Has anyone done the 'extremes' of the UK mainland?

[Ice2911]

This thread started in 2013 ............

I've now also a 5,500 mile tour which circumnavigated the UK.
I cycled to the King's Lynn and turned right. Followed the coast around until I got back to King's Lynn where I turned right for home.

Easy ............

Unusually for me I searched past threads before starting a new one and hence found this. I did state ‘on the off chance’.
How long did you take on your 5500 mile trek? How much was on main roads as I always try and stay on small roads and cycle paths if possible? I have too say I’m very tempted but would want to do it as one trip and not sure I have the time yet, or enough brownie points to leave my very understanding OH for that amount of time

 

[albal]

Rode the coastline last year , tho not religious ly. Missed Artnamurchen. Www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/roundbritain

 

[Ice2911]

Rode the coastline last year , tho not religious ly. Missed Artnamurchen. Www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/roundbritain

I’m enjoying reading your blog. How tightly had you planned your route? Or was it a case of keep the wet stuff to your left?

 

[albal]

I didn't plan . Just went with the flow. West was wet n windy east was er windy. All in it was a great ride, well worth doing. I was told by my Preston host roughly a dozen people a year ride it.

 

[Tigerbiten]

I don't work anymore, so I can get out for the summer.
My first 1,000 miles take on average 35 days. 2nd -> 30 days, 3rd ->25 days.From the 4th thousand onwards I can do roughly every 20 Days.

When I do something like this, I make up a set of "rules" that I try to stick to.
Ignore cul-de-sac roads, try to stay off fast dual carriageways, any other roads are ok, ferries/bridges are fair game, etc, etc.
How close I stick to the "rules" all depends on how knackered I am.
The worse I feel, the more likely I am to "bend" the "rules".
Plus it's meant to be "fun" and by bending a "rule" it more "fun", do it.
I bypassed around Liverpool inland because I didn't feel like fighting my way into and out of the city center.

Route finding is easy.
Draw a line in a road atlas of where you want to go the next few days.
Plot the next day into a sat nav.
Roughly follow the line.
I say roughly because you can always divert if somewhere looks nice, you don't like the road you're on, etc, etc.

The only bit of road on the whole trip I really didn't like was a bit of the A77 north of Cairnryan.
Uphill, narrow, twisty, bad sight lines with a lot of lorries off the Northern Ireland ferry.
Which is the worst combo to get when your only doing sub 5 mph on a recumbent trike.

Luck ........

Ps. I don't do blogs ..........

 

[waddonvale]

I'm merely curious and half-hatching a daft plan, but has anyone done the extreme points of the UK mainland in one go?

I'm assuming by road that would be:

South: Lizard Point
North: Dunnet Head
West: Ardnamurchan Lighhouse
East: Lowestoft


Tony.

 

[waddonvale]

Picking up on this old thread from 2013, I'm planning to cycle the 4 extreme points of Britain in September. Based in Somerset I'll fly from Bristol to Inverness and then get the train to Thurso. Next morning up to Dunnett head and then down the east Coast and cut across the Great Glen to Fort William and Ardnamurchan before taking the Kilchoan ferry to Mull and then Craignure to Oban before heading south. I don't do camping so will be staying in small hotels and B&Bs when I can't blag a bed off friends and relations,

and averaging 100kms a day. I attach a map of my proposed route which, all being well, will take me 19 days cycling.

 

[Ice2911]

Picking up on this old thread from 2013, I'm planning to cycle the 4 extreme points of Britain in September. Based in Somerset I'll fly from Bristol to Inverness and then get the train to Thurso. Next morning up to Dunnett head and then down the east Coast and cut across the Great Glen to Fort William and Ardnamurchan before taking the Kilchoan ferry to Mull and then Craignure to Oban before heading south. I don't do camping so will be staying in small hotels and B&Bs when I can't blag a bed off friends and relations, View attachment 467745 View attachment 467745 and averaging 100kms a day. I attach a map of my proposed route which, all being well, will take me 19 days cycling.

I’m doing the reverse route of this starting 18th July. I live inNorwich so you will likely pass very close to me when you do it. I will stop in for one night when I do it so give me a shout if I can help out.

 

[Toby Tyke]

Picking up on this old thread from 2013, I'm planning to cycle the 4 extreme points of Britain in September. Based in Somerset I'll fly from Bristol to Inverness and then get the train to Thurso. Next morning up to Dunnett head and then down the east Coast and cut across the Great Glen to Fort William and Ardnamurchan before taking the Kilchoan ferry to Mull and then Craignure to Oban before heading south. I don't do camping so will be staying in small hotels and B&Bs when I can't blag a bed off friends and relations, View attachment 467745 View attachment 467745 and averaging 100kms a day. I attach a map of my proposed route which, all being well, will take me 19 days cycling.

Hi waddonvale
I've just picked up this thread. I'm planning on doing something similar this summer, if allowed to travel.
I was wondering if you completed this planned tour? It would be great to hear your story and gain any advice.
Thanks.

 

[snorri]

Hi Toby Tyke, just a comment, don't raise your hopes of getting a response from Waddonvale too highly.
If you click on "Waddonvale" just to the left of his post, you will see that he last posted on this forum on 12th August 2019 and was last seen on the forum in September 2019.

 

[Toby Tyke]

Hi Toby Tyke, just a comment, don't raise your hopes of getting a response from Waddonvale too highly.
If you click on "Waddonvale" just to the left of his post, you will see that he last posted on this forum on 12th August 2019 and was last seen on the forum in September 2019.

Thanks for that Snorri.
I noticed member ice2911 did the route in reverse. I will try and contact him.
Thanks.

 

[TheDoctor]

Thanks for that Snorri.
I noticed member ice2911 did the route in reverse. I will try and contact him.
Thanks.

@Ice2911 was last here in July 2020, so again, don't hold your breath...
Looks like an excellent ride! Are you going to take in JoG and LE too?

 

[Toby Tyke]

@Ice2911 was last here in July 2020, so again, don't hold your breath...
Looks like an excellent ride! Are you going to take in JoG and LE too?

The Doctor
Thanks for getting in touch about @Ice2911
Yes, I will definitely take in JoG and LE.

 

[Archie_tect]

Did the 4 extremes of Scotland in 2011 in 3 days. 1200 miles from memory that's failing. Mull of Galloway, Peterhead, Dunnet Head and Ardnamurchan Point.
Aye ok, I was on a motorbike! Still a good trip and loads of cyclists out at Ardnamurchan enjoying a good spell of weather.

I did that on my motorbike too but in 1977- it was a very quiet and foggy trip, we only knew we'd reached the headlands when we felt the vibrations from the sound of the foghorns!

 

[Blue Hills]

@Ice2911 was last here in July 2020, so again, don't hold your breath...
Looks like an excellent ride! Are you going to take in JoG and LE too?

mm - first waddonvale, then ice2911 - have we happened upon a cyclists' Bermuda triangle?
Be careful innocent followers of this thread/route.