Generic Touring Thread

It's on my wishlist for my next tour; I vaguely recall from reading trip reports on the CTC forums that are some sections where the NCR goes down Silly Sustrans Tracks, but where the road alternative is fine and low traffic.

We're rebranding sustrans tracks as epic luxury gravelb for 2021

Looking to do a 3 day trip this weekend. Currently only really have a starting point and finishing point in mind so if anyone has suggestions of these areas that would be super.

Getting the train from Manchester to Hereford on Thursday early evening, then heading into Wales to find somewhere to wildcamp for the night.

Will then head towards Aberystwyth on the Friday and find somewhere to camp.

Saturday head north from wherever we stay in the direction of Llandudno (or other train line connected to Manchester) and camp there.

Sunday head to a train station to return to Manchester.

Anyone done anything similar?

Looks like Wales is going to be busy with cyclists these coming weeks! Hope to bump into some of you.

Ireland still has mandatory quarantine, so we decided to head to the next rainest place, Wales.
We have trains to Bristol and back from Crewe (it was dirt cheap, might take a train to Crewe if we end up short on time)

This is the route we are going to do, still WIP, but rather finalised.
Anyone care to pitch in?

It has parts of the NCN8/Lon Las Cymru as well as bits from @platypus p-wales (what I deemed rideable in 28c and panniers). Paging some people that recommended routes in Wales before: @hippy @Tijs @Thrasher @andyfallsoff @pastry_bot @Gustav

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33712059

I know I've been to Fishguard on an audax before. You could save a lot of time by just going thruogh Builth Wells ;)

Definitely have new or carry spare brake pads. I had to bail on a 400 once because I'd started with worn disc pads.

I recognise a lot of the names you're going through from various audax but I'm no use putting names to places. Wales is great though so it should all be pretty good.

Llandudno?

You're up near the Nat 12/24 course (south of Chester) so you could cut some laps

Definitely take in gospel pass on your first day, and if at all possible ride it from Aber - Hay rather than the reverse as this really does give you the most enjoyable route up and over, and the descent is one of the best roads in the UK...

Looks like a good route!

You're doing the main bit I'd say is a must do (gospel pass) so no comments there...

I found myself caught out a bit round Symonds Yat as I found ridewithgps sent me on some gravel (which confused me, as it doesn't exist in this country) - was manageable on 28 slicks for me so nothing too bad, but worth being aware of and checking (if that would bother you).

Looks like a great route though, have fun!

I am actually looking for some rideable non-existing gravel, which will be passed as "It totally looked like a tarmac road" to the complaining wife on the spot.
But will also depend on the conditions, if it rains a bit and gets wet we might have to route around.

What about Pembrokeshire? Any peninsula/cove worth checking out?

@hippy

Definitely have new or carry spare brake pads.

Always when traveling.

Definitely be keen to hear how this goes as might pinch this down the line

I was relatively new to disc brakes so hadn't come to terms with what worn pads felt like. Not as obvious as worn rim brakes. And it was "only" 400k..

This is my map for our Wales trip last year.
It includes different routes from routing apps and some gpx files of races etc.
There's Bothys and YHA on there too.
Might be useful as a cross reference.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=17H7gWCfXdfPDY2PA5ftu_orpdhlgsi7m&usp=sharing

Edit: Pubs on route are on there too, obviously.

First fully loaded trip to Scotland and I ended up upside head first in a load of bracken because my pads utterly failed on a downhill. Although it was funny at the time it was a valuable lesson.

Awesome! I'll review later today!

Campsites seem to be quite busy already, hope people are still open to wildcamping. Bothies would be lovely although not many on our route, and they might be busy as well.

There's not much cross over with your route but thought I'd share.

All MBA bothies are closed at the moment AFAIK.

None of the bits on p-wales that are rideable on 28s were out there on purpose, just as connector roads. Given your overall trajectory I’d modify some Brian Chapman Memorial routes you could find online. Have a good one!

Thanks for your advice. Got this planned out over 3 days, in a rough 100/100/60km split to get the train home on Sunday in time.

https://www.komoot.com/tour/237480723

Wife has booked a family hol in the Amble area so have negotiated a 3 day weekend prior to do the C2C (hurrah).

This is my first bike"tour" in, urm, decades.
Train up gets to Whitehaven about 1.15 so going to try for Penrith on day one and get a hotel. Then camp somewhere around waskerley on day 2 and then last day is Tynemouth and up to Amble. Doable? Not really looking to smell the roses so much as get some solo headspace after 3months cooped up working in my bedroom.

Am I being silly with my plans?
Anywhere good to swim on the C2Cprobably days 2 and 3 due to time.
Should I try and wild camp the entire thing or B&B the whole thing?

Some recent blogposts seem to say they have been found open. I guess we'll have to go check out for ourselves.

Definitely closed. Some not locked if the caretaker lives far away. Still shouldn't be using them.

From the mountain bothy association which is the charity which maintain and run them. https://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/

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Thanks again for this, I've included a few things in the final version.

The bit of the route I am looking forward to the most is the bit from Lampeter to Llangurig - I am sure I will regret some choices, especially if we get caught out by bad weather!

Ah, shame.
Can you pass on the reference so that I can check for updates?

EDIT: Found it.

FWIW, some routes I used last week for a S>N>S trip in Wales. All on road, used some of the Lost Lanes Wales route book for ideas, some of the LL sections are in green but I didn't get round to colour-coding the later routes when I realised they didn't show up on my Garmin in that way.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33106715
- Severn to Tregaron inc Abergavenny LL routes

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33106864
- Tregaron to Bala

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33578670
- Bala to Long Mynd via Llanberis pass

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33578677
- Long Mynd to Stroud
The rides between Stroud or the Severn and home in the Chilterns not included, probably not of interest here.

I took a few diversions, one was to miss the climb then long descent to Machynlleth in the Tregaron-Bala section (that's part of Lon Las Cymru). It was raining and I went through Pennant instead and carried on to the Bwlch. Then the weather cleared so I had time to descend E from the top of the Bwlch, down to Vyrnwy then back up and down to N end of Bala. That was a good alternative section and worth riding the other way on the return leg of Bala-Long Mynd.
Also on that file I went to Devil's Bridge which was a few miles off-route and took me into the Ystwyth valley perfectly.
The other diversion was after Long Mynd where I straightened the route in places to gain some time on a slow headwind kind of day.

All in all a really enjoyable ride. There weren't any bad roads, even a few A-roads that were really quiet considering in the SE I won't go near A-roads at all.

Thanks for all the suggestions!