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First time touring

Old 01-22-06, 11:17 AM
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First time touring

In May, I'm going to do my first touring trip from Edinburgh in Scotland to Cornwall in the south of England. Does anyone have any advice? I am quite worried about how to carry a tent on my bike (I'm camping in Cornwall), and how to secure the bike with all the luggage when I go into shops etc.
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Old 01-22-06, 12:23 PM
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That's quite a distance! You will need some good maps. Sustrans is an excellent source. They have a John O'Groats to Lands End series that might be helpful.

Why is it you are only camping in Cornwall? Tenting in Scotland might be easier as the land is not as populated. As to how to carry a tent, they are usually carried on a rear pannier rack and are quite small and lightweight. I use a camping hammock myself.

As to security; I carry anything of value with me, so I never fear leaving my bike and panniers. I do have a couple of stout locks and an alarm just to discourage thieves. The panniers have little locking devices too.

I've never toured in Scotland but have toured extensively in the southwest of England. Check out my diaries and get back to me.

Good planning is the best insurance for a successful tour. Start with realistic expectations and be flexible if your plans are not working. Touring is as much fun as you can have without actually smiling. That said I've been known to smile out loud on some on the better days. Even a bad day touring is a better day than a good day when you are not.

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Old 01-22-06, 07:11 PM
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Originally Posted by tredford01
In May, I'm going to do my first touring trip from Edinburgh in Scotland to Cornwall in the south of England. Does anyone have any advice? I am quite worried about how to carry a tent on my bike (I'm camping in Cornwall), and how to secure the bike with all the luggage when I go into shops etc.
Your tent and sleeping bag, unless you have a super compressible bag, will probably have to be on your rear rack. The best thing I've found to attach the bags to the rack is to use a ball type bungie cord like there. Use 4, one at each corner of the rack and cross them in the middle. They are far better than bungies with hooks.
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Old 01-22-06, 08:08 PM
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Originally Posted by tredford01
I am quite worried about how ... how to secure the bike with all the luggage when I go into shops etc.
Don't worry about the belongings strapped to your bike when stopping in towns and villages. Just take the usual security precautions: park your bike in a conspicuous location, lock it securely, and bring your valuables with you (wallet, camera, etc.) I always leave my loaded panniers on my bike. I would feel sorry for anyone who opened one. After a couple of days on the road, panniers are dirty and stinky. I have heard of people who strap soiled underwear to the outside of their panniers to discourage thieves, but that may be going too far!

In very small villages, I sometimes do not lock my bike if I am popping into a store for a few minutes. I do keep an eye on it, though.
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Old 01-23-06, 04:53 AM
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Funny enough I have ridden in loads of countries but this is a trip I keep meaning to do. I live in Edinburgh, well actually that a bit theoretical as I work in Kuwait, but we are getting off the subject.

1. security, you don’t want to be carrying big u locks about the country. Keep the bike where you can see it when possible. Don’t worry when you cant. Best lock I have found are short loops of wire for securing saddles to frames. I think Cryptonite make them. Get them in any good bike shop in UK. Get three of them and two small pad locks. You can join them all together to go round your wheels and lamp post or break them into a one and a two to go round a post and lock your pannier. Or any combination of the above. We use touring on a tandem if the are good for a tandem they are good for a single. A lock is to discourage a theft only.
2. First time tour. You will take to much stuff. Ridding a bike is fun. Pushing a wheel barrow is work. If you bike looks like a wheel barrow throw some stuff out. Basically dependent on how much cash you have you need a pump, spare tube and tooth brush.
3. Get some low riders. Don’t know what they are? Trust me you need them. Gets the weight up front on the bike and low down. Makes ridding and handling good.
4. Personally I like to get everything in the panniers. Get some stuff sack and organize your ****. Rain clothes in on, food in another etc. Break your tent into its bits and pack the bits separately. The should all go in a pannier. Even if the poles stick our a corner.
5. Get a brooks saddle, they look cool and feel great.
6. Buy some tire boots (ask in your bike shop) and take a pack with you. Take a spare tube and repair kit. Easier to swap a tube then fix a puncture in the evening that fanny about with patches and glue half way through a ride. Don’t bother taking a whole heap of tools. If something major goes you will never be that far from a bike shop. Those new fangled multi tools (cool tool) are good if you can afford on. If not a couple of Allan keys will do the job. Keep your tire pressure on the high side helps guard against punctures.
7. Get good shoes and shorts. Get the best shorts you can afford. Cheap MTB shoe are good for touring. I always take some light cotton trousers as evening wear. Cruising to the pub after a ride you can feel a bit foolish in cycling skins. Cotton trousers pack small are light and cheap.
8. Camping wise. If no one sees you; no one will mind. Wait until its dusk duck into a field when there are no cars about and put the tent up out of sight. Sod off early in the morning. All will be good. Odiously only in fields under pasture don’t go wading into the middle of a planted crop.
9. It rains in Britain. Make it easy on your self get some mud guards.
10. Petzel head torch. Great for reading in the tent plus is ok when ridding. Light weight and reliable.
11. Always, always have some spare food on the bike. Doesn’t matter what, mars bar, banana what ever.
12. Er, bit of a delicate subject but stay hygienic. Nappy rash is no fun take it from some one who has suffered the past. Wash shorts when ever you get the chance. Ie rinse them out each evening.
13. Make sure you can more around on the bike. To me this means drop bars, even on a mountain bike. If you are on a mountain bike at lest get some bar ends, helps to stop sore back neck wrists etc

Have a blast.
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Old 02-19-06, 03:50 PM
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Sorry I haven't replied recently, I have been a bit busy with work. Thanks for the advice. It turns out that I won't be camping in Cornwall anymore, but I will still be cycling there.

My main problem at the moment is the route. Does anyone know of a good way to plan this sort of trip? I want to use the National Cycle Network (NCN) as much as possible, but I can't find a national overview map. My only map of the whole country is a road map. Also, more specifically, I want to cycle down the West Coast of England, but not Scotland. Is there a way to go down through the Lake District, while avoiding the West of Scotland. There seems to be a NCN route down the middle of the Scottish Borders, but it starts in Carstairs and doesn't link up to any of the other Scottish routes north of it.
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Old 02-19-06, 07:41 PM
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I've ridden in much of southern England and have always created my routes using the RAC Road Atlas Britain that is 3 miles to the inch. While it doesn't show the Cycling routes, I have found that the cycling routes seldom go where I want them to go. The maps show all the A, B, rated and unrated roads in enough detail to select a route using the least travelled roads. The only place they breakdown is around major cities where there are too many roads to show at the 3 mile to inch scale. The cites are usually shown as an inset in another part of the atlas. I rip out the pages I need and leave the rest of Britain at home. Frankly, I find creating the next day's route one of the odd pleasures of touring in England.

Beside the lack of city road detail, the only other problem with using the road atlas is that it doesn't show much elevation. After while, though, you figure out that following rivers is flat and going perpendicular to them is up and down!

Have a great time!

Ray
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Old 02-20-06, 04:31 AM
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Mappage can be a problem on long rides. You can buy detailled maps along the way and use a small scale map for general guidance. Ordnance Survey maps are widely available even from village shops.
The CTC will have some info on routes.
Traditionally the routes is ridden from Cornwall to Scotland because of the generally SW prevailling wind.
If you are not camping you can go fairly lightweight. Try a few weekend rides to sort your essential luggage from nice-to-have. I find that 2 small panniers and a bar bag work well.
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Old 02-20-06, 07:15 AM
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I find that many of the Sustrans routes are quite convoluted, goig to great lengths to avoid main roads or towns and have things like chicane barriers quite often.

The nice thing about biking in England is the huge network of small country lanes. Most of the cars stick to the A-roads and leave these B-roads and unclassifieds alone. I agree with Raybo that the best option is a 3 miles - 1 inch atlas with the pages ripped out. There's rarely any need to spend out on an OS map.
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