Search found 11 matches

by British Eagle
28 Apr 2015, 2:27pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Touring France with a child's trailer
Replies: 8
Views: 2991

Re: Touring France with a child's trailer

We are now the proud owners of a 2010-2013 Burley Solo. Figured this will be the one trailer that's small and light enough to be disguised as a pram and still carry a shed load. I just hope the standard hitch fits my classic British eagle Touristique ... (runs off to see)

Dave, http://travellingtwo.com/start-here has been inspirational to two keen cyclists with a last-minute baby.
by British Eagle
22 Apr 2015, 10:24am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Touring France with a child's trailer
Replies: 8
Views: 2991

Re: Touring France with a child's trailer

Thanks for that. Norway and Denmark would be an awesome trip. I've just upgraded the trailer to a secondhand Burley, arriving soon, as I'm hoping we'll be doing a lot of touring over the next few years. I guess it'll be best using trains just for the big planned journeys where we can book ahead - no hopping on and off the locals! I know about 'disguising' the trailer as a pram (on airlines too) but have never tried it; it's just so huge I don't know how we'd get away with it.
by British Eagle
19 Apr 2015, 11:18am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Touring France with a child's trailer
Replies: 8
Views: 2991

Touring France with a child's trailer

Has anyone experience of this? I'm wondering if you can take a trailer on the French trains and how easy (difficult!) it is with two bikes, panniers and an infant (who has trailered since he was 8 weeks old and is now 8 months). We would be camping too.
by British Eagle
4 Jul 2014, 9:43pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: caledonian canal
Replies: 33
Views: 31592

Re: caledonian canal

From Fort Augustus south along the Caladonian canal is a little pot holey. After that, The fire tracks along the west bank of Loch Lochy are fine and join up with the B road into Fort William. I had no problems with a 1980's steel frame British Eagle, 28" tyres and fully loaded with camping gear. From Inverness to Fort Augustus we took the Eastern high road via Loch Ashie. Which was a long climb but possibly the most scenic part of the whole trip.
by British Eagle
29 May 2014, 6:39am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: saddle choice
Replies: 10
Views: 3633

Re: saddle choice

'They' say a stiff leather saddle is much better for long distance cycling than a gel saddle which can induce sores. My 2nd hand B17 gave me no problems on a 1200m ride. My husband's new B17 style Spa leather saddle worked for him too and he'd only ridden it 150 miles before the longer trip.
by British Eagle
29 May 2014, 6:11am
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: surviving the train to Thurso
Replies: 16
Views: 14641

Re: surviving the train to Thurso

I reckon you'll want to load the panniers separately. We used Carradice super Cs with shoulder straps which came in very useful. The shopping bag idea seems good so noone will run off with them on the platform. It can get a bit hectic on a busy train and im glad we did a practice overnight tour including a train ride a few weeks before the main trip. We got our Bristol to Wick tickets down from £240 each to £78 just by booking the train legs separately. Campsites are few and far between up there so id stay in Thurso. The one at Bettyhill seems very tatty but the shower water is hot and copious, run by a very nice lady.
by British Eagle
6 May 2014, 9:56pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: JOGLE unsupported and camping
Replies: 16
Views: 16390

Re: JOGLE unsupported and camping

@Bikerta,
That's why I started this thread because we found the research rather overwhelming too. There aren't that many handy campsites and they are generally about 100km apart so that was our average distance per day. Once you take in the time to pitch/unpitch, shop, cook, shower, launder (washing, not money!) maintain bikes, eat, charge phone and such there isn't much time left to cycle much more anyway.

You can avoid the A82 down to Fort William. In fact, that road east of Loch Ness, past Loch Mhor of was one of the highlights of the trip; simply stunning, wild, empty. I think we left the B862 early (rescuing a cow) and ended up cycling through an ancient oak forest (Clune Wood) to top out near Loch Ashie - I can definitely recommend this route. The forest tracks West of Loch Lochy are fine too; I had 28" wheels. We did the A82 south of Fort William but it wasn't too bad at that point.

Arran has a big hill in the middle of it but it's a tad more scenic than Glasgow and the ferries are fun; especially as they are cheap with bicycles.
We did end up doing 90 miles in one day from Carlisle to Preston because the weather was bad and we had friends plus curry in Preston waiting; we ended up on the A6 after Shap but it is wide with big verges so is actually reasonably pleasant.
Our route south of Ironbridge could be improved on; it was lovely to start with along a disused railway but then it yoyo-ed either side of the Severn with some very steep climbs. You might want to consider the Birmingham canals instead.

As to the Severn Bridge; which ever way you go, best not to consider cycling down the A48 from Gloucester as it is not a nice road for bikes; I drive it a lot.
I chose North Cornwall because it was less metres of ascent but it was still very hard. You also get a well-deserved, beautiful flat bit past Godrevy on the B3301. You've got plenty of time for the odd day off. Book your bike on the trains months early if you're doing it that way and don't underestimate how much food you'll get through. Oh, and I can recommend Brave Soldier chamios cream and a stiff leather saddle!
by British Eagle
2 May 2014, 5:23pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: JOGLE unsupported and camping
Replies: 16
Views: 16390

Re: JOGLE unsupported and camping

This is the quiet and scenic route we took:

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2629461

Ride with GPS was very useful for plotting.
by British Eagle
30 Apr 2014, 5:49pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: JOGLE unsupported and camping
Replies: 16
Views: 16390

Re: JOGLE unsupported and camping

I'm not sure any one road map would be specific enough for a Jogle and it's surprising how much of the route is East-West. We printed out scaled down 1:50000 OS maps: 1 A4 per day and highlighted our preferred route. This also gave us good detail either side of the route for when we needed to make unexpected detours, find different campsites, shops and such. Took a while to do but we got to know the route and contours very well during the planning.
A GPS would show you the route to take ahead of you so in effect is reading 'South'. We could have done with one I think.
by British Eagle
29 Apr 2014, 5:32pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: JOGLE unsupported and camping
Replies: 16
Views: 16390

Re: JOGLE unsupported and camping

Good effort! Especially with the bad weather. We nearly carried on once we got to Lands End; thought about heading to Dover. I think by that stage you get into the rhythm and can just go on forever. It is definitely the best way to do it. For us, it was more a way of seeing the country pan out than to complete an EndtoEnder and probably one of the best things we've ever done. I'm really getting withdrawal symptoms; we were planning cycling back from the Pyrenees this summer but I've now got a surprise baby arriving instead so I'm sticking to shorter trips.
by British Eagle
28 Apr 2014, 3:24pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: JOGLE unsupported and camping
Replies: 16
Views: 16390

JOGLE unsupported and camping

Last year, my partner and I struggled to find many tips for this kind of ride when we were doing our research. It may be a bit late for many people but for those considering this type of EndtoEnd who have specific questions, please ask!
Trip summary: 1200 miles via Arran. 100km a day for 18 days. Camping and cooking every night except when passing chum's houses. Used sustrans/cycle network B roads and smaller. Rode 1980's Reynolds framed bikes with shifters on the down tube style bikes. We are both recreational cyclists only; round town and occasional mtb.