British Cycling Quest - CTC

[nilling]

Anybody started this?

http://www.ctc-competitions.org.uk/bcq/

Few days off over Easter so might make a start in my County.

Is there no GPS co-ords, rather than map references?

 

[StirlingCrispin]

Gosh - I'd forgotten all about that....

I checked and set the questions for Stirling and Clackmannanshire - way back in 1999 I think. Involved some long road rides to get to the further corners of a rather large county.

The question for Killin was who first translated the bible into Gaelic (the answer is on a statue opposite the main hotel, while other times I had to resort to asking for telephone kiosk phone numbers if I could find nothing else permanent on a remote road)

All the questions were set by volunteers like myself and co-ordinated by another volunteer. I don't think GPS existed back then so you will have to learn to program your GPS using map references ;-)

It will take you to some out of the way areas, so enjoy!
(and if you make it to Stirling on the BCQ I'll be happy to buy you a beer!)

 

[P.H]

I've been doing it for the last five years, hoping to reach 100 places this year. I can see why so few people complete it, the further from home you go the harder it becomes. It does add something to my cycling, taking me places and routes I'd otherwise miss and some of the trivia picked up is interesting.
It can also be frustrating, finding some of the places is harder than others, it's not meant to be a treasure hunt. I'm not always touring with detailed maps so clues like "in the church yard" or "village centre" are a lot easier than those less detailed and expecting you to use the map reference.
If you like route planning, it can be a challenge to see how many you can string together. My record is 4 in a day and 12 on a 5 day tour.
You need to check for changes in questions, though you can use alternative evidence if the question is obsolete.
Give it a go.

 

[meic]

Most (all?) GPSs can easily be changed by going into settings and picking OS grids. I leave mine set on that unless I was to go abroad.

 

[fungus]

I've just sent off for my 5 local county cards Staffs, Warks, Derby's, Leics & Notts. So I'll start on the bcq in early May it will give me a reason to explore areas of the country that I would never otherwise see.

 

[shirokazan]

Anybody started this?

http://www.ctc-competitions.org.uk/bcq/

Few days off over Easter so might make a start in my County.

Is there no GPS co-ords, rather than map references?

I started this in late July. After I came back from completing LEJOG in June, I realised that I wanted to see more of the country. Fortuitously, I came across an article about the BCQ and this inspired me to start. I suppose the real 'benefit' is that it gives me an excuse to go to parts of the country I wouldn't otherwise go to.

So far I've done all of the easy-to-get-to local places, and I've now embarked on doing tours to more far-flung places (echoing what PH said above). I did Cornwall and a bit of Devon in September and I've just come back from doing a tour through parts of Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. This amounts to 71 BCQ sites. As PH also noted, some sites are more easily found than others and some of the OS grid references are a little out. The worst so far was St Mawes in Cornwall where it's about a 750m error - not huge but unwelcome at the end of a tiring day's ride.

Now I shan't be touring until next year but I'm already planning where I might go: SW Scotland in April, South Wales in May/June seem to be my favoured options at the moment.

 

[Brains]

I seem to remember an article in the CTC magazine last year about a couple that were the first to complete the lot.