If you would like to advertise your accommodation on the website please contact us at info@cycle-n-sleep.co.uk or telephone 0191 386 5888.

Many overseas and UK cyclists visit the website with 175,000 individual visitors in 2010 and we are mentioned and supported by the Guardian newspaper, Sustrans, cycle magazines and cycle forums on the internet. And below, a raw and random and unedited selection of emails sent to us - some a little bizarre, but mostly sensible.


From home and abroad:

Rebecca, Borneo
"Great to find your website! Long distance cycling in the UK is my 'addiction'... but sadly I don't get to feed the habit that often, being an itinerant English teacher currently ensconced at a school in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo! I guess there are worse places in the world in which to dream about the delights of British cycling (sadly it is far too hot to peddle around here, you'd come down with sunstroke!). I have done the West Country Way, Severn and Thames, Coast to Coast and London to Oxford. I like it best to just head off when the weather looks settled for a while (luckily a job like mine, based on short contracts, provides good windows of time for cycling!). My preference is solo cycling and no dratted mobile phone thingy - the sense of utter freedom is one of the biggest pulls for me; that and the wondering what is around the next corner and the excitement of just going out there to discover! People are always fascinated (and often bemused) by what you're doing, especially for me as a youngish, lone female traveller. Anyway, I have to confess that I visit the Sustrans website now and again to get a 'fix' from afar, which is how I found your site. Even now I have my National Cycle Network map on the wall and plans are always forming in my head... Fakenham to Harwich may well be next on the list! The photos on your site are a great reminder of past trips and I'm sure I'll visit again soon just to remind myself what I'm missing...! All the best."

Shaun, England
"People of all ages and fitness can enjoy cycling at their own pace"- I love cycling but the major cycling glossies make us believe that one has to be able to cycle at 100 mph in spray-on lycra or bounce down cliff in armour in order to be a real cyclist, but this site has done what those mags. couldn't: give me confidence...to believe in my own abilities...this time next year I will have completed the Trans Pennine Trail. I feel focused and I'm in training (at my own pace)... Thanks cycle-n-sleep!."

Ian
"My partner and myself have just planned our Devon C2C cycle route with the help of your wonderful website. We have bought the maps, booked the overnight accommodations and are eagerly awaiting the actual trip in April, many thanks for your informative website."

Frank Womelsdorf, Holland
"Hello, I'm planning to do the Coast & Castles route. I've already ordered my map from Sustrans but due to some delivery problems haven't recieved it yet. In order to plan the stages it would be great to have some information about the mileage. Ideally I'd like to start in Edinburgh and do stages of 50, 80 and 70 miles. It would be a great help for me if you could provide me with some information which towns I could reach so that I can look for accomodation there. Regards."

Carla Heldens Amsterdam
"Two years ago I cycled in North England and Scotland, an experience I greatly enjoyed! So I'm thinking of coming back for more, and found on your website a possible great route. I'm thinking about cycling from Edinburgh to Aberdeen (170 m), then to Inverness, from there via Pitlochry to Glasgow and then back to Edinburgh (86m.) again. The second and third part of that route are parts of longer NCN routes, so it is a bit difficult to guess the mileage I'm looking at. Could you maybe tell me how long this route would be in total? Thank you very much, and my compliments for your interesting and informative website!"

Mr Angry # 1, CTC member
"I find it absurd that you do not mention the CTC (the long established Cycling Touring Club) which has served cyclists for many years. If you really wish to inform cyclists then they should be mentioned on your website ......."   ... erm, what?

George Bewley, USA
"I am wondering whether you could assist me with a question I have regarding the end to end bike ride. Nine of my work colleagues are cycling from John O’Groats to Lands End later this year. I will be driving the van. Originally we proposed two vans, one for transporting the people at the end and beginning of each day, and one for the bikes. We are having great difficulty recruiting a second van driver. Thus my question is can you recommend any vehicle/ vehicle with trailer which could serve both purposes? I have only a normal driving license. The bikes would need to be secure at night time. Any advice you could provide would be most helpful. Thank you very much for your help and with best regards. "

Avgi Doukanari, Norway
"Surfing on your website today and i found it interesting. Could please tell me a bit more about your organisation. For example what do you offer on cycling and what can I do to go cycling in the UK. I hope you reply as a yours ."

Pete
"Hello, I have three questions: 1) I'd like to ride from London to Glasgow. Could you suggest a combination of maps that would complete this route? Or even just suggest who I could ask for a pleasant (but fairly speedy) route? 2) I've spent time in France and Spain in the middle of winter but not the UK. I plan on taking this trip around the middle of December, and I've been told it's not all that pleasant weather wise, is it really that bad? The trip shouldn't take more than a week, I've just been figuring on cold and wet weather be damned, I've got a warm place to stay in Glasgow and a sunny California to return to. Beside cold weather can be quite beautiful while cycling. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm fairly excited about it, let me know if this really is a time I shouldn't be cycling. 3) I've cycled long distance before, but not in UK winter climate, are there any items I should be sure not to forget? Thank you very much"

Jonathon
"A group of us are planning to do the thames putney to oxford bike ride. How long would we expect it to take us? Obviously it depends on speed but if you could give me an indication based on the average - we will be riding mountain bikes and we wont be racing to get there but rather trying to enjoy the ride - what do you think?"

Ruth
"Hi, I have just been looking around your site - love the elevation maps! Very helpful.You mention the North Sea Cycle Route in passing within your site. Do any of you know any good maps or guides for the Norway section? We are trying to work out if it is feasible to do a section with road bikes, of if mountain bikes are better.Thanks ."

F Moussiegt, Holland
"I am not sure I am asking the right persons. If not, please excuse me to waste your time. I'm planning a 1-week trip from Aberdeen to Inverness and I would like to rent a bike (for a 6ft 2in boy, with a rear rack...). I tried to find some addresses on Internet but I don't find anything. Do you know if a site lists some cycle hiring agencies or do you now some addresses in Aberdeen. Thank you for your help. Kind regards, ."

J.
"Good day to you. I thought you might be interested to know of  a recent event at my workplace I am employed by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs - as you know an enormous government body. The building is located right in the town centre of Swindon. We all recently received an email asking for exact usage figures of the cycle shed. They want to know the figures because the landlord charges rent for this shed and the higher management have decided that it is too expensive at around £800 per year. They are currently discussing the amount of use the shed gets with the intention of ending the lease and getting rid of any safe storage for our cycles. Whilst the MP's are on TV telling us that we should all stop using our cars, they are quietly getting rid of a basic need to enable people to use bikes. This rather shoots your organisation in the back. I wonder if you would have any forum at which you could raise this issue, when I questioned it, I was simply ignored."

Katrien Seynaeve en Bart Van Santvliet Zoesel, Belgium
"We decided to make a cycling trip through the UK from august 10th of august 31th. Therefore we want to order the Sustrans maps of different routes on-line. Can you tell us how many time it takes to send the maps to Belgium ? It is important because we need them before we leave.  Thank you in advance for your answer and for your site!  Best regards."

Simon Jones
"Hello. I am organising a charity cycle ride that follows the Pennine Cycleway from Berwick to Derby, and then continues on to St. Albans, the HQ of the charity that is to benefit from the event. I was wondering if you would be so kind as to allow the use of some of the photos from the cycle-n-sleep website to assist me with my promotional literature, and recruiting cyclists. Many thanks."  Of course.

Ed, New Zealand
"Congratulations on providing such an extraordinarily excellent website regarding my favourite pastime. My team of four are doing the London - Bristol - Holyhead - Dublin - Sligo - Belfast - Troon - Edinburgh - Heysham - Isle of Man - Liverpool - Gloucester - Salisbury - London circuit next August, finishing at the International Cycle Show 24 September. My only grumble with your otherwise perfect site, is that the Lon Las Cymru route elevation profile doesn't print right across, even on A3 landscape. Maybe the large amount of base colour in the elevation pics is unnecessary. Best regards."

Mr Angry # 2 (grumpy council worker)
"As an employee of Northumberland county council I work at Ford Castle.  On your website you have a very nice picture of our castle but unfortunately it has been taken on private property (it wasn't as far as we were aware and we're only encouraging people to visit your castle) and as the castle is used by paying customers we would rather the picture was removed.  May I suggest you put a picture of Etal castle in its place, which is managed by English Heritage, I am sure they would appreciate the publicity."   Said in a bad mood.

Anita van Golstein Brouwers
"Dear sirs, My friend and I are planning a cycle holiday in June. We come from holland by boat and like to try the coast and castle route. We would like to make use of the camping sites along the route. However, I can't find any camping sites between Berkwick-upon-tweed and Edinburgh. Do you know if there are camping sites and would it be possible to receive the adresses? Thanks. It would help us a lot! Many greatings."

Anice Gilchrist
"Greetings!   Thanks for such an informative site. Have just found it via a link from cycling plus forum.  It is brilliant and is SO useful as I think about what route to take when I cycle from Beachy Head to Cape Wrath next May.   I am a sustrans supporter and will probably end up getting a set of their maps, though at this moment their combined weight and cost is making me try to think of other options.   After finding it tonight I have got really enthused again about my forthcoming journey,THANKS!"

Carla Heldens Amsterdam
"Hello, Two years ago I cycled in North England and Scotland, an experience I greatly enjoyed! So I'm thinking of coming back for more, and found on your website a possible great route. I'm thinking about cycling from Edinburgh to Aberdeen (170 m), then to Inverness, from there via Pitlochry to Glasgow and then back to Edinburgh (86m.) again. The second and third part of that route are parts of longer NCN routes, so it is a bit difficult to guess the mileage I'm looking at. Could you maybe tell me how long this route would be in total? Thank you very much, and my compliments for your interesting and informative website!"

Will Potter
"Dear cycle-n-sleep.co.uk, I'm interested in planning a cycle route from York to Cambridge to be completed within the next few months and was wondering if you could give me a few tips on where to find information, how best to plan etc. Even if your feedback just gets me on the right track (excuse the pun) it would be a great help. Thank you in advance."

A.N. (keeping us upto date - thanks)
"Hi Firstly, thank you very much for your extremely useful site- I completed edinburgh-aberdeen-j.o.g. with a couple of mates having printed out various bits of info from it. Coupla bits of info that need updating tho: Cycle repair shop at Burntisland (Redpath Cycles) no longer exists! It is now a pine shop, as we found to our dismay. Also, many of the cycle shops in the kingdom of fife are closed on wednesday afternoons (an unfortunate time to get a bent wheel). But not the one in St Andrews. However, Scotrail is not great for travelling by bike at impromptu moments. There is, however, a cycle repair shop in Invergordon (north of Dingwall) that we only came across by local recommendation (owner of a local YH told us about it). It's called Ken Ross Cycles, and is on the corner of Munro St and High St in Invergordon. Anyway, many thanks again, and keep up the good work."

Dawn Lillie, Disabled United 
"I am writing to you to ask if you are able to help us. We are www.disabledunited.com a portal website for Disabled People with over 100,000 visitors each month.   We are currently in the process of updating our website to include many new sections, one being a Sports Section.  We wish to cover all aspects of sports and disability.  Would it be possible for us to use information from your website or information provided by you for this Section? We will of course acknowledge your organisation as the source of the information. I look forward to hearing from you.  Kind Regards,  dawn@disabledunited.com Tel: 0208 679 7622."

Mr Disgruntled
"Hi! I was browsing thro Google and came across your site. Very good looking. However the coverage on Lon Las Cymru is minimal and does disservice to the route." (That's all there was to this  message - help us, what do you want? )

L.Topp
"Dear Sir/Madam. In May or June, I would like to cycle from Salisbury to Durdle Door through Wareham. I have listed the names of places I will cycle through down below. Please can you tell me if this is the right way to go & can you recommend any maps or guides which will cover these places, & any recommended places to stay? Any advice would be most helpful. With thanks. Yours sincerely."

Jemma
"My son is 10 years old and will be starting senior school next year. Can you please tell me where he can take the cycling proficiency test. He currently goes to St Stephens Junior School, Kingswood and I know that they do not do the test. So could you please let us know where he can take the test and how much it will cost."

Vicky Gough
"I am a carer for looked after children in order for the young people i work with to use a bicycle they have to have completed their cycling proficiency test, could you give me details of where they could do it or who to contact to get details in the Stockport or Manchester area this would be a great help Thank you."

M. van Asperen, Utrecht, Netherlands
"Dear all, please, will you send me information about bike-tours with hotels in the south of England. Thank you very much."

Alberto Baldaque, Portugal
"Greetings from Porto, Portugal. My name is Alberto and I'm planning going on a cycle adventure in the UK. My idea was to make the Severn & Thames route, or the Thames valley route, or even perhaps the Severn & Thames route catching the train on Newbury to Reading and heading to Oxford on bike and returning to London by train. I'd like some opinions on both routes and if it's possible to give me contactos for accommodation between Gloucester and Bradford-on-Avon and between London and Oxford."

Jane, Bristol
"Thanks for a really great website - just what I've been searching for - train routes to help plan, and lots of photos and interest to inspire me !!"

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