Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

forum carry on camping trip 4 ?

4 of us have sorted out a little 3 day off road bivvy trip.....we will be setting out after work from bishops Stortford, off road to thetford forest, camp there, before heading up to Hunstanton....then back towards Cambridge the following day....two, maybe three nights out.....I am excite!

I'm thinking of heading from either Edinburgh or Glasgow back to Manchester next weekend. Train up isn't crazy money, got a variety of on and off road routes on the way, navigation should be fairly straightforward too...

Got from saturday till thursday until my next exam. Thinking of doing a short roundtrip to La Roche en Ardenne through Liège. It's 4 days of 90km per day. Haven't done much cycling at all of late so not sure if I'm fit enough and I can't take an extra day or two because of the exam... Wish I had some more time, then I would go through to Bastogne and a bit into Luxemburg maybe. Meh will see.

Glasgow plans have been cancelled due to not really being in the mood for many road miles.

Taking the train to Windermere instead and having a pop at a variation on this: http://www.selfsupporteduk.net/routes/Lakeland200.html

Aiming for 2.5-3 days worth of riding, with some pre-planned short-cuts as I'd like to be home late Sunday afternoon. There are some inspiring photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nzrich/sets/72157634672946804/ although I have a feeling I'll be pushing a fair bit with a singlespeed...

Need to access a laptop to see map properly but if the bit between Grizedale and Windermere features the range rover trail I once rode there it's an ace (if testing) descent but a right bastard to get up. Enjoy!

Found out how to link GPX files into bikehike for elevation and stuff...
http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?lnk=http://www.selfsupporteduk.net/routes/Lakeland200.gpx

Going to have a chat with Shona tonight, she's got a couple books/maps with routes similar to this she recommended, maybe slightly more singlespeed friendly...

Cool, Shona gets a credit at the end of this vid that went up on bike n bivi Facebook

http://vimeo.com/m/97765701

Yep they hooked him up with a replacement set of Jones bars after his bike took a tumble off the back of the car or something and the original set ended up rather bent.

Scotland looks amazing, definitely on the list of places to go, might try and squeeze some road riding in there later in the year (draped in full mosquito nets)

I'll go when it's a little bit cooler.

Would rather get bitten by hundreds of mosquitoes than ten midges.

I've got the hundreds of mosquitos at this end covered.
Still an epic weekend though.

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Thinking about getting a frame bag for this (alpkit). What's conventional wisdom on carrying water? I figure a half frame bag would still give me quite a bit of space whilst still allowing space for two bottles ...or I have a hydration pack, or full bag with a bladder in (I'm guessing sucking water up would be too hard)?...

Would be used in conjunction with a mini front rack and my Carradice most likely.

Hydration pack can easily hold 3 or even 4 bottles worth.

Main disadvantage is refilling compare to water bottle, can be a bit of a hassle removing it from frame bag,

Reckon you can try a combination of both, or simply replace the bottle cages with a 1.5ltr one that'll hold a big bottle of water from the supermache.

replace the bottle cages with a 1.5ltr one that'll hold a big bottle of water from the supermache.

Good call!
In the case of a hydro pack in frame bag, is it realistic for it to work sucking the water up from frame level then? (Sorry if that's a retarded question from a physics standpoint)

Used to ride with a Topeak XL bottle cage holder, while it work ok, the strap isn't the strongest.

Going to get the BBB XL Fuel Tank instead.

BBB Fuel Tank XL Water Bottle Holder: Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Outdoors

is it realistic for it to work sucking the water up from frame level then? (Sorry if that's a retarded question from a physics standpoint)

Depend on bag placement I reckon, haven't tried drinking it upside down (with the hose on the top rather than bottom), but if it's possible to mount the bag vertically, it shouldn't be difficult.

Or you could he a versatile frame with anything cage mounts ;-) joking of course. The straps with salsa racks/cages are the best strap I've ever used, ever.

Dinner stop. Setup v.stable. Got camelbak rucksack too. Must pack less next time, tho reminded one night stuff almost = many nights stuff.

40 miles to bivvy spot inc snake pass
All night rave over the water
Lots of midges
36 miles today, inc mam tor, rushup edge, & mt. famine.
lamb freed from fence, new future bivvy spot found
Lunch at Polocini cafe on ride back

Great fun all round, lots learnt too.

Polocini is lovely! Sounds lovely

He really helped out, I was in need of a wash so he gave me stuff to have stand up wash in toilet cubicle sink, felt lots better for that.

Good call!
In the case of a hydro pack in frame bag, is it realistic for it to work sucking the water up from frame level then? (Sorry if that's a retarded question from a physics standpoint)

My hydration pack has lumbar reservoir, so sucking the water up at least two feet... It's not hard.

After 3 changes of route, my attempt at solo bikepacking didn't really go to plan this weekend (seem to be developing bad habit of this...). At the last minute, I opted to go ride the Pennine Bridleway North-to-South instead of the Lakeland 200. The main reason was ease of navigation, having the guidebook with info about stops/food etc. and avoiding the Great North Swim crowd around Windermere.

Packed up, hopped on the train to Leeds and then on to Kirkby Stephen. On the second leg I met and chatted to an older guy heading towards Skiddaw for long weekend touring and exploring, he had a lot of interesting cycle and walking stories, tandem across the Alps, riding a rickshaw out of the riots in Genoa and back to the Leeds... It turns out he also knew the train route pretty well and was able to point out where we were and assorted local knowledge about the towns, villages, quarrying, landscape, rivers, peaks, valleys and pubs you could see along the way!

The downside to this train journey - I realised about half way through I'd forgotten my lunch and was left with 3 Clif bars and a pack of Shot Bloks. Never mind I thought, I have some notes from the guidebook for the top section with places to eat/which stretches would be quite desolate, I'll just dig these out when I get off the train and see how far the first pub is... Arriving at Kirkby Stephen about 12, I realised I'd forgotten these too (doh!).

Rather than head down to the actual town (mistake), I set off anyway with a vague recollection there was a pub about 20km or so in and I'd get a late lunch there.

Upon joining the trail, the hills started pretty much straight away, having forgotten to let some air out of my tyres the first gravel-climbs were hard and resulted in a lot of pushing, followed by a very steep, grassy descent. With tyres at 60something PSI and 'dry condition' treads this was terrifying and I spent a good 20 minutes waiting for my heart rate to come down and the adrenaline to wear off as well as letting many PSI escape the inner tubes... Grinding up the other side of the valley I reached a one of the standard photo spots (at which point it'd taken 2 hours to ride 15km...)

The elevation eased off a bit but the trails were still mixed and nearly 3 hot, muggy and midge-bitten hours after getting off the train I arrived at the pub only to find they'd had to stop food for a few hours and had a £10 minimum card spend. Rummaging for change I managed to acquire 2 bags of nuts and a Coke, I refilled bottles and set off again.

From this point onwards, the trails did thankfully ease off a bit, despite signs of civilisation rapidly decreasing. iPod in and Queen's Greatest Hits blasting in my ears to help me up the climbs (note to self: do not double-hand air-guitar off road again) I saw only one or two humans along the way. Somewhere in sight of Ingleborough I bumped into this fellow

By the time I joined up with the Pennine Way and headed down to another popular photo spot, the Far Moor Bridge...

...I was feeling pretty bummed out, tired and the occasional spitting rain had me doubting if it was worth pushing on. I reached the road just above Horton on Ribblesdale and decided it was time to abandon the ride. I ended up riding down the road to Settle as I had time between the trains and there'd be more chance of getting some food, skipped a huge queue for the chippy and had a vending machine dinner of Dairy Milk and Doritos instead. Several hours of delayed trains later I arrived back in Manchester tired and bummed out, but thankfully in one piece.

Spent the rest of the weekend off the bike and back at my parents, including being attacked by midges again walking along Froggatt Edge on Sunday. On reflection, maybe my plans were overambitious, not necessarily from the physical side but being mentally up to riding alone, off-road for 330km... Maybe it's time to find some more riding buddies, or practice ignoring my stupid brain when it's telling me it's a bad idea and to give up and go home. I really need to push on making some more appropriate bike-luggage, the Ortlieb saddlebag was frustrating and the feed-bags over-packed and difficult to use, something like a small top-tube pouch, frame bag or front pouch on the sleeping bag would have made life that little bit easier.

A real ride report, hedgehog and all.
All too familiar in terms of changed plans, unmet goals, rain et cetera.
They're not all epic, but they all count, and you saw some beautiful countryside.
Thanks for the travelogue!

Andy what is your schedule like? Are you freelance or 9-5? I was thinking of going somewhere between the 15-20th of July. Probably Scotland/Up North/Wales.

I am 9-5 but have 12 or so days off left between now and September... I'll check what's going on around then tomorrow morning but would definitely be up for joining up for some, if not all, of it (have a few crazy routes in mind that could be used for inspiration too...)