Fife bikepacking
A new film and long-distance route from Markus Stitz shines a light on Fife’s off-road riding history, drawing inspiration from the Rough Stuff Fellowship while delivering a more approachable bikepacking challenge across some of the region’s best gravel and mixed-terrain landscapes.
Markus Stitz has turned his attention to Fife for his latest project, unveiling a 243-kilometre bikepacking route and short film that pay tribute to the Rough Stuff Fellowship, widely regarded as the world’s oldest off-road cycling club. Titled Roughstuffing in Fife, the film follows a journey across the Kingdom that mixes coastal stretches, forest tracks and hillier inland riding into one substantial loop.
The inspiration behind the project comes from George Berwick, a Fife rider and one of the Fellowship’s longest-standing members, whom Stitz met in early 2025. Stitz says Berwick and other members of the club have influenced his own cycling trips since he moved to Scotland in 2009, with the Fellowship’s tradition built around riding places that were not usually seen as accessible by bike, sometimes involving carrying or pushing bikes through difficult terrain.
That history gives the project a strong sense of lineage, but the route itself is designed to be more rideable than the rough-stuff epics of old. Rather than sending riders into full hike-a-bike territory, Stitz has created a route suited to gravel and mountain bikes, making it a realistic challenge for riders who want a big adventure without venturing into the more extreme end of off-road touring.
The loop starts and finishes in Dunfermline, which is an important detail for anyone planning a weekend mission rather than a purely local ride. Stitz’s route is designed with access in mind, and the media release highlights Dunfermline’s public transport links, along with other joining points such as Rosyth and Dundee via Ember’s intercity electric bus network. Rail access is also available from North Queensferry, Inverkeithing, Dalgety Bay, Aberdour, Kinghorn, Kirkcaldy, Leven, Leuchars and Cardenden, making the route more practical for riders travelling without a car.
As for the riding itself, the route brings together a broad cross-section of Fife terrain. It links the East Neuk with sections of the Fife Pilgrims Way and Coastal Path, then threads through Tentsmuir and Pitmedden Forest, the Lomond Hills and the outcrops of the Ochil Hills. That combination suggests a route with real variety, from exposed coastal scenery to woodland tracks and more testing upland ground, all wrapped into a single circular journey.
Stitz describes Fife as an incredible place to ride and says its year-round potential was a major part of the appeal. He also points to one of bikepacking’s simplest pleasures, exploring places where people live rather than tourist-only destinations, meaning cafés, restaurants and local businesses remain part of the experience beyond the peak holiday season. It is a point many riders will recognise, especially those who value the rhythm of a long ride as much as the route profile itself.
The route is available now, with a GPX file and detailed description hosted on Bikepacking Scotland’s website. It will also appear as a bonus route in Stitz’s upcoming guidebook, Gravel Rides Edinburgh, Fife & The Lothians, due to be published by Vertebrate Publishing in May 2026. According to the release, the book is the third in his gravel series, following volumes covering the Cairngorms and Perthshire, and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs.
The film itself is free to watch on YouTube and was funded by the UK Government in partnership with Fife Council. That backing reflects the wider tourism angle behind the project, with Welcome to Fife also supporting promotion of the region as a destination for outdoor travel and riding.
Stitz is well placed to tell that story. Based in Edinburgh and originally from Germany, he has spent years exploring Scotland by bike and has built a strong reputation as a route designer, filmmaker, photographer and writer. His wider CV includes founding Bikepacking Scotland, mapping the Capital Trail, co-directing the Cateran Ecomuseum and racing events such as the Highland Trail 550, alongside ultra-distance competitions in Kyrgyzstan, Morocco and Norway.
For riders looking ahead to their next big off-road outing, Roughstuffing in Fife looks like more than just a film launch. It is a reminder that some of the richest cycling stories are often found not in races or finish-line drama, but in the landscapes, local history and spirit of adventure that keep people heading down the next track just to see where it goes.
