Cycling UK Forum

When we did our JoGLE (May 2010) we were unsupported and the transport of the tandem was generously covered by a friend. We spent three nights in SYHA hostels (including the now closed Carbisdale Castle), five with friends & family and seven in Bed and Breakfasts. Total cost (including rail tick...

Apart from Cornwall, most of the hills you will encounter are long steady climbs rather than steep, so yo shouldn't have a problem, particularly as you are supported & so don't have a great weight of kit to haul up the hills (like Mick had with his chopper!)

One of our locals (they're both 1 1/2 miles away in the nearest villages) closed in November, possibly the last death knell for the village? The land lords moved down from Kent five years ago when it was a busy & successful village pub, but had steadily run it down over the past few years and ar...

My best advice would be to do what I did. 1. Draw a line on the map from Peterborough to Fort William. 2. Break that down into reasonable daily distances. 3. Find places to stay that match those distances. 4. Refine the route between those places based on the type of road you are comfortable cycling...

They ain't cleaning the roads, they ain't maintaining the roads, and they ain't clearing out ditches and drainage. They used to, but they ain't now. Spot on. It's very easy to blame farmers with larger equipment. Yes that's true, but ALL vehicles are bigger, and especially WIDER now (a new model VW...

I was woken by a phone call at 4:15 am today, an automated flood warning from the Environment Agency for our area. (We've been flooded several times in the past and a condition of our insurance is that we sign up for their warning service). I stuck my head out of the window and, while it was raining...

I don't know if you've got sorted on this yet, but we did JoGLE on our tandem and faced the same issue. Then three possibilities I came up with were: 1. Take it on the train, problem: the rail network will carry tandems as far as Edinburgh, but Scotrail won't... 2. Have a support vehicle & drive...

If you're heading Northwards, alter your route to head up the east side of Loch Lomond, then get the morning ferry across to Tarbet and continue North on the A82. We were heading south, thus catching the last ferry. Rowardennan Lodge is at the end of the road on the East side of the Loch, the B837 o...

Google the make & model and see what the manufacturer says.

Just read an interview on the Financial Times website. Clever lady! Her daughter was killed by a left turning lorry. Rather than using the press or pressure groups, she bought enough shares in the company that owned the vehicle that killed her daughter to be able to ask a question at the AGM. She re...

Notwork Rail say they'll have Dawlish fixed by April... So call it May if the weather's kind...

I note they didn't say which year

We stopped in the Rawardennan SYH having crossed on the ferry from Tarbet. I think it sailed about 4.30pm & they were VERY accommodating. The YH is very comfortable, and old hunting lodge, & there's a pub down the road that does reasonable food.

It might be worth you contacting First Great Western, or Cross Rail (both do the Exeter to Penzance stretch) to check that they can take your bike given that the track no longer exists at Dawlish & they're using "Executive Coaches" to travel from Exeter to Plymouth before picking up th...

We used the Great Glen Way along side Loch Lochy in 2010 on our tandem with 28mm tyres and had no trouble, other than taking it steady as we had several broken spokes in the front wheel...

On the tandem we definitely take the hills steadily, letting the gears take the strain. I did the same on our 24 hour challenge (I borrowed my son's Merida Race Lite 905, excellent bike with a better range of gears!). The problem is that my Giant doesn't have low enough gears to allow me to sit back...