British Cycle Quest

[middleagecyclist]

I started the British Cycle Quest challenge last year and just clocked up my 18th checkpoint (of 402!). A great way to see parts of GB you never even knew existed or wouldn't have bothered going to otherwise.

This is a blog entry and video of a recent ride which saw me collecting 6 checkpoints in 2 days - The Wet and Windy Mini Cycle Tour.

Wondered if anyone else on CycleChat was doing it and if so where they had got up to and if any checkpoints were proving...err...out of date?

Cheers

 

[cyclingsarah]

I haven't got too far with mine yet- I'll have to dig it out again!

 

[Garz]

Seems like a great idea. Do they regularly update the board though?

 

[middleagecyclist]

Seems like a great idea. Do they regularly update the board though?

There are 6 checkpoints per region/county making 402 in all and a recognition some clues may be out of date. In this case all you need to do is find some other proof you have been there. I take a pic of my bike at the clue as well. Out of 18 checkpoints so far I have found 2 which were in need of updating.

 

[funnymummy]

I started the British Cycle Quest challenge last year and just clocked up my 18th checkpoint (of 402!). A great way to see parts of GB you never even knew existed or wouldn't have bothered going to otherwise.



Cheers

TBH... I've never heard of it! (We are CTC members so am hanging my head in shame now) But now I know about it, I reckon I can include it to our summers tour plans

EDIT
Just printed off pages 6 & 7, that's my free time for the next few weeks sorted!

 

[JohnCKirk]

I've started it recently, and I've found that it typically involves a bit of detective work in each location; I'm not sure whether that's deliberate. In particular:


* Cornwall #4 (Poldhu Point). This is at the bottom of 2 steep hills. When you get to the beach, you have to follow a flattish road along the coast, past the retirement home. Don't do what I did, which is to climb up the next (huge) hill, then realise that you've missed it!
* Cornwall #5 (East Looe). The sundial is mounted vertically rather than horizontally, so you may walk past it without noticing.
* Cornwall #6 (Callington). The Old Clink is supposed to be next to the church. However, I couldn't find the plaque they were talking about. As far as I can tell, it's now been converted into offices, so you can't wander inside. I just took a photo of my bike next to the front door, where there's a sign up saying "Rent a unique office space at the Old Clink". Hopefully that will suffice.

* Devon #4 (Lydford). The tomb is outside the church, but the stone tablet (giving dates etc.) has been moved inside the church, so you won't be able to see it when the church is empty (locked up). Fortunately I arrived at the end of bell-ringing practice, so I was able to get inside. The stone tablet is hard to read, but they sell cards for 25p with a copy of the text, so I recommend buying one of them.

* Somerset #1 (Ebbor Gorge). Another monster hill! I couldn't find the plaque they were talking about. There's a sign in the car park, and a mini pavilion a short walk away with signs all around it. However, neither of these has the relevant information. The BCQ document says "Check is down track from Car Park. Not visible from road." That first sentence is barely English, which doesn't help. There are 3 tracks (walking routes) which lead away from the car park, of varying intensity/length, e.g. there's a 1 hour route with lots of steep climbs. I don't know which track you're supposed to follow, or how far you have to go. I didn't really want to leave my panniers unattended, but I also didn't want to carry them around with me, so I just took a photo in the car park.

* Surrey #5 (Box Hill). The view point is a semicircular wall on the side of the hill. There are arrows carved into the stone, with distances, e.g. "Gatwick 5 miles thataway". You need to look at all the distances to work out which place is furthest away. However, it has started to erode, so I'm not entirely sure that I got the right one.

 

[P.H]

I've been doing it on and off for the last five years, on just over 100 points so far, I can't see it being completed till retirement. I just have a look when I'm in a new area and see if it's worth a detour. I've met people who do it quickly, one guy on a three month tour based around it. I see it as a bit of fun, a route planning exercise and a way to pick op all sorts of interesting trivia.

I understand if clues are wrong you can use alternative evidence. I hope so anyway, I have phtos of a road closed sign and of my bike in the spot a sign used to be for two of mine.

 

[shirokazan]

I started in July 2009, a month after completing LEJOG which left me wanting to see more of this country. So now all of my touring is geared to completing the BCQ and I've visited 266 sites: I did 4 yesterday on a day ride from Leicester to Uttoxeter.

Some of the clues can be a bit odd or difficult but most are straightforward. They do update/replace clues when they are confirmed to be invalid. That said, last year I visited one site (Tilford, Surrey) to find that the original clue was still perfectly valid and, worse still, the new clue was incorrect (I had written down both). Doh!

I've found that it helps to do some research before trying to visit some of the sites. By using online OS maps, and Google Earth I was able to create a file with all of the points which I have loaded onto my GPS. This has mostly been spot on. Access to some points isn't obvious and this is where the research really helps. On my last tour a couple of weeks ago, I visited the Nant Rhydwilym pass in Denighshire (50-6) and this is a really difficult site to locate and get to, being up an unmade track: I walked most of the two miles to the site as it was practically unrideable (I might suggest to the organisers that they replace this site).

As for some of JohnCKirk's comments:

Callington (01-6): They've changed the clue since I did this in September 2009, so can't comment on the current clue. My one was about the date on the stone on the end gable of the Old Clink. I found the Old Clink itself fairly straightforward to locate: I think I asked a passerby!

Lydford (02-4): You don't need the plaque/stone tablet that's kept inside the church for the answer as it's written on the tomb itself (on the top).

Ebbor Gorge (03-1): Yes, this isn't the best of clues. I walked down the main pathway but gave up trying to find the plaque after about 200m (like JohnCKirk, I had left my loaded touring bike at the car park - it was only about 9am and no-one else was there but I didn't really want to leave it unattended any longer). However, having returned to the car park, I read the information board and this contains the answer (not sure which sign JohnCKirk was reading).

Weathering and erosion cause difficulties with some of the clues, as JohnCKirk found with Box Hill (11-5) though I don't recall that one being difficult. I found the answer for Slindon in Staffordshire hard to read. The clue for Gruline on the Isle of Mull has been replaced for this reason.

P.H. mentioned meeting a guy spending three months doing it: that might have been Damian Hill who completed it last year. I met him whilst camping at Wookey Hole (the night before I visited Ebbor Gorge), so it was quite odd to fortuitously meet another BCQer. We exchanged notes/opinions on the ones that we had both visited and warned each other about some of the future ones for us both (I recall advising him about the horrendous climb to get out of Lynmouth!). I text him occasionally when I'm on tour: what I said about the Nant Rhydwilym pass is unrepeatable here! Ditto what he said about Levisham in North Yorkshire (as I found out for myself last August).

Best of luck with it.

 

[shirokazan]

I have phtos of a road closed sign and of my bike in the spot a sign used to be for two of mine.

Which sites are those, P.H.? Last month, I visited Ilam (Staffordshire) only to find the fake Eleanor Cross is being refurbished, so it's currently encased in boarding/netting/scaffolding making it difficult to answer the clue. I took a picture anyway.

 

[Jefferson Meriwether]

Apologies for being a bit of a thread necromancer.

I just recently found out about the BCQ & have done a couple so far; it was quite handy that one of the Dorset questions is in my home town It'll take me quite a while to complete all 402 questions but I'm determined to get the engraved trophy. A fair few short cycle tours of Britain will be in order I think to help me get that trophy.