Cycling Norwich to Wales

[[email protected]]

Hi,

I am planning (well trying to plan) a cycling trip from Norwich to
Tywyn (the middle of the Welsh coast) in August. Does anyone have
suggestions as to how I should go about planning a route, any good
maps or any advise in general? I've never done a long distance trip
before so am a bit Clueless. Has anyone ever done a similar trip and
could suggest a good route? Thanks,

Hannah

 

[RG]

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi,
>
> I am planning (well trying to plan) a cycling trip from Norwich to
> Tywyn (the middle of the Welsh coast) in August. Does anyone have
> suggestions as to how I should go about planning a route, any good
> maps or any advise in general? I've never done a long distance trip
> before so am a bit Clueless. Has anyone ever done a similar trip and
> could suggest a good route? Thanks,
>
> Hannah
>

St David's to Lowestoft is the best I can offer ... but could be adapted I'm
sure - go to www.beewee.co.uk and the Side to Side link

.... and while you're about it look at www.macride.org.uk ... for a really
worthwhile ride

RG

 

[bugbear]

[email protected] wrote:
> Hi,
> I've never done a long distance trip
> before so am a bit Clueless.

How much cycling (other than long distance...)
have you done till now?

BugBear

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (' [email protected]')
wrote:

> I am planning (well trying to plan) a cycling trip from Norwich to
> Tywyn (the middle of the Welsh coast) in August. Does anyone have
> suggestions as to how I should go about planning a route, any good
> maps or any advise in general? I've never done a long distance trip
> before so am a bit Clueless. Has anyone ever done a similar trip and
> could suggest a good route? Thanks,

Start with a good map that covers the whole journey at small scale - I'm a
fan of Michelin maps for this. Get a rough idea of your route. Then plan
in detail using larger scale maps as needed.

You want to avoid:

* main roads (tiring and stressful)
* major conurbations (very hard to navigate except on main roads)
* (where possible) big climbs
* extremely twisty roads

There will be places where you have to choose one or the other.

Work out how far you can do a day, and don't exceed that. When I was 16 I
rode Edinburgh - Cheltenham, at around 60 miles a day. I wasn't very fit
but was used to cycling regularly (although nothing like that distance).
It all went fine except for one day when I'd planned a 100 mile journey,
and that was too much. The difference between 'OK' and 'too much' is
surprisingly sharp.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; no eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn.
;; Jim Morrison

 

[Tony Raven]

[email protected] wrote on 12/06/2007 09:29 +0100:
>
> On which point Ms Griffiths should note that the prevailing wind is
> westerly,

For cyclists the prevailing wind is againsterly.

--
Tony

"The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there
is no good evidence either way."
- Bertrand Russell

 

[Tony Raven]

Simon Brooke wrote on 12/06/2007 11:31 +0100:
>
> Start with a good map that covers the whole journey at small scale - I'm a
> fan of Michelin maps for this. Get a rough idea of your route. Then plan
> in detail using larger scale maps as needed.
>

For long rides like that I buy last year's large scale road maps that
you can usually find going cheap and then cut out strips of which cover
the route and a bit each side. Makes it very easy to navigate your way
at a decent scale with minimal weight to carry.

--
Tony

"The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there
is no good evidence either way."
- Bertrand Russell

 

[Clive George]

"Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> Simon Brooke wrote on 12/06/2007 11:31 +0100:
>>
>> Start with a good map that covers the whole journey at small scale - I'm
>> a
>> fan of Michelin maps for this. Get a rough idea of your route. Then plan
>> in detail using larger scale maps as needed.
>>
>
> For long rides like that I buy last year's large scale road maps that you
> can usually find going cheap and then cut out strips of which cover the
> route and a bit each side. Makes it very easy to navigate your way at a
> decent scale with minimal weight to carry.

Don't even need to be last year's these days - got one for 2 quid from
Morrisons a few weeks ago. I'd recommend the ones with the AA mapping
though - the clearest one I've seen.

cheers,
clive