LEL Stage by Stage Breakdown

[alwyn]

@alwyn, I rode the route from Langdon Beck to Great Smeaton at the weekend, no roadworks present or notified and pretty good surfaces throughout 

That is a relief.  Resurfacing works, or rather indeterminate news about them, are soaking up inordinate amounts of time.

[Lightning Phil]

Moffat to Dunfermline is indeed a long leg but it passes through Biggar  and last time that I was there , it had plenty of shops.

Excellent news, saved me the job of having a look.

[abc123]

Moffat to Dunfermline is indeed a long leg but it passes through Biggar  and last time that I was there , it had plenty of shops.

Shops in Broughton, Biggar, Carnwath, and if you really get peckish before the bridge, Kirknewton, Newbridge and Kirkliston!
It's not a particularly remote part of the world.

[Lightning Phil]

Doesn’t have to be remote, all you need is a route that avoids passing anywhere with a shop.  The fens can quite good at that, even though not remote.

[quixoticgeek]

Doesn’t have to be remote, all you need is a route that avoids passing anywhere with a shop.  The fens can quite good at that, even though not remote.

Or bad timing so you miss the opening hours...

J

[aidan.f]

Broughton village shop is a bit limited  there's a cafe on the left turn at the North end of the village  I only found Biggar Co-Op on my third visit. Well stocked and well hidden. Several cafes.

[Tomsk]

I've printed the route sheet - ok, technical question from a non-technical person: How do I enlarge the section J, Dunfemline to Innerleithen (with all the fiddly Edinburgh cyclepath bits) - ideally to go up to two sides of A4? It's a bit tiny compared to the other (simpler!) sections.

[Lightning Phil]

You should be able to do that via the printer options.  There are usually scaling options in excel print options.  You want to scale to fit the columns to width (of printer page) when printing that section. Combined with print both sides, should achieve what you want.

[Tomsk]

Thanks Phil, I must have another go - did try applying younger people to the task first!

[Lightning Phil]

If you can’t get it to print out A4 double sided, then let me know, and I’ll get that section scaled to an A4 PDF and email over.  I do this sort of thing with my event start lists all the time.

[zacklaws]

The problem I can see with a quick look is, the Dunfermline to Innerleithen has smaller row heights, hence a smaller font, than the other route cards to make it fit I presume onto one sheet of A4. The scaling for that route card is only 92% which has reduce the font size.

If you go into page layout and scaling and make it 100%, it will make the row heights bigger and the font slightly bigger and matches the other route cards. But, it is not much of an increase as it only overflows onto a 2nd sheet of A4 by only about 4 rows but the font itself is big enough to read. If you try to increase the scaling more than 105%, you will find that it will overflow onto another page width ways which is no good, unless you then change the orientation to landscape from portrait and then you can scale it up to a maximum of 150% and print it out on to 2 and a 1/4 sheets of A4 (landscape) for maximum font size, 125% will give you just 2 sheets of A4 landscape for less paper usage.

I just extracted the text into "Word" as it is easier to format and printed it out onto A6 sheets. The route card in question for me fits onto 4 and a bit A6 sheets, equivalent to just slightly more than 1 side of a sheet of A4 which is the same as what I get when I change it from 92% to 100%.

[Tomsk]

Lightning Phil has come up trumps and done it for me! It would have a taken a while even to psych myself up to tackling the task ...

[Ajax Bay]

Yad Moss being avoided both ways (road closure) by a 'scenic' cut over into Weardale (and thence to Alston, reverse route south). Turning north out of Teesdale at Newbiggin and up to Swinhope Head (607m). Bonus passage of Killhope Bank (623m). Diversion is less than 4km longer. Gears may be needed.

[L CC]

Yad Moss being avoided both ways (road closure) by a 'scenic' cut over into Weardale (and thence to Alston, reverse route south). Turning north out of Teesdale at Newbiggin and up to Swinhope Head (607m). Bonus passage of Killhope Bank (623m). Diversion is less than 4km longer. Gears may be needed.

Is that a joke or for realz? I'm not riding (& wouldn't even if I were fit) but lordy, that raises an eyebrow. Or two.

[Feanor]

It's real.

(I do wonder how impermeable the road works are to cyclists.)

[Lightning Phil]

The cattle grids (being replaced) can be bypassed by the gates at the side. I bet a cyclist on their own would get through. But I can see that Danial would not want to route almost a couple of thousand riders that way, including international riders.

I’m on a later start and suspect I’ll hit that section as it gets dark.  Unless they are working through night it would be prime time to get past the works. Since route is mandatory we either all go via the diversion or not. No seeing if you can get through as per advisory routes of past years.

[alwyn]

Just to confirm our secret control does not lie between Middleton and Alston. So if you think the road closure doesn’t “really” exist you are welcome to take the direct route.

Honestly, do you think I just make this stuff up out of boredom? 

[zacklaws]

Just when I though it had been safe to print out and laminate the route card, looks like another job to do now last minute.

Just to confirm to any doubters it is real.  Note the following diversion is for vehicles and not the LEL riders diversion which we have to take. (Part of it is though).

https://www.durham.gov.uk/media/40327/Crook-Burn-Cattle-Grid-B6277-Harwood-in-Teesdale-Temporary-Road-Closure-Order-2022/pdf/CrookBurnCattleGridB6277HarwoodInTeesdaleTemporaryRoadClosureOrder2022.pdf?m=637931523087570000

The Cattle Grid in question:-

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4703300

[howdee]

Just to confirm our secret control does not lie between Middleton and Alston. So if you think the road closure doesn’t “really” exist you are welcome to take the direct route.

Honestly, do you think I just make this stuff up out of boredom? 

alwyn, I can imagine how frustrating it must be getting faced with this, at such a late stage. Did the engineer mention if the closure applies only to vehicles, or to pedestrians as well?

[alwyn]

The works will be sporadic. However when they aren’t happening the whole site will be fenced off to prevent sheep on’t road. The closure is total. The manager responsible told me and sent me the site plans. Then called me again to discuss diversions.

Can a single pedestrian get through? Probably. A group? Yeah probably. 1800 cyclists, twice, over three days. No chance at all.

[alwyn]

Is that a joke or for realz? I'm not riding (& wouldn't even if I were fit) but lordy, that raises an eyebrow. Or two.

Oh this is just adorable! “I’m not riding your event, and nor would I anyway. But if I were riding this event I would never ride I would not be happy about this.”

Never stop being you, babes.

[Ivo]

I checked part of the new route on streetview. I would not only recommend gears but also double headlights if you're here in the dark. You'll need them if you want to descend at speed.

[aidan.f]

However when they aren’t happening the whole site will be fenced off to prevent sheep on’t road. The closure is total.

I suspect DCC have 'learnt' from the experience of closing the B6276 for similar works. In this instance the gate was left available for peds and cyclists. This was of course abused by motons. The bypass disintegrated into a mudbath. I had to resort to trike portage across the moor and hop over fence. On one occasion late at night a recovery truck towing a trailer was firmly stuck. Land rover man attempting to pull the whole lot through and churning up more moorland

[aidan.f]

I checked part of the new route on streetview. I would not only recommend gears but also double headlights if you're here in the dark. You'll need them if you want to descend at speed.

The Teesdale (Newbiggen) - Weardale climb is rough on the Southern side with a fair albeit steep descent to Weardale.
The A689 rumble strips on the descent to Nenthead are 'disconcerting' and just before a bend.
IMO here should be be a warning specifically for cyclists
https://maps.app.goo.gl/odueeJkEvm2PEmtQ7

[Lightning Phil]

Looking at Stanhope , there are no chevrons when coming up from the south. When approaching from north, there’s a chevron at very bottom and a chevron just below summit.