The Fridays Tour

[clivedb]

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My concern is the A508, which I'm going to have to take a look at early one Saturday morning

Simon, I take you mean the A508 north of Northampton. I imagine you're going on the B526 from Newport P. I haven't cycled north of Northampton, just north east and north west of Milton Keynes. However, I think the local CTC group do sometimes go out for all-day rides that go up into that area so you might get some useful advice from them. I would suggest Phil Ashbourne - his email address on the CTC site is philip.ashbourn@talk21.com

Do let me know when you plan to come up this way - the offer of any possible help stands open.

 

[Tigerbiten]

If you want to miss Northampton completely then from the B526 turn right at Horton onto Brayfield Rd.
Continue straight across A428 and down to Billing.
Just before the A45 rurn right Lower Ecton Lane.
Up through Ecton -> Sywell -> Holcot to join the A508 at Brixworth.
That misses the what I think is the worst part of the A508 Northampton -> Brixworth.

 

[alanbrice]

Re Minsteracres - am sure people could camp there. Will check

 

[dellzeqq]

Re Minsteracres - am sure people could camp there. Will check

Alan - you're better off e-mailing me on fnrttc@yahoo.co.uk to discuss this

 

[alanbrice]

Will do

 

[dellzeqq]

let me explain my thoughts on accommodation

as far as possible the spreadsheet will have camping, bunkhouses, B+Bs and hotels. SRW is completely right about decor - some of the B+Bs and some of the hotels will be shocking to behold, but the priority is for the accommodation to be grouped closely, so that people can get together in the evening, and so that the minibus/van doesn't have to make a grand tour both in the evening and in the morning. So, to coin a phrase, it's location, location, location.

I'm going to highlight the links in the spreadsheet by colour, so that people know which accommodation will be served quickly by the minibus/van.

When I did the TRAT we did stay at a couple of nice places that were off the route - one, in particular, was a retreat that was really quite lavish. The extra time in the saddle, and the knowledge that we were going back on ourselves was debilitating. The ideal accommodation was right by the road - we stayed at a bunkhouse in Aviemore and although it wasn't smart it was glorious to step out in the morning and know that the route was ten feet away.

I can see that the fitter rider might think nothing of going five or more miles away from the finish/start, and the choice, is, of course, theirs to make. I'll be sticking to the centre as much as Susie will allow.

 

[srw]

That is also our thought - in a touringtandemtastic stately manner. My thinking is that this is the best chance we'll get to do LEJOG without the hassle of having to source and organise our own routes and accommodation.

This is getting interesting. Everyone always says that Cornwall and Devon are horrible for hills. I've just done some plotting, courtesy of mapmyride.com. Not ten miles from home there is a climb from Aston Clinton into Wendover Woods (ace cafe at the top, incidentally). That climb is 500 foot inside a couple of miles. The route I've plotted, courtesy of links here and at the CTC site, gets us from Lands End to Wells with nothing as long or as steep. And it doesn't touch the A30.

I'm thinking of a Sunday start to Wadebridge, Monday to Cullompton, Tuesday to Wells (family!), then either one long or two shorter days to somewhere close to London. That lot could be done almost without luggage.

 

[ttcycle]

I'm keeping an eye on this one - My preference is for the first day to be less mileage as trying to ride the miles through the night with lack of sleep is not appealing and by itself is a lot of miles to start with as I'm not riding as much or as fit as I used to be, however, I understand the practicalities of busy roads in the day and annual leave for others.

Ultimately will be influenced by how much it all costs and whether I'm fit enough by June!

 

[rb58]

I'm thinking of a Sunday start to Wadebridge, Monday to Cullompton, Tuesday to Wells (family!), then either one long or two shorter days to somewhere close to London. That lot could be done almost without luggage.

I was initially thinking to leave LE on the Monday morning and aim to be in London Thursday evening to get some laundry done and a night in my own bed before heading up to HPC. However, if there are others also doing the LE - HPC prelude, I will be flexible. What sort of mileages are those?

 

[gbs]

["That climb is 500 foot inside a couple of miles. The route I've plotted, courtesy of links here and at the CTC site, gets us from Lands End to Wells with nothing as long or as steep. And it doesn't touch the A30."]

That's surprising - yr hill is less than 5% gradient. Is Cornwall ( totally foreign to me) really so undemanding?

 

[srw]

I suspect that Cornwall and Devon have short stretches of steepness which have been smoothed out by the plotting software. But looking at the OS maps there isn't a single chevron on the route I've plotted - which surprises me. It's certainly undulating, though, and there are long stretches of draggy uphill. The longest hill appears to be the one you can't avoid if you stop in Wells - and I do want to stop in Wells because we've got family there.

The mileages I've plotted are roughly 60-80-50-60-65.

 

[StuAff]

I'm keeping an eye on this one - My preference is for the first day to be less mileage as trying to ride the miles through the night with lack of sleep is not appealing and by itself is a lot of miles to start with as I'm not riding as much or as fit as I used to be, however, I understand the practicalities of busy roads in the day and annual leave for others.

Ultimately will be influenced by how much it all costs and whether I'm fit enough by June!

+1 for User's comments. You'll be fine as regards fitness, Grace.

 

[dellzeqq]

[QUOTE 1671643, member: 1314"]Simon...do you want to approach MM.[/quote]
give me time to think about that one. The ideal person for the van or minibus is someone who doesn't get bored easily (driving time will average a little over two hours a day), will help with the laundry and not mind too much when people put their kit in the wrong place.

 

[ianrauk]

[QUOTE 1671557, member: 1314"]For Adrian...

Warm buttered parathas, with yoghurt and mild lime pickle. Chai tea, sweet, gallons of it. Fruit juice.[/quote]


It's convinced me to sign up...

 

[dellzeqq]

BFF drives a van for a living.

the cat person?