Part Two, Tentative London northbound and Scotland Bike Tour.

[mickeg]

Starting a new thread.  This is an update, with a few questions.

***

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.

***

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.

***

[RonS]

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.

[Matt2matt2002]

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

[JohnR]

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.

[mickeg]

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.

[Andyb1]

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.