Cycling UK Forum

We are also not long back from LeJoG. The first section of the route out of Fort William is fine. But the road abruptly peters out and turns into a track through Clunes Forest (signed as a national cycle route). We were on Surly LHTs with 1.75in Marathon tyres and rear panniers. It was quite rough and up-and-downy and it took us longer than anticipated. It was such a relief to get out onto a minor road a few miles short of Invergarry.

Would we ride it again? Probably not, and certainly not in or after wet conditions when it would be very slippy. As it was, we resorted to pushing up some sections. It would be fine on an unladen mountain bike!

We were pleasantly surprised by some new stretches of cycle path elsewhere, eg there is now a path from Glencoe village right through to Corran ferry, a few miles short of Fort William. The worst bit for us was coping with the A82 from Tarbet to Glencoe Village. Fantastic scenery, but a lot of fast traffic.

We kept a blog with route info and other info. - http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/17693

We had a wonderful experience : tough and challenging at times, but extremely rewarding.

This is the info we sourced before travelling, and I confirmed it by email with Virgin. I think this policy only applies to Virgin Atlantic.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/tr ... pment.html

We took our bikes to Cuba with Virgin Atlantic earlier this year. Virgin took them without additional charge under their sporting baggage allowance - up to 23kg each in addition to hold luggage (also 23kg). We cycled to Gatwick; took the pedals off and turned the handlebars parallel to the frame; put them in a CTC clear plastic bike bag (from Wiggle) and handed them over. They were not damaged in flight.

Virgin are not a cheap airline, but they have an impressive approach to carrying bikes.

There are photos on our blog if interested :- http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/cubanwheels

We returned yesterday from completing LeJoG.

We planned our routes by a combination of the Cicerone book and looking at others' accounts. We then used the excellent (and free) cycle.travel site, which very speedily will plan a cycle-friendly (mostly) track. This can then be pulled about until you are happy. Obviously, we planned the tracks in daily chunks.

We then saved them as individual .gpx tracks into Garmin Basecamp and from there uploaded them onto our Garmin Etrex 30, with each track identified by date.

We used rechargeable batteries in the Garmin, and charged overnight.

It all worked fine. However we wonder if we would use the A82 through Glencoe if we did it again. The scenery was amazing. The road was very bumpy in places. And the traffic quite problematic at times.

We kept a blog + quite detailed route mapping. If you are interested, the link is:-

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/17693

LeJoG is challenging, tough at times, but ultimately - for us - a tremendous experience. Have a great trip!

Best wishes -

Brian & Annie

I support both: I'm a long-term CTC member, and donate to Sustrans on a monthly standing order.

I am a long-term CTC member, cycle-camper and am passionate about integrating cycling into people’s lives. And generally I support the re-branding.

My hope is that Cycling UK will become a broad organisation that campaigns assertively and intelligently to promote and encourage all forms of cycling. I’m particularly keen on getting children cycling to school on safe routes. Early habits tend to stick. I hope that there is room for us all, particularly including cycle-tourists like myself.

The change of name and broadening of objectives make sense to me. I asked my wife what she thought of the name Cyclists’ Touring Club. She said it sounded like something from the 1950s, and with perhaps a Scouting flavour. Nothing wrong with that of course, and it just happens that I’m a product of the 50s (maybe she was trying to tell me something). But it does indicate a certain view of the organisation that could hinder communication, and suggest that we are only for hardened touring enthusiasts.

The CTC has been changing for a while. Consider the typical spread of articles and photos in Cycle magazine. There’s often as much, if not more, about mountain biking and road bikes than cycle-touring.

Change is often seen as a threat. But it’s also part of life. And, sometimes, if we don’t change, we get unhelpfully stuck in the past.

Hello Tina -

Annie and I cycle-camped from the UK to the Med last year, including the section you are asking about.

We kept a blog with references to the track and camp-sites, and if you want to have a look, the link is below.

We are sure you will have a great trip. Go for it!

Best wishes -

Brian & Annie

www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=Sh&doc_id=13782&v=Jc

We cycle-camped from Somerset to Narbonne last June, via Caen (port of Ouisterham). We had a great time, despite the weather, which was pretty wet and chilly at times.

I kept a journal, and the link is here, if you are interested:-

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=S ... 13782&v=Jc

Good luck, and enjoy your adventure.

Brian & Annie

Hi Les - We did exactly this, and had a wonderful time. I wrote it all up, and if you are interested the link is:-

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=S ... 10844&v=8U

Have fun.

Brian & Annie

Hi John -

We returned two weeks ago from a top-to-bottom tour of France, including cycling from Bordeaux to the Med via Toulouse and Narbonne, and the canals de Garonne and du Midi.

As others have observed, the track is great to Toulouse and for a bit beyond (heading towards Carcassonne) but then suddenly deteriorates before Castelnaudary. This seems to coincide with a change in governmental regions, and it appears that there are differing views about the value of investing in cycling infrastructure between the regions.

It's not a big problem. but you might choose to take a road instead for those parts. Minor roads have the additional advantage of offering a change of scenery / townscapes as (dare I say it) the canal can get a bit monotonous. Or maybe it's my short attention span!

I kept a blog on the Crazyguyonabike web-site, and if you are interested the link is:-

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1 ... 13782&v=JC

The particular section of the blog referring to your query is towards the end, with the heading Peaceful Camping.

Don't let the quality of the track in this area put you off. We had a fantastic time, despite some pretty wet weather.

Best wishes -

Brian (& Annie).

I bought a Surly LHT 18 months ago. Great bike but awful brakes (Tektro Oryx). I persevered until the back blocks needed replacing at 3,500 miles. After research, I fitted Kool Stop dual compound blocks. What a difference! The brakes actually bite and stop the bike now. Wished I had done it ages ago. However a word of advice: Do not assume that, because you have cantilever brakes, you need cantilever brake blocks. I ordered cantilever blocks, which seemed a logical thing to do. But they didn't fit. And I then learned that the more recent cantilever set-ups often use v-brake blocks. I think I am right in saying (someone will no doubt shout if not) that if the originals have a thread on the anchor stem, then they are v-blocks. If they have thicker anchor stems and are gripped by a pinch nut arrangement, then they are cantilevers.

Good luck!

We spent a wonderful two weeks in May /June this year cycle-touring in Provence. Used the European Bike Express from the UK to Orange (near Avignon) and then did a big circle. Our mileage was not as high as your predicted, but we could easily have extended to cover more distance. And there is the option of adding in Mount Ventoux if you are looking for a bit more exercise(!)

The trip is written up here, if you are interested: www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1&doc_id=10844&v=8S

Best wishes -

Brian.

Hexhome - thanks so much. I now have the UK map on the Etrex.

So far, I have always pre-planned my routes on the PC (Bikehike, etc) and then loaded them onto my GPS. But I assume that the Velomaps allow for direct route planning on the Etrex?

You can probably sense another dumb question coming... How do you do this?!

I don't mean to pester, but my efforts to find a decent, simple guide to using the Etrex have not so far been successful.

Thanks again for you help.

Thanks for this. I did start with Velomaps but became overwhelmed by the apparent complexity of the installation and use instructions. The Cyclestreets / Gpsies combo seemed very straightforward....until I came to save. I will look further at saving onto my computer first. Thanks.

I have a Garmin Etrex 30 and have been using Cyclestreets.net to create a track and then transferring this to Gpsies.com. All goes well until I click on the Export to Garmin GPS button (as GPS track). It then overwrites whatever previous track I have saved this way on the Etrex.

I am not over-clever with the ways of computers (obviously) and wondering if there is a straightforward solution?

Any advice would be gratefully received. But simple language, please! Thanks.