Cycling UK Forum

But, on a lot of the main cycling routes there can be large, outdoor maps along the way. Yes. I met a bloke who'd ridden from Stockholm to Rome in ten days, without smartphone, GPS or maps. He made notes from outdoor maps at petrol stations and such. He asked people for directions. IIRC he used a c...

a paper map (as available in shops along the route). I've never found it easy to buy maps while touring in the UK, and more so on the continent: actual bookshops are a very rare breed, petrol stations with a shop big enough to stock maps are few and far between (especially if you're avoiding major ...

Morzedec wrote:Thermarest 'Basecamp': 13 years, and counting, no problems at all to date.
Happy days,

Yes, I've got one of those, and love it. Sleep on it out in the garden in summer. Not exactly lightweight though - I wouldn't take it with me on a cycle tour.

Any follow up feedback on how the Sea-to-Summit Ultralight is after some use? So far so good - though it didn't get more than a few nights use last year. It's light, easy to in- and de-flate, and reasonably comfortable. I'm planning to use it quite a bit come the spring, and I'll come back and tell...

Tom_B wrote: So, doable but I’m not sure I’d be in a hurry to do it again

Yeh, that's about how I felt about the Yorkshire side.

OK, answering my own question – I rode the Huddersfield Broad and Narrow canals yesterday, and found – The broad canal towpath – six kilometres from Cooper Bridge to Huddersfield, is all ok, though much of it is made in rather casually-levelled concrete, giving a pretty bone-rattling ride. I'd want ...

Which leaves the alternative of having to pack your bike in a small bag, like the Ground Effect Tardis, to continue to take the TGV or, as Simon suggests, fly. Or to travel with just your luggage and hire bikes at your destination... Or to take your time, and see getting there (or back) as part of ...

But I was wondering, just which particular set of criminal activity are they focused on? I was chatting the other day with a friend who volunteers as a'daft old git' in police training events (he's very convincing :shock: ). He says that a large proportion of police time (and training) is spent dea...

Yes, it was the adult version of Interrail, gave us fifteen days on trains over two months. Cost about £400 each IIRC – we could easily have spent half that just getting to the Channel and back. It was a hybrid kind of trip – she was on a course in Italy, so a mix of cycling, ten days in one place, ...

I've found a bar-mounted phone to do the job fine, except –
Even one raindrop plays havoc with the touch-screen
It can be hard to see the screen in bright sunlight.
Never asked it to do turn-by-turn navigation though.

If you go to the German railway website - https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de//bin/query.exe/e - you can restrict your search to trains that will carry bikes. It doesn't cover just Germany, and is thorough and easy to use. You'll generally find that the fast, long-distance trains exclude bikes, but the sl...

Street furniture! Don't get me started on street furniture. Someone should report me to Prevent for the strength of my views on street furniture. Look at a photo of a street scene from a century ago – it's not the lack of traffic that makes it look calm and peaceful, it's the lack of street furnitur...

Certainly endless possibilities. Herself and I Interrailed from Leeds to Italy and back last summer, and had a great time. It did involve humping two loaded bikes on and off thirty-six trains – some easier than others – but you get used to it. TIP: If you don't want to cycle over the Alps, you can t...

Squirt of WD40
Leave overnight
Squirt of aerosol grease
All now good as new.

I bought an M22 die – surprisingly cheap from Hong Kong – and cut a thread on the outside of a piece of copper plumbing pipe. Cut it off and soldered a penny on the end. Worked a dream!