You’ve probably heard people talking about Eroica Britannia, and that may be why you’re here reading this blog.
We were lucky enough to exhibit at the 2016 event, and had a marvellous time. We loaded up the van, got our team together and headed up to the picturesque town of Bakewell to take part.
Eroica Britannia is a 3 day long festival, with cycling at it’s core. You can expect all the usual festival things such as campsites, delicious food, great music and a friendly atmosphere throughout, but what makes Eroica Britannia different is that basically everyone there loves bikes, especially beautiful old vintage ones. If you’re into nice bikes like we are, you won’t be able to stop staring at every bike you see, the amount of rare and beautiful kit on display is astonishing!
The festival kicks off on the Friday. There’s plenty to see and do throughout the weekend and you can spend hours strolling around the bike jumble sales, finding the odd bargain or that vintage set of centre pull brakes you simply have to have for your next vintage bike project. There’s also dozens of cool bike makers and brands there to check out, displaying their wares. We were situated in the Queen’s Tent, right next to Brooks England and Mercian Cycles. In the evening you have entertainment in the form of: 1. Drinking (Hendricks Gin had a fantastic rooftop bar) 2. Films (yes, Eroica has it’s own cinema!) 3. Dancing (to great live music) or 4. Listening (to music if you’re not a dancer).
You need to dress the part, so turn up with your vintage tweeds or retro cycling jerseys. We got some Temple Cycles vintage inspired jerseys specially made, which we donned all weekend.
Ideally your bike should be of a classic style, or a pure vintage. we made a special Eroica custom bicycle for the show last year which you can see below. We do actually still sell these for around £800 if it takes your fancy (just get in touch with us), it will suit the Eroica Britannia festival perfectly.
There are three rides to choose from, which all happen on the Sunday. Each ride varies in length and you can choose the one to best suit your ability, or how much you want to stop off for fun times along the way!
Find out more at http://eroicabritannia.co.uk
Thanks for reading! Matt