Cycling UK Forum

Si, Thank you. JJF

I see that there is a system for private messages. How do you send a private message?
JJF

Hello two-canadians,
The pertinent part of th A120 is like a motorway. Motorists would be surprised to come across cyclists. Not recommended.

Train to Colchester is a good idea. My suggestion of Shenfield would have given maximum cycle ride but a big problem finding a route.

I don't know much about camp grounds. There are some near the coast but not on your route. Scenery is pleasantly rural rather than outstanding.

I could let you have some maps. Can you contact me on
fox(dot)hornbeam(at)btdigitaltv(dot)com and we could make arrangements?
JJF

Hello two-canadians
I live about half way along your proposed route.
I strongly recommend you to avoid the A roads.

Unless somebody offers detailed advice to the contrary I suggest that you take the train from London Liverpool St station to Shenfield. (That's part of Brentwood). From there you should be able to find a reasonable cycling route.
Having said that, it'd not easy to find a route on minor roads. I'll gladly discuss this in more detail if that would be helpful.
At the other end of the journey, the Sustrans National Cycle Network route from Colchester to Harwich suits your needs. It's largely on minor roads so doesn't suffer from the barrier problems mentioned on another thread.
When are you intending to travel?
JJF

I am hoping to buy a wireless bike computer. I've got one with an astonishing array of facilities (most of which I don't want) including heart rate monitor. Essentially what I want is to record distance travelled. The literature says that this computer "Starts Automatically". But it also has a "sleep" function. If you stop for more than 5 minutes it goes to sleep. When you set off again, in order for the "Starts Automatically " bit to work you have to wake it up. I emailed the service dept. They confirmed. All you have to do is to wake it up and it starts automatically!
QUESTION: Can anyone name an inexpensive wireless bike computer that genuinely starts automatically after a break in a journey. Please.

The second of the URLs I pasted in doesn't work. If you go to www.sustrans.org.uk, look for Sustrans projects, national cycle network, online mapping. Then you can enter any location.
Good luck.

Manchester to Cambridge looks to me to be very complicated. The National Cycle Network might be helpful to you. Its developers intend that it could be used for a journey like yours. However I have only used small segments when they happened to coincide with a route I have otherwise found using Ordnance Survey maps. Take a look at
http://www.sustrans.org.uk/webfiles/gen ... p_2007.pdf
and http://www.sustrans.org.uk/default.aspp ... manchester

The network is made up of minor roads and tracks and don't involve the use of major roads. Hopefully somebody will offer you more specific advice.

I've cycled from Gare du Nord to (I think) Gare de Lyon which is near Gare d'Austerlitz. As somebody else has said, you need a street map but the route is fairly simple. Travel SSE on Boulevard de Magenta, Bd du Temple etc in virtually a straight line to Place de la Bastille. Then fork left to Gare de Lyon, right for Austerlitz.

These are big avenues but all the vehicles were in the off-side lane trying to overtake each other. The slow lane (right) was empty except for the occasional parked car.

The TRICKY bit is crossing big junctions Place de la Republique and Place de la Bastille. I became a pedestrian to cross the several lanes of traffic in and out. If it would help I could email you a plan

Bikepacker
The ferry from Harwich is indeed to Hook of Holland not Rotterdam. I noticed that Stena reservation website didn't offer the choice of "bicycle" among their list of vehicles. So I emailed. Their response was as follows:

Thank you for your e mail concerning the carriage of bicycles to Holland from Harwich.
We do carry cycles on this service and the charge is £7.00 per cycle per journey……………..This can be booked in advance or at the vehicle check-in on the day of travel but you must check-in 1 hour before sailing.

I have a Carradura saddle bag bought in the last 12 months. It has webbing "bar" for fitting modern rear lights.