Day 2: Bangor-on-Dee to Llangadfan

Up at five and away by 5:40. My knee was still sore and once I got on the bike discovered that my bottom was too! Still, the sun was shining and it was a nice ride to Chirk, where I re-entered Wales.

Bought more supplies in the local Spar. Forgot that I’d deviated away from the route to go into the town and just continued on through; when I reached the A5 I realised and turned back.
I had the devil of a job finding my way onto the right route: to begin with I couldn't get a GPS fix because of overhanging trees and when I did the obvious track back to my route turned out to be a private road with locked gates. After 50 minutes and 5 extra miles I was back on track!

Breakfast at a seat beside the road just after Pontfadog. Set off again just after nine with just 20 miles under my belt. The next 10k was a gentle climb from 130m to 270m but slight though the hill was it exacerbated the pain in my bottom. A short flat section and then a stiff climb to the highest point of the day (421m); this hill was signed 17% and it really hurt my tender contact point so I got off and pushed -- harder than cycling with a fully loaded bike but easier on the bottom

After a short downhill my route took me over a slightly higher peak but there was a junction with a signpost to “Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant” and from the map it looked shorter and more importantly avoided an uphill “>”, so that was the way I went.

There were several short hills and after Llanrhaeadr a fairly steep one. I was far more tired than I should be and my bum was hurting. I thought about stopping at the campsite at Llanwddyn so I stopped at a shop to buy supplies for the evening meal. Again, very little choice (a bit like small town 1970s Poland). In the end didn't stop at the campsite and went over the next hill - and seemed to be going marginally better - to Llangadfan where I stopped at the campsite.

Showered -- what joy -- and washed clothes; plugged in phone battery charger. Walked into town -- there wasn't one. Checked on battery charger; socket had stopped working after charging battery from 40% to 60% (had the charger blown the socket fuse?).

Laid in tent and fell asleep; woken by rain -- what happened to

"Wales will remain dry"? Still, didn't last long.

Cooked chilli-sweetcorn from what I had (sweetcorn, onions, tomato puree, chilli, lamb stock cube, red wine), with tinned tuna, and rice washed down with more red wine and followed by coffee. There were a few midges about in the evening and earlier in the day I had stopped in a gateway for a snack and received a nasty bite which drew blood from what looked like a horsefly.

Didn't make much progress today probably because I overdid it yesterday and my sore bottom. I need to sort it out. I did pass a chemist earlier in the day but didn't bother to stop because I thought there'd be another one.

Distance: 79.8 k

Time: 5:48:53

Average: 13.6 k/hr

Max: 62.0k/hr

Height asc: 1618m

Campsite:, Riverbend Caravan Park, Llangadfan, Welshpool, Powys. £12. Pleasant, friendly site.

Day 1: Haworth to Bangor on Dee

I decided Sunday morning would be a good time to set off through the Lancashire Mill towns to avoid rush-hour traffic (it was the reverse of the route I used on my LEJOG and that was done in rush-hour - no problem but I thought nice quiet roads made sense). I was up at four had breakfast and set off at 4:50. The weather was overcast and I could see mist shrouding the higher hills. Haworth was beautifully still and quiet except for the rooks above the churchyard. There were loads of rabbits on the road out of the village; grouse flew into the air; several dead frogs on the road (?); and a deer on the moor (never seen one there before, should get up early more often). All this and I'd not gone 5 miles. I went into the dense cold mist above 350m but as I left it on the descent into Hebden Bridge there were spots of blue sky and patches of sunlight across the moor. There was a headwind on the higher ground but it was still by the time I got to Hebden Bridge. Very quiet at this hour except for two guys sitting in the square drinking coffee.

Through Todmordon, Rochdale, Bury, Radcliffe, Farnworth,Tyldesley. Very quiet roads, in fact almost deserted early on.

Lovely ride through the industrial areas on quiet roads but I was now in the country.

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Going down a quiet country lane I was brought to a halt by locked railway crossing gates. There were pedestrian gates, though! I crossed. Soon the gravel road became a rutted track. I hadn't expected this but I knew from my phone I was still on the planned route.

The track crossed the M62 and I rejoined minor roads at Irlam.

I crossed the Manchester Ship Canal, the Bridgewater Canal and the M56.

Just after 10:00 I stopped for a snack in High Legh in a car park with a suitable tree stump to sit on and brewed coffee; I'd done 86 km.

Made a wrong turning at Keeley and went off the edge of my map; fortunately the phone came to my rescue. When planning this trip, I’d decided to get a hub dynamo but in the end couldn't justify the cost. So, I had the routes on the phone but I couldn't keep the damn thing switched on!

A drawback of my deliberately rural route was an absence of anywhere to pick up supplies particularly as it was Sunday; I was out of water too. Fortunately there was a cafe open at Bunbury locks so I filled up with water and sat and had an ice cream.

My left knee was playing up and I was beginning to feel a little saddle sore; something I'd not experienced on a tour before. This was going to become a bit of an issue!

At Bangor-on-Dee I looked for a shop. I had brought food for my evening meal from home because I thought there might be some problems on a Sunday but I needed something for the morning because I knew I would be making an early start and I also fancied a pudding. The only shop I could find didn't have much I fancied but I managed to get a sandwich, two bananas and a large bottle of sugary fizz for the morning; and a tin of custard and a custard tart for pudding.

I set off for the race course to search out the campsite I'd marked on the map but the racecourse was closed and no sign of a campsite. So,back into town, found a Tourist Information (doubling up as a furniture shop) where the guy was very helpful and managed to direct me to one out on the ring road.

I found it. A very small site with no other tents, just caravans and motor homes, and no reception. The owner, a farmer, was away but a motorhome resident was in temporary charge. I put the tent up, looked around and couldn't see a shower block. Turned out the garden shed at the bottom was the toilet but no showers and the wash basin taps didn't work!

With all the faffing around, I’d done more than 100miles; I intended to reduce the distance next day – I must stop treating my planned sections as ‘days’!

Nice chilli bean meal but no wine and too tired to walk to the nearest pub for a drink. I was also suffering from cramp and had to be very careful to keep my legs straight. Early night.

Distance: 160.84k

Time: 9:08:09

Average: 17.6k/hr

Max: 61.0k/hr

Height asc: 1723m

Campsite: Bank Farm Caravan Park, Whitchurch Road, Bangor OnDee. £12. No shower, lavatory in garden shed, clean butno water in washbasin (probably temporary blip).

Equipment

The Bike

Ridgeback Panorama (2009). Modifications by retailer: cranks changed to 170 mm and chain rings changed to 44, 32, 22. I changed the rear cassette to 11 - 34 and saddle for a Brooks B17. It came complete with Blackburn rear rack and low rider front rack.

Tools, Spares and Accessories:

· 4” locking pliers

· Allen keys

· Screw driver ‘bits’

· Cassette hypercracker

· Chain splitter

· Puncture repair stuff: 1 metal & 1 plastic tyre lever, patches (including one large piece) and rubber solution.

· 2 inner tubes

· Gaffer tape

· Elastic bands

· Spare chain connectors and short section of chain

· Collection of first aid stuff & medication

· Security chain and padlock

· Cable ties, 1 bungee & several adjustable straps

Luggage carrying

· 2 Karrimor panniers on the rear rack each with a pocket at the back, useful for quick access to tools, gas burners & sun cream; left pannier for tent, sleeping bag and mat; right for clothes.

· 2 Carradice panniers on the low rider rack each with a small side pocket. Left with stuff for coffe breaks and snack stops; right for cooking equipment. Side pockets: left for tools, right for first aid stuff.

· Topeak compact bar bag for camera, phone, iPod, radio.

· Small waist pack (for money, cards etc).

· String bag clipped to the saddle rails. Mainly for carrying food bought during the day for next stop and evening meal, also useful for carrying damp clothes (so they could dry).

Camping Equipment

Tent: Terra Nova Laserlight Competition, which with the footprint groundsheet weighed just over 1 kg.

Sleeping Bag: Lightweight (700g) sleeping bag I've had for 17 years. It's only "one season" but had been fine for my LEJOG.

Sleeping Bag Liner: Silk liner from Decathlon

Sleeping mat: Mountain Equipment Helium 2.5 (685g)

Cooking equipment:

• 2 Camping Gaz cookers one C206, other using re-sealable C300 cylinders;
• 2 aluminium pans and kettle;plastic plate, cafetier-mug,
• Tesco basics plastic wine "glass"; wine glass holder,
• Spork and kitchen knife.
• Plastic strainer, wooden spoon,
• Corkscrew and lightweight tin opener;

Miscellaneous

• Camera: aging Konica Minolta Dimage Z10
• iPod: In addition to music, some podcasts
• Radio: Roberts Sports 994 (FM, LW & MW)
• Mobile phone: Samsung Galaxy i5801 (Android) PAYG
• Front and rear LED lights: Cateye EL530 & LD1100
• Washbag: concentrated soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, 2 disposable razors, shaving oil, lavatory paper (for emergencies because plentiful supply in UK campsites!).
• Towel: lightweight (ie for camping)

Clothes

On the bike: two pairs cycling shorts, 1 pr Holly Hanson liners, cycling longs, 2 short-sleeved tops, fleece top, two pairs socks, mits, skullcap and two buffs.

Cold and wet weather gear: Gore-Tex top, over trousers (cheap plastic), long sleeved Merino wool base-layer top, thermal long johns, sealskin socks and gloves.

Evening wear(!): lightweight outdoor trousers; 2 pairs u/pants and 2 pairs socks; thin Merino wool pullover.

Shoes: Lidl cycling shoes and Teva sandals

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.

St Justinian to Lowestoft (from/to Yorkshire)

Following on from my end to end in 2009 I wanted to do another long trip but starting and finishing at home. I played around with several ideas but decided on going to the westernmost point in Wales to the easternmost point in East Anglia. I wanted to go along quiet roads as far as possible but I would use busier ones when it made sense. My initial route plans showed this would be about 900 miles which was the sort of distance I was after.

I was aiming to go in June, if possible straddling the longest day. However, I'd be camping so I could be flexible right up to the last moment.