Hi, George

I’ve thought of a few things that may help with your planning. in no particular order, here they are.
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I planned to make the reservation for the airline, three hostel stays (upon arrival, in London, and just before my flight home), and train in the next week or so.  The train from Edinburgh to London is the only train I anticipated. 

I need to do a bike ride with my mirror to see if I like it, but tentatively it should work.  But it does vibrate slightly.  First photo.  I think I should have the mirror on the right side, for one thing that will remind me to ride on the other side of the road.

My helmet mirror can only go on the left side, it has a clamp that clamps onto my visor, second photo, the clamp is at an angle that puts makes it specific to only the left side. 

I am not going to go out of the way to save a few (almost said bucks for USD) quid (for GBP) if I am only riding one train ride.  But thanks for the suggestion.  A month and a half means that the costs will add up, but by mostly camping and hosteling, and most of my food would be cooked in a campsite, the total trip cost should be quite reasonable for that amount of time.

I did my Iceland trip a decade ago, about five weeks long.  That same year my sister did a two week guided group tour of several countries in Europe.  Afterwards I told her she really screwed up, her trip was only 40 percent as long, but cost twice as much as my trip.  She could have done two of my trips for the price she paid.

Third photo.  This was either Nova Scotia or PEI (Canada), the mosquitos were waiting for me to open the door for them in the morning to let them in for breakfast. 

I mentioned a few times that I have sprayed some of my clothing with Permethrin.  One problem with bugs and biking is that most bike jerseys are mesh and all those tiny little holes are there just so that bugs can easily bit you the moment they land on you.  Hopefully, but treating some of my clothing, that should help.

I am used to camping where there are a lot of bugs.  I am originally from Minnesota (USA).  And as a Minnesotan, I have some immunity to mosquitos.  In Minnesota, the mosquitos are quite large.  If they taste a baby human and the baby tastes good, they carry the baby off to eat later.  But if they taste a baby that tastes bad, they leave them behind.  Thus, after several generations, the humans don't taste very good to mosquitos.

Still available.

Hi, George

I’ve thought of a few things that may help with your planning. in no particular order, here they are.

UK trains;
Lightyears ahead of Amtrak and VIA. You will be impressed.
Depending on how much you plan to travel by train, it may be worth the £35 cost of a senior Railcard, which gives you a 1/3 discounted fare.

https://www.railcard.co.uk

Very unlike Amtrak and VIA, depending on the rail company, you can claim a fare refund for a late train. On LNER it is 50% for 30min and 100% for 60 minutes late arrival.
Fares are less with advance booking. Edinburgh to London is about £80 for a train tomorrow but only £40 if you book a month in advance.
The UK is serviced by different rail operators but the NationalRail phone app allows you to purchase tickets on any of them.

Like John, I use the Take-A-Look mirror that clips to glasses, although I clip mine to my helmet visor. What’s not widely known is that you can get a mirror drilled for use in places where they drive on the left. The wire frame is the same. They just drill the hole in the mirror on the opposite side. I have used it on my trips, and it makes adjustment for a good sight line so much easier.  Just email them and they’ll drop one in the mail.

I was reading a journal on CycleBlaze recently, and the author mentioned camping at Camping and Caravanning Club UK facilities. I had thought, based on the name and looking on their website, that these were member only campsites geared to motorized travellers. The author noted that there is an unadvertised policy of not turning away backpackers or cyclists. No membership needed. He stayed at several, and the price was £7 to £10. When I camped in Scotland in 2024 I paid £12 to £16 for a campsite.

https://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk

https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/le2jog/

I second Paul’s recommendation for using Cycle.Travel for route planning.
Your RWGPS file shows taking the A9 from Inverness to John ‘o Groats. A quick look at street view will show you you don’t want to cycle there. JohnR’s route is much better. I can also vouch for the recommendation to check out the Crask Inn. When I stopped there in ’24 it was managed by a lovely couple (from Michigan!). You can pitch your tent in the back yard, but I took one of the reasonably priced rooms.

I was in Scotland in September ’24, the tail end of midge season. There were a few evenings when they were annoying, but one night at the boggy Torridon village campsite, I was happy to have a headnet. It’s one of those things where you won’t believe how bad they are until you see it first hand.

My last tidbit of wisdom has nothing to do with cycle touring, but, I think it’s the most important suggestion I can make. As a fellow lifelong resident of a right side traffic country, but one who has visited left hand traffic countries several times, I strongly suggest you practice this before you leave and never forget while you’re there, especially the first few days while your body is adjusting to the 6 hour time difference. I do this, and I believe it has saved me a world of hurt: every time you cross the street, say to yourself (I do it out loud) “LOOK RIGHT!”

Happy planning

On 14 May I will start cycling south from Inverness. If all goes according to plan, I will reach Hull and the ferry to Rotterdam on 4 June. Wouldn’t that be something if our paths crossed. I’ll keep a lookout for a yellow Nomad. Keep your eyes peeled for a black Raven

I added headnet to the list.

I looked at that Smidge repellant, it uses Picaridin, 20 percent.  For years I have been using Sawyer repellant, that also uses 20 percent Picaridin.  Permethrin is something you can apply to clothing, I have treated some of my bike and camping clothing in the past.  (I think Permethrin is illegal in Canada for a user to treat clothing, but I am not sure on that.)  Sometimes I bring a small bottle of Deet in addition to the Picaridin.

I am not putting a lot of time into route planning right now, that is not time critical to accomplish soon.  But to everyone that made suggestions, thank you, I will be looking at that later.

Is London a very safe place to lock up a bike?  Two days ago I sent an e-mail to a London hostel asking if they have bike storage, no response yet.  One hostel listed bike storage on their website, but that hostel is less convenient.  I would really like to avoid parking my bike outside overnight in a large city.

Most of my bike tours are in cooler climates.  And most of them have involved cold rain.  For that I usually use rain pants and covers over my shoes.  First photo.

I did a tour in 2024, I assumed I would get rained on in warm conditions, too warm for rain paints.  Brought sandals that I had in a previous photo.  I also tried "Rain Legs" for warmer weather.  They worked rather well to keep the part of me between my waist and knees dry.  I will have to decide later just how much rain gear to carry on this trip.  I could use water proof socks on the sandals instead of shoe covers over bike shoes.  Decisions, decisions.  This route starts out with warmer climate, last part of the route is chillier. 

Second photo, the shoe covers appear to be missing, I suspect this photo was taken after the rain had quit but it was still chilly enough with wet pavement to keep the rest of my rain gear on.  I have many weeks to get my rain gear plan straightened out.

Regarding my bike on the train, from what I read I should not have any trouble as long as I can get a reservation.  Hang from a hook or put in a rack, does not really matter which, I should be ok.  My front rack might interfere with a bike rack however, so we will have to see.  The train websites I looked at discussed max width for front tires, I can easily comply.  I will try to remember to have some spare straps handy in case I need them.  On my Nomad Mk II, photos 3 and 4 shows my front rack.  These are not the stock Thorn racks.  Drop bars, less than 50 cm wide.

George, what an ambitious plan!

A couple of notes & suggestions:

  >  "Scotland can be buggy" I hiked the West Highland Way in June/July 2008, and there were plenty of midges.  (Very small biting flies.)  They were a nuisance, but nowhere nearly as bad as the blackflies you would have encountered in Cape Breton.  Still, I'd suggest a headnet.

  >  on mirrors:  For years, I've used the "Take-a-Look" mirror, which clips to my helmet or its eye-shade. (I've ridden in Southern Africa & Australia, in both of which you ride on the left; as well as in Canada & the U.S.) The Take-a-Look is easy to change from one side to the other. I wear glasses all the time (sunglasses or plain), and I wouldn't want a mirror mounted on my glasses for fear on unbalancing them -- but I readily admit that may be my obsession.

Good luck with your planning, and with the trip itself.  And at the risk of complicating things:  I've been privileged to visit much of England and Scotland, and parts of Wales & Ireland. I was born in Dorset, and lived much of my childhood in that county & in Wiltshire.  Happy to admit my bias, but if 'twere me me, I'd go first to Cornwall/Devon/Dorset/Gloucestershire, and then to Salisbury in Wiltshire. For me, its cathedral is the most beautiful building I've ever seen (better than the Taj Mahal, f'rinstance).

Cheers, John