Retrobike Touring.

[Lostcause]

Yes. Well, we did it in 5 days, and quite a few years back. It was, interesting, not awful, but mostly not that much fun.

I won't go into detail but the route we followed was divided between being unridable because of the surface conditions/steepness of the mountain and pretty boring. Day one had us faffing about for too long at the B&B, getting lost immediately, deciding a leairurely 2 course lunch with a beer was acceptable barely 10 miles in and then carrying the bikes over Black Sail Pass, walking them down the other side and getting lost on a bog at 9pm with the hostel due to close at 10. We sacked off a lot of the prescribed route after that and had a much more pleasant time, there was still a lot of riding, and a lot of hills, and still quite a lot of bog but for the most part, and considering the areas you pass through and their potential for fun on a bike the actual 'mountain biking' (off road riding?) was meh. I actually had a great time in retrospect cos I was in the Countryside with my friends, but there are better, easier, more fun ways to do that than the coast to coast

Oops, I went into detail.

Thanks for that, I might keep my options open...I have Komoot so might look at the route in more detail.
Ive just watched a YouTube video of the Osmotherley to Robin hoods bay section and it looked pretty good with only a couple of hike a bike bits. What were your thoughts on the latter stages?

 

[shedobits]

Suverners 'er so the logistics had to be sorted first. We stayed the night in Kirby Steven, leaving our cars with 'Stagecoach' minibus service who took the five of us and our bikes to Whitehaven for the start.
It was an easy first days riding to Black Sale Hut. Day two was the best and the worst to Conniston, we had to phone the Youth Hostel and ask them to stay open for us, (which they did). We dinned on peanuts, crisps and Mars bars after 12 hours of riding, pushing and carrying.
The lake District riding was the toughest and just as we thought it was going to be easy we had to cross the pennines. I can't drink and ride (I've tried) but made an exception at England' highest pub.
We overnighted at Kirby Steven again so that we could replace our wet smelly clothes for some we had left in our cars. The BB there had the oldest working flushing bog in the known world. They should charge people to watch it work.
Lots of happy memories of the ride finishing at Robin Hoods Bay. Another overnighter there and Stagecoach returned us to Kirby Steven. A bonus for us was that the mini bus doubled as the postie and stopped at several stations as it was contracted to meet trains so we got a good tour of the region.
In effect we rode Wainrights Way West to East
We rode in late May and had one day of torrential rain, otherwise just clouds.
In retrospect one of my happiest rides ever. If I ever did it again I would use the Sustrans route as it circumnavigates the Lake District.
If anyone needs any more info just ask.

 

[Lostcause]

Thanks shedobits. I have heard from several that the lakes and pennines weren't the greatest experience. I'll have to look at the sustrans route

 

[Joe_Rides]

Don't forget that the most punishing rides are often the ones you remember most fondly

 

[Iwasgoodonce]

Things are progressing. Despite having accumulated a lifetime of outdoors type stuff, I have made some purchases. Here’s a list along with the feeble self reasoning behind the purchase!
Bob Yak trailer. Well, my old panniers are getting old and tatty and I always wanted a trailer.
Tent. Got a Big Agnes Hotel. I have soooo many tents. None quite the right size. I think I’ll fit the bike and trailer in the porch and only 2.5Kg.
Solar panels. I’m going to need to charge my Garmin aren’t I? Wonder if Nokia make a usb charger fo a 6230i?
Lightweight mattress plus dry bag pump. To look after my bashed up and largely broken carcass.

I have just about the rest of the stuff. I’m going classic Monitor 17B for the stove, this is a Retro site after all! Still on my list to buy is a cable lock and a cooking pan. Anyone got recommendations for either? Pan wise, I’m thinking:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191342155106
I also have planned an easy itinerary in a difficult area. I’ll be heading for the Shropshire hills. I can leave from home on the bike and the wife can easily drive over for a pub meal if she wants.
I just hope the MRI I have booked shows nothing that will rule this trip out. I’m really looking forward to it.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Things are progressing. Despite having accumulated a lifetime of outdoors type stuff, I have made some purchases. Here’s a list along with the feeble self reasoning behind the purchase!
Bob Yak trailer. Well, my old panniers are getting old and tatty and I always wanted a trailer.
Tent. Got a Big Agnes Hotel. I have soooo many tents. None quite the right size. I think I’ll fit the bike and trailer in the porch and only 2.5Kg.
Solar panels. I’m going to need to charge my Garmin aren’t I? Wonder if Nokia make a usb charger fo a 6230i?
Lightweight mattress plus dry bag pump. To look after my bashed up and largely broken carcass.

I have just about the rest of the stuff. I’m going classic Monitor 17B for the stove, this is a Retro site after all! Still on my list to buy is a cable lock and a cooking pan. Anyone got recommendations for either? Pan wise, I’m thinking:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191342155106
I also have planned an easy itinerary in a difficult area. I’ll be heading for the Shropshire hills. I can leave from home on the bike and the wife can easily drive over for a pub meal if she wants.
I just hope the MRI I have booked shows nothing that will rule this trip out. I’m really looking forward to it.

Sounds brilliant, we wouldn't be camping though Care to share the route? Or is it flexible?

 

[Iwasgoodonce]

Sounds brilliant, we wouldn't be camping though Care to share the route? Or is it flexible?

Cheers! It is flexible. I have these books by a chap called Arthur Mee. He wrote them before WW2 and basically lists most of the villages and towns in a county. For each he writes about what makes that particular place special. This is usually things in the church but also people that have a place in history.
I live on the Staffordshire/Shropshire border and I’m riding out to between Much Wenlock and Atcham. I will stop at all sorts of places starting with Bonningale and ending at Hughley I think. I will see if I can find the features he wrote about nearly 100 years ago. I’ll take a few photos and scribble a few notes and write it up later. Day two will see the tent left in a small campsite I have found and me visiting more places.
Day 3 will be similar to the ride out but a different route. I just want a change from riding the same loop over and over trying to improve my time each ride. Put some miles in with a sort of purpose and relax a bit. You cannot beat Old Father Time.

These are the books:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King's_England

 

[hamster]

Don't bother with a solar panel, they really don't charge enough unless huge - in which case heavy. Have a look at a power bank and/or dyno hub. Usually you can persuade someone at a campsite to charge or there are charging lockers by the showers increasingly these days.

 

[Iwasgoodonce]

Thought briefly about a hub dynamo but, I don’t know? I have very bad memories of the bottle type. I have got an A3 size panel that I’ll try. A garmin 800 is the main thing I’ll need. The battery is well past its prime to say the least. An iPod maybe? I’m going to get new batteries in that before I head off. The Nokia brick will only be switched on when required.
I could have got away with just a power bank. I just like gadgets I suppose.
I’m sure therefore that @hamster will convince me that dynamo’s have come on leaps and bounds and offer next to no resistance in order to give up their power.
What happens if you stop? They have probably sorted that as well. I’ll then get one of those as well! I note that the Fairlight Faran I keep looking at can have a dynamo system built into it.

 

[hamster]

Agreed that it's night and day between bottles and modern hub dynos. Easiest is a dynamo driving a USB power bank. Certainly some phones will drain faster than they charge as they put the screen on and been every time they sense a charge - hopeless in traffic or on a winding route (learned that the hard way). Frankly you never notice the dyno. You are riding at 100-150W and the dyno takes 3W - so about as much as riding up a 1:100 hill apparently.

I got converted forever by a late start (2019 trip, reported somewhere back upthread) which meant setting off for an evening ride and arriving at 2330 at our hotel. It was irritating but no disaster to have to ride 3 hours in the dark with dyno lights.