Markus Stitz is a German-born route designer, film-maker, photographer and writer, based in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. He caught the adventure bug while living in New Zealand and has explored Scotland extensively since he moved here in 2009. Before cycling 34,000 kilometres unsupported around the world on a single-speed mountain bike, he mapped his first bikepacking route, the Capital Trail. On his return he founded Bikepacking Scotland (bikepackingscotland.com) and has worked in many corners of Scotland, designing bikepacking and gravel routes. He is also a co-director of the Cateran Ecomuseum and the director and founder of Dirt Dash events. Markus is an ultra-endurance racer, with three successful finishes of the Highland Trail 550 (Scotland), along with single finishes of the Silk Road Mountain Race (Kyrgyzstan), Atlas Mountain Race (Morocco) and Mother North (Norway). Markus’s writing has appeared in a wide variety of magazines and online publications in English and German. He is the author of Great British Gravel Rides and Bikepacking Scotland, and he also co-edited Big Rides: Great Britain & Ireland. Gravel Rides Cairngorms & Perthshire is his third solo book. markusstitz.com