Hello you all lovely people. I'm feeling a bit lazy and despite having scheduled to recce this route after the month of fasting, I think I might ride to my sisters in Scotland instead. That leaves me with the challenge of not actually having aquainted myself, handson with the route.

The problem with that then is that the ride - charity challenge with a few mates with compulsory fundraising target which they can just pay themselves... for the orphans - is in May and I don't like to have any funny surprises. Like angry sections of traffic or one way streets.

The brief of the route/ride is to make it hard as possible, but also within my ability to have a fighting chance to complete it in 24H. It's a Masjid to Masjid route and I try to add the hardest hills when people might already be broken. It's also supposed to have a section or two of light gravel (or broken roads) to add to the fun.

Is anyone familiar with some of the areas enroute and if so could you provide input as to whether there might be some totally unsuitable sections (like the A9 stories on the LeJOG). May Allah reward you and give you peace.

Pics below but I could easily email you a gpx. Not sure how to add gpx openly to the thread (and I'd rather not share openly just yet anyway). Let me know if you know any of the areas and can comment on em pretty sharpish. Feel free to suggest alternate roads that might be harder or more traffic-free. Like rocks are fine but nothing full-on mtb as I don't want to hurt any roadie friends

A5 near Berwyn looks a bit 'interesting' with potential fast/blind traffic.

A5 is basically a major route from burmingham to north wales/ Ferry @ holyhead.
.Years since i drove it but its not on my cycling to do list ( Dont know any of the area well enough to help)

Posted twice who knows why

Thanks John. Looks like I'm on it from Llangolen to Corwen. If I can't see any other obvious detours, I may have to go and ride it afterall and give riding to my sisters in scotland a miss. Fast roads that are narrow. Never my cuppa tea.

Found a singletrack paved road just above the A5. Leads to b5437 and totall bypasses the A5 from Llangollen to Corwyn. That'll do nicely I suppose. One section ticked off thanks John.

on avoiding busy / main roads have you tried route-planning using this:

https://cycle.travel/map?lat=54.3742&lon=-7.0313&zoom=8

and setting to 'gravel', so see what comes up as alternatives?

cheers,

Keith

Thanks Kieth. That's how I found that alternate path above the A5.

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2024 12:22 pm Thanks Kieth. That's how I found that alternate path above the A5.

good stuff, tbh I normally just get out the OS 1:50k maps and look for 'yellow' and 'white' roads!

That's how I made the route Keith. But after that I like to ride it for a real feel as I don't like to let loose 7 or 10 cyclists on a 24H route without knowing it's 'safe enough'.

But I'm getting old and time is short so thought to use the combined knowledge of the forum to edit and finalise this time (helped once before too a few years back, in same way... thanks all) round.

Used OS maps vy Viewranger.

Can take a look over the weekend and make some suggestions, especially the run into Manchester and out to Wales. Ridden that area quite a bit over the last couple of years.

Will pm you later in the week for a GPX. Away from the computer for the next couple of days.

Thanks v much for that, ta...

Pop us a PM Shaf and I can look around Cheshire for you

Very kind of you Simon. Not sure I can send via a message on PM on here for some reason but can send as an email (maybe I should've converted it to a Strava file for easier sharing).

Thanks to everyone that's already had some input. Managed to iron out a few glitches that I'd rather not have. Might still need to add some gravel as I may have removed mistakenly.


Mossley to Stretford


Stretford to Northwich


Northwich to Wrecsam


Wrecsam to Llandrillo


Llandrillo to Welshpool


Welshpool to Ludlow


Ludlow to Stourbridge


Stourbridge to the masjid at Moseley...

Phew! Alhamdulillah.

I can help with Shropshire hills to Brum

Your wonky maps appeared as I posted. I can do you a nice quiet road/canal towpath/bridleway route from Bridgnorth to the centre of Brum. I’d avoid the roads/route you’ve planned above

UnderTheRadars wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2024 7:43 pm Your wonky maps appeared as I posted. I can do you a nice quiet road/canal towpath/bridleway route from Bridgnorth to the centre of Brum. I’d avoid the roads/route you’ve planned above

Thanks UndertheRadars... That last bit we will be riding between about 0000 to about 0600 depending on rider. Doing canal towpath might just tip em over the edge.

But, I get your point about Burmingham...

A nice, flat well surfaced blast to the finish. Better than the A458, especially Mucklow Hill towards the end!

https://www.komoot.com/tour/1506840282? ... 6z&ref=wtd

UnderTheRadars wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2024 7:58 pm A nice, flat well surfaced blast to the finish. Better than the A458, especially Mucklow Hill towards the end!

https://www.komoot.com/tour/1506840282? ... 6z&ref=wtd

Appreciate that UtR... Does that mean I'm losing alot of my elevation? and the descriptor states it goes down steps with some forbidden paths. Making me tread on this ice and besides, I want em to cry with the hills towards the end.

Mucklow will have been added carefully and strategically A458 though... How bads it!!

Shaf, have a look at the Trans Pennine Trail for passing through Manchester.
I've never riden it, so prob worth a search for reviews, but a couple of the bits i have seen appeared ro be ok..

https://www.transpenninetrail.org.uk/cy ... -cyclists/

https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid ... 78127&z=12

https://www.sustrans.org.uk/find-other- ... nine-trail

Move south a little here Shaf. Plenty of off road tracks over the mountains. Some may not be 100% legal RoW but they're well used by bikes.

Move south a little here Shaf. Plenty of off road tracks over the mountains. Some may not be 100% legal RoW but they're well used by bikes.

Already sorted that Stu. Have changed it to the singletrack paved roads just above the A5. At the end of this I think I'll probably go ride it anyway and get my first Supertramp challenge ticked for the 2 days option.

Just deciding which option I'll take into Burmingham now as a few have suggested some good alternatives. Thanks all

Deleted. Double post.

frogatthefarriers wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2024 11:06 am Hi Shaf

Your route looks like it goes actually past my house, (south of Wrexham) but the scale is wrong for me to be sure. I’ll pm you my location and you can confirm. Or you can send me the gpx. If you are coming my way, perhaps I can suggest some changes. Have you fixed a date yet. It’d be nice to wave to you on your way through…

Hi Froggathefarriers... Satruday 25th May is when we set off. At 0600 from Dewsbury. So I imagine the faster riders would be going past yours at some point between 1600 and 1900. Remind me closer to the time and I'll share out gps location sharing link

As soon as I've put the floorboards down for the little ones loft-den I'll try to do the recce so will wave past when I ride past yours