Microadventuring, mini tours etc

Very tasteful write up, nice.

Apart from the Gammel Dansk. 🤮

1 Attachment

Yes, great write up, sounds like a fantastic trip

I took some newbie tourers on a quite ambitious run through Norfolk. Originally I had intended to do The Perfect Beginners Tour which is train to Kings Lynn, NCN round to Wells Next The Sea YHA or Downham Backpackers Hostel, then the final stretch to Sheringham and a train home via Norwich. Sadly both Wells YHA and Downham were booked out entirely for the weekend, so I decided to try and make the ambitious journey from Norwich to Sheringham in one day. (I actually think they're closing Wells YHA which sucks, but seems part of the overall decline of the YHA network, which is doubly sad to me given we seem to be in an outdoor pursuit boom right now.)

I routed us mostly along the Weavers Way, including a very cute run along the Bure Valley Path next to the steam train there. Lunch time refreshments were in Wroxham (Had a a pizza from Larry's Pizzeria and coffee and a scone from A Slice Of The Broads) with other notable resupply points being the Village Shop in Iteringham and the cafe at Bickling Hall. Worth swerving off the route to have a look at the Bickling Mausoleum too.

Regrettably the distance proved a bit much for the newbies and they decided to head home after staying the night in Sheringham. Which left me and N to take advantage of the rare Northerly wind direction and ride from Sheringham to Great Yarmouth on day two. We followed NCN 30 (The NCN network is the best thing in this country in my opinion) morning coffee via North Sea Coffee in Cromer (guest Guatemalan espresso very tasty) and we stocked up on vegan turnovers at fig and olive. Lunch time coffee, cake (Bergamot and Lemon, very nice) and a big pastry courtesy of The Porthole in Mundsley after which we basically just turned the pedals and flew along with the tailwind. Good ice cream on the water at National Trust Horsey Windpump.

Front garden flagpole density started increasing as we got closer to Great Yarmouth, culminating in an actual Trump 2024 Save America Again flag in the outskirts. Great Yarmouth chips on the seafront as tradition dictates which were very good, but a bit crunchy for me; personally I long for the soggy chipshop chips of the West Midlands. Also I find it hard to relax in Great Yarmouth, it just has that 'might get your head kicked in' vibe so we cleared out pretty fast. Only 30 minutes to Norwich station though so very drama free.

6 Attachments

Another micro tour. This time N and I ran the "Route YC Adventure Weekender" which is a bit of a mouthful. I've never been to Yorkshire before so was excited to see what all the fuss was about "The North"

The route is designed to start and end at Whitby, but I couldn't wrangle any accommodation for the saturday in scarbourough so we drove up on the friday night and stayed in Beacon House Bunks, just to the south of the southernmost tip of the route. The intention was to do the route with the correct anti clockwise direction, but do day one northbound, sleep in YHA Whitby, then do the inland southbound portion of the route as day two.

The first day was a very easy ride up the coast, the majority of which was on NCN 1. As we were climbing a hill a local roadie pulled up beside us and recommended we detour from the route (Which he seemed to be familiar with) and head to the esplanade near scarborough to stop at Nova Coffee, which was a great idea. Very nice espresso and biscoff slice. The doughnuts looked alright but I saw the barista discreetly restocking them from a Sainsbury's bakery bag, so maybe cut out the middle man on that one.

We didn't dawdle for too long in Scarborough after coffee but it looked fairly standard for a British Seaside town. It is absolutely rammed with retirees in camper vans "living the dream" so bear that in mind, but if you don't engage with them it's normally fine. (Aside: How long until half man half biscuit release a song denigrating people with VW conversions or their close relatives, people with vintage landrovers and roof tents?) Not long after leaving scarborough the route joins the "Cinder Path" which is a classic rail trail, so gentle inclines, fishtank gravel surface, recreational walkers and the like. It does take you along the coast itself so sea views are abundant. We stopped for lunch at Redcar Tearooms which had a great jacket potato and arrived in Whitby a few hours later giving us hours and hours to have a look around. YHA whitby is pleasant enough but isn't one of the more modern YHAs with loads of charging points and sturdy bunks, so keep that in mind. Arrive early and commandeer one of the lower bunks ASAP.

I don't remember where we ate in whitby. We walked around a lot trying to find the "Best" vegan fish and chip place, but it felt quite thankless and in the end we just ate at whichever was closest. I actually think I'm totally over eating huge amounts of chips by the seaside on cycling trips. The chips never taste as good as I hope they will and just seem to make me feel bloated and sleepy. Anyway, we turned in early because we were both a bit worried about the next day, which had an extra 10km of distance and more than doubled the climbing of day one, with fewer potential stop or resupply points.

This was possibly also the trip that I began to fall out of love with YHA breakfasts. Maybe familiarity is breeding contempt but I didn't feel like we got 10 pounds worth of value out of this one. Especially because we were in a rush to get going. The evening before I had stared through the window of "Mr Cooper's Coffee House" and seen the twin signifiers of reasonable coffee service: An EK 43 grinder and a Slayer espresso machine so we eagerly pulled in just before leaving town. Another recommended spot, they also looked like they would sell you various filled bagels to go, which I think could have been a good option for refuelling. Either way the espressos were lovely.

Our assessment of day 2 was largely correct, it was the inland leg of the trip and had lots of the 20% gradients that I had been told to expect from yorkshire. The type of climbs you barely manage to pedal rather than push, only to be rewarded with 30 seconds of terrifying descending which ends in a blind hairpin turn, forcing you to scrub all speed before you can get close to the next climb. At some point we brought ourselves up onto the Yorkshire Moors which were a pleasantly distinct biome. I saw some Northern Lapwings, Golden Plovers, a Meadow Pippit and a Lesser Spotted Orchid, so if you're doing the trip and are at all interested I recommend bringing some optics with you. Probably one of the highlights of the route as well because there were some fun descents and the roads seemed quite empty.

We had brought lunch with us (Luchito refried beans in the plastic pouch, tortillas, guac, salad leaves) so we stopped to put it together by the North Yorkshire Moors Railways Levisham station, got to check out some steam trains and a vintage diesel. The Lockton Tearooms and gallery followed soon after another gruelling hill climb and I could quite easily have had a nap under their shade umbrellas. Their food looked great but as we had already eaten we just had some cake and espresso. Great espresso, quite distinctive handleless cups (Mr Cooper's Tearoom had standard loveramics and Nova coffee was just a van so we provided our own enamel espresso cups, which we always travel with, obviously)

Things didn't really get any easier, but there were a few slightly hairy paths in the latter half of the day. Overall the route is quite close to a touring bike route, and I think many people on here would have been comfortable riding it on 32s, but I didn't feel too bad being on larger slicks for a bit of the riding we did through dalby forest, but it also was exceptionally pretty and felt quite distinctively different from other tours I've done, which was welcome because we did have to drive about 5 hours to get here.

The last 15 or so km from East Ayrton to Hunmanby (where we had parked) however, were quite grim. I think if I was doing this again I would have driven the car to East Ayrton on the Saturday morning and started and ended our loop from there. Sunday afternoon driving is generally bad at the worst of times and I guess that part of the route just has no other alternatives, but I spent most of my time with my heart in my mouth as we suffered deranged passes from almost every car that went past us (and there was a lot of cars). It didn't help that there was a final 20% screamer with minimal verge and continual passes. Still we got it done.

Whilst we decompressed at the Hunmanby war memorial (never forget) a fine gentleman came over and on hearing we hadn't eaten, offered us a spare portion of chips he had been given "by mistake" when he had gone to pick up his pizzas from the local Chinese restaurant (...) "We don't eat chips in our house." he told us. I have no idea what he was talking about but as you can imagine, we fell onto his surplus portion with little encouragement.

The ancient looking pub next to us had a bunch of men cheering someone in a Nissan 350Z every time he revved loudly so we loaded the bikes up before their attention could turn to us and drove home. We took the humber bridge for 1.50 to try and save time then got stuck in total gridlock on the M180 for an hour. Oh well. Good trip though.

8 Attachments

This coming weekend looks like a good one for a (Friday night) / Saturday / Sunday road trip with some wild camping thrown in...any recommendations for places accessible either riding out or with a not too pricey rail ticket (presumably if going out on Friday after 7pm)? Road and/or gravel preferably with good bakery somewhere along the route.

I'll add some suggestions for those looking for weekend rides from London

Out to Dengie and back https://www.komoot.com/tour/1225648247
Cantii Way last time i did this I took the train out to Ashford and then road from there https://www.cyclinguk.org/cantii-way
Out on Thames Path and around the coast then back using Whitstable winder
https://www.komoot.com/tour/1344462111
London Wales London really lovely route but wouldn't make for a relaxing weekend ride https://www.komoot.com/tour/1534643841

Going to wales this week to do some lost lanes routes. Very much looking forward to it

Looks like a busy mini tour weekend with lots heading out. I was going overseas but time didn't allow, so I'm going Portsmouth(ish) to Henley, Henley to Oxford, Oxford to Marlborough, then back to Portsmouth (ish). 50/50 road and bridleways, with a day in Oxford going to the bathing spots, Proof bakery (as recommended on here), and a nice pub on the Thames.

I'll wave to any tourers I see anywhere. Be good to see people's photos too.

So heading off to New Forest/Dorset to do the Rat Run for my w/end blast. What's making a nice companion to this all is reading Alistair Humphrey's Local

https://bikepacking.com/routes/woods-rat-run/

Rat Run was the right ride of fun. Would have taken it slightly differently if I'd taken the recommended three days rather than two.

Train out to Salisbury on Friday after work and got an hour up the road. Camped out on an isolated gravel path (no mobile phone reception going on) with military helicopters flying overhead for a while whilst I was bedded down.

Up at 5:30 to catch dawn and on the road by about 6. Kept a pretty steady pace on to New Forest > Bournemouth > Isle of Purbeck. It's a real shame you're not allowed to ride along the Bournemouth waterfront as going over the hill is a PITA. There were some pretty challenging stretches for a loaded gravel bike although nothing that felt too OTT.

Camped out just the other side of Wareham where there were mosquitos aplenty. Fortunately I had my Smidge with me that did the trick. Whilst Purbeck Isles saw me get plenty familiar with the joys of nettles, it was in this stretch that it got really quite painful, not helped by going accidentally off track at one point. I eventually reached a point where track was v overgrown and tracks really rough due to horse riding so decided to hit the road for the final 40k.

Would recommend.

so decided to hit the road for the final 40k

Enlightened imo, that last pic looks grim. Rest of it sounds and looks great!

Which parts would you reroute to avoid the worst bushwhacking? @MrBaklava and I are heading over that way this weekend for an overnighter.

Looks lovely, I forgot to post a warning last week that you should take a machete.

The bridelways and tracks I used were much less nettley thankfully! Maybe because they were Ridgeway / more forestry / canal paths.

Day one, Petersfield to Wallingford, via Henley. Lovely route through Borden etc on the tracks, and the lovely country roads. Reading was shit. Absolutely terrible place to go through. Henley was nice, sat by the river in The Angel and had a sandwich and beer, watching the rowers. Wallingford is sleepy and lovely. Good campsite (Bridge Villa), easy to walk over the bridge into town and nice burgers (veggie options available) in the Town Arms, and a beer on the river edge in less nice pub The Boat House.

Day two, Wallingford to Oxford. Nice shorter morning ride through Abingdon etc. some mad bridleways with deep tracks etc kept things interesting before riding the Thames path into town. Stopped off at Proof Bakehouse in Kennington which was recommended on here. Nice, but pricey. Took our goods and sat by the Thames in the glorious sunshine.

Dropped our stuff off then rode up to Wolvercote for a swim in the river, then a pint at The Trout. Dinner at the Victoria Arms on the Cherwell river was nice!

Day Three, Oxford to Marlborough. Nice brekkie at Columbia Coffee Roasters in summer town, then out through the wonderful villages with all their thatched roofs. Riding around Oxford is so nice, and infrastructure really good. Nice lanes all the way out the city to the country. Stopped at Uffington to look at the horse (not worth the climb), bwfore taking an old railway down to Marlborough. Stopped off just outside at the Horseshoe for a drink, which is a terrific pub. Then into Savernake Forest for camping at Postern Hill campsite. It was ok, you get a massive reduction if you phone up to book. No showers though, has to wash in the sink. Walked into Marlborough for dinner, pint in The Green Dragon was lovely, then a slightly posh food at The Marlborough, before walking back.

Day Four, Marlborough to Petersfield. Fantastic start through the forest, then gorgeous rolling countryside galore. Did get a bit nettely near Hinton Ampnor in the byways. Lunch was a pizza from the Tichborne arms, wood fired lovelyness, before rolling back through the Meons.

All in all, 9/10. Great roads and paths, lovely people and nice stops.

5 Attachments

.

5 Attachments

Using the Rat Run route, tail end of this section is where it got hairy

https://www.komoot.com/tour/1797696568#previewMap

There were plenty of other bits where nettles/gorse/bramble are about but it was here that I lost the will to keep to the gpx...

https://www.komoot.com/tour/1797696568

It was near Hambledon Hill that I found myself slightly off course and finding myself doing battle with a particularly nasty section of nettles

Day one, Petersfield to Wallingford, via Henley. Lovely route through Borden etc on the tracks, and the lovely country roads. Reading was shit. Absolutely terrible place to go through. Henley was nice, sat by the river in The Angel and had a sandwich and beer, watching the rowers. Wallingford is sleepy and lovely. Good campsite (Bridge Villa), easy to walk over the bridge into town and nice burgers (veggie options available) in the Town Arms, and a beer on the river edge in less nice pub The Boat Ho

Nice write up and pictures @RonnieOatmilk @Gustav.

Cross post from the Brompton thread, but as it was our first overnighter I thought I’d share;

Yesterday was mine and Liz's 20th wedding anniversary. So we had a little trip out. Liz wanted a night in a nice hotel and wanted a bike ride, we compromised. We rode to the train station, train to Cambridge, rode to the hotel. They were super nice and offered to lock our bike in a cupboard and give us the key
If the folders didn’t fit in the room ok. They fitted in the wardrobe just fine. We had dinner in the hotel. Then breakfast, muffins were borrowed for the ride later. We took a ride out to Fen Ditton and beyond, stopped at Stow-Cum-Quy Fen because, well because. Rode back to a pub somewhere, had drinks and before we had ordered they offered to fill our water bottles for us. That was nice. We rode back to Cambridge for coffee, put our hot feet in the Cam to cool down, have dinner at Stem & Glory (better than ok, but not amazing) we are now sat to the train heading back to Norwich. With the ride home that will be 110km since knocking off work yesterday. Liz puts up with a lot!
A big thank you to @Bearlegged for the Bag frame, it would have been a struggle with just one bag. You are a star.

5 Attachments

Better then ok but not amazing is the Cambridge mantra.

Cambridge tourism board send me your money.

1 Attachment

The use of what I assume is Cambridge mass, is perfect