Postby A7 Simon » 15 Jun 2018, 7:24am
Now we are home. The bikes are not back yet, but they said it could take a week. Flying back made for an easy "winding down" day.
We did 1009 miles, 49208 feet of climbing as recorded by my Garmin. When planning the route I found differences, sometimes large ones, between the route planner's elevation estimates. I may return to this, if I have time.
I was mainly pleased with the route, if we did it again there are some bits of A road I would avoid, some I would include.
I found I did not know enough about cycling routes through towns. The information may be there, but is in different formats and often not easy to read.
I have more respect for Sustrans' routes than I had before I started, though I still would not follow them everywhere. But if they take what appears to be a pointless diversion, I would do more checking before discounting it.
Bikes were an old Galaxy and a Specialized Vita, both geared 48/ ?/28 and 11 - 34, which we found adequate.
We broke wheels on our usual road bikes when doing training rides, so I acquired these to give us a more "touring" spec bikes.
I used top/top gear for about 10 miles in total, Jan never used it. Bottom/bottom, probably 50 miles' worth.
No punctures, both bikes on Schwalbe Marathon Greenguard 32 section.
I used Germolene a few times, Jan a tub of Assos cream. Neither for major problems.
We both had the equivalent of 2 off 15 litre panniers, which took all our stuff with a bit of space left over for the day's sandwiches.
We were so lucky - we didn't use our waterproof trousers and overshoes. We had half an hour's downpour in Lancaster, and a few drizzly bits, and it got quite a lot colder as we went north.
The best bit? Just doing it, it is a wonderful experience.
But somewhere, maybe 45 miles into the day, cycling along a country lane, miles from home and with miles and miles to go, I realised I didn't feel my 68 years, I felt young again.
