My First Cycle Touring Trip

Bank Holiday Weekend, 27-28 August 2017

I have been researching about bicycle touring for the last few months. What's strange is that I even didn't know this type of activity existed until recently. I discovered it when I was recovering from my knee injury. This involved going through a boring exercising routine at home every day and I started watching YouTube videos from Bicycle Touring Pro to take my mind away. At this point, I pretty much knew that mountaineering was off the table for me due to state of my knees and suddenly bicycle touring looked like something to look forward to. Something that could offer adventures.

I quickly discovered that cycle tourers use these expensive bikes designed purposely to allow them to cover long distances and carry heavy loads. Do I need to buy one straight away without knowing if this type of activity is even right thing for me? To start with I decided to utilize what I already had i.e. cheap seven year old Giant Escape hybrid bike. Writing this almost two years later I know this bike was not really suitable for touring but thanks to my lack of knowledge at a time I simply went for it. I worked out that as a minimum I need to buy a rear rack, panniers and sleeping mat that fits inside the pannier. This led to purchasing the Topeak Super Tourist DX rear rack, two blue Crosso 30l panniers and Exped SynMat HL Winter sleeping mat. As for all the other equipment I was planning to use whatever camping items I already had in my possession. It wasn't the expensive lightweight stuff but it had to be enough for my first, test mini tour.

Having sorted equipment out I started looking for a route. The obvious one in England is the coast to coast. Well, one of them to be strict as there is lots of coast in the UK. At a time this looked quite ambitious to me. I was full of anxiety. Will my bicycle survive? What do I do when it brakes down? Where do I sleep? How do I get to the starting point and how do I get back home?

The opportunity to gain some initial experience and put some of these worries to bed came with the August Bank Holiday. The weather was supposed to be warm and sunny so I plotted a route in Viewranger which was starting from my house and ending at the Crowden campsite in Peak District. Actually, I was hoping to wild camp somewhere but the campsite was my backup plan. I packed everything and set off on Saturday afternoon. The distance I was planning to cover was about 45km so I expected to manage it in a few afternoon hours. Most of the route was to follow Trans Pennine Trail so I would be avoiding roads which is always good news to me.

All the load was placed at the back of the bike which isn't great from a weight distribution point of view but I was managing somehow and budget Alex rims didn't collapse. I was also carrying a small rucksack and I would learn quickly it's not the best idea.

It is certainly harder to pedal on a laden bike and I was struggling uphill on Goddard Lane from Dunford Bridge. Yes, some pushing was involved. Once near Bleaklow I started looking around for a suitable camping spot but couldn't imagine camping anywhere near busy Woodhead Pass and pushing the bike high enough so that I would feel comfortable looked like way too much work. When hill walking in Peak District wild camping isn't a problem to me but being limited as to where I can go on my bike made a difference. Campsite it is, then. I had to find a way of crossing busy A628 from Longdendale Trail without being hit by HGV and managed to do it by walking across the dam between Woodhead and Torside reservoirs.  It involved conquering some steep steps with overgrown bushes on either side. My brand new panniers gained their first scratches. This allowed me to minimize my presence on A628 to only about 100m long stretch.

Being a bank holiday weekend the campsite was busy but I learned for the first time that there is always space for cycle tourers. I put up my Mirage 200 tent which is not the lightest but sturdy and prepared myself a meal. It was simply the case of boiling water actually and adding it to the bag as I brought freeze dried meal from Go Outdoors. A minimalist and lazy approach really. I resisted the temptation of ordering pizza from the campsite reception as this wouldn't be an option if I was to wild camp. The campsite has trees and my spot was surrounded by them. This brought back a memory of Spanish campsites.

Close to my lovely location was pitched another Mirage 200 which was probably the first time that happened to me. There is always lots of Vango tents at every campsite I go to but not Mirage. The night was very cold. I woke up in the middle of the night and had to put on all the clothes I had with me. I think it's because of the campsite location and cold air settling at the bottom of the valley. This was also the first time I was using my inflatable mat. It was easy enough to inflate but I found it a bit too small for me i.e. my arms were falling down the sides of the mat and getting cold. I quickly concluded I would probably need to replace it with a size bigger than medium.

There is something absolutely exceptional I found about this campsite, specifically showers. They had shelves for placing my shower get on! Excellent. Why cannot it be like this in other campsites?

I woke up early as I always do whilst camping and tested another dehydrated meal for breakfast this time it was the scrambled eggs. The meal wasn't too bad but it was too salty so I didn't feel that well afterwards. I'm still struggling to find a good solution for breakfast. I obviously tried porridge but I find it so tasteless that usually only manage to go through half of it. Adding things like nuts and raising doesn't really help.

The morning air was crisp and refreshing. I packed my things and set off west instead of east as I was hoping to find a better place to cross A628 than a day before. The path brought me to the dam between Torside and Rhodeswood reservoirs. I had to manage two sets of steps this time as well but at least didn't have to lift my bike over a locked gate which happened the previous evening.

Once on the other side of the dam, I joined the Longdendale Trail and quickly overtook DofE group that camped at the same campsite. They must have set off even earlier. I was riding now on a section of Kinder Loop route and even though mountain bike would probably be more suitable my Schwalbe Land Cruiser tyres saved me.

The weather was excellent and I wasn't in a hurry but quickly started feeling hungry.

The opportunity to remedy this problem arose after cycling only 28km when I was passing the Travellers Inn pub near Oxpring. Being only 11:30 they weren't quite open yet but they agreed to serve me food. I sat outside in the sun waiting for my chips and a veggie sandwich and managed to read a few pages on my Kindle. What more could I want? This was something I would miss on rainy cold winter days.

The meal, together with a pint of ale as nice as it was made me feel sluggish and my pedalling became even slower. I could feel the weight of my packed panniers and my tent making all the difference. This was easier to notice because I cycled this part of the route before carrying just bottle of water and some snacks. I finally reached home at about 2pm and remember being totally exhausted. Sitting in the garden I remember saying to Magda that I would never do it again. Having rested a bit I started thinking how I could lighten the load and where I would go next...