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Birmingham to London charity bike ride
| Mattybabes | 28 Jun 07:56 |
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Joined: 28 Jun 2010 Posts: 1 Bike: | I am planning a company charity bike ride from Birmingham to London. Our nominated charity for 2010 is help for heroes. If anyone has riden this route in either direction could you please offer me some advice regarding the route i.e. is it possible to remain on the towpaths all the way, how long does it take at a steady pace (8mph), etc, etc. Any information would be very useful as we are planning to do this in two months time. If this route is impossible or takes more than three days then could someone please recommend an alternative route with Birmingham being the start point? Thanks, Matt |
chimp 
| 06 Jul 05:56 |
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Joined: 18 Aug 2009 Posts: 4 Bike: My Profile | Hi Matt, At the beggining of June I and 2 others cycled Liverpool to London in two days for charity, two of us were novice cyclists and are not extremely fit but we did it!! The 2nd day we rode from near Coventry to london (96 miles) and it took us 10 hours, we went on roads though, going on a towpath may take longer as I am sure I have read that there are slow bits where it is a bit dodgy, especially if it has been raining. If you do decide to go on the roads I used viamichelin, where you can put your start and end points, say you are cycling and it will plot the route avoiding motorways etc. Hope it goes well!! |
| My Latest Route: Oct 2009 Little Canfield to Castle Camps | |
| crb11 | 07 Jul 07:53 |
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Joined: 07 Jul 2010 Posts: 1 Bike: | I organised a sponsored relay run down the Grand Union towpath back in 2004 - we had a cyclist accompanying the runner for backup where possible. What we found then was that most of the towpath was in good condition and fine for 10mph, even if the weather has been bad, as it was at the time. The problem areas are: * between the M42 and the Warwickshire/Northants boundary, where a lot of the rural sections aren't cyclable at all (towpath narrow and falling into the canal in places) * about a mile either side of the M25 where it turns from gravel track to footpath - cyclable with care * parts of the last section into Paddington Basin where cycling isn't permitted at all. I suspect you'd probably want to find a more direct route into central London from the Watford area anyway. Bear in mind you'll have to dismount to get under many of the bridges as well, certainly if it's damp, since it's slippery and narrow. |
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