Cardiff to London

I've long had a vague idea that it would be a fine thing to take a few days and cycle from London back home to Cardiff. Dr. Rob's passing comment - as we were propelling our bikes along the canal in Bradford on Avon last weekend - that the towpath could be followed all the way to Reading started to put some flesh on the bones of the idea.

I've been looking at the systrans website and they publish maps that between them cover pretty much the whole route:

• London to Oxford http://www.sustransshop.co.uk/index.php?f=itemdetl.php&p=NN5A
• Reading to Bristol http://www.sustransshop.co.uk/index.php?f=itemdetl.php&p=FPT11
• Swansea to Chepstow http://www.sustransshop.co.uk/index.php?f=itemdetl.php&p=NN4B

The only mystery remaining seems to be the detail of how to get across the River Severn. A 2.5 MB PDF of the National Cylce Network shows a "traffic free section" that I guess goes across the bridge, but I've no further information on exactly how that works, and I am also too dim to know if it is the old or new bridge. Otherwise things are starting to shape up. I think it would be best to budget three days for the trip rather than two so as to allow space to "you know, walk the earth, meet people... get into adventures, like Caine from Kung Fu."

Something else that has struck me is that it would probably be shrewder to take my bike on the train to Cardiff and then cycle to London rather than vice versa, as that way I will arrive at my gaff at the end of the journey and collapse onto my own bed rather than having to get back on the train while nursing aching limbs.

Watch this space.