CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Events, rides etc.

Train ticket to Carlisle for Ride to the Sun - free to good home

(17 posts)

  1. unhurt
    Member

    I have a ticket I won't be able to use, with a bike space reservation, on the 12:52 Saturday 18th, arriving Carlisle 14:05 - later trains were all out of bike spaces. I won't be using it due to events reported in Rubbish Cycling. Last weekend's long ride was cancelled as a result of that rubbishness, and this weekend I managed wee ten mile loop which revealed that my poor wrenched shoulder & elbow are not happy with more than gentle trundling, preferably over the smoothest possible surfaces* - so, the miles needed will not be happening.

    Anyone want it? Priority to Ride to the Sunners, but if no-one wants it for that, applications from people who are just excited about going to Carlisle also considered!

    *yes, I have uttered the words "if I had a recumbent..."

    Posted 8 years ago #

  2. crowriver
    Member

    @unhurt, strangely enough I haven't got round to booking my ticket yet. So if still available, maybe I can bags this one?

    (Dunno what I'll do for 5/6 hours in Carlisle mind you).

    Sorry to hear about the injury by the way.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  3. unhurt
    Member

    Sold! I think you might have been lucky to get a bike on; I booked a couple of weeks ago and had to keep checking earlier and earlier. And, ta!

    I still have to collect the tickets from the machine at Waverly (and that needs the card they were bought with) but I'll try to do that in the next few days - I'll PM you about handover!

    Posted 8 years ago #

  4. PS
    Member

    (Dunno what I'll do for 5/6 hours in Carlisle mind you).

    Tullie House and the Castle are good for 3 hours or so, I'd say. The Cathedral's a fine building too.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  5. crowriver
    Member

    @unhurt, cheers! Aye just send us a PM and we'll sort out a convenient time/place. No rush...

    @PS, ta. Good tips. I suppose I'll look into somewhere to have a meal too. Might need to take some lightweight civvies to cover the inevitable lycra with while meandering around town...

    Posted 8 years ago #

  6. sallyhinch
    Member

    There's a good secondhand book shop opposite Tullie house too, or at least there used to be

    Posted 8 years ago #

  7. crowriver
    Member

    @sallyhinch, sounds great. However I expect I'll just be browsing as there may not be room in the saddlebag for books. Also the weight over 100 miles.....well it would help strengthen my legs I suppose. :-)

    Posted 8 years ago #

  8. sallyhinch
    Member

    Good point! Bring a self-addressed jiffy bag and post any finds to yourself? Or just spend a happy hour browsing - that's a bit risky though

    Posted 8 years ago #

  9. unhurt
    Member

    They might be able to post any accidental purchases to you if you can send them the postage? (I am in no way speaking as someone who has bought books while touring and then thought "oh. Hang on...")

    Posted 8 years ago #

  10. crowriver
    Member

    Well any post office is likely to be shut, so.....I did consider the "can you post it to me?" but then may as well buy mail order at my leisure in that case. The question also arises whether I need any new books as I have numerous volumes sitting as yet unread at home. But then that's like asking if you own too many bikes I suppose...

    Oh back on topic, I notice the route for this ride is only available as a GPX. There used to be a service online that would convert GPX to a map and route sheet, but cannot for the life of me recall as it's a couple of years since I used it. Anyone suggest a possible web address/URL? Just in case I get separated from the group/dropped...

    Posted 8 years ago #

  11. chdot
    Admin

    This is what I used to use

    http://www.gpsvisualizer.com

    Posted 8 years ago #

  12. crowriver
    Member

    That's one of them, yep!

    Think there used to a cycling specific one that allowed you to generate cue sheets with turn instructions too. Really don't recall the site though I probably linked to it here years ago...

    EDIT: Found it! Under Kirkpatrick Macmillan Bicentenary thread...

    http://bikeroutetoaster.com/

    Seems to have lost a fair bit of functionality, i.e. no OS maps, and cue sheets for the routes I generated on old version seem to have lost all the turning points: maybe related to the OS maps issue.

    Will maybe find a workaround between this, GPS Visualizer, Googol maps, etc. to generate a decent route/cue sheet.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  13. steveo
    Member

    I like Ride With GPS, it'll generate a cue sheet but I've only used it to generate my own routes so I don't know how well it'll work with an imported file.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  14. chdot
    Admin

    "I like Ride With GPS"

    Yes, it's great for creating routes as it seems to know *most* paths which it just follows when you click the next point using 'follow road' and when it doesn't (eg there is a cut-through you know about or you just want to head across a field), just unclick 'follow road' and it draws a straight line.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  15. Ed1
    Member

    I nearly got the train from Carlisle last week when cycled down but ended up cycling to Galashiels instead and getting it from there.

    I see in the previous post there is reference to a bike reservation, what is this and how is it done? I have only used scot rail before with my bike and either get a bike space or have to hold my bike even when train busy have held it in one of the end parts of the trains and never has any issues.

    On the trains in England can you not walk on with a bike? Are they awkward about bikes in England?

    Posted 8 years ago #

  16. unhurt
    Member

    My ticket was with a Virgin service - you have to reserve by calling, so I rang them to book the ticket too (as there's no way to buy one online then add a bike reservation without risking there being no spaces fro bikes left).

    Posted 8 years ago #

  17. chrisfl
    Member

    @crowriver - Also worth checking out http://cycle.travel The map does routing - but you can add way points to get the route you need, then there is nice PDF map and cuepoints output as well as GPS files.

    Posted 8 years ago #

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