>Any advice? Me and the boy (10) have this idea about cycling from here (Spalding,Lincs) to his
>gran's in northunberland in the summer hols. This is to put it mildly about 260 miles further than
>he's ever been, and I've never done that long a trip either, though I've done lots of things by
>myself, such as going up mountains in Skye with the bike, getting stuck but getting myself out of
>it again.....Anyway - what's the best way to plan? Sustrans site doesn't seem to have a cpmplete
>route, particularly one where the emphasis is on traffic free. Camp or B+B?Or not do the thing at
>all?!Any thoughts gratefully received. Ali
>
If it t'were I, I'd be planning to do it over much of the summer hols
Kids are fairly resilient -
especially if it can be made *fun* or *exciting* some how. Also, the challenge and telling him what
kudos he'll have as how many 10 year olds cycle that far!
Plan in a very detailed way - find out what *things to see* and *things to do* will be available on
the way there.
Be flexible - take a steady pace - slow when needed, faster when able to and *wanting* to. A good
site for cycling links is at
http://www.colinpercy.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/links.htm which is a whole
page of links put up by Tyne Bikes. Perhaps it's worth getting in contact with that group to see if
they can offer any advice for the north end of the trip.
Also - are you a member of CTC? If not, I'd suggest you both join - for the third party insurance
and legal help if anything untoward happen on the trip - I work on the theory that if you've got the
cover, you may well not need it, but if you haven't, you'll probably have need of it ;-) Plus - the
CTC do routes guidance/planning (any other CTC member help out here, I'm new to this bit!)
When my son (now 14) was wee - younger than 10, he didn't cycle much but we were heavily into
rambling and at seven/eight he did the Norfolk Coastal Path, Fen Rivers Way, Nar Valley Walk and
most of the Peddars' Way. He managed this via *encouragement* 90% of the time and 10% nagging ;-)
The key was keeping it fun for the vast majority of the time.
If you camp - does this mean you'll be carrying a tent & equipment as well as the cycling
necessities? If it does, with a 10 year old, I'd be tempted to do the B&B route, so at least you
should have a comfy and restful bed at the end of each day - or, and a dry one too, and not one
blown away in wind! But I guess it depends upon finances and timescale.
If you go for it, best of luck to you both.
Cheers, helen s
p.s. Whey what bit of God's Own Country is yor mother in bonnie laad? Ah was brort up there
meessell like. Born in Morpeth, brort up in Blyth.
p.p.s. I hev a langin for a reely lang trip meesell, but a've got me studyin t'dee
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Any speeliong mistake$ aR the resiult of my cats sitting on the keyboaRRRDdd
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