Cycling UK Forum

Speaking of cycle.travel - one thing I'm frustrated with is that I want to create a route by continually adding end-points, like I can do with Google Maps, rather than give a start and end point, and then start adding in-between points. It would like be nice to be able to choose which 2 points that have already been plotted I want to add a NEW point to. It seems like I can only do: 1. Create start/end points, 2. Start adding points from after the start point, 3. If I make a mistake, I can pop back down the list, but can't remove a specific point, or add a specific point between two existing ones.

Is my perception about these limitations true?

- Tim

eileithyia wrote:Do you 'need' a route, am guessing once on the road over the pass there is only one way..... Never had a problem with paper mapping not showing a route...

I don't strictly need one; I wanted to do this online, though, so I could compare the more flat northerly route I was thinking of doing, with one going over lots of mountain passes; I wanted to compare both distance and elevation change over the routes.

- Tim

I checked out cycle.travel just now; good site - I signed up for it a couple of years ago, but haven't used it since then (I found Google My Maps to be more useful at the time). I think I'll give it a try doing my planning on it. Thanks again!

- Tim

Thanks for your suggestions and experiments!

Weird that "My Maps" should disallow this, especially since that app is mostly used to create routes/maps for later use, not for getting current conditions. I wonder if that's an oversight, or if they actually want it to work that way...

- Tim

Hi all...

I've been using Google "My Maps" to route cycle tours, as it's convenient and easy to use.

I've been attempting to plan a route over the Little Saint Bernard Pass, between France and Italy, for a trip this summer.

All the way up to the summit of the pass, Google My Maps let's me create a route. However, once on the Italian side, it won't let me create a route, even manually. It keeps saying "Cannot find route". I also tried a walking route and driving route, and it won't do it.

Does anyone know why this might be? I don't think bikes are forbidden on that side... perhaps Google is lacking in information about that side, or perhaps it is programmed to disallow routing on roads that are currently closed do to weather conditions (covered in snow, etc.).

Has anyone noticed this? And what alternative routing software would they use instead? I happen to like RideWithGPS a lot, so I might try that instead.

- Tim

Hi all...

So I currently have two touring bikes - one is a Bruce Gordon Rock n' Road Tour (American maker, very well known, though retiring as of this weekend, in fact); the other is a Surly Long-Haul Trucker that I had chopped into two and S&S couplers put on.

I like them both, but I'm currently attempting to consolidate my road and touring bikes.

For the touring bikes, I decided to get a custom-made titanium frame to cut down on weight, and as part of this, I want to choose brakes and wheel size to better fit in the S&S case.

I visited the frame-maker today (a rather famous guy here in California, been building frames and bikes since the 1980s), and discussed options with him. I asked him how he felt about getting 26" wheels and mechanical disc brakes to reduce packed size for the bike in the case. He said that that might work, though he felt that 26" was slowly dying, and that 27.5" (650b) might be a better choice. He also showed me a cantilever brake he thought might also work well (a Paul Racer Medium brake).

If any of you have an S&S coupled bike and have some knowledge in this regard, what do you think would be best for 1) compact size in S&S case and 2) future-proofing (to some extent) the bike?

As it is, my current coupled bike is 700c with cantilever brakes, and the wheels barely fit in the case (and I have to remove the tires), and the brakes poke up and get in the way a bit. I'm not sure if other styles of cantilever brakes, or even mechanical disc brakes, would make it easier, as I haven't tried them yet. Also, the builder commented that sometimes packing in a case could dent the disc rotor, which wouldn't be a fun thing as it could cause uneven brake performance, noise, etc.

I was thinking that caliper brakes would probably be the least bulky, but I've been told that they aren't dependably strong enough when, say, going downhill fast fully loaded.

So - any opinions, thoughts, or suggestions?

- Tim

Vorpal wrote:When I've been in midgey places in Scotland, I have stayed in youth hostels. Whether camping is feasible depends partly on how well the midges like you. Like with mosquitoes, some people are less bothered by them more than others. If you are not too bothered by them, or only moderately bothered, camping with a good bug repellent and midge net is probably ok. If you are their favourite food, it might still be a problem.

If you are using any off-road routes, you may be able to use bothies for some of your overnight stays. Here's a thread about bothies viewtopic.php?f=16&t=112974

Huh, interesting - a nice resource. I'll read up on those.

If your tent is single skinned, it will pretty much always have condensation in Scottish weather. Get a double skinned tent from a reputable brand. Have a look at reviews & things before you buy. A double skinned, well-ventilated, 3 season tent should have little or no condenstion, but may require a somewhat warmer sleeping bag & mat. Also, as you are carrying it, weight is a consideration. Here's a thread about tents viewtopic.php?f=42&t=110506

I'm assuming that by "skin" you mean what we call "wall" in the US? eg. Single-walled tents used for winter camping and mountaineering, etc? I don't have any single-walled tents, just double-walled ones. I have a small collection these days (as I was searching for my "perfect" bike touring tent). I got a Hilleberg Unna:

http://us.hilleberg.com/EN/tent/red-label-tents/unna/

which I ended up not liking that much, despite Hilleberg's construction and materials being some of the best. I don't like their "the fly is always up" design, though, of course, that's very useful in a rainy and cold northern climate. I recently bought a Mountain Hardwear Shifter-2:

http://www.mountainhardwear.com/shifter-2-1585651.html

... and tried that out on a bike camping trip this past weekend; it sets up fast, very simple design, rather minimalistic, I like it. I *do* wonder if its mesh is fine enough to keep out midges, though, given what folks have said about a lot of tent mesh only being good for mosquitoes. I don't see a lot of articles about which tents have fine enough mesh. I might contact Mountain Hardwear to ask them (if they even know).

The first tent I ever bought was a Moss Starlet; I still think it was probably the best tent I've ever used. It's a bit heavy by today's standards, but I wish I could find another one; it'd be great on a bike tour. I even tried contacting various people associated with the company (it doesn't exist anymore); managed to contact a designer at Cascade Designs (who owned all their assets), who used to work at Moss, trying to find the original schematics to see if I could have one rebuilt with modern materials. They had given the old plans to a woman who ran a company that fixed these tents, but sadly, she died about a year ago and her husband has not been answering my attempts to contact him. It was a great tent:

http://www.wanderwheels.com/site_ww/wp- ... 20x410.jpg

I have a pretty warm down bag (I think it's rated to 20F) from Western Mountaineering (famous, independent US bag maker) so that won't likely be an issue, anyway.

- Tim

Tinnishill wrote:More about midgies and a bit about accommodation in Scotland.

...

Thanks again for all your suggestions! A wealth of information!

By the way, yes, I know that Scotland is in the UK - I said "England" the first time, but for some reason wasn't thinking clearly the second time I meant to type "England"

- Tim

rualexander wrote:Join Warmshowers, I'm sure you would be able to find a friendly host on there who would be happy to look after your stuff for you free of charge.
https://www.warmshowers.org/

I'm on there, tho' I haven't ever used them (I tried once, in Northumberland, but we missed each other). I didn't even think of trying them, as "can I assemble my bike and leave my gear at your house" seemed a bit much to ask. You think people'd be open to that?

- Tim

Hey all...

Normally, when I go to the UK, I leave my extra gear at a relative's in Eastbourne.

This year, when I'm going to do the second half of my LEJOG, I had hoped to do the same; sadly, this relative is doing poorly and may be in hospital, and I don't want to be an extra burden on them at that time.

So I may need to find alternate arrangements as far as a place to assemble my bike (it's got S&S couplers on it) and leave my gear for about 5 weeks (the amount of time I'll be in the UK/Europe).

Does anyone know of a reasonably priced place I could leave all my gear (including the bike, once I'm done with the bike part of the trip) not too far from London? I'm not sure what kind of place that would be... some "temporary storage" thing, perhaps, if such a thing exists.

- Tim

Paulatic wrote:Yeah I find it so much easier to avoid Carlisle now if coming from the Dalston side. I usually use the cycle path beside the relief road and come out passed the railway yards.

I don't absolutely HAVE to go through Carlisle; the reason I wanted to go there is because it's nice to stop in towns along the way, and I visited it once many many years ago, when I had a girlfriend in Eskdale. So... sentimental reasons.

- Tim

Tinnishill wrote:(maps and instructions)

Thanks again for all that useful info!

Regarding midgies, what kind of accommodation are you planning ? If you have stone walls around you at night you should be OK. Note that "mosquito" head nets have bigger holes than "midgie" nets and won't defend you. The most effective repellent is a Scottish produced product called "Smidge".

Well, I'm not sure; last year, when I went from Land's End to Edinburgh, I had planned on starting out with B&B's and hotels, and then start camping.

I camped in Exmoor, and found that I didn't like the extreme wetness (plus my tent got a lot of condensation, so wasn't any help). So I ended up staying entirely in B&B's and hotels after that - d'oh!

I've heard that Scotland 1) more sparsely populated than England, 2) has lower accomodation density, 3) often has more inclement weather, 4) has many more places you can easily camp (wild and otherwise).

I was hoping I could camp more of the way this time (I got a better tent ), but also wondered, if I didn't want to camp, would I be able to find accommodation as easily as I did in the UK.

What do you think?

I ordered "smidge" and one of their head nets from their website, and had it sent to a friend in the UK, where I'll pick it up. I already have plenty of DEET (not sure if that works well for midges) and a head-net, tho' it might not be a good head net for midges.

- Tim

A friend sent me this:

https://stv.tv/news/features/1388044-mi ... ting-bugs/

... basically it says that this will be a particularly bad year for midges.

I've definitely seen my share of midges and mosquitoes in various parts of the world, but the way people talk about the ones in Scotland, it is scaring me a bit. I see those photos of GIANT CLOUDS of the critters, and it's making me reconsider; maybe I should tour Italy, France or the Czech Republic or something this year?

What do you think, folks? In a "bad midge year" do you find that wherever you go, any time, day or night, you are battling clouds of ravenous midges? Or that it's an "every once in awhile" kind of thing, and mostly at dawn/dusk?

I'm planning starting my trip from Lancaster in mid-June, going a few days into July, via the Islands and central northern Highlands.

- Tim

andrew_s wrote:I'd head for Ardrossan, then Arran, Kintyre, up the west coast of Knapdale from Tarbert to Kilmartin (there's a prefectly rideable track between Ellary and Kilmory), up the west side of Loch Awe to Taynuilt, the back road in to Oban, ferry to Mull, take the long way round to Tobermory, ferry to Ardnamurchan, Mallaig, ferry to Skye, over the Skye bridge to Kyle, Plockton, Lochcarron, Applecross, Torridon, Gairloch, Ullapool, Lochinver via Inverpolly and Drumbeg, up to Laxford Bridge, then head for Durness and the north coast road.
If you feel adventurous, you could take an inland route from Laxford Bridge via Lock Merkland, Gobernuisgach, Altnaharra, Kinbrace, Forsinard, Altnabreac station, Loch Watten. It's possible that you may see no more than a couple of dozen vehicles between Laxford Bridge and JoG going this way.

Wow! Thanks for all that detailed information, Andrew! I'll check all that out and see how it looks! Much appreciated!

- Tim

matt2matt2002 wrote:Well, much less traffic for sure.
But extra ferry costs.
Looking back, I didn't find the Outer Hebrides that interesting.
But on balance I'd take that route over Oban Fort William Mallaig.
Less chance of being squashed.

Is it only major highways on the Oban/Fort William/Mallaig route? Lots of traffic?

I live in San Francisco, so I'm used to lots of cars whizzing past me; and I got used to the narrow roads in the UK when I was there last. Is it any worse than what I've already experienced, do you think?

- Tim