Your once a week dose of retail therapy from Singletrack’s Premier Dealers, stockists and advertisers.
Tuesday Treats gives you a quality serving of independent bike retailing and a chance to win big in this week’s prize draw.
This week, we’re introducing Drover Holidays.
This week, we’re checking back in with the Drover Cycles crew to hear about their sister company, Drover Holidays.
Turns out that besides their buzzing retail and bike hire wing in swish Hay-on-Wye – where they stock mountain bikes from the likes of Genesis, Pyga and Saracen – they run cycle tours too. These are both on- and off-road, and they’re for everyone from cycling newbies to dedicated tarmac fiends. Co-owner Anna Heywood tells us more:
So how does all this fit together Anna?
It’s fair to say the shop is the public face of Drover, but in truth the holiday side of things came first. The idea was slow-cooked on the dusty trails of South Africa on a 30,000km cycling odyssey from London to Cape Town, so when it comes to cycle touring, we reckon we’ve earned our stripes!
Who goes on a Drover Holiday?
We specialise in self-guided tours on long-distance routes in Wales – both cycling and walking – but we really do offer everything, from romantic weekend tandem breaks, to challenging, hardcore mountain biking, to family outings on the Taff Trail. Fancy riding from one end of Wales to the other on the Lon Las Cymru? We’ve got that covered. How about a multi-day mountain bike adventure on the Trans-Cambrian or the Sarn Helen? We can do that too. We have electric bike mini-breaks, tours exploring the mediaeval heritage of the Welsh borders and trips meandering through the beautiful Wye Valley. Here’s us in realtime…
What if I want to ride the Taff Trail in high heels with my vegan dog in tow?
We aim to please – though we’re not sure Jimmy Choo has an SPD range just yet! Seriously, we’re not about ‘off the peg’ holidays – think of our brochure as a guide, we can tweak and tailor every trip to clients’ exact requirements. All the tours include quality B&B accommodation (dog-friendly if required!), luggage transfers, bike hire, custom maps and detailed route descriptions.
You can leave the car at home: we’ll pick you up and drop you off at the nearest train or bus station at the start and end of your ride. If something does go wrong (like you break a heel!) you have the added peace of mind that we’re on the end of the phone. For more info, have a read of our FAQ.
Any grand plans for the future?
The bulk of our brochure is made up of leisure cycling road tours, but we’ve got more self-guided mountain bike trips and weekend breaks in the pipeline taking in the stunning natural trails of the Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains – and beyond. We’re also looking into developing a Tour of Britain short break covering this year’s Welsh stage – it passes through the heart of Mid Wales and onwards via Talgarth, just down the road from us.
Away from all things Drover, what else are you into?
Hay-on-Wye has amazing cycling across all disciplines right on the doorstep. We’ve got techy singletrack in the Black Mountains, we’ve got the highest tarmac road in Wales over the Gospel Pass, and then miles of quiet country lanes for family and leisure cycling. We’re heavily involved with organising the annual Hay Bike Fest, which aims to showcase all this great riding. The second one took place in April, and we’re planning to return in 2015 with a new, summer date. Lastly, it would be rude not to have a look at the lovely bikes we get our hands on over in the Shop. This custom Pyga was built by our workshop and sold to the very first demo rider that got their leg over it…
What do Singletrack Subscribers get from you guys?
Premier Singletrack members benefit from 5% off our cycling holidays and a 10% discount on bike hire. Plus, mention ‘Tuesday Treats’ in-store to bag a Drover Cycles water bottle.
Tuesday Treats Prize Draw
Click here to win this week’s prize!