Following my LEJOG post I have been asked to give a review of Great Bear Trails, as this company has been mentioned a few times on posts on this forum. In fact this is where I heard about them.
GBT is a one man band run by Carl Shearman, who is an outdoors man himself and has personal experience of all the trips he runs. Accommodation (including singles if you want to pay the supplement), luggage transfer and support of bikes is included in the price. Lunch is also provided if you want to pay the supplement and Carl meets you along the road with lunch prepared. Also some days he met us for morning tea as the weather was so foul. soup on some of the days was very welcome.
When I did it there were only two cyclists and I fully expected Carl to cancel the trip due to lack of numbers. But he still ran it for the two of us as he did not want to disappoint. I also assume that he still made a small profit - but not enough to make a living at that rate.
The support was very good and Carl even cleaned the bikes and gave the chains a good degreasing one night. Over the trip the other cyclist had a puncture and a broken rear gear cable. Carl managed to fix the cable that night. I only had a minor problem with my gears not going into the smallest cog at the rear, which was quickly fixed in Penrith for £7.50.
We stayed in B&Bs mostly with a couple of pubs on two nights. Accommodation was fine overall. Two had shared facilities which I did not like, but hey I could put up with it for two nights. The second night was in a pub that had a live singing act which went on and on and on and on until about 12.30! Carl was camping except for one night when he joined us at the B&B. Most nights he joined us for an evening meal, others he cooked for himself at the camp site.
Carl will arrange to meet anyone at Milton Keynes, Oxford or Bristol on the way down to LE. And then drop off at Inverness, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham. I met him at my mother's house which is near to Milton Keynes and not that far from where Carl lives. The other guy also lived fairly close near Bedford. This collection and drop off is great and big money saver. Also you don't have the hassle of getting luggage and bikes to LE and from JOG.
Overall I was very pleased with the arrangements and the organisation and I would recommend him to anyone. The price was very reasonable compared to other companies, especially so if you factor in the cost of travelling to LE and from JOG. The groups are kept small, which suited me. One downside, which is minor but still a little annoying, is Carl's communication skills. Best to phone him on his mobile if you want an answer to any questions as he tends not to answer emails.
GBT is a one man band run by Carl Shearman, who is an outdoors man himself and has personal experience of all the trips he runs. Accommodation (including singles if you want to pay the supplement), luggage transfer and support of bikes is included in the price. Lunch is also provided if you want to pay the supplement and Carl meets you along the road with lunch prepared. Also some days he met us for morning tea as the weather was so foul. soup on some of the days was very welcome.
When I did it there were only two cyclists and I fully expected Carl to cancel the trip due to lack of numbers. But he still ran it for the two of us as he did not want to disappoint. I also assume that he still made a small profit - but not enough to make a living at that rate.
The support was very good and Carl even cleaned the bikes and gave the chains a good degreasing one night. Over the trip the other cyclist had a puncture and a broken rear gear cable. Carl managed to fix the cable that night. I only had a minor problem with my gears not going into the smallest cog at the rear, which was quickly fixed in Penrith for £7.50.
We stayed in B&Bs mostly with a couple of pubs on two nights. Accommodation was fine overall. Two had shared facilities which I did not like, but hey I could put up with it for two nights. The second night was in a pub that had a live singing act which went on and on and on and on until about 12.30! Carl was camping except for one night when he joined us at the B&B. Most nights he joined us for an evening meal, others he cooked for himself at the camp site.
Carl will arrange to meet anyone at Milton Keynes, Oxford or Bristol on the way down to LE. And then drop off at Inverness, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham. I met him at my mother's house which is near to Milton Keynes and not that far from where Carl lives. The other guy also lived fairly close near Bedford. This collection and drop off is great and big money saver. Also you don't have the hassle of getting luggage and bikes to LE and from JOG.
Overall I was very pleased with the arrangements and the organisation and I would recommend him to anyone. The price was very reasonable compared to other companies, especially so if you factor in the cost of travelling to LE and from JOG. The groups are kept small, which suited me. One downside, which is minor but still a little annoying, is Carl's communication skills. Best to phone him on his mobile if you want an answer to any questions as he tends not to answer emails.
