End to End advice please

andrewjoseph

Hello peeps, Bev has decided to do John O'Groats to Lands End, over 3 weeks.... camping. We estimate we will save £3000 by doing it this way compared to a supported ride (£1900 each!).

We are planning this for May 2011, (we will both be 50 that year), so will have plenty of time to get fit, do research and finalise plans.

My questions are many and varied, if anyone has guidance and advice on route, clothes, bike kit, camping kit, etc. etc. It would be very welcome.

We will be using our road bikes that don't have rack eyelets.

Specifics to start us off are:

bike racks, what to get, use P clips or axle mounted? We've looked at the Axiom Streamliner as this is axle mounted and can take 25kg. ( not that we want to get near that!).

panniers? What sizes, what brands?

2 man (or Bev and me) tents that are light and pack small,

cooking equipment, we're not taking the calor gas bottle and double burner, is the Trangia stuff worth using or better off getting a sturdy gas canister setup?

Route: We thought to do JOG to LE as we will be riding towards home for a large part of the route, if we have to bail, train fares will be cheaper. We can book trains to Inverness in advance and save money, we may have someone to pick us up at LE.

Any specific places we must ride through or avoid at all costs?

We're hoping to do a Wales North to South over 3-4 days early summer next year (2010) to test equipment and our procedures.

that's all for now. Thanks in advance

x8swift9x

Hi there, I have no experience with the route having not done the End to end ride. Yet!

I cycled across France this summer with a friend, so able to help with some of the other questions!

bike racks -I use a 'Tortec Expidition' rack, which is very robust and can hold up to 30kg. I had to use P-clamps as my frame doesn't have the mounts, this did not hinder the performance of the rack at all when under load. It's £30 from wiggle. I guess you would probably need front racks/panniers also.

Panniers - 'Ortleib Back roller classic', is what both my friend and I have. Very very good panniers. May seem quite expensive but they are worth it. Have never heard a bad review about them either!

Two man Tent - We did our research into this and found that the 'Vango Tempest 200' tent is the most highly recommended tent for cycle touring . We purchased this for £80'ish. I will try and link some pictures on here of our tent set up, with gear in porch etc to give you a feel for the size.

Kieran.

x8swift9x

Here is the tent in action. We found it suffient, although deff. check it out in a shop first! Gooutdoors stock them.[/img]

andrewjoseph

Thanks for the info.

racingsnail

I just completed the end to end solo and camping every night, and it was fantastic.

Here are a rew things i found to help, but everyone has there own ideas.

Stoves, well i have them all since i come from a hillwalking background, and didnt use it once! My own experience was eat lots and lots, you burn your food really quick. So whenever i passed a shop, burger van or service station take a break and load up. I had 1 hot meal in the 10 days, didnt miss it or need it.

Panniers, i went for arkel. Much more money, but its reflected in the quality and life expectancy. Also depends on how much more touring you plan to do.

Tent, well the bike decided that for me. I want it all out of the way. Carried the fly sheet and inner in a dry bag, it costs about £10.00 and that fitted on the back of my rear rack bag but i wanted the poles protected and out of the way, thay had to fit inside. So took the rack bag to the hillwalking shop and it was down to 2 superlite solo tents, terra nova and hilleberg. The outcome was the terra nova poles fitted inside the bag, the hilleberg didnt, so decision made. If your going to tour on your own sometime, a single tent is the way forward.

Clothing, dont take waterproofs if its the summer months, just good cycle windproofs and 1 change of clothes if your wet at the end of the day. When your back on the road you will drt out within an hour or so.

As a tip dont take too much clothing, food or spares, i was very very sparse and even then there were a few things i didnt use and posted home. The other thing is your never that far from a cycle shop or outdor shop.

The other thing is dont worry about it, i passed a woman doing it on a wheelchair! Sort of puts everything into perspective.

I didnt pre pick a route, let the days riding conditions decide that, but still did 1008 miles in 10 days.

Colin

harpo

Here are my routes from LEJOG during which we stayed in B&Bs not camping.

Day 1 http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=50774
Day 2 http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=50794
Day 3 http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=50802
Day 4 http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=50813
Day 5 http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=54471
Day 6 http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=54727
Day 7 http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=54736
Day 8 http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=54749
Day 9 http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=54762
Day 10/11 http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=54773

If you are taking 3 weeks you will probably want to take different routes at bits. I found the section through Cornwall and Devon very enjoyable if a wee bit challenging when you hit the steepest of hills. I hated the cycle path out of Taunton and would take a more direct route here. From Inverness I would go straight up and across to JOG (or in reverse for you). The cycle path out of Cheddar is good and you go through a tunnel which disorientates a little (felt like a fairground ride?). I don't think I took the best route through Bristol, actually I'm sure I didn't. The Severn crossing is great. Ludlow is beautiful. It gets flatter through the Midlands then slopes are gentler through Lancashire. In Scotland I know the west coast so stuck east. The west is a bit more interesting scenery wise and you should consider Ayrshire (terrible roads) from Ardrossan to Arran and onto Mull of Kintyre then up the west and across. Avoid Loch Lomond as road is too busy in my opinion to make it comfortable and fun as is the Glen Coe route although scenery is stunning on a clear day up there.

Whatever you read or find use it as a guide and make the trip your own.

Tent

I’d agree with the Vango 200 tent mentioned above. See my photos of it in use on a tour of Mull and Ardnamurchan and that area. It weighs 2 Kilos and fits nicely between the two pannier bags on top of the rack. Make sure there are no rough edges on the pannier rack to damage the tent. We took two top quality larger bags which I carried the clothes and heavier stuff in (as well as the tent!) and my missis carried cooking stuff and food in not so good or waterproof bags which didn’t matter. The sleeping bags (compact ones) went in a waterproof rucksack liner and on top of her pannier rack. They were still large but lightweight. We used a Trangia stove on Mull and it was good but if I had further to cover everyday don’t know how often I’d use it if was doing LEJOG and camping. Would probably use it for breakfast for a big big pot of dried fruit and porridge as I wouldn’t want to go without a big breakfast or having to locate one everyday. Just buy a bag of oats every other day and milk when you get to camp site and you’ll be sorted.

Tent at Campsite


Bikes loaded up

MichaelW

When carrying heavier rear loads you have to take care how much of the load hangs out beyond the rear axle. This weight will tend to tip the bike back and lightens the steering.
Touring bikes and most hybrids have longer chainstays than road bikes so the load remains mostly within the wheelbase and steering is affected less.
I dont think it is feasable to carry a normal camping/cooking load on the rear of a typical road bike. You can easily carry a hostelling load an perhaps and ultralight camping load with no cooking.
Large carradice saddlebags carry the load very close to the saddle and have less impact on steering and balance.

andrewjoseph

Useful information, thanks again peeps!

unCivilServant

Would mostly agree with racingsnail on the catering front, but not on the waterproofs.

You will very rarely be out of reach of a cup of tea &/or hot takeaway. I cycle solo, am a bit undisciplined (ie tend to miss resto opening times) and quite like cooking, so carry cooking gear even when there's strictly no 'need'. If you're organised about finding nice places to eat, and have a 2nd person to keep you warm in the evenings/early mornings, making your own hot food isn't necessary.

Would take waterproofs, though. It rained a LOT on my LE-JoG, and wasn't all that warm even in June-July. Getting chilled is no fun, and neither is the resultant seized leg muscles (as happened to me). A decent jacket + trousers only weigh a couple of hundred grams each.

"Any specific places we must ride through or avoid at all costs?"

Cycling museum in north Cornwall (assuming it still exists) for the former. Clifton Suspension Bridge is good fun. Otherwise, it depends what you're into. I'm enthusiastic on 'ancient stuff', and of mainland Britain vaguely 'on the route' really enjoyed the Loch Tay Crannog Centre and Kilmartin Glen (there's enough there to keep you busy for at least a full day).

For the latter--Warrington and much of Lancashire. Apols to anyone from there or if this is a bit vague: admittedly I went through there in atrocious weather, but the surroundings seemed to be loads of dismal settlements/conurbation joined together with bits of boring scenery. Also be wary of the stuffy 'huntinshootinfishin'-type hotels in the Scottish Highlands: they can be a bit funny about people who look like they've been roughing it (ie walkers & cyclists), and charge way over the odds for mediocre food (if you can get served).