3 Day Expedition in the UK: Route Ideas?

[Brains]

Croydon to Canterbury route

This is one of several websites that will give you the route
http://www.cyclestreets.net/journey/

But using the cycle route numbers

Route#
23 - Croydon to Coulsdon
20 - Coulsdon to the M25 at Reigate
21 - M25/Reigate to Crawley
21 - Crawley to Groombridge
21 - Groombridge to Eastbourne
2 - Eastbourne to Lydd
11 or 172 - Lydd to Ashford
18 - Ashford to Canterbury
1 - Canterbury to Whitstable

Sketch out the whole thing on printed or scanned 1:25,000 or 1:50 maps and use a highlighter, it will give you a route to follow, but you need to be a good navigator!
Work out possible exit options at the rail stations
Overlay it with the Scout camp sites map
http://campsites.scouts.org.uk/sites/County
and you can work out where to stay

 

[jwarwick]

Brilliant, what's the total route distance?

I'm a pretty good navigator (he says humbly ) so that shouldn't be a problem... Do you think that the route would constitute DofE's difficulty level, considering the routes are generally signposted?

BTW, yes we most probably will be at Red Flare again this year, think we came about 15th last year of 32 ish, we thought it was pretty good considering there were some 17-18 year olds there... We were only 14-15! It's started somewhat of a legend in our unit - I am SURE I saw a unicorn, everyone says it was just a white horse but I will not be swayed ...

It was awfully muddy last year though!

 

[Tim O]

You would certainly have no difficulty in finding two routes on the Isle of Wight. It's 68 miles around on the coast with loads of bridle ways crossing it. A quote from the 'Visit the Isle of Wight' website:

"The Isle of Wight is a year round cyclist’s paradise, with over 500 miles of cycle and bridleways weaving their way through dramatic and contrasting Island landscapes. The “Bicycle Island” offers something for every cyclist, from multi-day tours to relaxing afternoon rides, and we recently scooped top spot in Lonely Planet’s “Top 10 World Cycling Routes.""

I am not connected to the Island's tourist industry by the way, just trying to be helpful!

 

[jwarwick]

Fantastic, just want to take this moment to thank everyone for their help, I've never really thought much of forums before but I've been really impressed with the sheer amount of knowledge people on here have!

We may do both on the IoW, it's good to have lots of options, leaders will make the final decision, but I fancy Canterbury as a practice and the IoW for the real thing, think the terrain will be broadly similar. Derbyshire might be too far, on reflection, but Norfolk and Suffolk are close by, so we could use that as backup.

Yes, I had wondered about the 'IoW tourist board'! We went there on a family holiday a few years back and I remember hammering down the hill from Ventnor into Shanklin at a rate of knots, and on an MTB, no less! Would love to take something down there with slicks, but mind the surface!

What is the current time there, by the way? I'm surprised they had (have?)internet connections back in the 60s !

 

[Tim O]

You're right, the current time is around 30 years behind the big island....!

 

[srw]

There is a waymarked "Round the Isle of Wight" route which is quite good, and does need a map to supplement the road signs. You could probably get to Portsmouth inside a day for South London, from where there are regular ferries.

 

[Brains]

Brilliant, what's the total route distance?

I'm a pretty good navigator (he says humbly ) so that shouldn't be a problem... Do you think that the route would constitute DofE's difficulty level, considering the routes are generally signposted?

BTW, yes we most probably will be at Red Flare again this year, think we came about 15th last year of 32 ish, we thought it was pretty good considering there were some 17-18 year olds there... We were only 14-15! It's started somewhat of a legend in our unit - I am SURE I saw a unicorn, everyone says it was just a white horse but I will not be swayed ...

It was awfully muddy last year though!

Distance 120-150 miles if you did it all, but you can either start down the route, say at Crawley by getting on a train
and then bail out at a number of places along the route Ashford would be good, and get back on the train.

The route may be marked, but it's not done well, you need to be able to read a map!

See you at Red Flare, I'm with Severndroog ESU, and us leaders normally run one of the later bases.
The ones you hit in the early hours of the morning when you are dog tired and I tell you about the mine field you have to negotiate blindfold with one of your team on a stretcher !

PS
There are no Unicorns now, they were eaten by the Dragons.

.

 

[jwarwick]

OK, perfect in terms of length, and it looks like it's mainly on-road with some off-road sections - is that correct? In that case it looks perfect, I was just worried because we've been told not to follow too much of the London Loop before, because it's well signed and wasn't sure if this would be the same... I think we should be quite capable of navigating it without signs though - we've already done Bronze without a hitch, in the wet but I sometimes feel it would be too easy if it was dry!

Yes, I'm sure Red Flare will be great this year, it's sometime mid-March isn't it? I remember the almost knee-deep mud last year! Our second team were one of the first to leave, proceeded to get quickly lost and then muddy, and their excuse was that no-one told them about the Grid ref error on the second checkpoint... We never did find out if it was true or not... Hopefully I'll get to introduce you to my leaders, both keen cyclists (yay ) or find some other way. I'll probably have to do it in the morning - the challenges get me awfully grumpy!

PPS: Where were the Dragons?

 

[Brains]

OK, perfect in terms of length, and it looks like it's mainly on-road with some off-road sections - is that correct? In that case it looks perfect, I was just worried because we've been told not to follow too much of the London Loop before, because it's well signed and wasn't sure if this would be the same... I think we should be quite capable of navigating it without signs though - we've already done Bronze without a hitch, in the wet but I sometimes feel it would be too easy if it was dry!

Yes, I'm sure Red Flare will be great this year, it's sometime mid-March isn't it? I remember the almost knee-deep mud last year! Our second team were one of the first to leave, proceeded to get quickly lost and then muddy, and their excuse was that no-one told them about the Grid ref error on the second checkpoint... We never did find out if it was true or not... Hopefully I'll get to introduce you to my leaders, both keen cyclists (yay ) or find some other way. I'll probably have to do it in the morning - the challenges get me awfully grumpy!

PPS: Where were the Dragons?

Red Flare
5-6 March
http://www.glswscouts.org.uk/article-operation_red_flare_2016.html

 

[jwarwick]

Aha, thanks.