I've been putting off coming to the inevitable conclusion - the Barcelona to Nice idea is pants. Sorry, not least to RichP who tried to tell me ahead of time. I goofed.
Some of you will remember that Susie and I recce'd the ride in October. She did brilliantly in difficult circumstances, but there was no getting away from two realisations
1. Traffic levels in the south of France are just extraordinarily high - we had days that were akin to cycling around Basingstoke.
2. Some towns along the Cote d'Azur are just plug-ugly suburban hell-holes. It would be invidious to pick out one, but, hey, Palavas les Flots, or however you spell it, is just ten miles of crap. Apologies to any Flotians in the audience.
I'm indebted to Chris B who referred me to his blog. I'd intended to go back and try route B. Chris has travelled part of route B, and his account makes the best possible case for route A.
So - where to go? I've received some very worthy suggestions, but none that couldn't be sorted without a full recce, and I can't really set up a tour that involves people using annual leave without checking out the hazards, assuring myself that it's suited to the mix of people that make up the FNRttC and being able to describe it properly. So what I've decided, knowing that this will not please everybody, is this
1. I'll mull over a continental tour for 2013, and do a recce later this year
2. I'll set up a HPCJoG for 2012
The HPCJoG will not be everybody's cup of tea, but it does have the following virtues
1. I know the way (although I'm going to test a plan B route for part of the way)
2. People will be able to dip in and out for one or more days - for example the Yorkies and Hullidilians could join us for the first two days and be home in time to go to work on the Monday
3. I think we will be able to afford motorised support, which will enable people to camp without carrying oodles of stuff, and others (I name no names) to change in to something smart for dinner at their hotel. We may even be able to use that motorised support for all or part of the return trip from JoG
4. Scotland is fab. Truly, truly fab.
So here's the plan
1. Start HPC midnight Friday. Ride through the night, take breakfast, go on for another thirtyfive miles or so, and then stop early or mid afternoon.
2. Cycle Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, return Sunday. That breaks down in to one 120 mile schlep to start us off, then seven days of 75 miles or so. If people are very smart about returning it will mean that it can be done with one week's annual leave.
3. As many stopping places as possible to offer a choice of camping, B+B and hotel accommodation within a short distance.
4. Start 15th June/7th September/14th September. At this point it looks like 15th June - but if you have thoughts on this, please e-mail me on fnrttc@yahoo.co.uk Doing a midsummer ride to JoG is smart - there's always plenty of accommodation in Scotland, and the extraordinary length of the days means that we can start as early as we like.
I've got a spreadsheet of accommodation (I'm sorry but people will have to book their own) and I'm hoping that people with local knowledge will help me out wit that when the route is fixed. We have a very generous offer of accommodation in York. Which brings us to....
Plan A
London - Bingham - York - Tow Law - Jedburgh - Kinross - Aviemore - Tain - JoG
Plan B
London - Sleaford - Wetwang/Malton - Durham - Coldstream/Longformarcus - Kinross - Aviemore - Tain - JoG
Plan A is slightly shorter but the ride from Tow Law to Jedburgh is very, very tough indeed
let''s think about numbers and cost. I guess that we will have thirty people on the first night, and thirty people on the second say. From that point on we might have ten to fifteen people for each day on......that's about 135 peopledays, which would give us a budget of (say) £1000 for the support vehicle. On the other hand - if we had twenty people on the first two days and ten people thereafter, we'd have 100 people days which might give us a budget of (say) £800 for the support vehicle. I'd welcome views on whether people thought this was reasonable, and, better still, some indication of where you are coming from - by which I mean, whether you're a Camper, B+Ber or Hotel-er.
So - apologies for the change of plan. As I say, this won't be universally popular, but I think it's within my abilities, as it were. If you want to tell me I'm wrong, then please feel free, but I'd prefer to have this thread devoted to the practicalities of the HPCJoG.
I'll be revising the blog tomorrow......
Some of you will remember that Susie and I recce'd the ride in October. She did brilliantly in difficult circumstances, but there was no getting away from two realisations
1. Traffic levels in the south of France are just extraordinarily high - we had days that were akin to cycling around Basingstoke.
2. Some towns along the Cote d'Azur are just plug-ugly suburban hell-holes. It would be invidious to pick out one, but, hey, Palavas les Flots, or however you spell it, is just ten miles of crap. Apologies to any Flotians in the audience.
I'm indebted to Chris B who referred me to his blog. I'd intended to go back and try route B. Chris has travelled part of route B, and his account makes the best possible case for route A.
So - where to go? I've received some very worthy suggestions, but none that couldn't be sorted without a full recce, and I can't really set up a tour that involves people using annual leave without checking out the hazards, assuring myself that it's suited to the mix of people that make up the FNRttC and being able to describe it properly. So what I've decided, knowing that this will not please everybody, is this
1. I'll mull over a continental tour for 2013, and do a recce later this year
2. I'll set up a HPCJoG for 2012
The HPCJoG will not be everybody's cup of tea, but it does have the following virtues
1. I know the way (although I'm going to test a plan B route for part of the way)
2. People will be able to dip in and out for one or more days - for example the Yorkies and Hullidilians could join us for the first two days and be home in time to go to work on the Monday
3. I think we will be able to afford motorised support, which will enable people to camp without carrying oodles of stuff, and others (I name no names) to change in to something smart for dinner at their hotel. We may even be able to use that motorised support for all or part of the return trip from JoG
4. Scotland is fab. Truly, truly fab.
So here's the plan
1. Start HPC midnight Friday. Ride through the night, take breakfast, go on for another thirtyfive miles or so, and then stop early or mid afternoon.
2. Cycle Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, return Sunday. That breaks down in to one 120 mile schlep to start us off, then seven days of 75 miles or so. If people are very smart about returning it will mean that it can be done with one week's annual leave.
3. As many stopping places as possible to offer a choice of camping, B+B and hotel accommodation within a short distance.
4. Start 15th June/7th September/14th September. At this point it looks like 15th June - but if you have thoughts on this, please e-mail me on fnrttc@yahoo.co.uk Doing a midsummer ride to JoG is smart - there's always plenty of accommodation in Scotland, and the extraordinary length of the days means that we can start as early as we like.
I've got a spreadsheet of accommodation (I'm sorry but people will have to book their own) and I'm hoping that people with local knowledge will help me out wit that when the route is fixed. We have a very generous offer of accommodation in York. Which brings us to....
Plan A
London - Bingham - York - Tow Law - Jedburgh - Kinross - Aviemore - Tain - JoG
Plan B
London - Sleaford - Wetwang/Malton - Durham - Coldstream/Longformarcus - Kinross - Aviemore - Tain - JoG
Plan A is slightly shorter but the ride from Tow Law to Jedburgh is very, very tough indeed
let''s think about numbers and cost. I guess that we will have thirty people on the first night, and thirty people on the second say. From that point on we might have ten to fifteen people for each day on......that's about 135 peopledays, which would give us a budget of (say) £1000 for the support vehicle. On the other hand - if we had twenty people on the first two days and ten people thereafter, we'd have 100 people days which might give us a budget of (say) £800 for the support vehicle. I'd welcome views on whether people thought this was reasonable, and, better still, some indication of where you are coming from - by which I mean, whether you're a Camper, B+Ber or Hotel-er.
So - apologies for the change of plan. As I say, this won't be universally popular, but I think it's within my abilities, as it were. If you want to tell me I'm wrong, then please feel free, but I'd prefer to have this thread devoted to the practicalities of the HPCJoG.
I'll be revising the blog tomorrow......