Cycling UK Forum

Mick F wrote:

Jamesh wrote:Hi using this guide where would you put in another day? I'm thinking Scotland as it's beautiful and tough?!

Scotland isn't tough at all. High elevations and open country yes, but if you want tough, consider the Cornwall and Devon sections.

I’d agree with Mick, Scotland isn’t tough at all and the Wimps route through D&C was nowhere near as bad as some people’s way out of there. IME the toughest parts are Cities dealing with navigation and traffic I found very tiring and time consuming.

Route through Manchester....
From Altrincham out to Warburton Bridge over the Ship Canal, at the "T" junction turn Right onto the A57 Manchester Road, next set of lights turn left into Glazebrook road Changes into Holcroft Lane, at mini roundabout turn right onto Warrington road cross the East Lancs A580 over the canal to the "T" junction and turn left into Leigh. Pass the Police station on left At cross roads with B5215 turn right, Leigh Road. follow that up for a few miles until Lovers Lane then left. Lovers Lane comes out onto Wigan Road and a staggered junction so its left onto Wigan road then right onto Schofield Lane, which becomes Lower Leigh road then Leigh Road. to the "T" junction at end and Left onto Cricketers Way to cross roads right onto Wigan road that changes to Church street at "T" junction at the end turn left and A6. At this point I always used to think to myself next stop Kendal ( after Fredericks of course )
I think that is a far easier route with much less traffic and without the stopping and starting of commuting through the city.

Hi
Looking at travel plans
Over night sleeper from London to Penzance Friday night.
Arriving in Penzance 8am for ride to LE and back up to Oakhampton. Seems straight forward.

Return a week on sunday following train from wick to Leeds can I book bike reservations or is it lucky dip?

Otherwise am I best getting the bike couriers to pack up my bike and post it back?

Cheers James

I've been looking at new wheels for my lejog as I've been using my rs10 all winter. I know I should have put heavier winter wheels on but just like the speed the rs10 wheels give.

Therefore knowing they will be well used by the summer i'm thinking of a new set

The questioning have is how light / aero can I go? Budget is under £200.

Would Cero 24's be too light?
Does the flat middle section favour Mavic cosmics or vision 30's??
Bear in mind this is a fast 8 day ride with little kit, not a 14 day tour!
Cheers James

https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/ab ... ain-travel

According to this page the NE to SW train is the old HST trains which has a large guards van coach G therefore getting a bike ticket shouldn't be too much of an issue?

Is this still correct?

Getting back from Wick might be more of an issue.... Especially on a Sunday!

Cheers James

Jamesh wrote:I've been looking at new wheels for my lejog as I've been using my rs10 all winter. I know I should have put heavier winter wheels on but just like the speed the rs10 wheels give.

Therefore knowing they will be well used by the summer i'm thinking of a new set

The questioning have is how light / aero can I go? Budget is under £200.

Would Cero 24's be too light?
Does the flat middle section favour Mavic cosmics or vision 30's??
Bear in mind this is a fast 8 day ride with little kit, not a 14 day tour!
Cheers James

Personally I’d put reliability and fixability over any other criteria for E2E wheels. I’ve witnessed a LEL riders loose extortionate time through choosing 'fancy' bits over those two choices.

That's true.
Slow and steady the name of the game!
Will be good to ride on roads I'm not familiar with!

Cheers James

As Paulatic states above the worst part for me was also crossing towns and cities...too much stop/start. It's hard to keep a steady rhythm as traffic lights, busy roundabouts etc get in the way

Before I go and book my ticket next Friday it looks like i have 2 options Friday afternoon which do people prefer......

A) Leeds - penzance direct then Travelodge / b+b
B) Leeds London Penzance sleeper arriving in at 8am.
Price isn't much different.
Hassle if getting across London Vs another night in b+b

Sleeper means I leave Penzance at 8am and probably not back to Penzance till 10am.

If I got to Penzance early enough Friday, I could go to lands end and back in evening but that would make it 9 days

Thoughts gentlemen?

Cheers James

James,

So far, my best options seems to be hire a car at Heathrow and drive to Penzance with one-way drop off. Have you thought of this?

Otherwise for me flying into the UK and taking trains or cars means:

1. Heathrow Express to Paddington (hopefully not rush hour)

2. Train to Penzance with no guarantee there will be space on the train for my bike.

3. Ride back from JoG to Inverness and pick up another hire car to drive back to Heathrow

4. Risk various trains from JoG not knowing if I can take my bike on any of them

I have just looked at car hire but the tend to charge a premium for one way apparently. Then you have the stress of driving.

You can book places on trains so as long as you have a bike ticket it should be ok?

Where are you coming from and when are you starting?

Cheers James

You could get a train to reading and the cross country to Penzance?

Just a thought?

Cheers James

Last time I looked - its been a few weeks now - the train people said on their site that I had to have a travel ticket for me and then a couple of days before I would be due to depart I could check to see if there was space for my bike. Not really a practical situation at all.

My current plan - it does change from day to day - is to ride at the beginning of September to get out of the peak school holiday season. Originally I was going to do it at the the beginning of June but I've been faffing around like a sail boat without a rudder because I thought I might want to do a 1200K instead out of Lytham, but then I realised that may not be sensible - 200 miles a day for 4 days in a row - so now I'm back to LeJog - I think.

Anyway, If I can crave your indulgence again, if you have taken the esteemed Mick's route and converted it into an excel cue sheet, would you mind PM'ing it to me please? I should already have his GPS route somewhere, but I think I've lost it.

As for riding, 125 miles a day is okay for me and i'm going to be riding with hope of finding a resting place each night with no prior warning of my arrivals. I will - maybe - carry a tent.

charliepolecat wrote:Last time I looked - its been a few weeks now - the train people said on their site that I had to have a travel ticket for me and then a couple of days before I would be due to depart I could check to see if there was space for my bike. Not really a practical situation at all.

That is completely rubbish! The only time it might be the case is if you are buying an open return for a date after the next timetable change in which case you can buy the ticket but not do any reservations (either for seats or bikes & cheap "advance" tickets won't be available either).

RickH wrote:

charliepolecat wrote:Last time I looked - its been a few weeks now - the train people said on their site that I had to have a travel ticket for me and then a couple of days before I would be due to depart I could check to see if there was space for my bike. Not really a practical situation at all.

That is completely rubbish! The only time it might be the case is if you are buying an open return for a date after the next timetable change in which case you can buy the ticket but not do any reservations (either for seats or bikes & cheap "advance" tickets won't be available either).

It depends who "the train people" are. I think only four companies now sell tickets with bike reservations online: http://www.GWR.com is one. I was going to read the others of off www dot atob dot org dot uk but the whole site just vanished to be replaced by a message that it needs an additional security check so I fear it has been broken into - visit at your own risk.

Other companies may misinform you that bike reservations cannot be done online or before you buy a ticket, in an attempt to hide their more competent rivals.