Four Counties Cycle Tour 2021

It is said that pleasure is found first in anticipation, and later in memory. On 8th July 2021 I set off on my first multi-day tour for many years; kids, work, and life commitments pulling me away from pursuing bike touring. In 2019 I decided it was time to go touring once more, and excitedly planned for a 5 day tour in summer 2020. That was not to be, but after a long period of anticipation, heightened by attending the virtual Cycle Touring Festival, the day came to pack the bike and go. I serviced ‘Killick’ (a Dawes 1-Down I purchased new in 2000) and got the panniers, also over 20 years old, out of the loft. First challenge was the panniers had deteriorated somewhat in storage, but oh well, the weather forecast was improving and mostly dry, so a bit of lost weatherproofing wouldn’t matter, would it?

A note on the maps used in this post - they are taken from the excellent cycle.travel website; a free to use cycle travel planning site, which can be upgraded through subscription. It has proved to be an excellent tool for planning cycle adventures, so please check it out!

Day 1

Hythe (Hampshire) to Moreton (Dorchester); 60 miles

 

A mix of excitement and trepidation marked the start of day 1; excited because I was finally setting off on my long planned for trip - trepidation, because with lockdown and working from home I had not been commuting to work by bike, so I was concerned my fitness might not match the demands I would put on my legs. The first day saw me heading west from home into the New Forest on NCN Route 2. I’m lucky enough to live less than 5 minutes from the New Forest, so the journey took me straight into wide open heathland.

Familiar paths took me through the gravel lanes of Denny Wood and onwards to Brockenhurst, from where (as far as Route 2 was concerned) NCN2 was terra incognita for me. In Brockenhurst I just about avoided the first ‘dooring’ of my life, only just avoiding the thrown open car door by what must have been a hair’s breadth. Heart beating a little faster, I tried to put it out of my mind and vowed to give parked cars a wider berth in future.

Leaving Brockenhurst, it was a joy to travel slowly and take in the sights and smells of forest and heath, without any particular deadline to meet, other than getting to the campsite later in the day. Coffee and cake at the Old Station Tearooms at Holmsley (very tasty cake, and a bike friendly place) powered me onward.

A spot of rain didn’t dampen my enthusiasm and quicker than I expected I was in Christchurch. Although it was early for lunch, I didn’t fancy finding somewhere to eat in the metropolis of Bournemouth, so I stopped at the welcoming Tuckton Tea Gardens. This proved to be a good idea, as Bournemouth itself didn’t inspire me much. Out of season, the whole of the seafront can be ridden by bike, forming a flat route a few miles long right round to Sandbanks, but from July to September-ish it’s closed to bikes except for one short section. To be honest though I’d always opt for the alternative road route, which is quite pretty to the west of Bournemouth, and crosses a very impressive suspension bridge over a leafy valley, which was an unexpected discovery.

At Sandbanks I took the ferry across to Studland, and after waiting for the impatient car drivers to clear the road ahead, ambled along until Route 2 struck off on a gravel path westward towards Dorchester. Things got a little trickier here, as sections of Route 2 along this stretch are narrow, rocky and in places very muddy, but Killick and I got through relatively unscathed. Some pleasant trundling through quiet lanes took me to Wool, where the Black Bear Inn provided a nice meal in warm sunshine. I camped at Frome Meadow Campsite near Moreton, and on the way I popped into the graveyard of St Nicholas’ Church to see the grave of T.E. Lawrence.

Here came my first lesson; when my son tells me the tent I was taking is small, I should have believed him! I’d gone with a cheap tent we’d bought a few years ago (£5 in a sale - 80% off), thinking it would be fine for the dry, warm weather that was forecast when I left. I’d never used it, but my son had done his DofE with it, so it should be OK, right? 

 

 

Day 2

Moreton (Dorchester) to Taunton; 53 miles

I was meeting my son in Dorchester who joined me for day 2. While waiting for his train to arrive, I decided that the £5 tent wasn’t going to cut it. Not only was it too small even for me, it was soaking wet despite there having been no rain overnight. Two of us were never going to fit, especially as my son is 6’3”! So, a quick trip to a camping shop as soon as it opened and I had a decent tent, one which I hope will do me well on this and future trips. 

After the obligatory coffee, my son and I headed north on Route 26, which I’d told my son would be a gentle uphill along the Frome Valley cycleway. A few miles on I had to admit that it was a bit more hilly than I had expected! Still, very pretty, with varied countryside and reasonably surfaced off-road sections, just about acceptable for a loaded touring bike.

We actually struggled to find somewhere decent to eat along this route, with options very few on the ground, so I’d recommend taking on food at Dorchester. In the end we snacked all the way to Montecute, where we arrived just before 4pm to find all the pubs had stopped serving food. Happily we were able to top up water bottles, but then had the hard climb to the top of Ham Hill where we found an excellent view and an equally excellent, and very needed, meal at The Prince of Wales pub. 

Time was getting on, so on we went, flying down the other side of Ham Hill and weaving our way through small lanes to join Route 33 towards Taunton. The skies were turning grey, and by the time we reached our camping spot near Taunton, rain was falling. This would set the scene for the next 18 hours. Tired but happy, an early night was spent listening to rain pattering on the satisfyingly waterproof flysheet of my new tent.

 

 

Day 3

Taunton to Winscombe; 38 miles

 

I’d planned a short day on day 3 as I was staying the night with family who live close to the Strawberry Line and I wanted to get there for lunch. With sleep a distant memory by 6am, we were up and packed and ready to go by 7. My brother had spent the previous night bikepacking somewhere on route, so I was keen to get on and meet up so we could spend some time catching up as we rode.

First though, some logistics were called for; my son who hadn’t really done much prep for the challenge of cycling all day found he couldn’t even get on his bike! Alternative arrangements were made to get him to Winscombe (thankfully by happy circumstance, much easier than might have been otherwise). I set off alone a little after 7am in pouring rain, wondering if I was going to make my self-imposed deadline.

From Taunton, Route 33 joins the Bridgwater-Taunton canal, which apart from being flat, sports a half decent towpath which I had entirely to myself all the way to Bridgwater. I was particularly keen to do this section, as the canal itself formed part of the Taunton Stop-Line, a World War 2 defense line built in case of German invasion. Many pillboxes and anti-tank defenses are still in place beside the towpath every few hundred meters, and some bridges still have the marks where explosive charges were emplaced underneath them to blow them up if invasion did occur. It really is an impressively well preserved relic of the past.

Meeting up with my brother beneath a bridge at Bawdrip, we headed north as the rain stopped and the skies began to brighten. His single-speed bikepack set-up was delightfully minimal and made my four-pannier set-up look like a juggernaut by comparison. A great morning spent cycling across the Somerset levels and on to Cheddar, Axbridge and the Strawberry Line. By 1130 we made it to our destination - much quicker than expected and my legs were telling me so! Thankfully the sun came out and I could dry my kit.

The contents of my panniers felt somewhat damp though; that 20 year old waterproofing wasn’t cutting it anymore.

 

 

Day 4

Winscombe to Warminster (via Bristol and Bath); 62 miles

 

The longest day of the tour, and I was feeling a little trepidation again. So far my legs had coped well, but that morning I felt tired. Some re-packing and considerations of what I really needed meant I was able to reduce my luggage load down and dispense with my front panniers. With my brother once more accompanying me for a distance towards Bristol, the morning, sunny and warm, passed by pleasantly. Strawberry Line complete, we headed out on back lanes and it was still quite early when I got to Bristol, my brother having peeled off to head for the hills and home. Bristol is an interesting city and it was pleasant to cycle through it, stopping for coffee and a quick photo by the big Sustrans Cycle Network map. The shared paths along the harbour were too busy to cycle at any speed, and it’s actually better to push. There’s plenty to see, so the slow pace was no bother.

I’d been looking forward to this day and following the Bristol-Bath cycle path, which I’d never visited before. A pleasant hour and a half was spent heading towards Bath, climbing steadily at first and then rolling downhill.

The path was interesting with some good history and old, overgrown stations to explore and it was enjoyable, but that proved to be just a prelude to the next ex-railway paths; the two tunnels greenway on route 244, and the Colliers Way on route 24. I hadn’t realised until I entered it that one of the tunnels on this particular greenway is the longest walking/cycling tunnel in Britain. At 1.6km, it felt very long indeed, and despite it being a Sunday, for the most part I had the tunnel all to myself, and it was awesome. The tunnels have music piped through them, which was a nice touch. Lunch at the end of the Two Tunnels greenway offered me the opportunity to contemplate the increasingly heavy rain and wonder how that would play out for the rest of the day.

After a short stint along some remote lanes after Wellow and with a few sharp hills, the Colliers Way took me to Frome; another quiet cycleway which, with the rain, was so green in places it practically made my eyes vibrate.

By the time I reached Frome the rain was falling from a slate grey sky, and I was getting cold. I was soaking wet, despite wearing a supposedly good waterproof, and the damp was beating the insulating properties of my clothing. Good waterproofs only work well if you make sure they are worn correctly; I had the arms done up over my gloves and this had allowed water to wick up my arms to a degree that amazed me. 

Frome was close to my destination for the day, Botany Camping, just the other side of Longleat. I reached Frome at 4pm, and as many shops were closing early for the Euro 2020 final, I stocked up on food to take with me to eat in the tent. The last few miles were through the Longleat estate - a highlight of the day of many highlights, despite the fact I timed my arrival with the park’s closing time. I ended up waiting almost half an hour for all the cars to leave so that the road was quiet once more. What I hadn’t factored in was just how much of a climb it would be to reach the campsite! It took me an hour to cover just a few miles, and by the time I reached the campsite, I was beat.

It was raining hard, and the campsite was almost deserted. I put the tent up quick and got in, swapped wet clothes for dry and spent the evening listening to the rain and, as my phone was complaining about the damp, trying to work out from the distant cheers and shouts whether England had won the match or not. 

 

 

Day 5

Warminster to Hythe (Hampshire); 53 miles

Checking my phone (now dry and working) at 0545 I confirmed the rain had stopped, but also that another heavy bout of rain was due to reach me at 6. It’s amazing what you can do when motivated, and before the rain started I was packed and the tent put away. I spent some time sat under a handy awning watching water pour off the canvas, talking to the ducks and feeding friendly birds crumbs from my emergency oat bar.

By 0730 the rain had eased a little and I headed off to Warminster for breakfast at Morrisons cafe, who did a pretty good full english, and waited for the rain to stop. Apparently the rain had other ideas, so at 9 I gave up waiting and started off for home. At times it was cycling in winter, with lanes completely flooded and water running in streams down the side of the road. Despite that, route 24 to Salisbury was amazingly scenic, with loads of thatched cottages, ancient churches, and an interesting variety of bus-stop designs (funny what you notice when you consider every bus stop as potential shelter from the rain).

At Salisbury the rail started to ease and I saw the first cycle tourists since Dorchester; we waved at each other from across the road but traffic prevented any discourse. However, in Salisbury as I was pushing my bike through the town looking for a good lunch stop, a gent stopped to chat about touring by bicycle and we spent half an hour discussing the merits of slow travel and pros and cons of bikes versus recumbent for comfort and touring.

The last stretch home took me through Downton and Nomansland, through the New Forest once more and home. By then it was hot and sunny but very humid, and within an hour of reaching my front door, the heavens opened and thunder and lightning rent the sky. A raucous end to a fabulous trip! 

Total mileage: 266

Punctures: 0

New Tents: 1

The bit about... Brakes

I see quite a lot of posts on social media about bicycle brakes. Almost every single one of those posts seems to say the same thing: "How do I stop my disc brakes from squealing?" Usually this is accompanied by complaints about their brakes not being effective, or juddering, or the pads wearing out really fast. Sometimes it's clear the complexity of the disc brake parts and set-up is beyond the owner's capability to fix, and many a recommendation is 'take it to the shop'. I can't help feeling that really, the prevalence of the disc brake has in many ways trumped common sense and simple practicality. This week I've even heard the commentators on the Tour de France saying something similar - 70% of the peleton have disc brakes but their benefits don't really seem all that apparent given the problems they casue with wheel changing and susceptability to damage in a crash. Not that that really bothers every day riders, but hey.

Now, I've said in another post of mine that I am a Luddite (see the bit about Gear Shifting), and this is admittedly true - I do like my bike to be simple and easy to maintain, fix and set-up. However, I do get that progress means emerging technology and fashion will influence the way bicycles are made and the expectations of the market, and it's always been the case that bicycle design and the gear they carry will reflect that. Recently I've been considering a new bike (recently = two years), and when I started to look, one of the 'must haves' that went on the list was disc brakes. Why? Because I commute all year round in all weathers, and when touring I've experienced the irritation (and occasional terror) of brakes that don't actually, you know, stop the bike. So, discs went on the list.

At the time, the only experience I had of a disc brake was my son's Kona hybrid, which came with hydraulic discs. They're good. Very good. The lightness and modulation (the ability to adjust the degree of braking without them going from nothing to full rotational cessation and handlebar flying antics) is great. But, wow are they complicated. Lots of seals, pipes, moving parts and scarily complex rotors and calipers. To fit the disk within the forks, the front wheel has an asymmetric 'dish' to the spokes, which I find off putting, and which makes me wonder if strength is compromised. For the geeky amoung us, here is a few pictures of the hydraulic disc set-up:

Another bike in the family has disk brakes too, but these are cable operated. More simple, yes, but also more basic. They don't work as well as the hydraulic ones - the difference is really noticable when you can compare them as easily as swapping bikes. But the thing that I found off-putting about the cable disc was that fact that the mechanism only operates a caliper on one side of the disc rather than both sides like the hydraulic type. Are they all like this? Maybe someone can tell me. The thing I don't like about this design is that because the mechanism only works on one side (unlike the hydraulic type that has a caliper on both sides of the disc), it squeezes the disc between the pads asymetrically (that word again), actually bending the disc slightly against the static pad. This seems mechanically wrong to me and raises my anxiety about catastrophic disc failure, although I imagine the designers have taken this into account and it's all fine. Here's a picture of the cable disc brakes...

So what else does having a disc brake mean for bike design, and what might you want to consider? Well, discs look nice, sure, and they look modern. And don't cars have disc brakes too, so isn't this a natural progression towards better technology? Well, yes. And no. 

Consider stress. Having your braking system located near the hub of the wheel means the braking system has to be relatively more powerful compared to a rim brake (it's all in the 'leverage', or whatever the technical term is), and all that stress is located in the hub, and forks. The disc is also offset to one side of the wheel, meaning that when it is used, it excerts a twisting moment through the forks. This means the forks have to be made stronger, meaning more weight. The increasing use of through-axel bolts in place of quick release is in part in answer to the need for stiffer solutions for wheel fixing becasue of the torque exerted by a disc brake. So it it worth it?

Yes, probably. For some. If you are mountain biking, or regularly riding on muddy tracks, then a disc brake makes sense as it stays clean and works as well in the wet as it does in the dry. Disc brake performance is reliable. But if most of your riding is on clean(ish) metalled roads, do you need disc brakes? Probably not. Rim brakes, like those shown below, have been around for a long time and are well proven.

Traditional calipers and V-brakes like those shown above are simple, reliable and pretty light-weight too. They are easy to adjust and maintain, and if maintained well and set-up right, can work as well as a disc brake. 

Okay, so rim brakes don't always work as well in the wet as discs, but to be honest when set up right and with the right pads, that difference isn't really noticeable. Like many, I ignored my brakes for years and cursed the lack of braking performance, which meant disc brakes went on the new bike list. But then, in a fit of money saving pique, I properly serviced my bike and, for the first time in 18 years of ownership, I took the V-brakes totally apart to clean them (the silver ones in the pics above). New pads (cheap ones from the local bike shop that I thought seemed very soft, but which work like magic) and new cables went on too. I set them up carefully. And guess what - they worked well. Unbelievably well. So well in fact, that I can't really tell the difference in performance between the hydraulic discs on my son's bike and my own bike's V-brakes. In fact I prefer the feel of my V-brakes to those of the slightly grabby discs. Using them is a pleasure! And so, my opinion has changed. Why would I want expensive, complex, heavy discs when I can have simple, effective rim brakes? The answer is, I don't. So my next bike, whenever that might be, will have rim brakes - probably V-brake types because I like the ability to fit wide tyres if I want, and they are just so simple. You also won't find me on twitter or facebook asking why my brakes are so noisy either.

Now, 650b or 700c?

The bit about... The Bicycle

If you've found this blog and are wondering what it's about, then I'll give you a clue - it's about cycling. In particular I'm going to talk about commuting and touring by bicycle, and how such activity affects wealth, fitness, the environment and society in general. 

Along the way we'll explore attitudes to cycling in the UK and abroad, cycling infrastructure (good and bad), highlight campaigns to raise awareness of cycling, and, hopefully, encourage and inspire people thinking of taking up (or returning to) cycling as an everyday means of transport. 

In this first post, I'll introduce my cycling experience and my bicycle - neither being particularly special in that I am not super-fit or particularly fast, and my bicycle is getting quite old and is not really all that exceptional ... Except to me, for whom my bicycle is irreplaceable and priceless. Here it is:

I ride a Dawes one-down (as in a crossword clue - I might come back to that another time). As names go, it's a bit odd, I admit. It is also surpassing rare to find one these days. Dawes has a long history of bicycle manufacturing having been around since 1926, and a reputation for building quality and highly respected touring machines, particularly in the the Galaxy and Super-Galaxy brand. However, there's almost nothing left to mark the one-down's place in history. It was only produced for at most two years (replaced by the similar design and longer-production Sardar), and I suppose did not prove popular.

When I bought this particular one-down from new in 2000, I was taken by its strong 26-inch wheels and robust build, it being marketed as an 'expedition bike'. It is fair to say I was not knowledgeable or experienced enough to make an informed choice at the time, as if I had I would probably have bought a Galaxy with larger 700c wheels, but happy accident and naivety put me in company with a bike that I have come to cherish more and more as the years went by. 

Some facts: it's 20 years old, has the original Mavic wheels, hubs (and bearings), bottom bracket, derailleur and headset. The frame material is Reynolds 631 metal tubing, and the paint is virtually unmarked. It's been round southern England and France and has at various times been used to carry or tow trailers (cargo and kids), child seats and trailer bikes. It once sat unused for a few years in a garage before being brought back out, brushed off and pressed into use as a commuter machine, taking on the worst the winter can throw at it and coming out the other side without complaint. 

It is perfect? No. The riding position is slightly wrong and it is a little heavy and slow. But it does have character, and also that indefinable quality of 'pluck' that no other bike I've ever owned or ridden has in such amounts. It is also smooth (particularly when loaded up) and even after all the years and miles, rides very quietly.

In other words, it works for me. So much so, in fact, that I now ride it exclusively, despite having access to a light-weight and pacy road bike which, although comfortable and quick, just isn't up to the job of daily, all year round commuting on the UK's indifferent roads. I don't ride huge distances, and I'm not particularly fit. My commute to the office 2-3 days per week is just over nine miles each way, and an occasional weekend ride of around 16 miles is about all I have time (and energy) for. If I had all day, I could happily ride 35-40 miles, but I rarely have the time for such rides these days (unfortunately!) Despite this relatively modest mileage, my fitness has improved hugely over the last two years of regular cycle commuting, something I will explore in a later post. 

So what, you might ask? The point is that having a bicycle that fits your needs and riding style can make a huge difference to your enjoyment of cycling. If you are thinking of taking it up for pleasure or fitness, or considering ditching the car for the commute and using a bicycle instead, it is important I believe to have a bicycle that you enjoy riding, as real pleasure can be had in the ritual of pedalling a machine that speaks back to you as you roll along (and then there's the money saving!) Over the coming posts, I'll explore those things that I discovered make my riding experience enjoyable and comfortable, in the hope that others may find it useful. Maybe it will start some interesting debate, and perhaps others will contribute their views, experience and advice too. 

Anyway, welcome along, and enjoy the ride!