Touring - Tire recommendation for Trek 850 and more ???

1) I've posted recently about relunctantly having to use my '94 Trek 850 as a touring bike for our upcoming Land's End to John O'Groats UK trip. I'm wondering if I can get some recommendations on what tire to get to replace the 26" knobbies I have. Our group will include other road bikes, so we'll be 99% of the time on solid roads I'm assuming. Someone mentioned the Conti Town & Country tires in my other thread. In researching them on this forum some people say they are a bit heavy. I will be pulling a Burley Nomad trailer. I also see where a lot of people recommend the Conti Top Touring tire. I don't think they make that tire anymore, at least I couldn't find it on their site.

2) what type of pedals do people usually tour with? Toe clips or clipless?

TIA!

It was probably me who mentioned the Conti T&C's - yes, they are a bit heavy as they are designed to take a lot of urban abuse (curbs, potholes, etc) and offer decent dirt traction also. They roll better than knobbies, but for keeping up with roadbikes I would probably look for a 26 x 1.5 slick or semi-slick that will offer even less rolling resistance than the T&C.

For touring, something like the Continental Travel Contact or Sport Contact are highly rated and offer low rolling resistance for decent speed. Schwalbe also makes excellent tires for touring. Then there is the venerable Ritchey Tom Slick and others of that ilk with emphasis on speed, but more for local riding and possibly not as durable or flat resistant as a touring tire.

The key to low rolling resistance on pavement is to use a tire that is smooth and offers continuous rubber on the center part of the tire with no knobs or even inverted tread on the center strip. You can have some minimal tread to the sides, but you want it smooth where it contacts the pavement. And higher pressure will also help, somewhere around 75-85 psi will have very little flex and roll well. Hence a slick at 80 psi is very fast. Look for kevlar belt to minimize flats.

Shoes would depend on how fast you are going to do it. I have been looking at doing LeJog for a year. If I had 2 to 3 weeks I would use toe-clips and laced shoes as the slow pace meant I was going to spend a lot of time off of the bike. The lady who recently took the 850 mile a-class motorway route and did it in less than 48 hours likely had clipless shoes and pedals. Aside from that if you are using a trailer you can use lighter tires. The earlier poster had some good advice about tires. You just might carry a folding spare tire.

I had also mentioned using the Town and Country’s on my 830. I’ve never used them but have read a lot of good reviews about Schwalbe Marathon’s. I will try those next when the T&C’s wear out.