2024 Summer Tour - Postscript

I thought it might be helpful to record some of the technical information pertaining to the tour.

The bike – we rode the Thorn Raven Twin tandem we’d bought back in 2013. This was reviewed over several blog posts on this site. The tandem worked pretty well until the final day of cycling, when the front seatpost snapped, rendering it unrideable. That’s only the second time in my life I’ve had a seatpost snap. Other than that, we found that gear shifting seemed a bit sticky. Perhaps an oil change for the Rohloff hub is due. 

I’d also recommend that anyone speccing a tandem should see if S&S couplings are available. Being able to split the tandem makes it easy to transport in a car (in the UK you can’t put a tandem on a train). 

Back to the sheared seatpost. When we got home, I tried to remove the remaining seatpost section, but to no avail. I started adding penetrating oil, and stripped down the rear frame section to enable me to turn it upside down and add PlusGas to the bottom ofthe seatpost. I doubt I’ll be able to shift it though, as I can’t get a good purchase on the 1cm that’s protruding above the seat tube bolt. But you never know. If I make no progress I’m planning to take it to The Seatpost Man in a few weeks’ time. 

Cycle bags – We used Ortlieb panniers front and rear. I can’t recall the model, but these are the ones without lids. The great majority of touring cyclists (maybe 90%) we encountered were also using Ortlieb bags. Our handlebar bag is also an Ortlieb but has seen better days and may be replaced with a newer model. I’m still using my ancient black cotton duck saddlebag. It’s a Karrimor dating from when it was a ‘real’ brand. It must be over 50 years old! 

Cameras – I mostly used my Samsung phone for stills and videos. I’ve reduced the image resolution for this website. I have difficulty keeping it level especially in strong winds. I brought a Cycliq Fly12 Sport front light/camera, which I only used occasionally. In use, the map holder on the handlebar bag was mostly visible – it could be usable if mounted elsewhere, but really it’s not ideal. I also took a Hover X1 flying camera. This isn’t really a drone as much as a flying selfie camera. In practice I wasn’t keen to use it when it was raining or in high winds and only used it on one occasion. 

Clothing - Over the years I’ve increasingly used my racing kit while touring and this seems to be widespread practice. I found my fluorescent orange Castelli Perfetto ROS jacket performed really well in the lighter rain and wind. 

Maps and Guidebooks – I bought a new 4 miles to the inch OS map of Northwestern Scotland to replace our very out of date and battered on. On the plus side, our whole tour is covered on one map. On the downside, this map doesn’t have the very useful ‘lollipop’ distance markers. The Phillips Tourist map of the Outer Hebrides is great for locating places of interest, but beware, some of these are hard to find. 

On a previous trip, we stayed at a B&B run by the author of the Cicerone guidebook to Cycling in the Hebrides – I think our copy is an earlier edition than the one in the link which looks to have been updated to include the Hebridean Way. The book is full of really good advice about cycle touring (preparations and what to take) as well as detailed descriptions of cycle routes. Pocket-sized, so it’s easy to stuff in the handlebar bag. 

The car – as usual, we paid for under cover storage for the car during our trip. The company we’d previously used no longer offer this service, so we went with Stoddarts. Really nice, friendly and efficient.