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There have been threads in this Help Forum about the choice between the use of a mobile phone with the cycle.travel app or a dedicated cycling computer (sometimes called a head unit or just a GPS). As others have explained, your decision depends on your type of riding.
I use Wahoo devices and I thought it might be helpful if I offer some visual evidence to show what this looks like in practice - Wahoo devices have screen record capability. This is what you see on the handlebars as you ride along. These are also my offerings of the most boring videos ever to go on public view.
The route was planned using cycle.travel, and downloaded as “GPX Track” format with C.T’s elevation data. It is 47.7 km (30 miles) mostly in Dorset, and passes along roads with such splendid names as Horsey Knap and Tilly Whim Lane. The turn-by-turn announcements that appear on screen are generated by Wahoo, rather than cycle.travel.
Wahoo Elemnt Roam: The first video shows navigation using the “map page” on a Wahoo Elemnt Roam v2. For those used to the high-resolution screen of a smartphone, this will look odd, but don’t be discouraged: on the small (2.7 inch) screen of a cycling computer on the handlebars at arms’ length, this is adequately clear. The lower resolution is the trade-off for ~15 hours always-on display and weatherproofing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u0jyMsXXfc
Wahoo Elemnt Ace: The second video is navigation of the same route on the map page of a Wahoo Elemnt Ace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwbWu5ipo3E
I apologise for the duration (2 hours 44 minutes), but these are screen captures of a real-world ride. You could think of this as sakte-TV (slow television).
There are also screen recording methods for other cycling computers, and I would encourage someone else to upload comparable (preferably shorter) videos for other equipment. For Garmin, see for example Shane Miller’s “GP Lama” cycling technology channel, that explains how this may be done:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DM_aF8oLd4
This travelogue is only partly about cycling, but hopefully you will find it interesting. First the long drive up and back, but with stops as part of our ongoing quest to visit the open-air swimming pools described in Emma Pusill and Janet Wilkinson’s wonderful book The Lido Guide:
The lido at Gourock was splendid: perched on the edge of the Firth of Clyde with views of the Trossachs, salt water and heated to 29 C (oh bliss). Those at Shap, Hunsonby and Ilkley were ‘refreshing’ (typically 16 C). The Trinkie just south of Wick was a sea-pool (concrete walls retaining the tide) rather than a true lido, but it had been damaged by Storm Babet in October 2023, so only a brief slippery paddle among the seaweed.
So, onward to Orkney Mainland by the Scrabster-Stromness ferry, and to Kirkwall. The second purpose of this trip was to go to some of the Orkney Folk Festival with acts from around the world performing across the islands between 22 and 25 May: https://orkneyfolkfestival.com/. We had done well to arrange accommodation well in advance, as everywhere was fully booked – several musicians were camping in tents on Market Green in Stromness. The main opening and closing concerts had sold out within minutes of going on sale, but we went to events in Tankerness, Stromness Parish Church and the Pickaquoy Centre. Particularly superb was the folk band Frigg from Finland. Don’t miss them if they perform anywhere nearby: https://frigg.fi/en.
And to the cycling. I had known that the islands are not particularly mountainous, with rolling farmland and few trees. Slightly unusual conditions as well: wind from the north but not cold. It wasn’t as windy as it can be, but I still found myself buffeted and riding leaning to compensate.
Ride 1: Southwards from Kirkwall, past the small airport with its name “Krimsitir” (Grimsetter) in runes above the small terminal building. Onward to the WW2 Italian Chapel, and continuing to Olad summit (119 metres elevation) with its view across Pentland Firth to Caithness – the plaque emphasising that it is closer to Bergen (316 miles) than London (520 miles).
Ride 2: Westward this time, stopping briefly at the Stones of Stenness then into Stromness ready to cross to Moaness on the Isle of Hoy, the small passenger ferry (MV Graemsay) bucking vigorously as it crossed the wake of the larger incoming Northlink ferry Hamnavoe. Continuing westwards on Hoy to the remote village of Rackwick, its crofters’ cottages scattered in the shelter of Moor Pea, and the small beach edged with giant pebbles. The most remote of these cottages, Dunnertoon, was the home of composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies from 1971 until 1999: https://hoyheritage.co.uk/portfolio/sir-peter-maxwell-davies/. Back to the east side of the island, and south before taking the small car ferry (MV Hoy Head) from Lyness to Houton – perishingly cold when perched on the high-level open side deck while crossing Scapa Flow.
Ride 3: Northwards this time, and still a slog with the wind shifting more towards the west. I was grateful to find the Birsay tea rooms (open Thursday to Monday only), before visiting the ruins of the Earl of Birsay’s palace. Partly wind-assisted ride back around the east of Mainland, and past one of the vast cruise ships that stop in Inganess Bay; this one I think was the Fantasia-class MSC Preziosa (capacity for 4,345 passengers) that had travelled from Akureyri in Iceland and was due to sail on to Hamburg. I enjoyed using the MarineTraffic app to see what ships where in harbour.
One final memory: while walking along Albert Street in Kirkwall, we were surprised by tooting of the horn of a van as it passed with several young women smiling in the open back, one of whom wore pyjamas covered in molasses. A resident explained that this was a “blackening,” the rural Scottish wedding custom where the “captured” bride-to-be is decorated and paraded publicly – see Wikipedia. We later saw the laughing intended bride being tied to the Mercat (or market) cross with clingfilm. Fortunately, this is a replica of the 1621 cross; the original is now inside St Magnus cathedral.
Diversion for part of National Cycling Network route 23 near Winchester, for the duration of the construction of the new M3-A34 interchange. The existing route is scheduled to be closed from 31 March 2025 until 31 December 2026.
Information from cyclewinchester.org.uk.
This posting relates only indirectly to cycle.travel, but will affect anyone who tries to use it for any route that attempts to follow NCN Route 23 at Easton Lane on the edge of Winchester, so I am offering an early warning.
Yesterday (24 March 2025) I rode from Winchester to Alresford, and was dismayed to find signs declaring that from 31 March 2025 until 31 December 2026 the cycle path that crosses the motorway will be closed, with no apparent alternative. This is part of NCN Route 23.
This is due to the vast construction site for the new M3-A34 interchange, estimated to cost £322 million. Workmen had already jumped the gun by putting barriers across the path.
Readers of my earlier travelogues may guess that I am fascinated by enclaves and exclaves – “a portion of territory of one state completely surrounded by territory of another or others.” I was surprised to read on Wikipedia that until 1844 there were several parts of Wiltshire that were distantly detached from the main part of that county. This is a day ride to visit those exclaves. It may look as though I had lost my sense of direction and had gone astray, but the route is a consequence of the irregular polygon exclave boundaries.
I must confess that I had thought that it was nonsense that there could have been Wiltshire exclaves separated from the county by as much as thirty miles: either a misinterpretation of the historical record or a cartographer’s joke, but visual evidence on this ride confirms that it was indeed true.
Starting from Mortimer railway station, the ride followed quiet lanes until crossing over the M4, then good cycle paths through the centre of Reading, parallel to the A4 London to Bath road, and a short distance in the direction of Wargrave to the northernmost tip of one exclave. Turning back and into the centre of Twyford where there was apparently a tiny exclave (no more than 180 metres in length) where Waitrose is now (although the adjacent Tesco was Berkshire).
Continuing southwards along The Straight Mile where the exclave narrowed to a strip only the width of the road before widening again. The railway line and A329(M) dual carriageway form a barrier to the strict exclave perimeter, so I continued through Amen Corner and crossed using the large footbridge – presumably built for people to walk to work (um…) – and into the large new Peacock Farm housing area, where credit is due for incorporating a network of new cycle paths. North again, then along the Forest Road, and turning south at the Warren House Roundabout (Bracknell has been described as roundabout-ey) and into Wokingham for a stop for coffee and food.
Heading northwards again, I spotted an old metal boundary marker at the corner of Rose Street and (duh) Wiltshire Road that said “Berks” on one side and “Wokingham Wilts” on the other. Gob well and truly smacked. Do the residents know that they are Moonrakers?
Onwards with short excursions along the lanes that surround the M4-A329(M) interchange, where old Wiltshire wrapped around Berkshire, then to Hurst and past The Castle Inn with its old winged wheel Cyclists' Touring Club plaque, before turning south again at Whistley Green.
Away from the Wokingham-Twyford exclave, and to a separate Wiltshire patch around Farley Hill south of Arborfield Green. I did get lost a bit here, as I had hoped to cross over the River Blackwater but the fords proved unfordable. Finally, into the remaining historic exclave at Swallowfield and through Riseley to return to the railway station.
Perhaps it is time for a campaign to repeal The Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844, so that Wiltshire can reclaim its historic territory?
Made in the Cotswolds. Published by Éditions Système D Ltd.
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