- Location
- Shrewsbury, Shropshire
(Feels bad for chivvying now)
Great report.
I'm sorry it didn't go to plan, but am glad that it hasn't put you off. It'll go better next time.
Last edited:
suggested route for Newbie JELoG ??
- Thread starter CafGriff
- Start date
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(Feels bad for chivvying now)Great report.
I'm sorry it didn't go to plan, but am glad that it hasn't put you off. It'll go better next time.3 weeks until I leave for LE and Cath's report raises the concern that all those nice country roads that we like to cycle down are going to be bad news for a fully loaded bike - holes, debris, sharp things..... if I post my route would someone please go along with a brush and have a tidy up ?
Sorry to hear your woes and thanks for the thorough update !
Sorry to hear your woes and thanks for the thorough update !
Christopher
Über Member
Sorry to hear you didn't make it but glad to hear you're alright and planning your next trip!
OP
OP
CafGriff
Active Member
- Location
- Plymouth, Devon
Actually .... I work for Plymouth City Council !! I wonder if I can 'borrow' a little street sweeper and a rubbish cart to journey in front of me, sweeping away all the crap and save my tyres and innertubes!! 
ha! what a thought
ha! what a thought
OP
OP
CafGriff
Active Member
- Location
- Plymouth, Devon
No Babe!! looking at April time ... I work in a team of 7 and unfortunately other people have slotted in their holiday time beofre me. If I had the absolute time to myself, I did and would choose March again though - I can't get the old saying 'April Showers' out of my mind. But realistically, the seasons have long ago changed and we live in an ever changing = earth and climate change era.
I like the idea of April or even May, Caff..........that way you'll have plenty of time to get some good miles done beforehand, and be absolutely ready. March is just too hit and miss, weatherwise, and there is so little time to get properly fit if we've had a snowy/ icy winter.
The pity of it is, you were through the worst. Getting out of Cornwall and Devon is the hardest part of the ride. Next year you'll be fine.
The pity of it is, you were through the worst. Getting out of Cornwall and Devon is the hardest part of the ride. Next year you'll be fine.
OP
OP
CafGriff
Active Member
- Location
- Plymouth, Devon
Ha!! Yep, that's my thinking too. Plus I work in a small team, and March has already been spoken for. I really don't want to use the deep Spring and summer to ride in, 1. because of the migdies and 2. by then the trees are in leafy bloom ad I want to be able to see the valley below through the trees !!!
vernon
Harder than Ronnie Pickering
- Location
- Meanwood, Leeds
Midges are not that bad a problem. They tend to emerge late May - I attend a festival at the end of May in Dumfriesshire and it's always in the last week of May. Some years there's no midges some years there's huge clouds of them. I also passed through Scotland twice in August on my bike when doing LEJOG and JOGLE. I am unperturbed by midges considering that I wear a kilt at the three day festival and am in shorts and short slevved cycle tops for the LEJOG and JOGLE - why? Because I use Avon Skin So Soft - a feminine post shower moisturiser despite being a big hairy man.
The stuff works like a charm. The only time that I got bitten was when I failed to apply it to flesh that only became exposed when I bent over i.e. the narrow strip of flesh on my back between the cycle shirt and the top of my shorts.
I'm not sure why you are obsessed with looking down in valleys when most of the time you'll be down in valleys looking up. In Scotland and, in fact England, large parts of the landscape is viewable unimpeded by trees and when the view is impeded it tends to be obscured by evergreen trees that obscure the view year round. The Wye valley is much more appealing when the trees are covered in leaves than when their branches are bare. It's truly an awesome sight.
