thirdcrank wrote:One anomaly for the unfamiliar to note is that in England at least, larger supermarkets can only open for six hours on Sundays. The actual hours are at their choice so sometimes it's 1000x1600 but more often 1100x1700.
It's the other way round here: most are 10-16 on Sundays and (AFAIK) only one in West Norfolk Borough is 11-17. Small and medium size supermarkets open longer, though. The big chains (Co-op/Nisa, Waitrose, Sainsbury, Morrisons, Aldi - usually decent bike parking at those - and Lidl, Asda and Tesco but they've the worst bike parking here) all have store opening times listed on their websites, so you can check before riding off route far.
Another shop point not yet mentioned is that in many English villages, the Post Office now sells basic food including fresh produce, with many becoming like old-fashioned General Stores, and in growing areas, some farms and smallholdings sell from the gate (they'll have signs up, but often won't be marked on maps).
Re: routeing through town centres, be aware that some Sustrans routes seem to go to inordinate lengths to avoid them. However, we've had a couple of threads recently about cycling being prohibited in some pedestrianised shopping areas - which may be no more than the former main route through a market town - so be alert to that.
Yes, I'd say it's far more common near me that Sustrans routes will go through a town centre even where cycling will attract a fine. IIRC, the most common offence committed by cyclists in Norfolk is cycling along National 13 in the centre of Thetford - but Sustrans refuse to reroute it and the council refuse to lift the cycling ban.
The thread has gone beyond your query about protein bars etc., and pubs have been mentioned as places to eat. Be aware that not all pubs do grub, although it's something more are doing, sometimes to a high standard. An increasing number of pubs don't find it viable to open on Mondays and even Tuesdays.
And of those that do open, they often don't serve food beyond cold prepack snacks on Mondays. I like pubs but this aspect is rather disappointing. Many of the chain pubs will serve food but it's trucked in and it's rather poor at certain chains. I'm not going to say which chains because at least one of them has fanatical supporters on here.
