It sounded almost too good to be true – the chance to go and ride in an undiscovered gravel paradise and play a small role in how its future is shaped. Obviously, Olly didn’t need too much arm twisting and packed his SPF50 sunscreen before heading off to the far side of the world. It’s a tough life, isn’t it…..

Why would you consider riding a 20km broken road climb in a set of mountains Sri Lankan, when the temperature is 35 degrees and you know you’ll be so tired by the top, that you’ll decide to get a lift down the other side? Surely only a madman would do that? Olly dons his gravelly climbing gear and heads for the hills.

One of the big dilemmas of booking an overseas gravel riding trip is whether to take your own bike or to find a rental bike locally. While you can pretty easily find a road bike or MTB to rent in many locations, finding an appropriate gravel bike to hire is not always guaranteed and that probably means one thing – packing up your own bike instead. With summer trips just on the horizon, we thought we’d give you our top tips for safely taking your pride and joy on holiday with you.