3 Day Expedition in the UK: Route Ideas?

[jwarwick]

Hi everyone,
Four or five of my friends and I are looking into doing a Duke of Edinburgh cycling expedition, 3 days and two nights camping (preferably in actual campsites, and ideally Scout activity centres, as I'm doing this with my explorer unit). We are based in South London, so would look to do an expedition either in the South of England, or possibly around Dorset (We camp on the Isle of Purbeck for a week in the Summer, so that could be a possible start/end point). Norfolk area is also possible - preferably no more than a three hour journey or so, because we would be travelling up in cars. Anyone have any ideas for a route? I thought we could average about 40 miles a day, depending on the terrain - we are all quite fit, and good cyclists, but none of us have any touring experience.

Most of the group have mountain bikes, one person has a hybrid, and I'm a soon-to-be owner of a cyclocross bike, although I STILL can't decide! As a result, we thought mainly tarmac, with the odd bit of off-road along bridleways and unsurfaced tracks (DofE says we can't use main roads, only minor roads, byways and tracks). On this kind of terrain, is 40mi reasonable or should we be reining in the mileage? We have to do at least four hours journeying, I think, so 10ish mph?

We are all quite experienced hikers, and average 10kg packs or just under, bringing me to the question of load carrying: panniers or trailers? We can't afford to kit the group out with trailers, but did wonder about hire: A cursory 'google' didn't turn up anything this side of the Thames, but don't know if anyone knows of whether this is possible(Trailers off-road?)? Otherwise is two (waterproof!) rear panniers the best option?

Any help greatly appreciated... Bit of a minefield this!

 

[steveindenmark]

Panniers is the answer. Especially for such light loads. You will find most people on here will agree. Trailers can be a Real pain to lug around and you most certainly dont need them. I would forget about them altogether.

I am assuming you are using paper maps to navigate. To help you find a route I would use an ap called Plotaroute. It is free and is an excellent programme. I have used it to to plot routes all over Europe which I download to my Garmin Gps and then ride. But you can also print your routes out or transfer them to a map. You can also plot off road tracks with Plotaroute.

You will need to play with it but it is pretty simple and it is the best I have found by far, and I have tried a lot of them.

40 miles is a good distance for your time scale. Any less and it wont feel like an expedition. You will find it will take you more than 4 hours because you stop for snacks, photos etc, and that takes time. But it is not a race. The more time you spend riding and exploring, the less time you are just sat around getting bored at a camp site.

Dont forget to take a camera and post some photos on here.

Cycle touring is not rocket science. Its just hiking with a bike.

 

[jwarwick]

Hi, really interesting, I sort of agree with you about panniers - trailers are good to get the weight off the wheels and stop the front lifting, but this is only necessary with very heavy loads, and 10kg shouldn't put undue stress on a bike, should it?

Yes, paper maps (OS) are always the best way! Need to make sure they're waterproofed though!

You're right, I think, about 40 miles - they say it is seven hours 'activity', needs to be just 3.5hrs journeying, the rest can be stopping for breaks, and completing the aim.

Thank you very much for your response, it has been very helpful!

PS: Does anyone have any suggestions of a good route to take - I don't think they'll let us just follow the national cycle network as it won't be deemed challenging enough (from a navigation point of view). We thought maybe Wales or the New Forest, but neither of them are really large enough - we thought about maybe cycling either back to London from Purbeck, or maybe cycling along the South Coast, while trying to keep to bridleways, minor roads, tracks etc.. If we did cycle in that area, the New Forest seems like an attractive prospect... What do you all think?

 

[raleighnut]

Ideal DofE territory is Derbyshire, not so much the Peak District but more the Derbyshire Dales. Lots of old railway lines converted into cycle trails and plenty of quiet lanes with more campsites than you could imagine.

 

[steveindenmark]

10 kg is nothing.

Here is probably the best touring site you can find. It will give you lots of ideas about touring.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=tS&page_id=360498&v=1PU

40 miles will not take you 7 hours. I would think on a normal day you will get through it in 5 hours. But it all depends how often you stop. Stopping is the best part of cycle touring. The bike is just a tool to get you from A to B.

You only need 120 mile route for a 3 day trip. Where in London are you?

I will have a quick look at Plotaroute for you and see if I can post something.

 

[jwarwick]

Hi @raleighnut , you're right about Derbyshire I think, just looking for possibilities closer to home first, otherwise yes, that area would be excellent.

@steveindenmark, yes, 10kg isn't really much... The recommended daily activity is seven hours, including stops, lunch, completing the aim etc. Agreed, it's not a lot to do in a day, but I'm wary of going further on our first big trip. I guess we'll have to take more breaks !

Thanks for the site, really useful. We are Croydon area (yes, scary stuff)! I'd be interested in the kind of route you think fit, we thought mainly minor roads with some bridleways and byways, but we're all hikers and have seen the condition some bridleways are in!

We do actually have to do two expeditions, a practice and a real. They are meant to be in similar areas, but I think what they mean by this is similar terrain i.e not pootling along minor roads for the practice, and hammering it round Dartmoor on the qualifying! Doing one near us and one further north is a possibility, not really sure yet...

Thanks in advance.

 

[Tim O]

Very good reply from Steve. Just a suggestion, if only to be rejected. The Isle of Wight, where I live, is very accessible from London. It has a few hundred miles of bridle paths. If you want to feel like it's a real "expedition", there are some killer hills I can assure you! There are also some scout camps (which may or may not be available for hire to non-scouts - I'm not sure). You could use one of these as a base camp and you would find plenty of 40 mile routes for a 3 day adventure. Plus, you can dive in the sea at the end of a sweaty day!

If you would like more information, or if I can help in any way, please feel free to ask. Good luck with your search.

Tim.

 

[jwarwick]

Yes, the Isle of Wight is actually a good idea - we can use scout campsites as we are explorers. What is the trip over like? Is there a car ferry from Southampton?

 

[Tim O]

Glad you liked the suggestion. The trip from Southampton via the Red Funnel car ferry takes an hour. You land in East Cowes. Here is a map of scout camps on the Island: http://www.isleofwightscouts.org.uk/VisitUs/Camping/Overview.aspx We particularly like number 6, Northwood and we've camped there ourselves. You take the chain ferry over to West Cowes and it's no distance to Northwood. It's a good location for the west where there are plenty of bridlepaths.

 

[Tim Hall]

If coming from Croydon, you're probably better getting a train to Portsmouth Harbour. Wheel the bike down the platform and get the catamaran to Ryde.

 

[Brains]

I'm an Explorer Leader
I've also led a number of Explorer cycle expeditions (and hiking ones)
I'm also based in South London (Greenwich)
So if you want to fire off questions to Leader with experience of exactly what you are after then get typing, or even come over and we can talk

Where to go.
I'd avoid Dorset, as it's very hilly,
New Forest is excellent, but you can easily do it in two days, so a bit small for your needs
I'd look at Norfolk, there is a good route that basically follows the coast, start at the top.
And also some areas of Kent and Sussex.

As you are in Croydon, you could start from home, if you look at the Sustrans maps (or Google Maps and set menu options to 'cycling') you will see you can go south to Red Hill and then Crawley (Scout Camp at Peas Pottage, quite good),
on to Forest Row (Broadstone Warren Scout camp, very good), all on disused railway line
On to Heathfiled where you turn south and get on the disused rail line to Eastbourne
Then follow the coast along to Rye
Across Romney marsh (great cycling, a number of camping fields to camp in)
Up to Ashford, then onto Canterbury
and then the Crab and Winkle disused rail line to Whitstable on the sea where you catch a train home via London Bridge
(As you will be cross rail lines every few miles the route has any number of emergency bail out options that will get you home in 2 hours)

For the DofE you need to plan the route in advance, you will see that it can be done with almost no hills and no main roads
(Clue: Follow rivers and rail lines)

What you need.
Usual hiking stuff, no rucksacks, a pair of panniers each (cheap Argos/Halfords ones will do)
The Navigators really need a bar bag with a transparent map pocket on top (They will learn how to read a map whilst cycling) 1:50,000's are OK and a compass.
Sustrans maps if you can get them (or at least print outs)

Cycling.
You need an appointed navigator at the front and a 'broom' at the back (ideally one of the stronger cyclists)
You keep a minimum of two bike lengths apart, no riding side by side, even on the tracks
The person at the front needs to keep turning around to ensure the person at the back is still within sight
Keep the pace slow, we found in the morning 12mph is OK, by lunch it's down to 10mph and often by the end of the day it's down to 8mph.
We have typically found that day one 25 miles was enough, up to about 30 miles by day two, and very rarely have we got it over 40 miles in a day.

(Are you doing Red Flare or G24 this year ? If so, I'll see you there)

 

[jazzkat]

Hi everyone,
Four or five of my friends and I are looking into doing a Duke of Edinburgh cycling expedition, 3 days and two nights camping (preferably in actual campsites, and ideally Scout activity centres, as I'm doing this with my explorer unit). We are based in South London, so would look to do an expedition either in the South of England, or possibly around Dorset (We camp on the Isle of Purbeck for a week in the Summer, so that could be a possible start/end point). Norfolk area is also possible - preferably no more than a three hour journey or so, because we would be travelling up in cars. Anyone have any ideas for a route? I thought we could average about 40 miles a day, depending on the terrain - we are all quite fit, and good cyclists, but none of us have any touring experience.

Most of the group have mountain bikes, one person has a hybrid, and I'm a soon-to-be owner of a cyclocross bike, although I STILL can't decide! As a result, we thought mainly tarmac, with the odd bit of off-road along bridleways and unsurfaced tracks (DofE says we can't use main roads, only minor roads, byways and tracks). On this kind of terrain, is 40mi reasonable or should we be reining in the mileage? We have to do at least four hours journeying, I think, so 10ish mph?

We are all quite experienced hikers, and average 10kg packs or just under, bringing me to the question of load carrying: panniers or trailers? We can't afford to kit the group out with trailers, but did wonder about hire: A cursory 'google' didn't turn up anything this side of the Thames, but don't know if anyone knows of whether this is possible(Trailers off-road?)? Otherwise is two (waterproof!) rear panniers the best option?

Any help greatly appreciated... Bit of a minefield this!

I can't help you with any cycling advice, but I did want to say that I love your avatar!

 

[Tim Hall]

If you go to Pease Pottage, I might even make you a cup of tea. (SL 7th Crawley ).

 

[jwarwick]

The Scout camps map is really useful, thanks! Any idea what kind of route might be possible around that area?

I'm not sure if we can squeeze two routes out of the Isle of Wight though (maybe I'm wrong!)... (I should have mentioned this before, we have to do a practice AND qualifying expedition.) EDIT: I did
Any other thoughts on a second route? Think I'll either go with what @raleighnut said (Derbyshire), or most likely @Brains ' suggestion of Norfolk, although now I re-read, Croydon to Canterbury sounds excellent, especially if it's not on big roads.

go south to Red Hill and then Crawley (Scout Camp at Peas Pottage, quite good)

Is this @Tim Hall 's 7th Crawley campsite?

EDIT: Upon further snooping, I discover that it is! Props to whoever designed your group's website, @Tim Hall , we're looking into building our own website and it's nowhere near as good as yours!

 

[jwarwick]

@jazzkat I like it - I play assorted percussion in my school's bands and orchestras so this is what I see in my music most of the time

The other option was this

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