Markus Stitz is a route designer, film-maker, photographer and writer, based in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. Originally from Germany, he 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 a co-director of the Cateran Ecomuseum, and founder of Dirt Dash events and the Edinburgh Dawn Patrol. 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, Bikepacking Scotland and Gravel Rides Cairngorms & Perthshire, and he also co-edited Big Rides: Great Britain & Ireland. Gravel Rides Loch Lomond & The Trossachs is his fourth solo book. markusstitz.com