Planning

My route from St Davids to Lowestoft would be as direct as possible but trying to stay on quiet roads. I decided to hit the Welsh coast at Aberystwyth; I would start off from Haworth on the most direct route to the Cheshire countryside, taking quiet roads as far as Llangadfan; and A roads the rest of the way. The obvious way back home from Lowestoft was to get past the Wash and then a direct(ish) line back to Haworth but, that would mean once I got to Yorkshire, I would be on routes I regularly returned on. So, for a change, I decided to head north across the Fens to the Humber Bridge then head north of Leeds to Otley then back home via Keighley. I quite fancied the Fens as something very different from my usual Pennine routes.

Having sorted out this general approach I used Bikehike to plot the basic route in sections. I then downloaded each section on to Anquet, where I edited them using the more detailed information available on OS 1:50,000 maps. I find Anquet starts to slow down a bit when the routes are too long so I generally kept each section down to about 100 K although a few were over this. I tended to end each section at the campsite; this was probably a mistake because it reinforced the idea of each section being a day's travel.

I printed the maps onto double sided A4 sheets, varying the scale according to the detail required (ie sticking to an A road wouldn't require the same detail as negotiating unclassified roads). Once I'd printed off the maps I checked out campsites along the route (using Campsites UK or just googling) to make sure they still existed, they accepted tents and generally appeared suitable. I also made notes on the maps about price, and any other factors which might make them unsuitable except when I was getting desperate. For the few large towns I’d pass through I printed street maps (usually copied onto a corner of the relevant OS map).

I also downloaded the final route onto my Android phone. When I was in the early stages of planning I intended to get a hub dynamo but in the end couldn't justify the expense. I knew I'd have a problem keeping the phone charged so the phone would be emergencies only. I did however purchase a charger on eBay which came with two spare batteries (about £7 including postage from Hong Kong!) which should help, particularly as it could charge batteries on their own so I did not need to leave the phone unattended in a campsite washroom.