first tour since canine incident... need some ideas

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

OK we have decided that it is time to see just how good my leg actually is after the incident that ended our world tour. I have been able to get the miles in recently ( ) with 'day time' weight panniers and we have decided it would be really nice to get out and have a 3 day mini tour over the bank holiday weekend.

The problem is that we can't decide where to go to. We want to start from home (unless someone here is happy car sitting for 2 nights and can come up with a better idea).

We are not sure which bikes to take. The tourers would need good looks & looking after (and need some maintenance before we use them - not an issue I have friday free). The mountain bikes & the road bikes both only have rear racks. The mtb's only have semi-slicks for one bike & full nobblies for the other, but we have toured on the mtb's in the past. the road bikes both have rear only racks, but I may have an issue with the gears on mine (unsure on what because they seem to be slipping under light load only when spinning, never under stain, and less than 2 weeks ago had new cassette, chain & wheels and was OK initally).

We prefer scenery to tourist attractions but need somewhere we can put up a tarp & bivvy. we don't want to take the tent for this tour (we only have the 1 tent now, and the hilleberg nammatj 3GT seems overkill for what we were thinking of). The aim is light, not credit card (don't have the finances) bivvy wild & out of sight (something we are good at).

Distance - depends on the bikes we use. road bike with light panniers I am averaging 55miles in 4 hours cycling, slower on the tourers (gearing is still set of mountains of Turkey & Pamir highway, not speed, didn't see the point in changing it after the accident...) and even slower on the mtb's. Not worried about speed, prefer scenic.
Anyone any ideas - all I currently have if we set out from home, is over to Chester (an hour a way) and then south along the English/Welsh border with possible excursions up valleys into Wales etc..

Not asking you to plan this btw, just throw a few suggestions my way please. I have Friday to plan it & sort the bikes out (unless I end up over at my mother's again on Friday)

 

[bof]

How about roughly following the railway line down the border, you could get to the Black Mountains or Forest of Dean and then take the train back Monday afternoon from Abergavenny or some other place north of Newport?

If you keep East of Shrewsbury you can get to Church Stretton and avoid the A49.

 

[Peteaud]

Come down to the south west, leave the car at a pub and stay the 1st night there. Cyle round the west county.

 

[tribanjules]

sounds like an offas dyke type route satnav - ending at the old severn bridge - the beach just upstream is a great fossil beach too.
cracking pub and campsite at llanthony abbey just south of hay on wye. MTB for that ?

cycle to abergavveny or newport then train back oop north ?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

sounds like an offas dyke type route satnav - ending at the old severn bridge - the beach just upstream is a great fossil beach too.
cracking pub and campsite at llanthony abbey just south of hay on wye. MTB for that ?

cycle to abergavveny or newport then train back oop north ?

I like the sounds of offas dkye. It is one of the options we had previously looked at when we were considering LEJOG as a test to see if my leg would be good enough for the Pamir Highway, when we thought we still had a chance of getting back on the road. Could do either mtb or the tourers (they are expedition bikes/off-road tourers and I can always put the marathon extremes back on them, they are currently on marathon xr's).

How about C2C over the the east coast and then Way of The Roses back? Perhaps a tad too long for a bank holiday weekend but you could skive off Tues and Weds next week

nice idea for the skiving, but not an option for my OH (I don't work currently but do have comitments). though the it does open up an idea for a round trip if I can connect them somewhere over the Pennies.

thanks folks. I think we have an idea or two forming. will give me something to consider whilst I am cycling to and from college today and then waiting for a boiler repair man this afternoon!

 

[tribanjules]

and it goes without saying we expect usual stunning piccies on completion !

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

and it goes without saying we expect usual stunning piccies on completion !

well I will only be taking the little camera, but I am sure my asthma will need plenty of stops for photos along the way, so I will see what I can do.

 

[billflat12]

Thinkin a c2c ride a great idea if your going to test that leg ,you may need a rescue plan & nearby station , also less planning so time to sort your bikes, we just parked up at the ratty arms in ravenglass an returned by train from newcastle 3days later on the hadrians wall c2c , popular with tourists I know but some hills & plenty of varied scenery with enough opportunities to do wild .

 

[Crankarm]

How about a tour of the Isle of Dogs? Stunning views of Canary Wuff.


.

 

[Ticktockmy]

One of my planning methods is to draw a straight line between 2 places and try and follow as close as possible, some years ago I went between Chepstow and Conway, it made for some interesting riding with lots of lovely back roads and tracks in places.