touring advice please !

raleighrider21

Retro Guru
so the gf has announced that she would like to try touring. at first it was a case of "ok love sure well do it one day" but she wont shut up about it so looks like were actually doing it now. she has been a lurker on here for a while and saw a thread ages ago by a chap in the same town as us, i believe he had a carrera subway? anyway apparently he mentioned touring to wales and back and shes obviously been looking into it and wants to try it.

she has a route planned for us - 200 miles round trip + whatever mileage we do in and around towns we visit. camping each night (ill probably be the lucky one who gets to carry the tent). ill be riding the outlaw once its finished and shell be riding her carrera valour i presume.

apparently we will be doing a little bit of wild camping but for the most well be staying on some sites. thank god.

any advice guys? please?



or even anybody willing to take her off my bloody hands. :LOL:
 
raleighrider21":147irpo1 said:
any advice guys? please?
Don't get too bogged down trying to do silly mileage every day, or it will take away from the enjoyment ........ unless you want it to be bootcamp-style.

Also, there is no such thing as a cheap AND effective bar bag IME. It depends on your personal setup, but I like to keep wallets, camera, map etc in mine, then unclip it and sling it over the shoulder when we stop for food or whatever. Being someone who is 'price-sensitive', I've tried cheap solutions, but none have really done the business. Investing in something decent (Vaude Aqua Box) has been a revelation to me :shock: :D.

Regards
 
i was thinking about 30-40 miles each day at a real relaxed pace, maybe 50 if we felt like it, she now wants to head upto edale in the peak district for some strange reason before heading towards wales, great i thought, google mapped it, 60 miles. i know google maps isnt too good for distance etc but its not that off, good job i know someone who lives half way thatll let us put a tent up in the garden for a night.
can anyone reccomend a good camp site in edale? i know theres a few but wich one is the best?
about the bar bag i think thatll be one of those things that ill invest in later on if i decide i like touring, dont want to jump into it spending hundreds only to find i hate it, so ill be getting a £30ish one off ebay for now, ive got some good panniers already that ill use for the first time, theyre pretty waterproof but ill put most the stuff i dont want getting wet or damp into "bags for life" that ive collected over a year for some odd reason.
tents. im not going to buy a stupidly cheap one like the £10 ones from asda but i want to spend £40ish maybe £50 at a max, got to fit both of us and our gear inside so im thinking 4 man tent for plenty of space.

trebz - charging stuff like mobile phones - ive been looking at solar panel charges that strap ontop of the panniers but have you tried any? if so any recomendations? this is the one thing im willing to spend a bit on as ill probably use it for more than just touring.
 
Me and the misses just got back from doing the Coast to Coast and had a great time.

Are you looking to go on road or off road? We deliberately stayed in YHAs as they're not much more expensive than some campsites and they mean you can leave a whole load of kit / weight at home. We also took a bit longer than most as we visited places on route and tried to make it more about seeing stuff on route as opposed to being a battle to get to the next nights accommodation.

If you're looking at ideas of where to go see if you can get hold of some old copies of CTC magazine as they're full of tips and places to go.

One final tip; Don't go on a 2 week cycle tour less than 24 hours after being dispatched from surgery following a cycling accident, it's not big and it's not clever but I was too drugged up to know better.
 
My only advice is pack light, lay out all your kit and put half of it back where you found it. Every gram you dont need is going to get to you after miles of pedalling and it could well get harder each day of the tour untill your mind and body get used to it.
 
In my experience there is a big difference between B&B touring and bike camping. For the first, you can pack light, move fast and 60 miles a day is comfortable. For the second, crossing serious hills is much more of a slog, and 40-50 is comfortable. I have no idea of your fitness, so this is being prudent. Your plan looks sensible on distance.

The best thing is to try and do a weekend / overnight trip first to see what works. I reckon that with decent kit (but not daft Ti cookware and ultralight tent) you can travel with under 15kgs each plus food. Let me know if you want my pack list. Decide early if you plan to cook food on the way or just need enough for a hot drink - it makes a huge difference to the amount of stuff you take!
 
wont be doing any B&B tours, we tend to get turned away from them whenever we go anywhere because of how young we are (only 18 and 19), the only place that will take us tends to be premier inns, but wed rather stay in the tent, im not exactly the fittest but im happy doing 20 miles in a morning then another 20 miles in afternoon wich i regularly do when i go to see my brother so wont be too much for us, we really dont want to push it, if we cant make it to a campsite we will probably wild camp for the night (done this a few times).
would deffinately like the pack list, would help loads.
 
me and the gf recently split up because of a few personal issues we had and we thought itd be best that we split up. but I still intend to go do some touring. I have 6 months left at college so as soon as im done there im gone on my first tour. got a rough route planned, 80% of it is canal towpaths the rest is a mix of road and cycle paths. going solo, will hopefully be staying at mostly campsites, if I don't make it to the campsites ill wild camp.
obviously now itll just be me I can take a smaller tent etc, any reccomendations on one man tents?
 
Jack Wolfskin Gossamer works well for me, lightish, well made, great value. Mine is now 3 years old and hasn't leaked a drop. It has a good solid groundsheet, unlike many.
 
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