondo you are agreeing to NOT make any attempt using maps, phones, GPS or electronic Satnav units to record the route in any way whatsoever. If, whilst on the trip, it comes to light that you have been recording a ‘breadcrumb trail’ then you will be asked to leave the trip. If you have a tracker on your bike then remove or de-activate it whilst on Mini Mondo.

GENERAL FORMAT

Five days guided trail-riding in the Catalan Pyrenees and northern Spain.

You will be guided in two squads by myself and the legendary Dai Jones.

100% teamwork, self-catering, rough camping, only tarps, no tents, no GPS, no back-up vehicle, no sat phones. You MUST be a competent trail-rider to be able to access the route we have designed. If you are even vaguely nervous on a trail bike then this is not for you.

If you like to do things ‘your’ way, forget all about Mini Mondo, you’ll hate it.

It will be intense and tiring with little privacy. You will be a team-member, not a ‘package holiday customer’.

However, it will be an unforgettably positive experience with the risk of death and serious injury. There is no mechanical recovery, first-aid, emergency or back-up service provided.

ITINERARY

Mini Mondo 26
Burgos 19–24 May 2025
Team assembles at Hostal Domingo in Quintanar de la Sierra, Burgos

Mini Mondo 27
Oliana 1–6 September 2025
Team assembles at Hotel Cal Petit in Oliana, Northern Catalunya

Monday afternoon 2pm
Meet and greet, distribute team kit, ride 30 miles, eat and sleep in the field Monday night.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Trail-ride about 500 miles around the Pyrenees, rough camping and self-catering every night.

Friday
Trail-ride to hotel, arriving late afternoon, exhausted. Return group equipment then shower, cocktails, dinner and crisp cotton sheets! No need to go ‘native’! Expect to have to share a room whilst in the hotel.

End hotel and start hotel are THE SAME PLACE. Saturday morning, ride off into the sunset (as far as that is possible before lunch).

CHOICE OF BIKE

Everyone is asking me about what bike to take etc. The answer is simple – It’s not about the bike, it’s about YOUR level of skill.

We will be riding hundreds of miles of farmers’ trails in the mountains, whilst carrying ‘expedition’ luggage. It is neither enduro nor trials but will challenge different riders in different ways.

If you have zero off-road skill you need to stop reading this and start trail-riding. If you are a dirt ‘legend’ then you will be fine on a huge adventure bike. If you are a normal person with no off-road experience who wants something to do on their ‘adventure bike’ you need to build up your skill before attending Mini Mondo. Do this by attending the Apprentice V.I.N.C.E. or The Mondo Skill Builder course.

Personally, I hope to be on a Honda CRF250L which I will also ride to and from Spain. Put simply, your choice of bike mustn’t impinge on the rest of the team members’ enjoyment. Whatever you bring, just make sure you can handle it easily on rough trails, hill-climbs and loose rubbly descents (and pick it up on your own).

A GSA1200 or KTM990 can handle this project but usually, the rider simply doesn’t enjoy it. The weak link is the rider, not the machine…

My bike and kit list:

Honda CRF 250L
Michelin Tracker Tyres
Barkbusters Handguards
13 tooth front sprocket
LOMO 30 Litre Waterproof Bag
Kreiga or Adventure Spec ‘Magadans’ for luggage
Leatherman
Adventure Spec body Protection

PLEASE NOTE: The Mini Mondo project only works because there are loads of us carrying all the group equipment spread between us. I plan the team as 8 bikes and we have 8 sets of group kit to distribute on the first day. If even one person doesn’t show up we are compromised.

BREAKDOWN & SUPPORT

There isn’t much. If it goes wrong for you, the rest of the team will get you to tarmac and then to a town. These are the guys that will literally get you ‘off the mountain’. Once we get you to a town, we may leave you, unless you have life-threatening injuries. If you are injured badly you need to summon your next of kin to be your companion. They need to be ready for this.

You will need some euro-wide breakdown cover in place because I will NOT provide any. Once you are back on tarmac you have to take care of yourself, like an adventure motorcyclist would. This may mean hitch-hiking, flagging down a passing car or walking. Seriously, this trip does NOT have a built-in rescue and recovery element.

If you want a trip with full rescue vehicles, really easy dirt roads, first-aid staff, vehicle recovery etc, this isn’t it. Don’t sign up. Also, you could be killed or badly injured. There is zero health cover. Your injuries may be treated in a Spanish hospital ONLY if you carry the EHIC card ON YOUR PERSON, but even this is NOT guaranteed, they often charge people who are holding a valid EHIC card in front of them!

Non-EU nationals, expect a heavy bill from a Spanish hospital and have appropriately heavy-duty holiday insurance that covers dirt-biking in wilderness areas.

Get recovery insurance and medivac from https://partner.globalrescue.com/austinvince/index.htm

DATES

Mini Mondo 26
Burgos 19–24 May 2025

Mini Mondo 27
Oliana 1–6 September 2025

COST

£1,285

To register interest (you CANNOT sign up online) send an email to Austin via the ‘contact’ page. Expect a telephone chat with Austin to ensure this is the right holiday for you.

PAYMENT

To guarantee a place simply pay in full once you have spoken to me on the phone. Do NOT pay without agreeing to the terms. The deposit payment is £300. That gets you a reserved place and is non-refundable, regardless of why you do not attend the week.

Pay, by making a BACS transfer to the account details below:

Name: Big Scale Adventures
Sort Code 30-91-91
Account No. 36472060
Include a Reference of your surname.

Don’t pay anything until you have read and signed my ‘statement of expectations’ and the ‘Trail-riding and safety policy’. Email me and I will send them to you. This document is NOT on this website. This is the ethos for the week. It’s very prescriptive and some people find it weird and implausible. However, it’s how I roll so there’s no point in signing up and then leaving the trip at the end of the first day spluttering “You never said it would be like THIS!”

There is no mechanical recovery, first-aid, emergency or back-up service provided within the team. We are on our own…

REFUNDS

This refunds policy is robust.

You are gambling with substantial sums if for whatever reason, however understandable, you have to cancel. You MUST have holiday insurance that will refund the money you pay to me if you cannot attend. I will not refund your fees (full details below).

In summary, the £300 deposit is NOT refundable under any circumstances. It is how I simply find out who is and is NOT serious about attending. The balance of £985 has to be paid by midnight on the last day in April 2025. If you don’t want to gamble with your entry fee, get insurance, or step away from this project.

If you cancel before midnight on 30 April 25 and have only paid the £300 deposit then you will get no refund.

If you cancel before midnight on 30 April 25 and have paid the full £1285 then you will get a £300 refund.

If you cancel AFTER midnight on 30 April 25 then you will get no refund.

WARNING

Trail-riding and motorcycling are NOT safe. You do not have to face these risks. Be safe by NOT motorcycling. Be safe by NOT trail-riding in remote wilderness locations. Be even SAFER by not riding on rural Spanish roads where a member of the public is approaching you in a car or van, intoxicated, distracted or not concentrating. This scenario, an RTA, is the most likely way you will be killed whilst on this week.

If you lose control on a cliff-edge mountain trail, and go over the edge, you may be killed.

Ensure you have life insurance that covers you for this. I have no ‘tour operator’ insurance nor group insurance that covers YOUR safety.

Your safety is NOT guaranteed but, given that we ARE trail-riding we will always mitigate all risks. If you are killed it will almost certainly be in an RTA with a car etc. on a liaison section. We cannot control the driving of other road users.

You are riding unmaintained trails in the mountains, far from help. If you want a guarantee of safety you must NOT come on this trip.

The off-road routes are designed to be accessible to GS1200s, KTM 990s etc but not if they are ridden by a normal person, they are quite technical. The routes we use are NOT ‘forest roads’ or maintained ‘all-weather roads’. They are MORE difficult to ride than that. The routes are often hugely damaged/eroded by heavy rain and many riders find coping, whilst carrying luggage, very difficult. If this is you, get some training in.

The routes simply cannot be tackled by off-road novices. If you need a bit of adventure on your adventure bike, and can handle it like a God, but can only get a week off work, then THIS is it.

If you have NEVER been trail-riding you should probably be doing The Mondo Skill Builder instead.

Naturally, if you want to bring a smaller bike, be our guest, you will have a better week than the person riding a 250kg machine. We rarely exceed 30mph and the speed limit on the trails is 12mph.

There is no mechanical recovery, first-aid, emergency or back-up service provided. Also, this is dangerous.

Take out holiday insurance that covers a refund scenario, helicopter evacuation AND medical treatment.

Do NOT rely on your GHIC card.

Get recovery insurance and medivac from https://partner.globalrescue.com/austinvince/index.htm