cycling around the british isles

[palkanetoijala31]

After successfully managing to cycle John o groats to Lands end my next project is to cycle the entire coast of Great Britain.How many forum members apart from nozza live on thecoast here.?

[palkanetoijala31]

I live in London, so I guess technically I have two coasts - but whether or not you agree with that assessment depends on your definition of coast

Sounds like a mega challenge, good luck

i suppose my defination of coast ie humber,thames,severn estuary is where the sea stops and what u can class as just a river.

[Mitchell&BrownLook]

For the purposes of this challenge why don't you draw the border between coastline and estuary as the first navigable point across a rivers' mouth that is accessible by bike? I did a project on this in a Geography lesson about 8 years ago where we had good fun plotting such a route. As one of the most memorable Geography lessons at School, I can remember some of the irritants in such a route.

Thus some of the most inland points on the route would be (off the top of my head- I've probably missed some obvious ones) the Humber Bridge, Orwell Bridge, Woolwich Ferry, the North end of Southampton Water, Exeter, Bridgwater, the First Severn Crossing, Carmarthen, Runcorn, Preston, the Erskine Bridge, and Middlesborough Transport Bridge, the last of which will probably be more of a nuisance than getting to the Firth Crossing or the Tay Bridge. You could probably cull some of these with trains - the Mersey tunnel from Birkenhead to Liverpool stands out.

Similarly there will be some really frustrating bits where there is a big peninsula or many inlets all together greatly increasing the total journey length in a far smaller direct distance. One of the worst will be going between Aldeburgh (Suffolk) to Tilbury (Essex) where there are many inlets, but round Barnstaple, the Medway coast, Pembrokeshire, the Lleyn Peninsula, the Wirral and the Rhinns of Galloway (great name) all jump out quickly to me.

But by far the worst of these would be going down to the Mull of Kintyre - rather than looking up the sheet (I'm confident I've kept it somewhere - I knew it would come in useful one day ) I've googled it - the peninsula is about a 170 mile diversion! I'm sure that there will be other peninsulas on the West of Scotland, but I don't know the area well enough.

Finally without trying to sound like a pedantic geographer, I also presume that you want to cycle round Great Britain, rather than the British Isles, otherwise you'd have to cycle round Anglesey, the Isle of Wight and even the Isles of Scilly as well, and while I've nothing against these places, it would also add some serious mileage! So with all this in mind Andi, how long is your route, and how long do you think it would take? Being a non cycler personally I'd have said about a month, but I'm sure you can do it in far less, but the whole idea scares me silly as the coastline is not always flat!

Either way, I'm wishing you the best of luck in what sounds a mammoth but hugely exciting challenge. Unfortunately being a Sheffielder I'm nowhere near the coast, even if Doncaster is (almost) a town that sits astride a tidal river, purely because the Humber estuary (and therefore the River Don) has a big tidal range on it. I genuinely hope you have a really memorable time on your travels, whenever you may decide to do it. (And certainly don’t be put off by me – as I’ve already said I’m no cyclist.)

[Starkey7]

This is an unbelievable increase on the distance from John O'Groats to Lands End.

Actually, can you take a bike across the Dartford whatsname? Is there a pavement along it?

[Mitchell&BrownLook]

You certainly won't be allowed across Northbound as it's through the tunnel. As it's not a public road but a toll road, they may be able to specify no bikes - so I presumed they did.

[palkanetoijala31]

Well thanks for the input certainly has given me a lot of thought route planning wise.

[Sam]

According to the much debated Wikipedia...

"Non-motor traffic
Pedal powered cyclists and pedestrians are allowed to use the crossing for free, and are conveyed with their bicycles across the crossing in transport provided by the tunnel authority."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartford_c ... or_traffic

[Sam]

I've now found the official source...

"A11. Cyclists are prohibited from riding across the bridge or through the tunnels. However the Crossing staff will be pleased to arrange for cyclists to be transported from one side to the other. This service is free of charge.

Northbound cyclists should follow the cycle paths provided to the sign "Cyclists Wait here" at the Kent Control Point. From this point forward free transport will be provided to carry you and your bike through the tunnels.

Southbound cyclists should dismount at the Essex Control Point and wait for free transfer across the QEII Bridge. A free call telephone is provided should this point be unattended. If you are riding a tandem or travelling as a group e.g. a cycle club, it is advisable to make prior arrangements by contacting the Crossing. The transfer should take between 15 - 30 minutes. Click on the link for Contact details."

http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projec ... heCrossing?

[greatkingrat]

Not sure if that would be considered cheating or not? If you want to do it under your own power then you need to go all the way to Tower Bridge and back.

[greatkingrat]

I know you can't cycle through the Blackwall Tunnel, not sure about Rotherhithe though.

[Sam]

Again according to the maybe not so ever reliable source that is Wikipedia says you can

[Sam]

Also, according to this... http://www.rotherhithetunnel.com/ it is permitted.... hope this helps!

Edited to add, according to this website on "real cycling", it is a tad dangerous to cycle through and not a bike ride you'd want to be doing daily!! http://realcycling.blogspot.com/2009/05 ... unnel.html

[palkanetoijala31]

i suspect that we wont be riding through tunnels it is too dangerous we took a lift through the mersey tunnel for that very reason.This is scheduled for late 2010 but that could change wiv some news.

[Sam]

Some news eh? Sounds intruiging

[Wanstead]

If special arrangements exist for bikes at Datford, it's hardly cheating to use them. It's that or the Woolwich Ferry, again not cheating. You've got about 5000 miles to cover the circumference of mainland GB: shaving a few miles off around the Thames Estuary isn't going to make much difference!