Thorn Cycles Forum
Community => Cycle Tours => Topic started by: mickeg on April 22, 2026, 02:38:05 AM
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Starting a new thread. This is an update, with a few questions.
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Made airline reservations to arrive in Edinburgh, morning of Jun 3.
Plan to take the tram from airport to a stop about 500 feet from the hostel, hike to hostel.
Reservation to stay at Edinburgh Central hostel Jun 3 thru morning Jun 6. That gives me time to adjust for a couple days to a change of six time zones. Probably will buy a little bit of food, but not much. Buy a sim card. Assemble bike. Wander about in town playing tourist. Try to learn how to understand the local dialect.
Reservation for myself and bike on LNER train to London, leaves at 9am, Jun 6. I have a bag that I should be able to use for my one large piece of luggage on the train. I will have to get up early that day so that I have time to get to the train station early enough to repack my luggage for the train luggage rules at the train station where my four panniers have to magically become one piece of luggage.
Have reservation for YHA hostel in London, Earls Court Jun 6 thru morning Jun 8. About a six mile bike ride from the train station. That only leaves one day for sightseeing in London, and I think some of that will be buying food (Sainsbury) and stove fuel (Decathlon). Hostel was full for the night of Jun 9, that is what limits my time in London. So, I might not see much.
Then wander about on my bike for about five weeks. I expect to follow the routing plan from PH on this forum (cyclinguk.org) to Scotland, likely to Edinburgh. But might instead go to Glasgow from London. If I go to Edinburgh, my next stop after that is Glasgow.
For some of the route, I might instead use this track, if I want a change of pace.
https://bikepacking.com/routes/great-north-trail-uk/
I previously mentioned a route that I found on RideWithGPS, that route is in my GPS if I suddenly think about it again.
I previously mentioned John O Groats, that has been dropped from my plan.
I put a bunch of campgrounds into my GPS that I identified from ukcampsite.co.uk along the route from London to the north. I do know that Google Maps and Open Streets Maps are somewhat lacking in accurate data for campgrounds, avoiding those sources.
The new plan is probably to wander about in Scotland after I have left England to see the sights. I mapped out a few different routes that all start in Glasgow. My niece's hubby suggests I see Isle of Arran, that is a maybe, I see they have a hostel there. It looks like https://campingscotland.com is a go-to website for finding campgrounds in Scotland.
I made a total of four routes out of Glasgow, two through Isle of Arran, two passes Loch Ness. I have put every hostelingscotland.org.uk hostel in Scotland into my GPS. I also put campgrounds into it too while I am at home and can use a computer with two screens to sort things out. The longest stretch where I lack lodging is starting at Isle of Arran for 76 miles, that could be a very long day. I also that in Scotland, wild camping is allowed in open areas, but I hope I do not need to use that option.
Some of the routes, I will have to go up to five days between grocery stores, I plan to bring contingency foods for zero days with high winds too, thus likely to sometimes carry a week of food on the bike. I put some grocery stores into my GPS too.
I attached a screen print of my various routings from Mapsource. From what I saw planning this out, I might mostly stay in campgrounds in England and then mostly in hostels in Scotland. But after Inverness down to Edinburgh, that would be in campgrounds.
I made a fifth plan as a continency, if I somehow get behind schedule, I have a bailout route plotted that bypasses Loch Ness and Inverness to get me to Edinburgh faster from western Scotland.
At the end of my trip I have a reservation for Edinburgh Central hostel Jul 13 to 16. Gives me time to see more sights there, pack up my bike in the S&S case, etc. Then fly home, leave EDI late morning of July 16.
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I have a few questions:
Finance:
(Note: I am using acronyms USD for US Dollar, GBP for British Pounds.)
I understand that leaving tips at restaurants in the 10 percent range is appropriate if you have table service, but if you order at a bar or order fast food, no tip is warranted. And tips are best in cash, not on credit cards. Sometimes a gratuity is added and then it is listed on the bill, in which case no tip warranted. If I am in error, please advise.
I plan to get about 50 GBP from an ATM on my first day there, if you think I should get more, please tell me?
I plan to have a couple credit cards and a debit card. Plus backups that are packed away. I do not use a phone for payment (do not use something like Apple Pay), only the cards.
It is my understanding that almost all places that I will make a purchase are happy to take credit cards, that I will need to carry only minimal cash. Is this correct? Is this also accurate for smaller family run campgrounds, or should I expect to need cash for some of those?
Communication:
I put the Met Office android app on my phone. Is that an adequate source of weather forecasts?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.gov.metoffice.weather.android
I occasionally use WUnderground for weather forecasts too, so don't bother mentioning that one to me. I have their app on my phone.
I anticipate using Met Office for short term (day or two) forecast, but WUnderground for longer range forecasts.
I am leaning towards buying a local sim card for my phone, it is my understanding that EE has the best coverage for rural areas. I attached two graphics for EE cell service coverage, second one is an expanded one of Scotland. Cell phone service, looking at coverage maps I should have good service in south half of UK. But coverage gets worse further north. In Scotland, the maps suggest excellent coverage near Edinburgh and Glasgow, also good coverage along main roads, poor elsewhere. If I go to Isle of Arran, I will not have cell service for a few days.
https://ee.co.uk/mobile/pay-as-you-go-sim-only
My phone is a dual sim global model, has frequencies to work everywhere. If anyone thinks that getting an EE sim card is a mistake, I would like to know why? I expect to buy the EE sim card at a store about 0.6 miles from the Edinburgh Central hostel on day one.
Lodging:
Hostels, I expect in Edinburgh and Glasgow that the hostels will often fill up in summer. But the more distant ones in Scotland that are far off the beaten path, should I be able to show up without reservations most of the time? Map of hostels in Scotland at:
https://www.hostellingscotland.org.uk/inspiration/view-all-hostels/
I only put the blue hostels on the map into my GPS.
Other:
I have no routing or sightseeing questions at this time. Just my cash plan and phone plan questions.
If I said anything here that suggests I have a bad plan, please let me know.
Even though I expect to be on pavement (tarmac), I plan to use 55mm or 57mm tires.
Note to Matt2Matt2002, you asked the dates I am in Edinburgh, Jun 3 - 6 (the 6th I leave early). And Jul 13 - 16, leave early morning of 16th, packing bike on the 15th.
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I’ll answer based on my two trips to Scotland as a tourist (one cycling). The locals may have better info.
Phone; You don’t have to go to a phone store for your EE SIM. There will be a rack of SIM cards at the checkout of just about any grocery store. Edinburgh airport will most likely have a SIM vending machine or a WH Smith store. I used EE in ’24 because it was supposed to have the best coverage in the Highlands and Hebrides. It worked fine.
If your phone is ESIM compatible you don’t even have to go to the store. Last year I just went to the website SimLocal and got my ESIM before leaving home. You can get an EE ESIM there with 80GB for US $20.
Tipping: On my trip around the Highlands and Hebrides in ’24, I think only 3 credit card machines had a tip prompt, and it asked for 7%. Any place that added it to the bill informed me in advance and asked for permission to keep it. Of course, coming from North America, where tipping is out of control, I had no problem with 7%.
With the exception of a few small places in the Hebrides, credit cards were accepted. Many places are contactless payment only. Having £200 on me did come in handy, though. The Crask Inn, despite being only a few miles from a massive wind energy installation, and 200ft from the transmission lines, is off grid. Shortly before I checked out, the generator quit, hence, no power for the credit card machine.
Almost every village I went through had at least a small shop with basic food items. Most towns with a population more than a few hundred had a well stocked CO-OP or Spar. Of course, I’m not familiar with all of Scotland, but I think food will be far easier to obtain than you are anticipating.
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From an English man living in Scotland:
Credit cards taken everywhere now. I hardly ever carry cash.
Phone coverage excellent but perhaps a little iffy on the islands.
Arran? We're having lots of fun up here with ferries not running due to repairs, scheduled maintenance ,etc. Personally I'd think twice about visiting the islands if on a tight time frame. So best to check out the situation nearer your planned departure.
Tips? Not generally expected. If you don't tip, no-one will chase after you. Recently I've noticed more businesses give you the option to add a tip as your card is read. Easy to click, no tip.
The last 4 sentences are a me thing. Feel free to tip away.
You didn't mention health care. For us locals it's free. Honest! Just pay for teeth. Even prescriptions are free up here, unlike England.
I believe visitors have to pay - but it's worth you checking out your own situation.
Weather app? Good to check but Scotland is famous for having 4 seasons in one day. Even in the summer.
I'd take them with a pinch of salt. Just look out for storms rolling in from the Atlantic; esp on the West coast
EE? I use it and have no issues.
Pleased to help out when you're in Scotland; I'm Aberdeen but can travel.
Don't forget to try out the wild haggis when in Scotland. Usually founf in the fish and chip shops.
Matt
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Personally, I always carry some cash and nearer £100 than £50. One never knows when the electronic payment systems may throw a tantrum and stop working for a few hours (it does happen occasionally) as well as points of sale having temporary problems.
Rural phone coverage in Scotland is now much better than 10? years ago. I think the Scottish gov't called a meeting of the phone companies bosses and locked them in a room until they agreed to share the cost of shared infrastructure to fill the big gaps. I suspect Scotland now has better coverage than some parts of England as there are fewer NIMBYs to object to locating phone masts where they are most effective. This website sets out the current situation https://www.simsherpa.com/networks/best-in-scotland.
Don't get the SIM card from one of the big network operators who all provide relatively poor value for money to the end users. Get the SIM from one of the virtual operators. For example, 1p mobile uses EE; giffgaff and Tesco use O2; Lebara and ASDA mobile use Vodafone. There are more. They are typically 1/4 of the cost of the network operators. Lebara includes international calls in its standard package https://www.lebara.co.uk/en/home.html. There's also the eSIM option as already noted but it's unclear if a 30 day plan can be extended and at what cost.
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RonS, Thanks. My phone does not use ESIM. Since I have never put a second sim card in my phone, I think it best to go to the store in case I need help in having two sim cards in my phone at the same time. Maybe I should get 100 GBP from the ATM in cash then? My only indoor lodging would be at hostels, I am sure that the biggest bill would be much less than 100. Tipping, sounds like 7 percent when warranted works.
Matt2matt2002, thanks. If I do Arran, that would be roughly mid trip, I would have time to cut distance off of my trip later if I got stranded there a few days. That is why I laid out so many route options, the difference between the longest and shortest is about 200 miles. But unfortunately Arran would not have cell service, so I could see that as a problem if a ferry was not operating. I bought a travel insurance plan, it only covers emergency medical costs. My regular health insurance also covers emergency medical costs. Any other costs not deemed to be emergency would be up to me. If I have a total medical disaster, my travel insurance covers costs to get me back to USA. Wild Haggis, thanks for the humor. Is it true that (pasted): The unicorn is our national animal.
JohnR, thanks. I asked 1p Mobile if they could mail a sim card to me in USA, a few days ago they said they only mail to a UK address. And they said all sim card sales are through the mail, none sold in stores. I do not mind paying the EE price for two months of use. For the three hostel reservations and airline reservation that I have already made, the tab is up to a bit over $2500 USD (~1900 GBP). I am a frugal person by nature, but I do not mind on vacation spending a bit here and there to simplify things. The coverage maps I looked at tell me that I only want an EE network card, not one of the others. My mapped route options all should have good EE coverage, except Isle of Arran and some of the mainland north of there.
Regarding phone use: I plan predominantly to check weather forecasts twice a day, morning and night. And a bit of news back home for a few minutes each day. And likely a phone call to my sister every few days to let her know that I am still alive. If the sim card comes with phone calling option, I doubt that I would ever use it. For my calls to USA, those would be using Voice Over Internet (VOIP) with Google, which I have used over the years from Continental Europe, Iceland, and Canada to call to USA without difficulty. I also used that VOIP to make some of my hostel reservations in UK for this trip at a cost of only one or two cents ($0.01 or $0.02 USD per minute) which is cheap enough that I will not bother learning how to use a local phone number, if issued one.
In USA it is possible to buy a data only sim card, they are sold for use in tablets, etc. Does not come with a phone number. I was looking for that to use in UK, but it appears that is not an option in UK. With a data only sim card, I can use VOIP with Google to make phone calls. Google Voice is what that VOIP plan is called, it is available in USA but I think it is not available in UK. When I got my Google Voice account 15 years ago, it was only available in USA.
I plan to respond to messages once a day. Thanks everyone.
It is a good thing I am retired, I have put a lot of time and effort to lay out these routing options, with campsites and hostels to stay at, grocery stores to make sure I do not starve, etc. If I was still working, I would have had trouble finding the time to plan this trip.
One more question, is the "Sainsbury's Blended Scotch Whisky" or the Aldi "Highland Earl - The Special Reserve Blended Scotch Whisky" any good? The price looks right for both options. That looks like a good place to make some savings to pay for a better sim card.
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George,
Insurance. With the uncertain state of the world and the (hopefully slim) chance for example that America might invade Greenland or Canada or some other place I would make sure that your policy covers flight cancellations. I have a claim in progress as my flights back to UK from Sri Lanka were cancelled last month and I had to buy expensive alternative flights that departed Sri Lanka two weeks later. Once airlines start cancelling flights in one part of the world there is a ripple effect to other locations.
Phones. Whats App works well internationally using data from your sim or a local hotspot (cafe, hostel etc). For messages and photos as well as talking.
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George,
Insurance. With the uncertain state of the world and the (hopefully slim) chance for example that America might invade Greenland or Canada or some other place I would make sure that your policy covers flight cancellations. ...
Trying to read that stuff confuses me greatly. I think I will stay both ignorant and trusting. But thank you for your concern. I have had flights canceled before but the airline was always pretty good getting that fixed.
That said, my 2019 bike tour, the airline and Expedia (the on line travel agent I used) got their wires crossed with the disruption of all of the 737 Max planes being grounded. I could not figure out what was going on at the website, so I just made sure I was at the airport on time to get home. The attached photo is the three ticketing agents in Halifax NS, Canada trying to figure out what was going on. When I heard one of the travel agents say to another one, "another Expedia itinerary", that sounded grim. Bottom line was that I was supposed to get on a plane in Montreal, fly to Chicago, then get on a plane in Halifax and fly to Montreal. In other words they got my two connecting flights in the wrong order. But Air Canada got me onto a couple flights and it worked out ok.
American Airlines is one of the three biggest airlines in USA, if they start stranding passengers, their stock would sink badly. And the compensation of the corporate big shots are in part based on their stock price, so they will do everything that they can to limit any such occurrences.
If suddenly I am stranded in UK because all flights are canceled, I would rather be stranded in UK than a lot of other places. I can pay my credit cards on line. I am retired, so no employer to return too. I have diabetes. After four extra days I would run out of meds, but missing those meds would not be life threatening, I would probably would have higher blood sugar after a week, but not life threatening, I do not take insulin.
I am more worried that a shortage of jet fuel would cause a disruption in scheduling my flight back to USA from UK than I am of all flights being grounded for a period of time.
If suddenly I was stuck in UK because of an invasion of Greenland, I think most insurance companies have clauses that allow them to deny claims in case of war. I would be surprised if they don't. I did not vote for the moron in the White House, he has the self control of a toddler. If any of you have read any of the columns by Martin Wolf in the Financial Times, I fully concur with everything that Mr Wolf says on that topic. If I say any more, I suspect Dan will have to scold me for saying too much on that topic on this forum, so I won't.
I hope your extended stay in Sri Lanka was not as bad as I can imagine it was.
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I have had two foreign bike tours where I planned to buy a local sim card, but never got around to it. In those cases I always managed to do everything I wanted to do where I had wifi, including two times where I called my credit card companies using Google Voice on wifi to ask why my card stopped working. Yes, I can make phone calls where I have wifi as long as I am in a country where Google exists. I do not need any special app for that.
This trip I decided to make better plans to get a sim card, thus it is higher on my priority list. At times it was inconvenient to search out wifi on those past trips.
Thanks for your comments.
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A few more points:
1. My favourite tipple is the Aldi Speyside single malt. In general, Aldi and Lidl (the two German discount supermarkets) provide better value for money than the bigger supermarkets.
2. Accommodation options once you are outside the Scottish cities tend to be fairly sparse and, by June, the NW part of Scotland starts filling with European tourists who enjoy the scenery as much as I do. Many are in campervans to avoid the problem of finding beds.
3. There's a bit of info about NW Scotland at https://nwhgeopark.com/landscape/reading-rocks/. A disadvantage of NW Scotland is that it can be wet and windy. British weather is unpredictable more than about a week ahead. For short term rain forecasts the rain map in the met office app is very useful as you can see what has happened in the past 6 hours and there's often a difference between that and the forecast in terms of how much rain. I also use the BBC weather app. If that and the met office agree then whatever they agree on (wet or dry) is more likely to happen.
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Thanks, especially for the warning that a lot of tourists could be there in June. Thus, I should plan to make reservations at the hostels I plan to stay at. I usually have made reservations for the hostels I use at the start end end of a trip, but not the ones I stay at in between. And I almost never make reservations at campgrounds. I will think a bit more ahead on this trip, and may make reservations when I have a good idea of where I am going each day.
I put a lot of the hostels in my GPS, I have been thinking I might spend more time in hostels in Scotland than in campgrounds.
I think I will do a lot of grocery shopping at Sainsbury in England, then in Scotland after Glassgow shop at Aldi, Coop, Morrison, Lidl. I put a lot of the grocery stores into my GPS. The location of the store, meaning how much additional pedaling I have to do to get to it, is much more important to me than the price they charge. Once I leave Glasgow and before I get to Inverness, the communities will be small so I put everything into my GPS that I thought I might have to look for later.
I only work on my mapping and routing when I plan to spend some hours doing that, I use a vintage discontinued Garmin product (Mapsource) for that. And it does not run on my Windows 11 computer, so I have to switch computers, which means a lot of unplugging and plugging in cables to use my older computer for that. Yesterday I was looking at the map of the England portion of my route, decided to add more campgrounds to the map. And decided to go from London to Glasgow direct instead of via Edinburgh. Laid out a route for nine days between London and Glasgow. But might take a zero day or two if I do not like the wind or weather. Once I get to Glasgow, I have several options mapped out depending on how much distance I want to do for the rest of my trip. When I get near the end of a trip, I have to start calculating where I want at the end of each day to make sure I get to my flight on time.
I took another look at climate data. Decided to only bring long sleeve shirts and bike jerseys. Bike pants will be long pants that have zip off legs. I think I will bring the same type of clothing that I used in Iceland, that worked very well. I might get a bit warm in the southern part of England, but I would rather not carry around warm weather clothing that I only used for a couple days. I can roll up long sleeves when it gets too warm.
I still have a bit over five weeks, so that gives me some time to get in shape for this.
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When I was in the Highlands in September '24, several of the campsites had "full" signs, but that was for the RVs and caravans (trailers). They all had room for a cycle tourist.
If you are enjoying Scotland so much that you want to keep riding, or if you need to return quickly to Edinburgh, keep in mind that City Link and Ember busses take one or two bikes, depending on the route. City Link supply a stretchy bag to cover the bike, and it and the panniers go in the baggage hold. Don't know the procedure with Ember as I didn't use them.
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When I was in the Highlands in September '24, several of the campsites had "full" signs, but that was for the RVs and caravans (trailers). They all had room for a cycle tourist.
If you are enjoying Scotland so much that you want to keep riding, or if you need to return quickly to Edinburgh, keep in mind that City Link and Ember busses take one or two bikes, depending on the route. City Link supply a stretchy bag to cover the bike, and it and the panniers go in the baggage hold. Don't know the procedure with Ember as I didn't use them.
Ember didn't require covers for bikes on the 5 times I've used them.
Stagecoach can an be fussy at times.
Yes, to camping sites letting cyclists with a tent into ' full' sites. It certainly happened to me north of Ullapool
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Plenty of good info to keep you interested, I hope it isn't overload! Just a couple of points to add if you hadn't already realised.
Camping off site is permitted in Scotland as long as you follow the guidance:
https://www.nature.scot/sites/default/files/2017-08/SOAC%20-%20Publication%202017%20-%20Camping%20in%20Scotland.pdf
Not so in England, though there's plenty of opportunity to go unnoticed if you arrive late and leave early.
There's a few bus services in Scotland that take bikes, I don't know the details, maybe someone else does.
I think everyone, including me, has their favorite Scottish island, I haven't been to them all, but have enjoyed all those I have. Enjoyed Skye less than the others, there's a clear correlation between ease of access and wilderness. Mull has an advantage that it can easily be incorporated into a circular route, arriving back on the mainland a long way from where you left it.
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Ph, thanks.
I wrote all of the text below before I saw your post. Islands, Arran is a strong maybe but I have not planned on any others at this time. And probably will not add any more to my plans. If I really like this trip, I might have to come back.
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RonS and Matt2matt2002, thanks.
In one of my google searches, Ember popped up. I looked at their website for enough time (about 5 minutes) to realize that I should put their info into my records that I take with me on my phone as a contingency. Was unaware of City Link, thanks for that. I added City Link website to my notes. I am putting a text file of my notes on info that I might want to have with me later on my phone, the two bus lines are added to that.
Nice to know that a full campsite might not be really full. A few times in my travels, I have discovered that full really meant full.
For the hostels that I have not already made a reservation at, I am now thinking I should make a reservation 24 hours in advance, if not more.
And, if all else fails, I do not need to panic:
https://www.visitscotland.com/accommodation/caravan-camping/wild-camping
https://www.wildernessscotland.com/blog/wild-camping-scotland-best-practice/
I will bring a Steripen in case I need to treat water. I bought it for my Iceland trip, never needed it.
I wasted two hours yesterday. As a double check I looked at the Decathlon store website again. For the butane I was going to buy it said not available for pickup at store, not available for ship to home. Searched a bunch of other store websites, found a store where I could buy butane four miles from the London hostel. Then took one last look at the Decathlon website again, clicked in a different spot and it said it was in stock at that store. So, that was two hours wasted on the internet that I will never get back. I plan to get a four pack of the long skinny type Campingaz CP250 fuel canisters, that would be 880 grams. My Iceland trip, I used 35 grams per day. Thus, 880 grams gives me roughly 25 days of fuel. That should be pretty close to what I need, assuming I use no fuel when at a hostel. If it starts to look like I am running low, I can look for a canister in Fort William, there are camping gear stores there. And I can scrimp on fuel use if I have to, when backpacking I average about 28 grams per day, even though I plan for 35 grams per day.
Sometimes my preplanning can be a bit too thorough. But my tour two years ago where I assumed campgrounds and motels on my map were accurate, in one day I found two campgrounds that were gone, one motel had been torn down two years earlier, and the other motel had a closed sign. All in one day that became a 14 hour ride. Later on that trip I arrived at a campground, it had closed years earlier and been replaced by a hoard or rental cottages. So, this trip I am being a bit more thorough in looking at the websites for campgrounds, etc., to make sure that they exist. One campsite I plan to stay at on this trip, their website said copyright 2018, so I was about to cancel that one from my plans, but then I saw they had posted their 2026 prices. Thus, they had not closed in 2018.
Now, I need to focus more on getting in shape. This past Wednesday, rode my Nomad Mk II on a route that is mostly gravel trail with some hills for 54 miles, I really need to focus more on longer distances in my remaining weeks.
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There’s a chain store called Halfords. It’s an odd combination (to me, at least) of auto parts and bicycles. Their website shows the 4 pack of Campingaz cans. Maybe there’s one near your hostel.
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There’s a chain store called Halfords. It’s an odd combination (to me, at least) of auto parts and bicycles. Their website shows the 4 pack of Campingaz cans. Maybe there’s one near your hostel.
Good idea; Halfords. I should have flagged that up for you. Yes, a little odd perhaps since much of their gear is for the motorist but certainly most branches have cycle items and I have seen gas canisters. and camping items.
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I will bring a Steripen in case I need to treat water.
I sure have liked mine in field practice. I use Eneloops to power it and charge them from my SON dyno/Cycle2Charge.
For the butane I was going to buy...
For the Eastern Europe part of my tour, I carried an alcohol stove as a backup to my preferred iso-butane, figuring I could power it with homebrew rakia (moonshine) found in "secret stores" along the way. Alcohol content can hit 80% in a strong homebrew. Didn't need to use it, as I found tall and short iso-butane cartridges in a Veliko Tarnovo BG hiking store that more than lasted my four-months on the road. Alky stoves can be near weightless and are small to toss in the corner of pannier, HB bag, or rear jersey pocket.
I primarily carry a self-made "penny-stove" made from a Heineken can. With all accessories (stove, penny, pot/cup with handle, lid, stand, windscreen, lighter, SA knife, P-38 can opener, pot lifter, 2 folding sporks, fuel bottle, carry sack), it weighs 460g, about 16oz. I considered it cheap insurance and have used it as my only stove/cook kit for fast, long (300k-400k) day rides and overnighters.
Best of luck and all good wishes, George, and what sounds like a wonderful tour!
Best, Dan.
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There’s a chain store called Halfords. It’s an odd combination (to me, at least) of auto parts and bicycles. Their website shows the 4 pack of Campingaz cans. Maybe there’s one near your hostel.
The one I mentioned was 4 miles from the hostel I stay at in London was a Halfords, website says available one hour after purchase at that store.
Thanks.
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I will bring a Steripen in case I need to treat water.
I sure have liked mine in field practice. I use Eneloops to power it and charge them from my SON dyno/Cycle2Charge.
For the butane I was going to buy...
For the Eastern Europe part of my tour, I carried an alcohol stove as a backup to my preferred iso-butane, figuring I could power it with homebrew rakia (moonshine) found in "secret stores" along the way. Alcohol content can hit 80% in a strong homebrew. Didn't need to use it, as I found tall and short iso-butane cartridges in a Veliko Tarnovo BG hiking store that more than lasted my four-months on the road. Alky stoves can be near weightless and are small to toss in the corner of pannier, HB bag, or rear jersey pocket.
I primarily carry a self-made "penny-stove" made from a Heineken can. With all accessories (stove, penny, pot/cup with handle, lid, stand, windscreen, lighter, SA knife, P-38 can opener, pot lifter, 2 folding sporks, fuel bottle, carry sack), it weighs 460g, about 16oz. I considered it cheap insurance and have used it as my only stove/cook kit for fast, long (300k-400k) day rides and overnighters.
Best of luck and all good wishes, George, and what sounds like a wonderful tour!
Best, Dan.
The Steripen pen I have was deeply discounted by REI about a decade ago. Has an internal Lithium Ion battery. Once or twice a year, I top up the battery. Tested it a couple days ago, still works.
I have actually never used the Steripen, I bought it as a lightweight backup plan if I had to Wild Camp in Iceland a decade ago. I am well aware of the UV treatment for water systems, but the engineer in me has greater trust in a filter that blocks out the microbes that are bigger than viruses. I did not mention it before but I have yet another backup plan, theoretically two drops of chlorine bleach per liter should disinfect it, but I have used four drops to make sure if I was unsure. I bring a one ounce bottle. I was hesitant to mention, as I think that chlorine bleach is prohibited from airline transport, but I bring it anyway. There has been a couple times where I used both the filter and chlorine treatment.
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-09/documents/emergency_disinfection_of_drinking_water_sept2017.pdf
That said, I am certainly willing to try a Steripen as a tiny little contingency. Would probably also use the chlorine to make sure.
I think you already know that I use a Sawyer water filter for backpacking and canoeing, I put together a gravity system, takes minimal effort to filter two liters, attached photo. For those trips, I filter two liters per day, don't bother filtering water that I instead will boil (coffee, most suppers, etc.). But that is way tooooo much stuff to carry on a bike tour as a "just in case" contingency. Thus the Steripen and chlorine it is.
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I have never had any interest in alcohol stoves, I have seen people use them in campsites. But I prefer stoves, of which I have too many to count on two hands. But thanks for the reminder of this option. I am confident that I have done enough research on where to find fuel.
The stove I am bringing cost less than $20 USD, works with both the mountaineering type canisters and the tall skinny ones. Thus by being usable by both common types of canisters, my chances of always finding butane is improved. Am bringing a cheaper stove because the UK airport security people on their website say they will confiscate any stoves that have actually been used, so if my stove does not make it back home, I am not out too much. Stove in photo attached, fuel canister is off to the right, this was on my last bike tour in Canada.
I brought a liquid fuel stove to Iceland and it was a major hassle to make it clean enough so that it would pass inspection by security, so I will never fly with a liquid fuel stove again. In Iceland I brought a butane stove as a backup and found so many half empty butane canisters left by campers before the left the country that I mostly used butane instead of liquid fuel.
https://cascadedesigns.com/blogs/msr-trip-reports/flying-with-a-camping-stove
Third attached photo is the liquid fuel stove I brought to Iceland, now it only travels by car or by bicycle, too much hassle to clean the fuel tank, pump, etc. to pass airport security. I had to keep moving the two pots back and forth for the single stove meal.
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This may surprise some, but the UK public water system provides drinkable water throughout the British Isles.
Things are perhaps different in America?
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This may surprise some, but the UK public water system provides drinkable water throughout the British Isles.
Things are perhaps different in America?
So, even when you are wild camping you can find a convenient water tap? That is wonderful.
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This may surprise some, but the UK public water system provides drinkable water throughout the British Isles.
Things are perhaps different in America?
So, even when you are wild camping you can find a convenient water tap? That is wonderful.
I took my Steripen on my 2 month tour along the Pamir Highway through Tajikistan and Kyrgystan, 10 years ago.
I think I used it once.
It was on my, 'not to take again' list when i returned home.
Re taps when wild camping? Yes, we don't have many/any in forests here. However most graveyards have a free water supply/tap. I've often used them to top up a water bottle. No body/one objected.
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I took my Steripen on my 2 month tour along the Pamir Highway through Tajikistan and Kyrgystan, 10 years ago.
I think I used it once.
It was on my, 'not to take again' list when i returned home.
Re taps when wild camping? Yes, we don't have many/any in forests here. However most graveyards have a free water supply/tap. I've often used them to top up a water bottle. No body/one objected.
UV treatment for drinking water is best done on the smallest microbes. The theory is that it might not kill the microbes, but it makes the unable to reproduce. The larger microbes, UV is less effective. On the other hand, filters are most effective on the larger microbes, but often are incapable of filtering out the smallest ones.
For example, two summers ago I backpacked for a week on Isle Royale, that is the largest island on Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes along the USA and Canada border. The entire island is a national park. There are thousands of moose on that island and they carry a parasite that you really do not want to get, thus you need to filter or boil the water. The National Park Service specifically does not recommend chemical or UV water treatment.
But if you are in a less developed country where there may be poor water treatment for human wastes or domestic animal wastes, you could have viruses in the water and those are much less likely to be reliably filtered out due to the small size if you only filtered the water. If I was going to go to a country like that, I would be more inclined to use chemical and/or UV water treatment due to the possible presence of viruses, even if the water was from a community water supply.
But generally you do not need to worry about viruses in places where you have minimal human population without domestic animals. There, filtering by itself is usually adequate. Thus, my canoe trips or backpacking trips in the wilderness, I use either filtering or boiling, but not bother with chemical or UV treatment.
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This may surprise some, but the UK public water system provides drinkable water throughout the British Isles.
Things are perhaps different in America?
So, even when you are wild camping you can find a convenient water tap? That is wonderful.
You will be able to pick up enough water along the way for a night’s wild camping, assuming you have containers for a few litres. Just ask at a house or a garage or shop - or as Matt has said, a church / graveyard will have a tap for the flowers - all water supplies are drinkable. Scotland is not as sparsely populated as Iceland.
Just trying to help you minimise your gear.
BTW, just had £750 back from my insurers to cover (most of) my costs due to cancelled flights returning from Sri Lanka last month. Hence my suggestion upthread of having abandonment in your travel insurance.
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BTW, just had £750 back from my insurers to cover (most of) my costs due to cancelled flights returning from Sri Lanka last month. Hence my suggestion upthread of having abandonment in your travel insurance.
Great, that sounds like you at least got some of your expenses back, but I suspect not all.
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You will be able to pick up enough water along the way for a night’s wild camping, assuming you have containers for a few litres. Just ask at a house or a garage or shop - or as Matt has said, a church / graveyard will have a tap for the flowers - all water supplies are drinkable. Scotland is not as sparsely populated as Iceland.
In my experience, Andy's advice is good for cycling in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, plus most places in France (where I now live), Spain and Portugal.
I carry a 4 litre Ortleib roll-up water bag (empty weight about 130 g) when I reckon I might need to wild camp and make sure I fill it and my three water bottles (total 4 litres) from a water tap (house, garage, etc) before I start looking for a site. I used to carry chemical tablets to sterilise water, but only used them once, in 1977 when I arrived late in the evening on the ferry from Ireland to Wales and wild camped at the first grassy place I found and used water from a stream. Nowadays I would book a hotel or hostel close to the ferry terminal to avoid riding at night.
It isn't the same if hiking in mountains. One of my brothers was careless when hiking in the Spanish Pyrenees and caught a parasitic disease caused by Giardia. He had to be repatriated to England by air ambulance. My other brother hiked the Pyrenees trail from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, I think it was in the 1980's. He had to carry several days worth of food as only a few of the villages still had food shops. It is worse now as the locals go to the supermarkets in the nearest town. But it was easier to find safe drinking water in the small villages, isolated houses or refuges near the trail and he used chemical tablets when he wasn't sure.
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I do not have any firm plans to wild camp anywhere, it is just a contingency. And I will have three liters of capacity on my bike. First attached photo.
My bike tour two years ago, I sort of wild camped, but not that wild and only once. After a couple campgrounds on the map that were no longer there, and two motels that had closed, I pulled into a campground after 9pm, well after dark, the office was closed. The sign said reservations must be made first and I of course did not have a reservation. Set up my tent in a storage area, slept, woke up and started riding before it got light out. Did not even look for water and did not even make coffee first. If I have to, I can do that again.
I am really not too concerned about water.
I have one campsite on my map that only existed on Google Maps. If I go to Loch Ness, the better road for cycling is on the south side, that has few actual campgrounds. So, I was planning on camping there if I go down that road. Google maps listed a campsite. Street view showed a path, and nothing else at the road. On google maps I could click and pull up a photo of the shore. So, I suspect this is a common wild camping spot.
www.google.com/maps/search/campsites/@57.3470003,-4.3800134,14.88z/
Second attached is a screen print from my computer showing the path when I had street view enabled in Google Maps. I do not see any shortage of water at the loch. Google told me that Loch Ness is fresh water, water surface well above sea level.
I have bladders I can use, but I am not going to bother bringing them. I use them for backpacking with my filter gravity system. Typically when backpacking, when I make camp, I fill up a 2 liter bladder (dirty one) and start filtering into my second (clean) bladder. While gravity does the filtering for me, I set up my tent. Then I refill my water bottles from the filtered water bladder. Fill the unfiltered bladder again, that is my water supply for water that will be boiled, not filtered while I am at that site. When I pack up in the morning, I usually discard about one liter when I pack.
Two years ago, I did a backpacking segment where I needed eight days of food. Third photo. Bad lighting, sorry, the sun was shining through tree leaves and the food was on a picnic table in a campground. I had just finished six days of backpacking and was resupplying for eight more days. Point being, I have carried a lot of food before, but I have pretty much mapped out a plan for where to buy food on this trip.
But bike touring, I carry heavier stuff, like canned soups, etc. Not all dehydrated stuff like in the photo of my backpacking food.
Fourth photo, I think I had not been to a grocery store for five days at the time of the photo, I still had a couple more weeks of food on the bike. That was on Iceland.
But I do not need to do that on this trip. I marked on my map a couple of grocery stores with reminder to myself that when I leave those stores, I need to have five days of food, that includes contingency for a windy day.
I have five more weeks to finish my planning and packing, I am well ahead of schedule.
Nobody mentioned needing an ETA. I got that done weeks ago.
https://www.gov.uk/eta
I will be bringing some food from home, but I reviewed the criteria on what I can't bring into the UK, so it will all be legal, no meat or dairy, etc.
I think all I need to worry about now is jet fuel shortage in mid July for my flight home.
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If I go to Loch Ness, the better road for cycling is on the south side, that has few actual campgrounds. So, I was planning on camping there if I go down that road.
Be forewarned that there's a bit of a climb near the south end of Loch Ness on the southern route option. Around 10%, perhaps more, for about a mile then more, but easier climbing, for several more miles. I find it's useful to look at the ground levels on Google Earth. I import gpx files into Google Earth and look at the profiles. I think GE uses more detailed terrain models than most alternatives.
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If I go to Loch Ness, the better road for cycling is on the south side, that has few actual campgrounds. So, I was planning on camping there if I go down that road.
Be forewarned that there's a bit of a climb near the south end of Loch Ness on the southern route option. Around 10%, perhaps more, for about a mile then more, but easier climbing, for several more miles. I find it's useful to look at the ground levels on Google Earth. I import gpx files into Google Earth and look at the profiles. I think GE uses more detailed terrain models than most alternatives.
Thanks. At 10 percent, I would likely walk the bike up it. Been there, done that.
I have two different options, one would go along that route, the other option skips Loch Ness and instead goes through Torridon. It depends on how much time I have available to get to Inverness, as that is in the late part of my trip, thus I will be planning how to make sure I get to my end point on time for my flight.
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Did not even look for water and did not even make coffee first.
If your morning coffee is important to you, I thought I'd let you know about a product available in all UK grocery stores. Coffee bags. Pop one or two in your mug, add water, and in three or four minutes, voilà! Miles ahead of instant in taste, and quicker than a campsite pour over.
The campsite in Torridon is where I discovered the true true meaning of Scottish midges :)
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Did not even look for water and did not even make coffee first.
If your morning coffee is important to you, I thought I'd let you know about a product available in all UK grocery stores. Coffee bags. Pop one or two in your mug, add water, and in three or four minutes, voilà! Miles ahead of instant in taste, and quicker than a campsite pour over.
The campsite in Torridon is where I discovered the true true meaning of Scottish midges :)
Thanks on the coffee. But when solo camping, I am quite used to plain old instant. I think about a year or two ago when I saw the price of coffee was going to skyrocket, I stocked up with plenty of ground for home use and instant for camping. I was going to bring a jar of this instant from home for this trip:
https://www.hy-vee.com/aisles-online/p/2930453/thats-smart-medium-roast-instant-coffee
Container is plastic (light weight, less fragile than glass). This is essentially a generic brand. If the link does not open, see first attached. I have half a dozen of those jars on the shelf that cost me a lot less than the current price.
Midges, I will just have to find out what they are like. I treated most of my clothing with Permethrin. Bringing a repellant that is made with Picaridin. And a headnet. I also sprayed a bit of Permethrin on the tent door netting.
When I get serious about coffee when camping, see second attached, a plastic French Press so that I do not have to worry about broken glass. But that takes more space, more work for cleanup, etc. For that reason, the French Press has not gone on one of my bike trips yet, instead only use the French Press for canoe or kayak trips where I am always camping on a shoreline.
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At the risk of over-loading you with info:
I'm just back from an Ember bus tour.
No bike yet; strength not up to it yet.
My bus was from Aberdeen to Inverness and then their new route to Ullapool.
I stayed in the hostel 2 night before returning home.
Observations; bikes had been booked on all sections. Bikes went inside the bus; a max of 2.
( when I used the Ember bus last month, my own bike went in with the luggage. )
Very very busy with tourists. At one point someone tried to board but there were no seats available.
It made me realise how popular this part of the UK is with tourists. I believe numbers are increasing.
Advice; don't count on hitching a ride without booking the bus. Our driver said that the other major carrier in the area, Stagecoach, has the same issues.
Also; chatting to the hostel manager, she showed me bookings made for next year!
It's a lovely area to tour but fast filling up for the summer months.
Also pt2; The bus driver had several close encounters with road users unfamiliar with road-sense. Some found it hard to concentrate on the road while surrounded by stunning scenery.
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Thanks.
I planned to stay at Inverness hostel for a day or two. Sounds like reservations are in order. But I am hesitant to make reservations this early when I do not have firm dates and won't have firm dates for a couple months. On my calendar are two different days to leave Inverness.
I have reservations for my last couple nights in Edinburgh before my flight, but those are the only dates I have with certainty. Bike touring where your schedule is at the whim of the weather really complicates things.
Perhaps I should make a reservation now to stay at Perth the night before I plan to get to Edinburgh.
In the past, I found that starting a trip in early June was a good way to find lots of available spaces, as things did not get busy until early to mid July. My last tour before Covid was in 2019, several times I was the only person in a tenting area where there were a half dozen or more empty campsites.
A decade ago, I usually made hostel reservations no more than a couple days in advance for stays in the middle of my tour. I only made longer term reservations in larger cities that were at the start or end of a trip.
I am starting to realize that is not a reliable strategy any more. I may be doing more wild camping than I planned.
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Spotted in Inverness 2 days ago. A rare Scottish delicacy.
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Spotted in Inverness 2 days ago. A rare Scottish delicacy.
I hope they still have some for me when I get there in early July.