London to Nelson - A Poll

[400bhp]

What's the terrain of you're route? IIRC you are going via A-roads so will be less hilly.

Firstly, work out the rough altitude climbed. If that is something you have completed before in a day (regardless of miles) then I would say go for it. If the climbing ft is a lot more than you have previously done then I would choose 2 days.

For me, the max I have climbed (since I got back into cycling 3 years ago) was about 8,000ft in a day-and that was over 135 miles (which happened to be my longest mileage in a day too). If the 250 mile ride came in with total climbing less than 8,000 ft I would have a go at it.

One option - have some bail out points at train stations (e.g you could go near Rugby, Stafford, Crewe etc), then jump on a train if you are not feeling up to it (trains at least to Manchester or Preston, which are major stations that should have plenty of passing trains-clearly look into this before leaving). This might be a better solution than having a designated half way stop.

Good luck

 

[Globalti]

You don't need to worry about offering hospitality at your parents' house. I would park a car nearby, jump in that and drive home to Blackburn.

 

[frank9755]

Just read this but it sounds like you have arrived at what I would recommend:
- ride the whole lot: 250 miles is 400km - it's a long way if you don't do long distance cycling but if you do, it's a standard audax distance so a reasonable thing for someone like you to take on.
- allow yourself a bit more time. You ride faster than me but the quickest I've done a 400km in was 18 hours, which was a quick ride on flatter terrain with company for much of the way and good weather. I would allow not less than 20 hours to be safe.