LEJOG via North Uist

[Bicycler]

That trip up to Alston is quite enough climbing

[andreafj]

We continue to mull over this route and have trimmed it quite a bit to get our trip into four weeks. One section we can't decide on the best route is Ashbourne to Holmfirth. Does anyone have suggestions/comments on these three options?

http://ridewithgps.com/events/Ashbourne-Holmfirth

Thanks in advance

Andrea

PS Here is the whole route if anyone is interested:

http://ridewithgps.com/events/LEJOG-2015

[Norman H]

Options A & B overlap a good deal. I guess it will depend on traffic (The Peak District is a busy tourist area, even in September) and how the legs are feeling, as to whether you take the route over Holme Moss. The alternative route uses the Trans Pennine Trail, which will be traffic free but may be tougher. I'm not familiar with it but There may be gates and stiles that could be challenging with the Tandem and I don't know what the surface is like. Perhaps someone with local knowledge could comment.

I think option C may be your best bet, it looks a nice route and avoids the bigger towns. It too, uses an off road section of The Trans Pennine Trail, alongside the river Don, but there looks to be a simple on road alternative if you cross the Don at Millhouse Green and head for Hepworth.

I had a quick look at the rest of your route. I see you've had second thoughts about Buttertubs Pass. Well done, you won't regret it. I Also see that you are using the cycle path alongside the Forth and Clyde Canal. I mentioned the Falkirk Wheel previously but, if you have time , make a short detour to visit the Kelpies

[andreafj]

Thanks Norman. The trail sections on route B are definitely a concern for us, but we weren't keen on A628 although it would be just a short distance. I think streetview might be deceiving us though since there was road work on that section of A628 at the time it was surveyed which artificially concentrated traffic. Our current plan has us doing that ride on a Monday.

I wondered if anyone noticed that Buttertubs was added in We took a good look at both that climb and Fleet Moss and decided they were likely doable. We have lots of gears and will be packed pretty light since we aren't camping. If Fleet Moss fries us, we have an alternative for the next day that goes around Buttertubs. My husband loves a challenge and I'm a little crazy so this routing won't be a surprise to anyone who knows us. Our last tour was New Zealand so there was no shortage of climbs and many of them quite long.

Thanks for the suggestion of the Kelpies. I will definitely take a look at making a change to go see them.

[Norman H]

I think you are wise to be wary of the A628. It wouldn't be my first choice on a bike.

You may get more comments re the off road sections if you post a query in the “Touring & Expedition” sub forum.

[rareposter]

Hi Andrea,

I live on the northern edge of the Peak District / South Manchester so I know those roads very well. The A628 Woodhead Pass road is not pleasant at the best of times but your route is only on it for about 600m - the right turn onto it at Woodhead/Torside Reservoirs and then the left turn off it. It's quite popular with cyclists heading over to Holmfirth so most drivers know to expect them.

I'll flag up the bit on Long Hill just north of Buxton too. Your route (on 06A and 06B) shows you forking right off it onto what the map calls "Old Road". Bear in mind that the first part of that route is fairly rough off-road - certainly for cars it's only passable by full on 4x4s. On a bike I've done it on a CX but I wouldn't take my road bike over it. Depending on your tandem and how heavily laden it is, you might be better off doing the full on-road Long Hill - it's a lovely sweeping descent from the summit for about 4 miles down into Whaley Bridge.
The route that you've got between Buxworth and Hadfield is also very steep! (but scenic and pleasant).

06C looks nice but is a bit more challenging navigationally. Try and stay off the A515 as much as possible, that's another horrible road.

If you want to vary your route slightly early on, go a fraction further west and pass through Longnor, there's a lovely little tearoom right on the cross roads. From there you can just head north and pick up Harpur Hill again as per your original route.

[andreafj]

Thank you very much for the input. I'm definitely leaning towards the C option. Any thoughts about the short section on A57 near Ladybower Reservoir?

[rareposter]

Hi Andrea,

Again, not the nicest stretch of road in the world and it's mostly uphill so you'll be going considerably slower but it's only about 3km and the road isn't as busy as the A628. I think no matter what route you do there will always be bits that are like that which are basically unavoidable. Anywhere along Liverpool - Manchester - Sheffield corridor and again at the Glasgow - Edinburgh corridor is going to include a few bits of road that you probably would avoid given the choice.

That said, Snake Pass itself (from Ladybower Reservoir over to Glossop) is one of the most popular roadie routes in the Peaks, the trick is finding a quiet time for it.

[andreafj]

Thanks! It does seem to be an excercise in finding the lesser of evils a lot of the time. I appreciate some extra information to help make the decision.

[Mistik-ka]

Hi Andrea,

I've just been perusing your proposed route and feeling envious. Our English tandem travels have criss-crossed your route several times, but only coincided a couple of places. One of those places is the thoroughly delightful towpath along the Liverpool–Leeds Canal from Bradford to Riddlesden — much used on a sunny weekend morning when we rode it, but with a tarmacked surface and plenty of room for pedestrians and cyclists. Two thoughts on this section:

1) turning right onto Otley Road could put you onto the towpath a little sooner, at Shipley instead of Saltaire — just a bit more time spent in the fascinating industrial architecture of the 18th and 19th century. BUT…

2) It may be worth enquiring of the locals to see how the towpaths have fared in the horrendous recent flooding that has swept through Cumbria, Yorkshire, and the Borders.

I'll get my act together very soon and send you a pm about your wonderful project.

[andreafj]

Thank you for the suggestion about the Liverpool–Leeds Canal. I will definitely take another look!

[matt2matt2002]

2 years ago I did the Scottish end to end and came down from Shetland via Orkney and Ullapool.
Then Harris, Skye, Fort William, Oban.
Great area. No really big hills.
But it is Scotland!
Good luck.

[andreafj]

We successfully completed our 2100 km LEJOG by tandem on September 22. If anyone is interested in our blog or photos they can be found at these links:

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/an ... /tpod.html

https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrea_fj ... 526690145/

Some comments and observations:

When looking at other people's routes, consider whether they rode supported or unsupported...we were unsupported and didn't want to be doing laundry everyday so we had 4 days of cycling kit and minimal off bike clothing which was probably close to 100 lbs for the two of us. This made our first two days with the hills of Cornwall and Devon particularly gruelling. https://ridewithgps.com/trips/10814706 and https://ridewithgps.com/trips/10814706

One must consider not just the volume of climbing, but the type of climbing in Cornwall and Devon...it was constant up and down with some longer steep stretches thrown in. The challenge with the downs was that our route followed smaller roads which are primarily single track winding roads with very tall hedges so getting a nice coast down after a climb didn't happen. We had to brake a lot to make sure we didn't fly around a corner into a sheep or a tractor.

Most tow paths are not suitable for a fully loaded touring tandem. Unless near a larger city, many have very tight passages under bridges without any railings and poor sight lines. We stayed out of the canals, but it wouldn't have taken much to send us toppling in. Exceptions were the Avon Canal into Bath and the paths along the River Clyde and the Forth and Clyde Canal in Glasgow.

Choose bike paths very carefully. Some were lovely and avoided some challenging terrain like the Tissington Trail. Others such as the path along the west shore of Loch Lomond or the paths between Glencoe and the Corran Ferry were paved, but on a very poorly prepared surface so there were lumps from settlement and tree roots. Other paths were fine, but with a limestone screening surface and occasional gates, perhaps not a better option than the road. Along Loch Lomond, the path sections on the old road were great and a welcome break from the traffic.

The Fleet Moss Climb can definitely be done on a tandem...if you have a friend to meet you in Buckden and carry your bags for you. This wonderful friend also took some fabulous photos of us https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrea_fj ... 730089888/ It is an absolutely stunning climb and we had such great weather for it. The descent into Hawes is not to be underestimated... Even though our disk brake pads still had life in them, we were still descending at 50 km/h with full brakes. We chose to change the pads when we arrived at our B&B... We decided to take a pass on Buttertubs which we had planned for the next day, but the alternate route was lovely.

The border crossing at Carter Bar is definitely worth the effort to get there. We were again lucky with weather and had a great view.

Unless you really have a need to go to Fort William, crossing on the Corran Ferry gives a lovely route avoiding a very busy section of A82. There is a ferry back to Fort William, but I don't think it runs very often.

If you have time to see the Outer Hebrides, don't hesitate to go. We did have very good weather, but the scenery on North Uist, Lewis and Harris is stunning. The Calanais Standing Stones are...I'm at a loss for words, but they are not to be missed. The Pentland Road back east to Stornoway is really special...you feel like you are the only people out there. I will give a caveat here though...if we did not have such perfect weather, this section of our trip wouldn't have been very enjoyable and could actually have been quite miserable.

The B&B in Altnaharra was a really great last night before we got to John O'Groats. It isn't as fancy and refined as some of the other B&Bs we stayed at, but we arrived just as the rain was starting and Mandy had the tea on while her husband put our bike away. We had dinner at the B&B which was arranged in advance along with two other cyclists. It was a good home cooked meal. The next morning, our bike was brought out right after breakfast and our water bottles filled all set to go.

Some thoughts on accommodation...we had a bit of a challenge with the size of the tandem. There aren't a lot of places that have secure storage for an 8' long bicycle! That said, all of the prior arrangements I made worked out and we always had a good place to store the bike. Some highlights in addition to Altnaharra were the Sunnybank B&B in Sennen, the Nebula in Liskeard, Lowdens House in Taunton, Loxley House in Hawes, Highfield B&B in Portree and Rushlee House in Lochmaddy. The only major disappointment was the Old Bridge in Holmfirth...smelly small room, noisy and disappointing food. All others were nice enough and suitable for our needs, but not exceptional. Seaview at John O'Groats was a bit funny...they were great on some extra services like receiving our bags and holding them until we arrived and driving us down to the airport to get our rental car, but general service and our room were mediocre.

We are so glad we did the trip and are still happily married at the end of it all even with a few days that were a bit rough. The main changes I would make if I did it again are shorter days for the first 3 or 4 and fewer bike paths. Our route was tailored to visit family in several places and to include North Uist where my Grandfather was from. Would we do it again? Not anytime soon...there are other places to see. We would like to return to Skye and ride the Quiraing climb which we elected not to do as I had come down with bronchitis. There are also other parts of Scotland that we would like to see and some family that we didn't manage to fit into our schedule.

[Norman H]

Andrea, I enjoyed the blog and the photos. Scotland in glorious sunshine is hard to beat.

Congratulations to you both on completing the trip, and thank you for sharing.

[andreafj]

Thank you Norman