Dover to Cape Wrath cycle

Re: Dover to Cape Wrath cycle

Clive Ansell — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 14:19:39 GMT

Oh Yes, goes up too just over 600 M over the Bealach Na Ba, with hairpins and short 1 in 5 gradients. it's a great route but a real leg burner. It's a beautiful drive too.

Re: Dover to Cape Wrath cycle

Robin Grimmer — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 14:04:48 GMT

[quote user="Clive Ansell"]

Did you go over Applecross?

[/quote]

No, but I was quite relieved when I saw the gradient of the road leading to Applecross!

Re: Dover to Cape Wrath cycle

Clive Ansell — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 18:02:19 GMT

Did you go over Applecross?

Re: Dover to Cape Wrath cycle

Robin Grimmer — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 17:48:57 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]

Cape Wrath is a much more spectacular and satisfying place to complete an end to end ride than John o' Groats.

[/quote]

It certainly is. And the route up the west coast of Scotland - via Arran, Argyll, Mull, Skye and Wester Ross is incredible.

Re: Dover to Cape Wrath cycle

Martin Atkinson — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 17:28:04 GMT

[quote user="Robin Grimmer"]

I've just come back from Dover to Cape Wrath cycle

[/quote] Back in my day there was an organisation called the Cape Wrath Fellowship which all self respecting touring cyclists had to join and get the badge, and I did a similar trip albeit from Lands End rather than Dover but we did cycle back again to Birmingham. I was 17 at the time, heavy old 5 speed steel bike and luggage on board. Camped and stopped in Youth Hostels and averaged 80-100 miles a day. It was one of the best experiences of my life despite the fact we nearly ran out of money and were starving, had a head wind all the way and assumed we'd have a tail wind back but it turned around overnight at Durness so we had a head wind back again plus I had to stop every few miles to tighten up a crank bolt because it kept working loose but I still enjoyed every minute of it. I also broke a gear cable on the Cape Wrath peninsula and hadn't got my spare with me so had to ride the whole rough track in one gear. One abiding memory was fixing my bike outside Durness Youth Hostel in the light at 10.30 pm even in July because it was so far north. Such sweet memories, thanks for reviving them Robin. Cape Wrath is a much more spectacular and satisfying place to complete an end to end ride than John o' Groats.

Re: Dover to Cape Wrath cycle

Robin Grimmer — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 17:14:16 GMT

For this and LEJOG I used my Dawes Super Galaxy tourer. It's quite heavy at around 14kg, but with a steel frame and a more upright geometry it's very comfortable on those bumpy roads and long distances. And the 27-gear range is great for all gradients. A lot of folk used lightweight road bikes and were quicker especially up the hills, but I'm glad I took my Galaxy. I was also able to use it on Cape Wrath whereas the others had to switch to mountain bikes.

Re: Dover to Cape Wrath cycle

Clive Ansell — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 17:00:47 GMT

Fantastic, I'm really envious. What bike do you have?