Royal Wedding tour - Reivers and Hadrians Wall

[HelenD123]

Got in my first tour of the year over the weekend, taking advantage of the four day break. Train from York to Newcastle then westish along the Reivers route to make the most of the strong tail wind then dropped back down to Brampton and did a short section along the Hadrians Wall route. I can highly recommend the Reivers route. I swear we didn't see more than half a dozen cars in 2 days. Lovely quiet roads, beautiful scenery, blue skies and a tailwind . The planning was all very last minute. We just pulled out our Sustrans maps and cobbled it together as we went along and it worked out great. Luckily all three of us have folding bikes so we didn't have to worry about getting onto trains. It was my Airnimal's first tour and I loved it. It even coped with a small section of red route when we got a bit lost .

Did anyone else get out on tour? We saw a few tourers when we got down to Hadrians Wall but none on the Reivers Route. Maybe everyone was battling into the wind on the C2C.

Full Crazyguy write up and pics to follow.

 

[vernon]

I got out on Bank Holiday Monday and pootled along the Leeds Liverpool Canal from Liverpool to Blackburn. I suffered from the headwind and having to ride on un-metaled surfaces. The bike traps along the canal weren't designed to acommodate hybrids with raised bar ends and panniers and progress was further hampered by their presence. Nevertheless it was good to be out and about and a couple of nights under canvas did me good.

 

[Kirstie]

Love the sub-line on this thread! And good to hear you have taken your airnimal out touring HelenD - I have toured several times on mine now and I am constantly amazed at how versatile it is....AAAAAnyway, I digress. Today I got back from an utterly spectacular 6 day tour of the northern highlands - done with my husband. We're going to get the pics online asap. The weather was unbelievable, the scenery stunning, we did a lot of off road sections which were breathtaking (in all senses of the word!). We've not seen the TV, internet or radio until a couple of hours ago when we got back and we've been away since last Tuesday. And nobody apart from the toffs we met in some of the hotels (up there for a bit of *trite* fishing, don't you know), mentioned the royals. It was bliss. The weather was so warm we even finished early one day and went river swimming, in northern scotland, in APRIL!! I have a convincing cycling tan too. So happy right now!

 

[shirokazan]

In answer to your question, virtually nothing. The previous weekend I had come back from an 8 day tour around Shropshire, Mid-Wales (out to the coast and back via some stunning places), Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire, so I fancied doing as little as possible other than doing some planning for my next tour (another 8-day job later this month) and the tour after that (two weeks around eastern Scotland in June).

Anyhow, here are the pictures (most with tour notes) from my Mid-Wales venture. Happy viewing!

Sayonara

 

[Telemark]

We nearly did the Hadrian's Wall/Reivers as well, but decided last minute to head north instead, and riding east to west, as we were hoping to catch a tailwind, too.

Perth to Glasgow or "Tay to the Clyde" as we nicknamed the ride (NCN77 north to Logierait, and then turning west along NCN7 past Loch Tay and then SW to Loch Lomond and Glasgow). We saw a few tourers, but not many.

Lots of but not too warm, and did I mention the tail wind ... ideal cycling weather. Mostly scenic & quiet wee roads, lots of off-road riding on NCN7 between Killin and Aberfoyle (glad we were on our trusty hybrids rather than anything fancier!). Everybody else seemed in holiday mode, too, all drivers without exception were extremely considerate, we saw the obligatory Highland coos, heard our first cuckoo(s) of the year, saw a red squirrel, and ate lots of cake ... what more could you wish for?

Some photos are here, for some reason not in order (I blame HJ ). If anybody wants to know more, he's started to write it up, with route maps etc.

T

 

[Telemark]

Anyhow, here are the pictures (most with tour notes) from my Mid-Wales venture. Happy viewing!

Wow - I had no idea what mid-Wales was like! Beautiful ...

Come on Helen & Kirstie, we want to see your pictures, too.

T

 

[shirokazan]

Wow - I had no idea what mid-Wales was like! Beautiful ...

Well, the weather helped but, yes, it was stunning and quite deserted. As I noted on one of the photos from the climb through Dylife, it really reminded me of Scotland in places. And I've just been reading that write-up of your Perth to Glasgow jaunt: brings back the memories of my LEJOG (which went via NCN7 from Balloch up to Callander, Killin to Pitlochry and beyond), and the author has a writing style that I really like, flowing and engaging. When's part 2 in the offing?

 

[Telemark]

Well, the weather helped but, yes, it was stunning and quite deserted. As I noted on one of the photos from the climb through Dylife, it really reminded me of Scotland in places. And I've just been reading that write-up of your Perth to Glasgow jaunt: brings back the memories of my LEJOG (which went via NCN7 from Balloch up to Callander, Killin to Pitlochry and beyond), and the author has a writing style that I really like, flowing and engaging. When's part 2 in the offing?

Thanks, I passed this on to the dearly beloved (HJ of this parish). Part two is stuck in Glen Ogle just now, behind the grading machine ... he promised to get a move on!

Back to your Wales photos - there were some landscapes that did remind me of Scotland, and for some reason some photos made me think of France. Have you got a map of the route somewhere online?


T

 

[mcshroom]

Some of those photos look really good. I'm glad you all got out and about in the sunny weather.

Didn't get out touring but I did sleep under canvas for the whole weekend. I was out at Ennerdale Scout Camp with my cub scouts. It was very windy, but the camp went really well.

The camp was organised for all groups in the district, and we had lots of activities like Medieval re-enactment (fighting with soft swords and very realistic looking shields), kayaking, coracle building, Geo-cacheing and backwoods cooking.

I spent most of the weekend firing water rockets down the field

It was tiring but great fun.

 

[mcshroom]

Mostly scenic & quiet wee roads, lots of off-road riding on NCN7 between Killin and Aberfoyle (glad we were on our trusty hybrids rather than anything fancier!).

How technical was the off-road stuff on this section?

I'm looking at riding NCN 7 from Dumbarton to Inverness at half term week and hoping to ride it on a fully laden tourer with 35mm Marathons. Do you think it will manage that bit?

 

[Telemark]

Hi mcshroom,

HJ was on 28 mm gatorskins and was fine, but we were not loaded down too heavily (B&B luxury touring ). You've seen our bikes! No need for nobbly tyres, just being careful downhill to avoid snakebite punctures on cattle grids etc.

The off-road tracks are steepest north of Aberfoyle (and steeper for those heading north like you will do, than us riding south), and in places there was loose gravel, but nothing too technical. Here is a map & profile of the part of the route with the most off-road bits. If you wanted to avoid this bit, you could take on the infamous Duke's Pass on the road (should be on Google Streetview if you want to have a look, I've heard somewhere that there is a bit of a bike lane next to the road in places (?) - maybe one of the locals who has ridden this can help? The off-road track does more altitude to get over those hills, but there are some other attractions in those woods ... I won't take away the suspense from HJ's "Part 2" write-up though .

The map shows our whole route on Day 2, not big mileage, but much harder work than on tarmac (and we spent lots of time taking photos, eating cake and generally taking it easy ).

T

 

[shirokazan]

Thanks, I passed this on to the dearly beloved (HJ of this parish). Part two is stuck in Glen Ogle just now, behind the grading machine ... he promised to get a move on!

Back to your Wales photos - there were some landscapes that did remind me of Scotland, and for some reason some photos made me think of France. Have you got a map of the route somewhere online?

Right, I've just battled with Google Maps to make a map from my GPS files. Grrrr, it's such a battle for something that should be so straightforward. Anyhow, here's a shortcut link to it: http://ow.ly/4Mtqq

I look forward to part two when it emerges from behind the grading machine...

 

[Telemark]

Right, I've just battled with Google Maps to make a map from my GPS files. Grrrr, it's such a battle for something that should be so straightforward. Anyhow, here's a shortcut link to it: http://ow.ly/4Mtqq

I look forward to part two when it emerges from behind the grading machine...

Many thanks - that's some mileage for 8 days without a rest day! I'll zoom in and have a proper look, Wales definitely looks like a great destination for touring ... one for my (ever lengthening) list!

T

 

[mcshroom]

Thanks Telemark.

I've just looked at that route in Google Earth (as much as I can) and it doesn't look like too much of a problem for the bike.

With all the hills on the trip I'm very tempted to gear down for the ride though

 

[shirokazan]

How technical was the off-road stuff on this section?

I'm looking at riding NCN 7 from Dumbarton to Inverness at half term week and hoping to ride it on a fully laden tourer with 35mm Marathons. Do you think it will manage that bit?

I did this on my aforementioned LEJOG, on my tourer bike equipped with 1.5inch tyres (1.5in is about 38mm, by my reckoning). As Telemark has stated, it was pretty steep heading north out of Aberfoyle, and that, combined with the roughness, forced me into getting off and walking for a bit of the uphill grind: not that that's saying much as I don't much like the rough stuff! You might do it and wonder what the fuss is about. However, after slogging to the top, the downhill section to Loch Venachar was bloody great! Just don't take the wrong turning as there are one or two junctions of forest tracks where you might think, "Is it this way, or that?" (I had a GPS in which I had programmed the route).

Hope this helps.