The song? It's just not the same if you're not there... (Believe me, I don't think you actually want to hear it!).
Summerdays - as far as the route goes, I ended up just getting the Sustrans South Midlands and West Midlands maps and using those. I found campsites using the CCC website. If I can remember it all correctly, it went like this:
Day 1 - train to Oxford. Cycle Oxford - Weston on the Green. Stayed at Godwins Ice Cream Farm. Short day due to late start cycling, and Child 1 struggling a bit.
Day 2 - Weston on the Green to Milton Keynes. Decent distance, and we were tired as still adjusting. Stayed at Gulliver's in MK. Very neat and tidy, but a bit expensive. Beware - there is no tourist info office in MK as the map suggests. (In fact, it is very old now and full of outdated things!)
Day 3 - Milton Keynes to Arthingworth. Stayed at Arthingworth Lodge (tiny field behind farm, but good shower!). Kelmarsh Tunnel and the other tunnel were spooky!
Day 4 - Arthingworth to Saddington. A light day as we needed a rest. Spent some time at Foxton Locks which was an absolute highlight! Kids (and us) loved seeing canalboats ascending through 10 locks. Market Harborough was beautiful as well. Stayed at Shearsby Valley Lakes, which was fantastic. It advertises itself as adults-only, but we rang and explained the ages and we were staying only one night and they were fine with it. Great shower! It's a mile or two off the route, but not too bad.
Day 5 - Saddington to Quorn. Another light-ish day. World's best slides in playground in Leicester! Also did Leicester Space Centre. Couldn't get a pitch at Whatoff Lodge so stayed at the Proctors Pleasure Park (I kid you not!) in Barrow-upon-Soar. Worst showers/loos in the whole world, but good pitch.
Day 6 - Quorn to Derby, via Loughborough, which had a laundromat and cycle shop
right on the route, which was a godsend, as we'd had some rain and our clothes were wet. Highly recommend it! We were planning to get to the other side of Derby that night, but it was about 4pm, it was starting to rain, we all had heavy legs, and we'd done 150 miles, so we treated ourselves to a night in the
Travelodge (Pride Park) which is right on the route and popped up just when we needed it. The kids were so excited about having a bath they were jumping up and down! We all climbed into a gigantic bed and watched The Incredibles on TV that night, feeling clean and grass-free. It was a real highlight - and they really appreciated it after 5 days of roughing it!
Day 7 - Derby to Alrewas. There were strong headwinds all day, so we cut back to 20 miles, especially as we hadn't had a rest day in a while, and were feeling a big tired. Also getting out of Derby was a nightmare (lots of barriers with hairpin bends - kissing gates, are they called? - which meant we had to completely unpack the tandem and lift it through - many, many times!) Also the route in Burton upon Trent is a disaster, and basically needs to be ignored completely. We didn't have an OS map, though, and were reliant on the Sustrans route and this must have cost us about 2 hours of faffing around. We were really frustrated by the end of it.) Stayed at Willowbrook Farm: big field, flat pitch, decent shower but
right next to the very busy A-road. It was fine as we only wanted to crash and then move on.
Day 8 - Alrewas to Burntwood. This was the rest day we needed, but no point in staying at our dreary campsite, so a short ride of 10 miles was just the tickets. So we had a really late start, took our time with everything and drifted slowly through Lichfield. Stayed at Green Lane Farm just before Burntwood. No showers (but we were clean from almost no cycling) and a crowded field, but the other campers were unbelievably friendly, and offered us tea, outdoor furniture, use of their motorhome showers, and then the owner of the farm gave my daughter two free riding lessons on their ponies. She couldn't believe her luck and has talked about it ever since.
Day 9 - Burntwood to Birmingham. 30 - 40 miles was about our limit in a day, and Cadbury World was a must, which was 30 miles from Burntwood. As it's in the middle of Birmingham, there was no way we could camp. So we got a family room at Old Farm Hotel, which is just across the road from CW. 2-star, and good price for the middle of Brum, and although the room was tiny, it was very clean, and the staff were superb. It was just the right thing. So we arrived there at about 5pm, and enjoyed a good shower etc.
Day 10 - We decided this would be our last day. The last stretch from Birmingham to Oxford is the hilliest, and I was having real trouble finding campsites at the right intervals. Wild camping did not appeal, partly because I was stressed about the risk of not finding a spot, and mainly because I felt so filthy at the end of the day I really wanted a shower. B'ham to Oxford was absolutely fine if we could have broken it up into 20 mile bits for the hilly parts, but I couldn't find enough campsites to do this. Plus we really wanted, if possible, to catch a single train home and not have to change and that was possible from Birmingham or Oxford, but not anywhere else on the remaining route. So we thought we'd finish on a high. Did CW first thing - great fun for all of us. Then cycled about 5 miles back into B'ham and got the train home. Home by about 5pm - everyone on a high and wishing for more!
I know this is a bit useless as a blog because I haven't talked about the sights etc much, but I hope it's useful for you in terms of distances, campsites etc. I've definitely realised that touring as a family is a
totally different way of doing things, compared to touring without kids, and there aren't nearly as many people to ask about their experiences, so I'm focussing on the key bits you might need to plan.
