Cycling UK Forum

Hi,

I just had a window of opportunity come up so as wife and little one are away for a couple of weeks, so thought I'd take the famous end to end on. I'll be starting a week on Saturday the 24 March from JOG. Will do it in 8 or 9 days.

Going super light on a road bike with just a change of clothes. Plan is to be well kitted out with winter gear up north then strip off and post it home if the weather hopefully gets better. Well that's the plan anyway...

I rode the Transamerica route 76 from Virginia to Oregon 2 years ago (4k miles) with a heavy steel bike, panniers, camping gear etc. It was wonderful, but excruciatingly slow. So this time around the steel bike's staying safely in the shed and my Cannondale Six carbon frame bike gets the preference.

If anyone's equally foolish to be riding at the same time, or fancies doing a leg or two give me a shout. Would be nice to have some company! My own thoughts get a bit repetitive after a couple of days

Or if you have any weather related / wind / route tips they are very welcome!

Will do a version of these 2 routes which are similar
https://www.rideacrossbritain.com/home/ ... ats-route/
https://1000milesonabike.com/route-info/ Hoping to tailor the route to reduce chances of ice / sleet / snow etc.

Will list our the route with days / dates / locations shortly.

Thanks in advance for any tips!

James

Good Luck

Enjoy your trip, let us all know how you got on please!

Thanks for the good wishes!

Winds over the next week look to be coming from the west and south. So not fancying contending with them, I've reversed the route and will be starting out from Lands End instead. If I can't roll down hill from the top, perhaps the winds will blow me up there...? And the snow's just melted in Cornwall too so that's a plus

'm hoping 8 days should be feasible even if the days aren't all that long yet. Just knocked up this route and will be following it with Ride with GPS on my iPhone (plugged into a battery pack) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27065159

24 March 114 Okehampton (Devon)
25 March 225 Thornbury (north Bristol)
26 March 346 Whitchurch (Cheshire)
27 March 464 Kendall (Lake District)
28 March 575 Abingdon (Sth Lanarkshire)
29 March 678 Bridge of Orchy (middle of nowhere?)
30 March 794 Culbokie (Inverness)
31 March 903 John O'Groats

I've not been to any of these places so any tips along the route would be much appreciated!

Now just crossing my fingers that it won't be both cold and wet. One or the other is doable. Both would be miserable...

James

First impression is be aware you are staying at Abington on 575 not Abingdon.
You can take a different route through Penrith to avoid a climb but you’ve probably chose that for simplicity.
Your route around Kendal is awful , horrible bit of road to cycle on. Consider Sedgwick, Natland.

Thanks v much for the advice.

Yes I see now it's quite a climb between Kendal and Penrith of 8km. Would you be able to recommend a different route?

I've changed the route around Kendal to go through Sedgwick and Natland as you recommend.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27065159

Top tips!

Good luck , enjoy the ride , hope the weathers kind for you !

JamesF wrote:Thanks v much for the advice.

Yes I see now it's quite a climb between Kendal and Penrith of 8km. Would you be able to recommend a different route?

I've changed the route around Kendal to go through Sedgwick and Natland as you recommend.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27065159

Top tips!

That looks better through Kendal
You can’t avoid 8km climb of Shap but it’s not too vicious.
I was referring to your actual way through Penrith, you had a climb out of town on the A6 which I never enjoy.
Take a look at my route which is in fact shorter and I hope less climbing than yours.

All mileages as per your route.
At mile 318 we (Wimps) are going through Shrewsbury to A528, then to Wem & through Whitchurch to pickup A49 at 343.5 M.
The A49 is a major road and carries a fare bit of traffic and lorries. It's worth a detour just to get away from it for a while.
Obviously you don't want any extra climbing or miles.
At mile 367 you seem to have a detour so wonder why not use the more direct route on the A533?
At mile 413 the route goes back on itself and the A59 up to this point is not very nice.
At mile 439 that is the wrong bridge as against the traffic. The previous bridge is the correct one when going north.
Alternatively, at the rear of Sainsbury's, there is a cycle track /Millennium bridge that is better to take.
Personally - Just after mile 450 I would take left to Holme - Ackenthwaite - Hincaster - Sedgewick - Natland into Kendal. Much more pleasant than A65. (Although if you do take the A65 then stay on it into Kendal.)
See:- https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27068485

I guess you are now very busily preparing for the off. So follow your route and enjoy the ride. A further look and I see many aspects of your route which I personally would have altered but your requirements might be a lot different to mine. We don’t know your priorities I don’t know how much time and research you’ve put into it and why you’ve decided on some choices.
You don’t want to know I’ve just looked at your route north of Abington and through Glasgow. When you get there and your nose tells you different to your gps then maybe question your gps. Especially when you see the cycleway beside the Clyde it might look a lot more attractive than battling around some of the roads you’ve chosen.
Good luck and as you come through my patch on the 28th I’ll keep a look out.

All great advice! Thanks very much both of you.

i have a 5 hour train journey to Penzance tomorrow so will study your advice and make tweaks.

I reckon I passed James today ( I was in car ) I’d guess he’ll be settled in at Abington by 6pm.

'Horace Wimp' by ELO would be the right theme song for the so-called wimps

Hi, yes you must have! I arrived in Abbington at 6.45. Bit slow on the last hill up here - struggling today with some stiffness.

Will try to follow my nose as you suggest tomorrow. Particularly as I’m going 6 miles less to Tyndrum instead of Bridge of Orchy. More options for accommodation.

Cycleruk thx for the tips. I haven’t followed my planned route all that much. I used G Maps a lot for better options. Will post what I actually did once back.