Achieved 20x20 in 2020 this morning, quite chuffed with that. A closed road added a bit of distance and even more climbing in the area just east of Carsington Water.

Blackhound wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2020 1:48 pm Achieved 20x20 in 2020 this morning, quite chuffed with that. A closed road added a bit of distance and even more climbing in the area just east of Carsington Water.

Don't know why but I thought you were further down south. There's probably quite a bit of overlap between yours, Pete's and my squares.

Got out after work and filled a big hole out towards the Cotswolds, 27x27

Had a blast near that MOD site last night and picked off a few solo squares in that area. The bridleway that just touches the edge of the site is a good stretch.

I was off the bike, jumping a fence and yomping through a field at one point only to hit an electrified fence at the other side that stopped me about 5 meters short of getting in another square, haha. Found another dirt road in though.

Hopefully you found the (obvious) track around the MOD site Neil - it looks like you did, but I never came across any electric fences.....

There's a bit of exploring to do around there - but I get the impression that if you go off piste then a MOD Land Rover is going to appear out of nowhere.

composite wrote: ↑Wed Jun 10, 2020 8:35 am I was off the bike, jumping a fence and yomping through a field at one point only to hit an electrified fence at the other side that stopped me about 5 meters short of getting in another square, haha. Found another dirt road in though.

Why is it that I can hear the Mission Impossible theme music in my head as I read this

There are a couple of squares on the Island I have never been able to get, one only has a footpath down to to it and the land owner is very anti-bike and it's a dead end, the adjacent square is an army camp/firing range, but it is on the coast and the square overlaps the beach. Perhaps now is the time for a walk/run down that way, at low tide I might be able to get round the coast far enough to bag the firing range square as well.

In Reverse- I am in Derby and have access to decent tracks, former railway lines and canals as well as a decent local cycle path network for getting out. Last summer I caught a train to Newark and cycled home. I could have stayed on river paths the whole way but I had a few squares to bag. Very lucky really, even Sherwood Pines/ Clumber can be reached with minimal road.

slarge wrote: ↑Wed Jun 10, 2020 8:50 am Hopefully you found the (obvious) track around the MOD site Neil - it looks like you did, but I never came across any electric fences.....

There's a bit of exploring to do around there - but I get the impression that if you go off piste then a MOD Land Rover is going to appear out of nowhere.

Yeah found the track around the MOD site, it was all pretty easy to follow. I wrote my description badly. The field yomping was at a different location. My planned route turned out to be a driveway that would have entailed me going quite close to someone's house and I felt it was taking the piss so I left that alone. Noticed that the road I was on went close to the corner of the square and I was sure I wouldn't have to go too far into the field to get in the square. I had to go a bit further than I could though due to the electric fence.

It was fun but totally stupid. I was half expecting to see some other riders coming down the road and seeing me with an awkward expression on my face as I climbed back over the fence.

composite wrote: ↑Wed May 27, 2020 7:26 pm

Blackhound wrote: ↑Wed May 27, 2020 4:45 pm I looked at the VV leaderboard only yesterday (it is on your VV summary page) and saw that I am in 7th place for 2020 with 18x18. Just ahead of me on 19x19 are Jack Petersen and local rider to me Pete Johnson or PeeJay. Hope to catch them by the weekend although they may have pushed on further. I have added my score to Ben's table


Bearbones VV max square leaderboard
41 - Blackhound
29 - Pickers
23 - bigdummysteve
21 - Composite
20 - slarge
19 - benp1
9 - sean_iow
9 - Alan63
7 - mikehowarth

I noticed that the other week Kevin and meant to big you up on it!
JP is still top 10 in the world, right? 67x67 or something...

I think it might be a little while before my square gets bigger but I have been doing a lot of groundwork, and I think it will jump quite a bit when it does move next.

jack P, Still dabbling on here, and wearing my Bearbones jersey with pride while tile bagging, good camouflage for the sneaky ones ;-) Have been loving going back over the local off road trails seeing just how much things have changed over many years. Having a good tussle with Blackhound in the lockdown 2020 square fun, good to see other Bears in there.

The ride was from 2 weeks ago now but it did include a monster square haul, something like 90! It was my first 200 for a while and it was good to stretch the legs a bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy5z4D_LjYs

Moved on to 10x10 after this weekends ride.

Next tiles look relatively straightforward, however getting much past 12x12 is going to be tricky.

I’d plotted a little SUP trip down the River Dee back to Chester to pick up a further 5 tiles, however looking at the map again this weekend I’d overlooked that Eaton Hall stands in its own tile given it’s absolutely humongous with grounds close to 11,000 acres.

Only way I’m bagging that tile is if they do an open day!

mikehowarth wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 12:29 pm Moved on to 10x10 after this weekends ride.

Next tiles look relatively straightforward, however getting much past 12x12 is going to be tricky.

I’d plotted a little SUP trip down the River Dee back to Chester to pick up a further 5 tiles, however looking at the map again this weekend I’d overlooked that Eaton Hall stands in its own tile given it’s absolutely humongous with grounds close to 11,000 acres.

Only way I’m bagging that tile is if they do an open day!

If this is the place then there’s a footpath for cheekiness

mikehowarth wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 12:29 pm Moved on to 10x10 after this weekends ride.

Next tiles look relatively straightforward, however getting much past 12x12 is going to be tricky.

I’d plotted a little SUP trip down the River Dee back to Chester to pick up a further 5 tiles, however looking at the map again this weekend I’d overlooked that Eaton Hall stands in its own tile given it’s absolutely humongous with grounds close to 11,000 acres.

Only way I’m bagging that tile is if they do an open day!

This is quite a useful resource for getting to the more difficult squares:
https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap

Find the tile you're interested in, then you can see if anyone else has bagged it yet, and link through to their activity to see how they did it.

According to this chap, Eaton Hall is open to the public 4 times a year.
https://www.strava.com/activities/659594381

PJG wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 2:46 pm
This is quite a useful resource for getting to the more difficult squares:
https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap

I dunno what data that is based on but I can confirm it is incorrect.

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 3:05 pm

PJG wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 2:46 pm
This is quite a useful resource for getting to the more difficult squares:
https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap

I dunno what data that is based on but I can confirm it is incorrect.

Incorrect in what way - presumably there are some tiles that you've ridden that are not appearing on the heatmap ?
I've noticed that my rides don't show up, and I suspect that it will depend on what privacy settings have been defined in Strava/Veloviewer.

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 3:05 pm I dunno what data that is based on but I can confirm it is incorrect.

You need to be part of the “ride every tile” Strava group, and for the rides to be public.
Also believe it’s only updated periodically.

Yep Eaton Hall is definitely an elusive tile - only way to bag it will be an open day.

Hoping August open day will be on, otherwise it’ll be a long wait to next year!

Believe me I’ve been staring at this tile for a week or so, and had a look at pretty much every conceivable entrance - all locked gates and a fair schlep to anywhere near the hall.

Chew wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 3:27 pm

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 3:05 pm I dunno what data that is based on but I can confirm it is incorrect.

You need to be part of the “ride every tile” Strava group, and for the rides to be public.
Also believe it’s only updated periodically.

Ah - that makes sense then.

Never heard of Eaton Hall until this thread but just imagining a bunch of cyclists clogging up the local roads every open day who take a quick look at the hall and retreat. A few rich ones having a cuppa before disappearing.

Blackhound wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 6:02 pm Never heard of Eaton Hall until this thread but just imagining a bunch of cyclists clogging up the local roads every open day who take a quick look at the hall and retreat. A few rich ones having a cuppa before disappearing.

Yep - no doubt there will be a strava segment up the driveway as well

Spent the last fortnight filling in annoying/tricky gaps in my cluster that had been lurking since last year. Got the last one with today's ride to take my max square to 50x50.

That’s impressive Andy

Thanks Steve. It's certainly felt like a lot of effort to colour in some imaginary squares arbitrarily drawn on a map.

Very well done Andy - you now have the glory of the top slot on the BB square tickers list:



I'm hoping that I'll be re-taking it soon though
4 rides & a stroll should sort it.

Bloody hell guys, that is ridiculously impressive