Riding Out: A Journey of Love, Loss and New Beginnings

This is the remarkable true story of how one man rode through grief, anxiety, and a global lockdown — literally. When Britain shut down in March 2020, Simon Parker’s world collapsed. His travel‑writing career disappeared overnight, and soon after he lost a close friend. With old anxieties bubbling back up, he turned to the two things that had always steadied him: movement and the open road.

So he jumped on his bike at the northern tip of Shetland with nothing more than a sleeping bag, a camping stove, and a need to keep going. What followed was a 3,427‑mile ride around Britain, meeting hundreds of people who were all trying to navigate the same strange, uncertain moment in their own way. Even on the darkest days, Simon found that hope had a habit of showing up — sometimes in the landscape, sometimes in a conversation, sometimes in the simple rhythm of pedalling.

Riding Out is a story of resilience, optimism, and the healing power of slow travel. From Shetland to the Scillies, Dover to Durness, Simon discovers that life’s toughest corners are often best handled at the gentle pace of a bicycle. It’s part travelogue, part personal journey, and a heartfelt portrait of a country finding its feet again.