Routes
- Thread starter Simon_m
- Start date
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cougie uk
Guru
Amazing. That might be a record number of bikes used !
T4tomo
Legendary Member
Cornwall and Devon are very hilly and the flatter bits are constantly undulating and there is no way around them, You can skirt around / between the Pennines and the Lake district, Scotland has mountains but also some convenient long valleys and lower passes, but ultimately some lumps that you have to cross at one point or another.
LEJOG will involve hills!
jay clock
Massive member
- Location
- Hampshire UK
if going north, Cornwall and Devon are steep batsards and after that is a bit lumpy. Scotland with a couple of exceptions I found moderately flat or at least steady hills
jay clock
Massive member
- Location
- Hampshire UK
yes but you will be close to another 400 miles extra!
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Certainly not shying away from the Pennines there. Nice and lumpy.
Yep, but it makes sense if you look at my ride history!
The original idea for the tour was to carry on from Warwick Services.
I may do some modification for LEJOG, but I could do Land's End to Home (Poole) as a 300k audax over the preceding weekend, go into work for a week, then carry on. Or do similarly, but follow the A30 all the way to my parents' house
jay clock
Massive member
- Location
- Hampshire UK
whatever you do avoid the A30 in Cornwall. a motorway without the shoulderYep, but it makes sense if you look at my ride history!
View attachment 595568
The original idea for the tour was to carry on from Warwick Services.
I may do some modification for LEJOG, but I could do Land's End to Home (Poole) as a 300k audax over the preceding weekend, go into work for a week, then carry on. Or do similarly, but follow the A30 all the way to my parents' house
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/a30-do-not-use-it.134517/
I know the A30, my plan would be to set out at a godforsaken hour in the morning and try to reach Launceston (120 km) before 9 or 10am. Crossing Bodmin Moor is where alternatives are sorely lacking. After Launceston, the old road adds a bit of climbing, but it's not too bad.
The A35
This is the sort of route I'm looking at. Just a smidge under 300 km, and apart from the last mile, following either the A30, or old A30. Not bothering bypassing Hayle, bypasses Bodmin because it saves about 120m of climbing! And deviating would be fairly pointless given the imminent Bodmin Moor, after which I say goodbye to to the trunk road until Honiton, excepting the short stints at Sourton Down and M5 J29.
292 km / 4050 m
I need to find an extra 8 km to make it a nice round 300.
Geezeronabike
Regular
yeah think I will go with route...have to deviate slightly to campsites I have booked , got two weeks to complete leg, so hopefully should be okay
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
I know you've said you're just "looking at" it, but Just in case others come here days/months later, this route is unsafe and not recommended, unless you have a following vehicle (in which case stay on the dual carriageway all the way to Honiton). And even then would be no fun.
The early bits of the dual carriageway eg past Redruth to Three Burrows might be 'OK' very early in the morning (I went there at about 5am, half way through a 600) but then the A30 trunk past Zelah is really no fun. Beyond (ENE) Mitchell there's a perfectly good (minor road and 'old A30') and almost as direct alternative to the A30 all the way to the far side of Bodmin.
I will suggest a way to find an extra 8km for you LE to Stalybridge. Recently cycled Penzance to Exeter as a 200.
Attachments
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Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
Land's End to Stalbridge 300 (mandatory route, validation by gps):
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36575350?beta=false
Compared to taking the A30 all the way as a car might, this route at 302km + 3951m is 10km longer and about 450m more climb. Obviously additional navigational complexity but a route that I'd be content to cycle, (and I've ridden 95% of those roads, over 50% in the last month).
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36575350?beta=false
Compared to taking the A30 all the way as a car might, this route at 302km + 3951m is 10km longer and about 450m more climb. Obviously additional navigational complexity but a route that I'd be content to cycle, (and I've ridden 95% of those roads, over 50% in the last month).
Yeah, I'm into the serious route planning phase now, although getting to Land's End with bike is one of the bigger challenges...
Following the A30, or old A30, all the way to Henstridge has some allure, as Henstridge is where my primary school was, and generally my childhood backyard.
So yeah, the thought was follow the A30 while I'm comfortable, if it's uncomfortable then use the old A30 as much as possible, which is basically your route. The main snag being Bodmin Moor, but Indian Queens - A39 - A395 - NCN 327 isn't too hard navigationally, so I'll definitely keep that in mind.
While I will have a GPS unit, and I've also got a dynamo hub, but have yet to use it... I'd feel a bit reticent about being in deepest darkest Cornwall dependent on a sat nav!