Cycling UK Forum

Agree with CJ re YHA being threadbare. Eg Thurby has been empty for two years after YHA tried to get rid. Currently awaiting County Council and District Council to agree the budget to rescue the hostel from being demolished for access to allow the building of a housing estate! Consequently Thurlby YH cannot be used as control for this year's London-Edinburgh-London Audax ride - or a family tour!
Off the subject, but current YHA Triangle magazine includes appeal to help fund youngsters' access the countryside. Yet they announce with regret (!) the closure of more hostels including Badby. If you look at where additional hostel beds are appearing it seems to be the major cities. Still I guess that's what you get when you let the accountants run the business. As the new rules, from this month, allow non-members to use YHA facilities for extra £3 per night, there seems little benefit in being a member any more. Maybe that will further undermine the democracy, and tradition, of the organisation.

We did a number of tours with our kids at that age, always using youth hostels and doing 20 to 40 miles per day. Camping with a young family is hard work, not just the stuff to carry but all the taking down and setting up of four people's equipment with only two pairs of adult hands. We camped at rallies, but didn't move on with tents until the kids got big enough to pitch in.

Unfortunately the YHA network is getting a bit threadbare, with holes too big for a young family to cycle across in less spectacular parts of the country. We did a good tour of East Anglia and although Norwich YH has since closed, it's still possible to make a circular tour via the coastline and Cambridge (anticlockwise, so you'll be on the sea-side of the road). A week would do, but I recommend two nights in some places to give the kids some other things to do than just cycle. Pick places with other attractions: e.g. Sheringham. This is another advantage of hostels: no rest-day worries about the gear you leave behind on the campsite. And in hostels (unlike hotels) your kids meet other kids who are also into outdoorsy activities.

Lincolnshire is perhaps too small an area for more than a long-weekend, but I'd recommend a trip out there especially if you can do it from home. With the Lincoln ridge and Wolds the county is not all flat, has lots of lanes with very little traffic and two quaint little hostels at Woodys Top and Thurlby. (Visit them quick before they're sold off to pay for improvements to honey-pot hostels in National Parks etc.!)

You will find links to the ferry companies that operate to the Dutch Frisian islands at the bottom of our Holland pagehttp://www.cycletourer.co.uk/cycletouring/holland.shtml

During summer months it is possible to sail from island to island. This is what the Dutch call 'Wad hopping'. You can take your bike on most of the ferries, there are some details here http://www.holland.com/global/index.html?page=http://www.holland.com/global/geninfo/travelinfo/Wadhop.html#tex-vlie

Vlieland and Texel are nice islands and the ferry between the two is a novel experience, there are some picies on this page http://www.cycletourer.co.uk/cycletouring/tours/denholtour03.shtml

Hope that helps.

Jon

A slight variation on the theme. ..

A few years ago I was cycling along the perimeter road that runs across the end of the Heathrow runways. A certain plane was taking off and passed overhead at a fairly low altitude. It was a real struggle to stay on the bike from the force of the jets. It was a real struggle to breath in a fug of engine exaust gases.

Fortunately, said type of plane flies no more . . . and good riddance . . . the noisy, polluting piece of s***

. . . maybe there is some natural justic after all

had intended to go to hotel or B&B somewhere for a night then leave car there and cycle for a few days, do around trip then back to hotel for a night,hot bath then home.so if you have any ideas of an area it would be helpful or could cycle straight from home. as lincolnshire is not to far away and I have been told this is flat?

also where could I find a list of hostels, is one available online?
thanks jack and matthew

Cheaper than £2.50? I doubt it! I know some people use a (large) heavy duty dustbin bag just to cover it for on the train, but I don’t think you’ll find anything like a proper bag that’s cheap. There are several around, but they start from over £30.00 and go up from there.
For mine I use the standard cover from Brompton if I’m just taking it on public transport, and a heavier duty bag (from Carradice) with handles/shoulder strap if I need to make it look more like normal luggage in a hotel, etc.

Hi

I started touring at the age of seven with my father and my sister joined us once she was 7, we used youth hostles to reduce the amount of luggage we were carrying. At your sons age we were looking to do 35 to 40 miles in a day, with my sister and I carrying a saddlebag and my father carrying four panniers to do a 10 day trip.

We would ride for five or six days and then have a rest day, chosing somewhere where there was an attraction to keep us kids from being bored.

Matthew

WD40. I have a chain that I am still using after 21 years. The only lube I use is WD40. I know some people rant against it but it works for me.

Best to start with a new chain, clean it with WD40, then every couple of days (or once a week if not touring) give it a little squirt.

It dispels water, and doesn't collect muck like oils do. Because where there is muck there is water, and where there is water there is rust.

Sorry if this is a long one but this info comes straight from an expert in reply to a "Which gps do I need for cycling" question.
.................................
"The basic requirement of a GPS system that all hill walkers have is that the unit will give you information on your current location. This will typically be in the form of an Ordnance Survey Grid reference, a Lat long or one of 100 other different types of map datum used around the world.



The good news is that all of the handheld units such as the Magellan and Garmin will do this and by spending more money, you do not gain anything in the way of improved accuracy etc you simply add more extra features.



So having said they all do the same basic job the decision really is on how many extra features you need or how many you want (usually 2 different things). The basic Garmin Etrex has most things people need, it will tell you where you are and can store 500 waypoints to help you along your route.



Simply, get the grid reference out of the unit, put finger on map and say in a loud confident voice “we are here” (always always always carry a paper map and compass of course).



The next model up is the etrex summit, add an electronic compass, a barometric altimeter and the memory storage to store 20 routes (a route is a sequential string of waypoints you have put together) and you have the summit, everything else is the same as the basic etrex.



The legend is a basic etrex but it has 8Mb of internal memory for road mapping downloads from Garmin software (the roadmap is not good enough to drive the car by, but also bear in mind there are no roundabouts up mountains… so do you need a road map?!?!?).



The vista is a combination of legend and summit.



Magellan, are more geared toward the loading of software into their units, they have 2 main series: the Sportrak and the Meridian. The Meridian uses SD memory cards to allow memory expansion so you can store more road maps (see comments above on road maps) and the Sportrak has a fixed amount of memory.



Magellan do offer topo type software which gives a very very basic osgb type map on screen (see note above about carrying a paper map), they also do software which will give very basic in car nav software, but again, do you need a unit for the hills or for the car? The money spent on converting a walking GPS to a car GPS would be better spent towards a GPS for the car, which does the job far better then a hill-walking unit converted.



Both Magellan and Garmin offer units with colour screens as you move up the range, and Garmin also offer wrist mounted units for hiking, cycling, water activities etc.

It is difficult to find a GPS receiver that works as a walking device and an in car nav device, the only real way to do it is with a pocket pc. A pocket pc will be able to run in car nav software such as tom tom navigator 3, giving auto routing, address and points of interest location with voice guided turn by turn directions.



On a pocket pc, you would also be able to buy OSGB mapping software and display your location on the pocket pc as you walk around. Limited battery life though.



Alternatively, look at a handheld unit such as the garmin Etrex for the hill walking, use this product with a paper map.



As a handheld device the etrex will be more rugged and waterproof, it will readily display speeds, grid refs and bearings etc.



Add to this a unit like a pocket pc system for the car, or a dedicated in car unit such as a Tom Tom Go.



You would then have a dedicated in car unit and a dedicated walking unit, my point is such that the individual units designed particularly for 1 job would normally be better than a unit which does both but is also a compromise on how well it does both.



The one Exception to this rule is the Garmin Quest which has all the functions of a street pilot and a handheld Garmin Etrex, its downside is that its memory will only store a maximum road map of an area the size of France. Cost about £360. "
......................................

Hope that helps, it made my mind up.
The only one suitable for cyclists ( long battery life, waterproof, lightweight) with truly trustworthy and accurate mapping of minor roads and enough memory for a long tour, is the Garmin Quest - at £360 -ish
I've decided to stick with paper maps!.

Paul.

Hi there,
the best town to stay is Llangefni. The reason is that it is very central. There are numerous bed and breakfast accommodations or indeed the very interesting Bull Hotel. Nearby is Anglesey library, which will provide you with information on the four circular cycle routes on Anglesey. Take a look at www.anglesey.info which will give you lots of ideas about what to visit whilst you are on the island.
Regards
Phil

Mel,

I also have a well-known make of handheld GPS (Garmin), and have found it to be reasonably accurate. At least as accurate as my reading of grid references off a map, and gets me within sight of the destination. GPS, especially civil hand-held units, isn't meant to be pin-point accurate, but should manage better than a quarter mile.
I seem to recall there was some problem with the grid having been moved some time in the past, and if you set it up on the wrong one it would be off-centre. If you're getting a consistent error to the north maybe this is it?
All the manuals I've read on navigation don't recommend relying solely on GPS, especially in mountain regions. I certainly souldn't want to rely on one to avoid going over a cliff if the fog comes down in the hills.

Isn't there a rule about being 1 mile from the road. Or at least out of sight of the road? Sorry if this is many months too late.

Being new to this, I haven't bought a helmet yet, I'm still excercising my freedon of choice. So far I just wear a bandana or nothing. Mind, nothing means a shaven head, very cold sometimes but great for aerodynamics, I digress... one thing I have noticed is that I seem to get frowned upon by most cyclists - especially the ones that aren't going fast enough to cause any fractures or damage from a stray branch whizzing past - for not wearing a helmet. Forgive me I digress further;

I have heard that wearing a helmet is compulsory. I'm in the process of thoroughly eating up the Whitehaven to Ennerdale and onto Keswick cycle route, its a belter, but does anyone know where there is a compulsory requirement to use a helmet ?? like on the roads you sometimes have to brave when sometimes wish you had a spare helmet tucked away in your third water bottle? What about Europe?

wondering if there anyone out there that can help me..

I 'm hoping to take the family on a touring holiday in the uk I have no idea of where to go..we have no experience in this but are keen cyclists we do have the equipement,tents,sleeping bags etc etc .
The thing that I'm worried about is our ages as, my children are girl 11 & boy 8. has anybody got any good ideas where we could start.. we live in the east midlands.

For anyone interested the above mentioned road above Malaga into the mountains is a super climb. A nice gradient, one of many in the area. There were a couple of very short tunnels.

Generally the condition of many of the roads in Andalucia (did a loop to Granada and Ronda from Malaga) was quite poor, certainly didn't regret taking the mtn bike with slicks.

Bikes on the airport train weren't a prob on the way into Malaga (station wasn't manned in any case), but on returning from the centre of Malaga we had a problem and were refused entry, the very jobs worth officials pointing to a sign banning bikes. We simply got on at the second & main station 500 yards away without any probs.