Took a detour home on the commute this evening. Got myself up to 7 17x17 squares now. A quick trip is the opposite direction after work one day will get me to a 19 square.
Got a couple of annoying dead ends to deal with, then its going to involve some fairly big rides.

This route had been on the cards for a while and the recent dry spell ment it was all systems go.
Started in Marsden and followed the Pennine Way southwards. Absolutely in the middle of nowhere. Some ride riding and a fair amount of pushing to get up to Black Hill and then headed over to Chew Reservoir.
I had to didn’t I…..



Then picked up the Pennine Bridleway back to Marsden.

Up to 21x21, but with a number of awkward squares to visit

I went out yesterday and bagged 31 squares to bring me up to 15x15

However, the most exciting off-road section looked like this, which isn't quite so enticing compared to the Peaks:



Cambridgeshire is very flat and not very interesting from a Countryside perspective — no amount of black-and-white and grainy filters would improve it ... still, at least I got to shake down my geared road bike (I usually ride fixed) for Saturday's TINAT 400

A couple of weeks ago I plugged a couple of annoying holes in my potential max square (a couple up). I went down a few cheeky trails (but it was at night) and discovered new paths etc that I hadn't done before (obviously ), really enjoyed the ride. Went out with a mate, it's all quite local to us but just haven't been there (usually go around rather than through)

I'm hoping to head out tonight for a local bivy (haven't been out this year!!) and get some of the extra tiles that are stopping me from moving to the next max square. I'm currently at 15, hoping that tonight's ride will get me to 16 at the least, maybe 17...

Then another ride to get to 18. After that it's going to take a lot more work to move up!

Finally managed to get myself up to 12x12 on last nights bivvy. It involved a fair bit of bushwhacking and a reroute after a bovine altercation but I done it! I've got some holidays coming up so hopefully I can push it out to 13 or 14 before the end of the year

I got to 16x16 a couple of weekends ago. It started with some muddy bogtrotting, then continued with some muddy bogtrotting by night.

My next few squares are going to be difficult, mostly pathless wandering, but once complete I’ll be properly into uncharted territory. I’ve got maybe 4 rows South very nearly complete, but need to push West to start completing the square.

I think for me the fat bike has been invaluable, as it makes the trackless wandering that little bit easier.

This year really hasn't worked out for me on this front, but I do want to get back on it next year. I think I can get 20x20 without an insane amount of effort.

I've been slowly building up my max square over the last 2-3 years, my starting point was 8x8 I think, but with huge amounts already filled in, so it was fairly easy at first to grow this quickly.
For a while now I've been stuck on 24x24 - slowly filling in the blanks (playing the long game) and this weekend was an opportunity to get this up to 26x26 with a very carefully crafted ride filling in some of the remaining blanks.
The ride didn't turn out quite the way I was expecting - http://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB ... =7&t=13532

Still got me up to 25x25 though - so worth it

Despite the pain, I was determined to not be defeated - plus the weather was gorgeous on the Sunday, so I persuaded the wife out onto the tandem and we went and finished off the remaining route.
26x26 now

I reckon I can get into the mid 30's before I get temporarily stuck between the Northern Peak District & the Mersey estuary.

Good job!!!
26x26 looks pretty much unobtainable for me.

That is a damn fine effort, good job!

PJG wrote:26x26 now

Top work

I had a trip out to Greater Manchester to fill in some gaps.
Not as grim as i expected


Up to 22x22

Mine is a pitiful 7x7
The big bogs of kinder and bleaklow preventing a rapid expansion. I would literally be taking my bike for a carry if I ventured across there

Thanks guys - you just cost me a tenner

I'm currently at a measly 6x6 (I have range, rather than density - and I'm sticking to that excuse)

I feel some exploring, coming on.

I'm stuck on 9x9 and unless I move to another part of the country or start all my 'explorer' rides with a ferry trip it's likely to remain that way



There are a few missing squares still to get, there are 2 that I can get if I go on a cheeky ride alone the coastal path which is a footpath. This section has been shut for a few years due to it falling into the sea but it's now reopened as it's been diverted inland slightly. There is a No Cycling sign at the start but I think I can nip along mid winter after dark and not be spotted The other missing squares are a military firing range and the grounds of Osbourne House with no access.

I did spot a square I'd missed this week



So a ride to Ryde and then up and down the pier and I have a new square

FLV wrote:Mine is a pitiful 7x7
The big bogs of kinder and bleaklow preventing a rapid expansion. I would literally be taking my bike for a carry if I ventured across there

Just leave the bike at home and go for a carefully crafted boggy walk
I've 'bagged' Kinder - and parts of Bleaklow almost entirely on foot.

Well 4.5 hrs of bimbling resulted in one unfeasibly claggy field (I've honestly never seen such a peculiarly structured soil) a puncture (due to a hedge having been trimmed) a temperamental pump that wouldn't produce any pressure, a mile or so of walking, and scrounging the use of a foot pump from some random householder, resulted in 4 new tiles.

My planned route would have bagged a dozen, but the puncture caused me to take the safe route home.

Didn't increase my max grid, but still enjoyed being out and about.

"So a ride to Ryde and then up and down the pier and I have a new square" - impressive attention to detail there Sean, easy to have missed that I imagine .

RIP wrote:"So a ride to Ryde and then up and down the pier and I have a new square" - impressive attention to detail there Sean, easy to have missed that I imagine .

catch the hovercraft with your bike (if it's still operating) and bag the tile to the right of the pier

belugabob wrote:

RIP wrote:"So a ride to Ryde and then up and down the pier and I have a new square" - impressive attention to detail there Sean, easy to have missed that I imagine .

catch the hovercraft with your bike (if it's still operating) and bag the tile to the right of the pier

Got to be human powered, so bike, walk, paddle but not sail, flying, motors

whitestone wrote:

belugabob wrote:

RIP wrote:"So a ride to Ryde and then up and down the pier and I have a new square" - impressive attention to detail there Sean, easy to have missed that I imagine .

catch the hovercraft with your bike (if it's still operating) and bag the tile to the right of the pier

Got to be human powered, so bike, walk, paddle but not sail, flying, motors

I know that, but @sean_Iow doesn't, judging by the ferry crossings...

I do leave the garmin on when I cross the Solent. Looking at other peoples rides this seems to be the norm. There's no way to 'blank' out the ferry crossing on strava and even if I pause it when I re-start it on the other side I just get a straight line from where it was paused to when I restarted it anyway. Most of the times I've got the Etrex on the bike if I'm off to the mainland to navigate and that's not got any way to pause it. I figure that over the years I've walked around on the boats enough when getting a coffee/going to the loo/going out on the promenade deck that I've covered the distance of the crossing on foot anyway

The only other way would be to divide the trips up into separate rides but that's a faff and makes looking back at the trips harder. If you look at this trip from earlier in the year

https://www.strava.com/activities/1779056887

I used 5 ferries on this so I'd have 6 separate rides. I did previously google the ferry issue and how to omit them but keep the trip whole and it seems it's a feature that has been requested from strava for some time but with no action on their part

With regard to the hovercraft..... it is still running but they put your bike in the locker on the side, so it rattles about and also gets wet from spray coming over the poor fitting lid, I'm not after squares bad enough to subject my prize possession to that!

Well, that potentially solves a problem for a few of mine too. If I start the GPS, wheel the bike to the van, then drive up the A9 I can get a few squares without riding on the dual carriageway sections

I should add that the squares I gain on the ferry don't contribute to my overall max square, not unless I charter a boat and sail round the rest of the Solent.

I really want to get all the squares that make up the Island and by bike but I'm not keen on breaking into an Army training camp or a Royal residence (I believe that Osbourne House is still owned by the Royal family it's just run by English Heritage for them) so those squares might be an issue. I can pick up the ones in Osbourne House on foot easy enough if I pay the entry fee and wander round the grounds.

I need to research if the beach that bounds the Army training camp is part of the no-go area as I might be able to ride along it from the adjacent squares to tick that off.

I have a couple of military areas on my patch. One is a beach by a firing range. I reckon I just need to contact the Range Officer to find out when it's safe. The other is on an active airfield. A pleading email might be in order, though I think a mate might be about to transfer there....

You could attach you GPS to a drone and just fly it over the areas you need to get?