FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast: Cardiff - Swansea 24 June 2016

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Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
Defection complete. I've registered for this and un-registered from Brighton.

I'll be riding my Brompton. There have been some murmurings on the Brighton thread about Bromptons causing delays, and incompetent Brompton riders overloading the TECs. As a result I've practiced removing and replacing the wheels and I can assure you that I am fully competent at doing this in daylight, with a youtube how-to video to hand. I'm a little less confident about my skills in the dark, so I'm planning on buying one of those squirty cans of puncture fixer stuff in case I do get a puncture (in addition to spare tubes and all that stuff) I'm riding Marathon tyres (not M+).

Now then, what I plan to do is get a train from London on Friday, and a train back from Swansea on Saturday morning. I'm thinking of booking a Swansea return as I'm guessing that may be cheaper, although technically I don't think I'm allowed to terminate my journey at Cardiff. However, I don't think they'll force me to stay on the train. Do they still do Weekend First? If so I will be snoozing first class back on Saturday morning.

I'll probably go for the 20:15 arriving Cardiff 22:23. The one arriving 23:40 is cutting it too fine, I think.
 
U

User482

Guest
Claudine C
Stuart A
Gordon P
Eddie C
Steve R
Michael W
Martin B
Clive B
Susan Y
Keith O!!!!!!
David M
Paul J
Rob J
Andrew F
 

StuartG

slower but further
Location
SE London
I'll be riding my Brompton. There have been some murmurings on the Brighton thread about Bromptons causing delays, and incompetent Brompton riders overloading the TECs. As a result I've practiced removing and replacing the wheels and I can assure you that I am fully competent at doing this in daylight, with a youtube how-to video to hand.
Don't panic DT. I did my one and only Cardiff/Swansea on a higher geared 3-speed Brompton. I didn't have a visitation but there would have been plenty of time and help from passing leaders & TECs on their annual 'Find the Forgotten Wayfinder' hunt. I guess the "All Up" was lost in translation.

I also remember the Welsh contingent being mystified on re-grouping at traffic lights.
Q. "Why are you waiting when the lights are green?"
A. "We're from London - we're waiting for the red!"


Have these traditions been maintained? The higher gearing hasn't.
 
OP
OP
theclaud

theclaud

Openly Marxist
Location
Swansea
Defection complete. I've registered for this and un-registered from Brighton.

I'll be riding my Brompton. There have been some murmurings on the Brighton thread about Bromptons causing delays, and incompetent Brompton riders overloading the TECs. As a result I've practiced removing and replacing the wheels and I can assure you that I am fully competent at doing this in daylight, with a youtube how-to video to hand. I'm a little less confident about my skills in the dark, so I'm planning on buying one of those squirty cans of puncture fixer stuff in case I do get a puncture (in addition to spare tubes and all that stuff) I'm riding Marathon tyres (not M+).

Now then, what I plan to do is get a train from London on Friday, and a train back from Swansea on Saturday morning. I'm thinking of booking a Swansea return as I'm guessing that may be cheaper, although technically I don't think I'm allowed to terminate my journey at Cardiff. However, I don't think they'll force me to stay on the train. Do they still do Weekend First? If so I will be snoozing first class back on Saturday morning.

I'll probably go for the 20:15 arriving Cardiff 22:23. The one arriving 23:40 is cutting it too fine, I think.

I'm in the habit of 'travelling short', though it's technically against the rules. I've never been pulled up on it, although there are barriers now at both exits from Cardiff, so it's not impossible that someone could decide to have a go at enforcing this absurd rule. I figured that, if challenged, one might simply invent a reason why one had needed to get off earlier than planned. Another idea would be to purchase a cheap local ticket along with the real one, to allow you to exit the barriers without explanation - say Cardiff Queen Street to Central at £1.90.
 

mmmmartin

Random geezer
I'm in the habit of 'travelling short',
Not my habit, but i was caught short in a country lane riding from Chester back to Windsor and was unfortunate enough to be passed by a car while in full flow. And some people say there's no glamour in audax!
purchase a cheap local ticket along with the real one, to allow you to exit the barriers without explanation - say Cardiff Queen Street to Central at £1.90.
That is a genius idea and I had never thought of it. i'll store it away for future reference.
 

srw

It's a bit more complicated than that...
I've now had two invitations on a different (and rather larger) social networking site - thankyou @theclaud and @User482. Unfortunately I can't make either of them, needing to be at home for a combined 80th/90th birthday lunch on the Saturday.
 

StuAff

Silencing his legs regularly
Location
Portsmouth
I've now had two invitations on a different (and rather larger) social networking site - thankyou @theclaud and @User482. Unfortunately I can't make either of them, needing to be at home for a combined 80th/90th birthday lunch on the Saturday.
170th birthday? Awful lot of candles! :smile:
 

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
I've bought my train tickets. Super Off-Peak London-Swansea return. The man at the station assured me that I would be allowed to leave Cardiff station on this, and the National Rail website seems to concur: "Break of journey is allowed on the outward portion of Off-Peak tickets unless otherwise indicated by a restriction shown against the ticket's validity code and in all cases on the return portion of Off-Peak return tickets."

Although that's not to say that all the other staff on different bits of the railway service will agree with what the man at the station told me.
 
OP
OP
theclaud

theclaud

Openly Marxist
Location
Swansea
I've bought my train tickets. Super Off-Peak London-Swansea return. The man at the station assured me that I would be allowed to leave Cardiff station on this, and the National Rail website seems to concur: "Break of journey is allowed on the outward portion of Off-Peak tickets unless otherwise indicated by a restriction shown against the ticket's validity code and in all cases on the return portion of Off-Peak return tickets."

Although that's not to say that all the other staff on different bits of the railway service will agree with what the man at the station told me.

It gives you the moral high-ground.
 

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
It gives you the moral high-ground.
My wife used to travel with a printout of parts of the huge ATOC routing guide, with sections highlighted, along with printouts of emails from the TOC and still had the same arguments, with the same staff almost every day.
 
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