Is touring actually enjoyable?

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Mick F
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Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Is touring actually enjoyable?

Post by Mick F »

I had "tasks" to do, and that kept me going for the past few years.
I rode all the 79 bridges over theA30 Exeter to LE .......... actually Longrock/Penzance coz that's the last one.
All the 40odd bridges over the A38 Exeter to Bodmin - then end of the A38.
All 23 bridges over the River Tamar (basically the border between England and Cornwall)
Rode to all 226 parish churches in the diocese of Truro which for some strange reason have two in England ........ though haven't done the one's on the Isles of Scilly due to high costs to take ferries etc.
Basically ridden on all the roads and lanes of Cornwall - within reason of course, but I've been everywhere within a mile of everywhere.

Times, especially further away from home, I drove to long-stay carparks and went from there and back to the car.
Couple of times, I drove to Penzance and Mrs Mick F came down by train a few hours later and we stayed overnight in a hotel and drove back a day or so later after my rides Way Down West.

Someone said to me a while back, to cross all the bridges over the railways in Cornwall past and present and visit all the railway stations past and present. I started the task, but gave up! :wink:

TBH I've had enough of touring. Been loadsa places abroad when I was in the RN and took a bike, let alone stuff here domestically.
I won't bore you with a list, but it's here on the forum if you want to look.
Here's one thread.

viewtopic.php?t=147846
Mick F. Cornwall
tatanab
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Joined: 8 Feb 2007, 12:37pm

Re: Is touring actually enjoyable?

Post by tatanab »

gbnz wrote: 13 May 2022, 3:36pmA continuous, blasting headwind, knocking 10-12mph off the downhill speed. A slogging 9-11 hours on the bike to try and cover 70 miles! (4 Hr's on a decent ride)
It is a tour, no need to be rigid about where and when. Travel crosswind for a day and then the opposite tack the next to get more or less where you intended.
Arrive at locations, to find the campsites closed, the campsite only hosts "static" caravans, though some farmer will charge you £20, to sleep in a boggy field without any facilities, other than a semi operating toilet
Touring does not mean camping, necessarily. Go off to a b&b or hotel for that night if need be.

I suppose my ideas are coloured by not touring in the UK for at least the last 40 years. Western Europe opens up many more possibilities. I am always flexible about changing route due to bad weather (2 weeks of rain on one 4 week trip, fierce winds for a couple of days on another). I like to travel with a purpose e.g going to an event such as the TdeF mountain stages or Semaine Federale, or even places I recall from many years ago. My touring machine is not especially heavy or sluggish because I subscribe to lightweight (preferably compact) touring which is so much easier these days with modern low bulk fabrics.
iandriver
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Joined: 10 Jun 2009, 2:09pm
Location: Cambridge.

Re: Is touring actually enjoyable?

Post by iandriver »

I'm looking forward to cutting the milage I usually do in at least in half for my next trip. Perhaps Mosel valley way. 25 miles max a day and lots of looking around. I really fancy being a real gentleman of leisure for one.
Supporter of the A10 corridor cycling campaign serving Royston to Cambridge http://a10corridorcycle.com. Never knew gardening secateurs were an essential part of the on bike tool kit until I took up campaigning.....
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simonineaston
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Joined: 9 May 2007, 1:06pm
Location: ...at a cricket ground

Re: Is touring actually enjoyable?

Post by simonineaston »

and why not ? sounds good.
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
ANTONISH
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Joined: 26 Mar 2009, 9:49am

Re: Is touring actually enjoyable?

Post by ANTONISH »

horizon wrote: 13 May 2022, 10:35pm
Accommodation is getting more expensive and youth hostels are an extinct species so camping is a reasonably cheap alternative. But I wouldn't recommend it to someone who wasn't into the details - you do have to work at making it work.
I remember staying at the youth hostel in Clermont Ferrand in 1959 - very basic- one squat toilet ( unisex by default).
I've recently been looking for a hotel in Clermont Ferrand - one of the offers was for a youth hostel, it looked like many other multi story hotels - 40euro a night - I have no idea what you would get for that but I wasn't tempted.
I used to tour/camp even in the rain but I've gone off it - even cheap hotels have some sort of ensuite (not F1 of course which is as near to camping as I would be prepared to go and even then only as a last resort )
mattheus
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Location: Western Europe

Re: Is touring actually enjoyable?

Post by mattheus »

I've stayed in hotels that have made me wish I was in Pen-y-Pass YHA!
gbnz
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Joined: 13 Sep 2008, 10:38am

Re: Is touring actually enjoyable?

Post by gbnz »

ANTONISH wrote: 16 May 2022, 9:51am
I used to tour/camp even in the rain but I've gone off it - even cheap hotels have some sort of ensuite (not F1 of course which is as near to camping as I would be prepared to go and even then only as a last resort )
[/quote]

Same here. I have toured for lengthy periods, spending most of twelve months in 2007-2008 living in a backpacking tent. And if I have another session abroad, a tent would still seem ok, with nice, dry, cheap, warm, campsites

But think it's the combination of sky high camp site prices in the UK (£20 for a field with 1 toilet in it last week, compared with the £29.99 I've paid for a decent hotel room in the last six months, which is off putting). And the fact that given all my foreseeable tours are likely to be "local" (I.e. Within 200 miles of home), the appeal of a superlight road bike, doing 2-3 times the distance, enjoying every mile whilst seeing the landscape and country which appeals. And so much easier to chuck a road bike on a last minute train. Doing 100-140 daily with a pre-booked, supercheap hotel appeals (Nb. Glad I'm not touring today - heavy rail, wind, cold, grey skies, the UK in spring :wink: )
Nearholmer
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Joined: 26 Mar 2022, 7:13am

Re: Is touring actually enjoyable?

Post by Nearholmer »

Relatives, that’s what you need.

I’m no great fan of camping anymore, and did a nice lightly-loaded tour last summer using a combination of B+B and visiting family members for ‘sleepovers’. Some of them even seemed a bit pleased to see me.
Cyclewala
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Joined: 7 Nov 2019, 11:07am

Re: Is touring actually enjoyable?

Post by Cyclewala »

I love it. I consider it type 2 fun.

I’ve been exercising for most of my adult life and was a long distance cycle commuter pre-COVID. I’ve become accustomed to what others would deem ‘suffering’.

I get a warm glow from having shaken off poor weather, sleep deprivation and other challenges.

There is nothing like leaning the bike against a tree and lying down on a piece of grass to rest after a hard section. Or the first mouthful of food (doesn’t matter what is) when I’m hungry.

I once read a book by a former SAS soldier who said after a 30 mile hike in a jungle with a heavy backpack, they would be responsible for foraging and cooking their own food. He said boiled nettles never tasted so good.

After a two year break due to a back injury, I’m looking forward to a week’s tour next month. I’ll be B&Bing this one as I’m with a small group.
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