My first solo, unsupported, camping tour
- Thread starter SatNavSaysStraightOn
- Start date
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OP
OP
SatNavSaysStraightOn
Changed hemispheres!
- Location
- ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ 'ɐɹɹǝquɐƆ
thank you and don't worry about it making you want to get out there - there are 8/9 days to subject you to. You will be pretty bored of the countryside by then... or at least my photos of it in the sunshine
growingvegetables
Guru
- Location
- Leeds
Trying to think of something worth saying ........ but "thank you" is as far as I get 
Dammit - and I'm off to dig my tent out
Dammit - and I'm off to dig my tent out
gavgav
Legendary Member
I often cycle past the campsite at Ebury Hill and it is situated in a stunning area for views
OP
OP
SatNavSaysStraightOn
Changed hemispheres!
- Location
- ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ 'ɐɹɹǝquɐƆ
It is a really nice campsite and was the cheapest I stayed at. the facilities are basic for backpackers (toilet and cold water only) but I don't want or need much and the views and light that day were fantastic. The pink currants just down the road were also amazingly sweet and wonderful! Could have done with some more, but they only had the 1 punnet of them for sale sadly!
gavgav
Legendary Member
I was out on the bike on the 16th, but with @Rickshaw Phil over towards the Wrekin and so I don't think we would have passed you, but can't quite tell from the map as to which route you took from Shrewsbury down to Ludlow, so it is possible we crossed paths on the way out of Shrewsbury?
OP
OP
SatNavSaysStraightOn
Changed hemispheres!
- Location
- ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ 'ɐɹɹǝquɐƆ
you should be able to zoom in and out on the map... if not this one will http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=8S&page_id=382256&v=e
Donger
Convoi Exceptionnel
- Location
- Quedgeley, Glos.
Inspirational stuff. I've just got to talk the missus into going off on hols with her sister so I can do a bit of touring.
p.s.All hail the queen of the landscape photo.
OP
OP
SatNavSaysStraightOn
Changed hemispheres!
- Location
- ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ 'ɐɹɹǝquɐƆ
thank you. On our big tour someone worked it out that I posted a photo for every 8 miles cycled... we only covered 8,700 miles!
welsh dragon
Thanks but no thanks. I think I'll pass.
Fantastic photos and great write up SNSSS. Can't wait to read the rest of it.
gavgav
Legendary Member
Fabulous route you took, and I love it out by Kenley, Church Preen and that area. Fair few hills that way though! I don't think it was us that passed you, although we would have been on the same road as you at Upton Magna for a short while.
OP
OP
SatNavSaysStraightOn
Changed hemispheres!
- Location
- ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ 'ɐɹɹǝquɐƆ
OK - Day 4 - Friday 18th July 2014
LLantwit Major (87.6km)
We had a huge thunderstorm last night where for the first hour or so there were 5 or 6 flashes of lightening every minute but it was totally quiet. I took the opportunity to get up for a pee and had literally just returned to the tent when the thunder arrived and moments later, very heavy rain.
Sadly in the morning, when the alarm went off, it was cloudy and humid and the rain had done nothing whatsoever to clear the air.
The first part of the ride was uphill (yet again) and it was hard work without a warm up.
Once I finally got to the downhill section and back onto the canal for some peace and quiet, it was bliss, but first I had to negotiate a busy A road for a short section and it took me 10 minutes of waiting just to turn left onto it. Turning right off it was seriously difficult and in the end I had no option but to just stick my right arm out and force the situation. After all, I only wanted to get out of everyone's way (rush hour) and thankfully someone behind me had the sense to hold back and a gap miraculously appeared in the oncoming traffic...
From there it was the canal all the way to Newport and beyond and it was an excellent surface to cycle on and only continued to get better and better until the actual canal ceased to be functional as a canal.
Signs like this are useful when you have no idea how far you have cycled down the canal...
After a place called "Five Locks" the surface deteriorated before improving again. It was really sad to see the canal in a state of such disrepair though. Lock and lock was down, some converted to tiered terraces as a 'water feature' others just missing one of their gates completely and the canal less than a foot deep - totally silted up. Some areas were really bad for litter as well. So sad to see.
Sadly the few locks I saw being repaired (via a National Lottery grant) were being repaired from the "we must do this before the canal collapses and floods the area" point of view rather than with any long term prospect of reopening it.
One the bright side I did get to see quite a bit of wild life, including several herons and a water vole which very nearly got identified the hard way (at least the hard way for it) when it ran across the towpath less than a foot from my front wheel!
At the M4 where the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal met another canal, it was more of the same. Total neglect and disrepair. It was such a shame to see. It was really eerie cycling along the canal towpath (another national cycle route) where I had the canal less than 2 foot from the side of me, a 6 foot wide cycle path (really good condition) and then literally the M4 with lorries going passed (above me) a hard shoulder widths away... They would not have even known I was there.
Previously I had been really grateful for the fact that I was going in the downhill direction down all of those locks... now I had turned inland and was heading up the canal, I had to do all those short sharp little inclines that come with locks... I was glad I was only doing a short distance along this canal.
Once off the canal I soon found NCR 4 again and it took me the "scenic route" as all sustrans routes do... uphill and down dale so to speak, but I did get to see some water, the estuary, just not the sea. (Why will become obvious later on.)
Somewhere around Machen, I located the off-road section of NCR 4 (another disused converted railway) and found a bridge where I could have a spot of lunch. It was also starting to get hot now. The sun was finally burning through the cloud and it suceeded in coming out.
Caerphilly soon followed and more of those "you are not going anywhere near a road that might have cars on it" sustrans diversions followed, but thankfully one such diversion took me passed a Morrison's petrol station which was duely raided for supplies (water, Fanta, Pringles - great for dealing with salt loss!)
day 4 to be continued...
LLantwit Major (87.6km)
We had a huge thunderstorm last night where for the first hour or so there were 5 or 6 flashes of lightening every minute but it was totally quiet. I took the opportunity to get up for a pee and had literally just returned to the tent when the thunder arrived and moments later, very heavy rain.
Sadly in the morning, when the alarm went off, it was cloudy and humid and the rain had done nothing whatsoever to clear the air.
The first part of the ride was uphill (yet again) and it was hard work without a warm up.
Once I finally got to the downhill section and back onto the canal for some peace and quiet, it was bliss, but first I had to negotiate a busy A road for a short section and it took me 10 minutes of waiting just to turn left onto it. Turning right off it was seriously difficult and in the end I had no option but to just stick my right arm out and force the situation. After all, I only wanted to get out of everyone's way (rush hour) and thankfully someone behind me had the sense to hold back and a gap miraculously appeared in the oncoming traffic...
From there it was the canal all the way to Newport and beyond and it was an excellent surface to cycle on and only continued to get better and better until the actual canal ceased to be functional as a canal.
Signs like this are useful when you have no idea how far you have cycled down the canal...
After a place called "Five Locks" the surface deteriorated before improving again. It was really sad to see the canal in a state of such disrepair though. Lock and lock was down, some converted to tiered terraces as a 'water feature' others just missing one of their gates completely and the canal less than a foot deep - totally silted up. Some areas were really bad for litter as well. So sad to see.
Sadly the few locks I saw being repaired (via a National Lottery grant) were being repaired from the "we must do this before the canal collapses and floods the area" point of view rather than with any long term prospect of reopening it.
One the bright side I did get to see quite a bit of wild life, including several herons and a water vole which very nearly got identified the hard way (at least the hard way for it) when it ran across the towpath less than a foot from my front wheel!
At the M4 where the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal met another canal, it was more of the same. Total neglect and disrepair. It was such a shame to see. It was really eerie cycling along the canal towpath (another national cycle route) where I had the canal less than 2 foot from the side of me, a 6 foot wide cycle path (really good condition) and then literally the M4 with lorries going passed (above me) a hard shoulder widths away... They would not have even known I was there.
Previously I had been really grateful for the fact that I was going in the downhill direction down all of those locks... now I had turned inland and was heading up the canal, I had to do all those short sharp little inclines that come with locks... I was glad I was only doing a short distance along this canal.
Once off the canal I soon found NCR 4 again and it took me the "scenic route" as all sustrans routes do... uphill and down dale so to speak, but I did get to see some water, the estuary, just not the sea. (Why will become obvious later on.)
Somewhere around Machen, I located the off-road section of NCR 4 (another disused converted railway) and found a bridge where I could have a spot of lunch. It was also starting to get hot now. The sun was finally burning through the cloud and it suceeded in coming out.
Caerphilly soon followed and more of those "you are not going anywhere near a road that might have cars on it" sustrans diversions followed, but thankfully one such diversion took me passed a Morrison's petrol station which was duely raided for supplies (water, Fanta, Pringles - great for dealing with salt loss!)
day 4 to be continued...
OP
OP
SatNavSaysStraightOn
Changed hemispheres!
- Location
- ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ 'ɐɹɹǝquɐƆ
day 4 continued
From there the plan was to follow the Taff Trail and it was very pleasant if you could ignore those horrible A frame gates that are too narrow for mountain bike handle bars and these ones were not the 'hollow' ones where you can wriggle your bars through. First time around I resorted to taking off the panniers and carrying the bike over the horse barrier instead. Second time around I managed to suss out that if I lifted the front wheel off the ground and wheeled the bike through on its back wheel... yep this is going to get very boring but as one cyclist pointed out to me, good for core strength - he's not the one trying to lift a laden expedition bike through these hurdles...
In the end I sussed out a technique of balancing the bike, walking around to the other side, holding the front brake on with my left hand and steadying the wheel with that hand as well, and using the right hand to grip the wheel and lift it off the ground and pulling the bike through at the same time. It got very tedious... and I can see the need for an alternative route on the way home.
Several cyclists and dog walkers offered to help me at various intervals all out of shear disbelief at the ridiculous nature of the situation. By now the sun was out in force and it was getting seriously hot, my energy levels were low, stops frequent and I was cursing the no pedestrians sign on the new bypass... totally failing to comprehend that that did not exclude bikes, just pedestrians. I was too hot and tired to think straight.
Lovely shared use cycle lane alongside the bypass but why so many of those impassable barriers?
Eventually I found the next A road and was able to make some progress, but it was now rush hour and very busy and it was still very hilly and I was still too hot and too tired - so I think that covers all of the excuses for being so slow
. I made a slight navigational error going through Cowbridge and instead of taking the first right, I took the 2nd right which was immediately after the first right and ended up sailing down a very steep hill, only to have to push my bike up the other side, so cycle back down it again, before coming out where I should have been all along and climb back up...
I kept looking for the sea, knowing I was near it, but totally failing to find it - it kept me going for the last few miles in very hot weather. Sadly my route through Llantwit Major bypassed all of the shops, this was a pity because I had nothing to eat for an evening meal (not even spagetti by itself) and when I finally made it to the campsite, there was very little in the shop that I could eat - except for the last packet of spagetti. They did however have a very good supply of cold drinks and I quickly downed 3 cans of orange Tango without noticing! The campsite owner must have realised how tired I was because he offered to push my bike up to the pitch (quiet and shady - or at least it was quiet until a certain couple arrived next to us later on in the day) and sat down to dry out my little tent and wait for Stuart to arrive.
Now despite being only 600 meters from the sea, I had still not see any evidence that it existed, so after Stuart arrived (complete with supplies and evening meal) we went off for a walk; like I needed the exercise! But it was way too hot to consider sleeping yet, so we walked down to the beach about a 1km away or so - after all I needed proof it existed. Stuart told me this was never in doubt, but all I could respond was that he was not being creative enough!
I had seen this vehicle earlier in the day when it went passed me, but could not photo it. Now however was another matter...
It exists.... proof, honest it does!
http://www.strava.com/activities/169790316
From there the plan was to follow the Taff Trail and it was very pleasant if you could ignore those horrible A frame gates that are too narrow for mountain bike handle bars and these ones were not the 'hollow' ones where you can wriggle your bars through. First time around I resorted to taking off the panniers and carrying the bike over the horse barrier instead. Second time around I managed to suss out that if I lifted the front wheel off the ground and wheeled the bike through on its back wheel... yep this is going to get very boring but as one cyclist pointed out to me, good for core strength - he's not the one trying to lift a laden expedition bike through these hurdles...
In the end I sussed out a technique of balancing the bike, walking around to the other side, holding the front brake on with my left hand and steadying the wheel with that hand as well, and using the right hand to grip the wheel and lift it off the ground and pulling the bike through at the same time. It got very tedious... and I can see the need for an alternative route on the way home.
Several cyclists and dog walkers offered to help me at various intervals all out of shear disbelief at the ridiculous nature of the situation. By now the sun was out in force and it was getting seriously hot, my energy levels were low, stops frequent and I was cursing the no pedestrians sign on the new bypass... totally failing to comprehend that that did not exclude bikes, just pedestrians. I was too hot and tired to think straight.
Lovely shared use cycle lane alongside the bypass but why so many of those impassable barriers?
Eventually I found the next A road and was able to make some progress, but it was now rush hour and very busy and it was still very hilly and I was still too hot and too tired - so I think that covers all of the excuses for being so slow
. I made a slight navigational error going through Cowbridge and instead of taking the first right, I took the 2nd right which was immediately after the first right and ended up sailing down a very steep hill, only to have to push my bike up the other side, so cycle back down it again, before coming out where I should have been all along and climb back up...I kept looking for the sea, knowing I was near it, but totally failing to find it - it kept me going for the last few miles in very hot weather. Sadly my route through Llantwit Major bypassed all of the shops, this was a pity because I had nothing to eat for an evening meal (not even spagetti by itself) and when I finally made it to the campsite, there was very little in the shop that I could eat - except for the last packet of spagetti. They did however have a very good supply of cold drinks and I quickly downed 3 cans of orange Tango without noticing! The campsite owner must have realised how tired I was because he offered to push my bike up to the pitch (quiet and shady - or at least it was quiet until a certain couple arrived next to us later on in the day) and sat down to dry out my little tent and wait for Stuart to arrive.
Now despite being only 600 meters from the sea, I had still not see any evidence that it existed, so after Stuart arrived (complete with supplies and evening meal) we went off for a walk; like I needed the exercise! But it was way too hot to consider sleeping yet, so we walked down to the beach about a 1km away or so - after all I needed proof it existed. Stuart told me this was never in doubt, but all I could respond was that he was not being creative enough!
I had seen this vehicle earlier in the day when it went passed me, but could not photo it. Now however was another matter...
It exists.... proof, honest it does!
http://www.strava.com/activities/169790316
Ganymede
Veteran
- Location
- Rural Kent
It all looks lovely. It's so great to get a realistic picture of what it's like to be out on your own. TBF I haven't read many of the other tour reports but this is making me think I should start!
BTW: pee in-tent in comfort with a she-wee and a bottle. Invaluable for me once when I was camping in a torrential storm!
BTW: pee in-tent in comfort with a she-wee and a bottle. Invaluable for me once when I was camping in a torrential storm!
