My wife fancied a holiday in the West Country (for those non-UK based this is generally the counties of Devon and Cornwall). I'd rather have gone to the French Alps or Pyrenees to be honest but there were things we both wanted to do in Cornwall. However she suggested splitting the holiday into two parts - Part 1 to be cycling the West Country Way route and Part 2 a week in Cornwall. The West Country Way is a National Cycle Network route (Route 3 to be precise) from Bristol to Bude. So I had a quick initial look and it looked interesting - and different.
Nearly all my cycling is in a loop - i.e. I start and finish at the same place and this proposal would be around 200 miles of point to point cycling. It seemed that splitting it into 4 days, each of 50 miles, would be a practical balance of distance and time needed each day - typically I can manage between 15-16mph so that meant a nominal 4 hours cycling per day leaving us time to do things together in the afternoon /evening.
Also there were reasonably sized towns at these 50 miles intervals. Using these towns suggested that the route and daily itinerary could be
Day 1: Bristol to Bridgwater (48 miles)
Day 2: Bridgwater to Tiverton (48 miles)
Day 3: Tiverton to Barnstaple (51 miles)
Day 4: Barnstaple to Bude (53 miles)
The distances were nor necessarily the distances if you rode NCN 3 exactly (or as exactly as possible) as I planned in the hotels and B&B at the end of each day as well
It was actually quite hard to find the route. You would expect that being a "NCN" route that there would be a website with these shown - however I was unable to find anything. I think that NCN has died a death from a lack of funding, interest or bureaucratic obstacles or other things as well.
The former was a very high level description of the route and the latter a bit more of a personal web page generated by a couple who had cycled the route in 2008 (although they went Bristol to Bath for example on day 1 so it's not quite the same route).
This is what I ended up using to plan my route. I used Strava as the actual route planning tool as the Heatmap can be useful and it synchronises easily with my Garmin.
Given the loose itinerary my wife then booked hotels or B&B on the route and I adapted my route planning to either end at the accommodation or in a supermarket carpark where my wife would be able to easily park and wait.
And with this planning done we we left for Bristol on Monday 26 June. We had a good journey down and checked in at the City centre Hotel we'd booked, and then had pleasant afternoon in Bristol (we'd only paid a fleeting visit many years before).
We had a boat ride in the docks and took a tourist bus ride. Here's a few shots of both:
SS Great Britain
Bristol Docks
SS Great Britain
Bristol Docks
Clifton Suspension bridge
Clifton Suspension bridge
Bristol Templemeads Station
Day 1: Bristol to Bridgwater
Tuesday 27 June was the first ride day. My wife didn't fancy driving out of Bristol at rush hour so I drove about 3 miles out and we found a sports centre with car park on the route that was ideal as a starting point. I am quite glad that we drove out as the traffic wasn't that great and it was quite a lot of climbing just to get to the sports ground.
So I got the bike out the car, got sorted and set off.
The actual route I rode is here:
I stopped to take a few photos at Chew Valley Lake which I'd ridden past a number of years previously:
As you can see from the route profile the big challenge was climbing the Mendips that started at West Harptree, just after Chew Valley Lake. This was a pretty tough climb - 0.75 miles at average 10% although relatively flat once I'd got to the top of the Mendips.
A bit of poor route planning saw me off down a farm track which deteriorated to a very stony rocky path before re-joining the road. Definitely not good on a road bike with 23mm tyres. This is hard to tell on the Strava route planner and whilst it does show Surface type it's not always reliable.
The descent down from the Mendips at, I think Ebbor, was horrible though - very steep and un-even and I kept unloading the rear wheel so it was skipping and skidding a lot. There were a few people cycling up and they looked like they were having a really tough time. I am glad I was going down here.
The next main point of interest was Glastonbury Tor. Here My Garmin pointed me right on the route I'd planned - but immediately I ruled it out - it was a strip of farmers double track up the side of a hill. I stopped and looked at my Garmin and could see a way to do 2 sides of a triangle and re-join the planned route. I followed the alternative (all the time my Garmin telling me to re-route somewhere I didn't expect it to be telling me).
This is an example of the inconsistency of the NCN signage as this was another area where there was a lack of signs. There were no signs on my planned route (suggesting I had misinterpreted the route. Sometimes the route was really well marked - at other times the signs seemed to disappear completely and if I didn't have the route on my Garmin I'd be completely lost (spoiler alert - this wasn't the first time I got lost).
After a climb towards the Tor and a bit of following my Garmin trying to re-route itself I realised I was going in the wrong direction and decided to reverse and try another road - only to find that when I arrived back at the last junction that there was a NCN 3 sign - but hidden in a non-obvious place and with a lot of greenery front of it.
After a few shots of Glastonbury Tor I continued on to the Somerset Levels. It started to spit with rain and I momentarily cursed myself for not bringing my waterproof but fortunately it was not cold and eased up quite quickly. The route to Bridgwater from Glastonbury was reasonably well signed but after a period where the signs disappeared again I came to a very main road that there was no way I was going to cycle along - an A road with 60mph limit and full of lorries.
So I had to retrace my route back to the last village and try and look at a route that would take me to Bridgwater but not on the road. I made a bit of a guess and fortunately after a few more miles came back to the NCN 3 route. Where I'd missed the signs I really don't know The route dropped onto the back of King's Sedgemoor Drain - to quote Wikipedia: "an artificial drainage channel which diverts the River Cary in Somerset, England along the southern flank of the Polden Hills, to discharge into the River Parrett at Dunball near Bridgwater." so this was fast and easy stretch. After leaving the of the river bank again signage was poor but I was able to mange to navigate with my Garmin and a sense of direction to get into Bridgwater and meet my wife in a Costa Coffee (other coffee chains are available) for a coffee and piece of cake What with losing the signs a few times and needing to divert for the main road the actual ride data was:
So I had ridden another 5 miles or so over the planned distance, and I was a lot slower that the 15-16mph average I was assuming I would achieve.
Day 2: Bridgwater to Tiverton
Day 2 started from the B&B we stayed at in Woolavington. This is about 5 miles NE of Bridgwater so I had to ride back to Bridgwater to get back to the proper WCW route. Unfortunately I mad a bit of an error with the planning and ended up on the A38 for a mile or so which was not pleasant when the path ran out. I had about a mile or so to ride before I was able to get onto a cycle path. After a short ride through an industrial estate I was back on the WCM properly and following the banks of the River Parrett, before leaving the river, crossing under the M5 and joining the towpath of the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal. At this point (as I had not joined the canal in Bridgwater itself I had about 10-12 miles of towpath to ride). Clearly this was a very flat section, but the surface was quite mixed so at times I was able to make sensible progress and at others it was slow - especially as I was on a standard road bike with 23 mm tyres.
I ran my GoPro on and off for the canal section - here's a link:
I had not realised before but during the Second World War this canal was employed as part of the Taunton Stop Line, a defensive line which followed the course of canals and railway embankments from the mouth of the Parrett to Seaton on the south coast. A number of Pill Boxes can be seen in the video.
I reached Taunton easily but again i could not find and NCN 3 signs in the town and spent some time meandering around before I finally managed to find the route. Without my Garmin I would have been completely stuck.
I normally wear glasses but use contact lenses to cycle in. The contact lens prescription is a compromise and is biased to longer site - what I realised is that my eyes had slowly changed and I found it hard to either read my Garmin easily or my phone which didn't help trying to look at these small screens.
After the fully flat route so far the it started to gently gain height as we headed for Tiverton. There was a point where the road was very muddy and rutted and although I was riding to try and avoid the worst of the surface damage there was a bang and I knew I'd got a puncture. I cycled on a few 100 yards or so and set about fixing it.
However - shock horror - the state of my tyres was awful. I'd put my lighter spare wheels on for the holiday to give me help on the hills ahead in the week ahead but I'd not used these wheels since the holiday last year. I knew the tyres were getting to the end of life and anticipated changing them after the holiday but what I'd not realised is quite how bad they were. I texted my wife to tell her the issue, swapped the tube and road very carefully for the rest of the day. Here's a couple of pictures of them at the end of the ride when I git back to the car:
I carried on riding (needlessly to say very carefully)and made good progress. Around Holcomb Rogus I saw a NCN 3 sign in the opposite direction to my route planning. I decided to trust my map plotting as at least I could follow a route. I rode about 2 miles and saw no further NCN signs so tuned round back to the last NCN sign I'd seen. I then tried following the sign but again saw no signs, so turned round again and went back to where I'd last turned. I then got my phone out to look at the plotted route - but there was next to no signal. After some consideration I decided that I'd take the road the went generally South Westerly as I know this was the direction of Tiverton, and fortunately after 3-4 miles I came across the signs again. Unfortunately after a further few miles the route re-joined the Grand Western Canal so I was back on a gravelly canal towpath with some pretty tired tyres, so another nervous stretch. Looking at the map it may have been that NCN 3 was actually meant to follow the towpath. Fortunately the stretch was not too long and I was back on a short stretch of road before dropping down for a couple of miles on an old railway to run in to Tiverton.
I made a short video of this stretch here:
So - day 2 out of the way - a little more adventurous with getting lost twice, a puncture and very tired tyres. We then drove around a bit and fortunately there was a Halfords in Tiverton and I was able to get an adequate tyre from their limited stock - in this case the only real choice was a Schwalbe Durano Plus in 25mm. The trye clearance on my Scott is very small and I have always run 23mm tyres so far but the 25mm were ok and I never had any issues of rubbing on the frame once fitted
Here's the data:
Day 3:Tiverton to Barnstaple (51 miles)
Day 3 dawned bright and sunny (and was the best day of the 4). With my new tyre on I felt the bike was back to 100% and based on the 2 previous navigational issues I played safe and downloaded the route to my phone (via the Strava App) and took my reading glasses, in case I got lost.
I set off with some trepidation as the route planning showed that this would potentially be the toughest day in terms of climbing with over 4000ft in 45-50 miles, and over the first 5-6 miles there was some climbing - not too steep but consistent and long. I was then partially lulled into a sense of false security because then I arrived at Dulverton - The Strava segment was Andrews Hill to the Ridge. It was a beast and I didn't get far before I had to walk - it was over 17% and I had had 2 hard days before. I walked up in the heat, got back on again but then gad to get off and walk again - It was a killer. Here's my segment data:
However once at the top it was a lot easier and whilst there was a lot more climbing to come on to Exmoor National Park it was always manageable and and never too steep or long. The weather was sunny and warm (if a little windy) on the top of Exmoor but this gave fantastic views. There was very little traffic so was a pleasure to cycle. The descent off Exmoor started around Challacomb but then there was another beast of a climb - Leworthy Hill:
Again - I had to walk - in fact I can't even remember what the hill was like now other than awful. I must be able to walk faster than others though as I was ~410 of 1100 people up the climb!
After this it was a rolling but continuous descent down into Barnstaple and the end of the brutal day 3.
Day 4: Barnstaple to Bude
Day 4 was Barnstaple to Bude - another potentially hard day with more distance and a reasonable amount of climbing. Like day 2, the first part of the ride would be relatively flat as it was along the Tarka Trail before climbing gradually towards Bude.
The planned route was here:
The weather was drizzly just before I set off and I initially put my waterproof jacket on before taking it off again before I started riding and put in in my jersey. As expected the initial part of the ride was flat and then climbed gently after Bideford. The Tarka Trail was excellently surfaced and maintained and also quite popular with walkers and cyclists.
I recorded the ride (until the battery went flat) and then broke it down to 5 sections as follows:
Barnstaple to Fremington Pill Bridge:
Fremington Pill Bridge to Instow:
Instow to Bideford:
Bideford to Torrington Station:
Torrington Station to Petrockstowe:
I'd started without my rain jacket but after about an hour it was raining too steadily not to wear it (although it was not cold) and I had to put it on. It then rained pretty heavily and steadily for the rest of the ride.
This last day was relatively un-eventful compared to the others - the route marking was clearer and Garmin navigation / route planning reliable. There was one stretch where a road had been closed for works meaning I had to back track and follow the detour. There was also one stretch of quite busy road that was not as good as it could have been - again I think I was following the NCN 3 but signs were sparse until I turned off it.
I arrived in Bude absolutely soaked (but not cold) with a great sense of achievement
Here's the whole 4 days (in Veloviewer):
As the stats say - 198 miles, 12172ft climbing and 15hours 8 minutes riding. A great personal achievement
Summary / Overview
Let's be honest - if I had not plotted a route that I thought was the WCW and relied on the NCN 3 signs I would have been lost about 3 miles after starting. It was essential that I had done so else I am not sure where I would have been
Despite plotting a route and using the signs I still got lost a few times
I needed to have the route (that I had plotted in Strava) downloaded to my phone as well as there was no signal in a number of places
On the whole the route was great - mainly low traffic and a lot of very isolated roads
The ~50 mile separation of the main towns that I split the route into was a good mix of distance per day and time in the afternoon
The whole route was perfectly do-able in a standard road bike - even with 23mm tyres along the canal out of Bridgwater
The Tarka Trail was great to cycle and I'd like to go along it further
On most days there were enough places to stop for a coffee or something to eat along the route
Scenery and views were a bit mixed - it doesn't offer any "iconic" views
The climbs up to the Mendips were hard
The climbs on Exmoor were brutal - even with a 34-32 lowest gear I couldn't ride in 2 places and had to walk
In short - would I do it again? Yes I would - it was a great 4 days and a new cycling experience for me (point to point rather than loops)
I went on a visit to the The Great Central Railway on Easter Saturday 2023. Glorious weather, rode on a Steam train and a Diesel Railcar and enjoyed the Steam Traction Fair at the Quorn Station
The Great Central Railway is the UK's only double track, main line heritage railway. It's the only place in the world where full size steam engines can be seen passing each other at speed
Here are some pictures:
Loughborough Central Station Front Entrance
Loughborough Central Station Platform
The engine was a British Railways 9F 2-10-0 tender locomotive was created to haul heavy freight trains but also saw operation on passenger services:
92214 Ready to leave for Leicester
92214 Ready to leave for Leicester
And here's the Diesel Car we rode in:
And some of the trains were pulled by more modern diesels - 37714 is a class 37:
Here's a video of some of the trains running:
At the Quorn and Woodhouse Station there was a Steam Fair and here are some photos of the exhibits:
I like to write software as a bit of a hobby. I use Microsoft C# Visual Studio and have written a small number of (Windows) applications for my own use. These are always a "work in progress" and each application uses code from previous applications
My latest application is a Windows application wrapper around the Ookla Speedtest CLI application (I know there is an official Ookla Windows application here) but where's the fun in that? Has mixed reviews on the Windows Store as well to be honest.
Ookla (here) do the internet speed tester. The reason for this was that recently we moved from ADSL (copper wire) broadband (at typically 30-50Mbps) to BT full fibre at 500Mbps and I obviously wanted to check I was getting what I paid for
The initial tests using the web page version showed that at times I was getting 500Mbps download but this was very variable (I was not rigorous enough to test whilst ensuring no other devices were using the internet). Upload speeds were very consistent at about 70Mbps.
Here's an example:
What I could not tell reliably was how did this vary and by what amount. I decided that what I'd do was put a Windows wrapper wound the Ookla CLI version
In this case I also took some time to prepare a proper class library - I have quite a few classes that I re-use (these are: an SQL database class, an application logger class, a general utilities class, a DataTable handling class, a Process Class and a few other miscellaneous classes). I realised that my existing method of copying the last version of the class to the new project did not work and I never copied the updates back. Now that I have a Class Library, this is a much better solution and I used it on a 2nd project at the same time (this was to address some database creation issues I had) and the code worked for both projects.
It took some effort to work out how to do this - for example I had not realised that it was a "code only" class and and Windows forms (for example) could not be included. I am assuming that I can create a Windows forms class library. In terms of the SQL code I spent a lot of time trying to simplify the code and break up into smaller classes with some inherited behaviour. This has improved the code but it needs more work
I run the speed test by spawning it as a Process, intercepting the STDOUT and parsing it (this
I also wanted the application to be responsive during the speed test - once the Process class started the execution the application hung until the test was completed - for up to 25-30 seconds. This was not good. To fix this I used a background worker thread (actually I used 2 - one for the speed test and the other to monitor completion and allow aborting the test). This was a new area of code for me. Using these background worker threads showed another issue that this was a sperate thread so I could not get results or interact - this was fixed with creating some delegates to update a DataGridview, update progress bars etc. Not quite sure what delegates do (I need to do some more reading) but it works. Thanks to Stackoverflow for all this.
Installing the software
Before you install this application you need to down load the Ookla Windows CLI file from here. Download and extract the exe file to a location of your choice
You can test the code manually if you like. Open a Command prompt, change directory to the location of speedtest.exe and type speedtest.exe.
Note that the first time you run the Ookla CLI application it asks you to accept the licence terms and GPDR terms. My application checks if this has been already done. If it has it moves on, if it has not it accepts them on your behalf.
My application is here on my Google drive. Download and extract the zip file to get the installer:
Double click on Setup. You'll get the unsigned warning
I have not signed the code but from my drive it should be "safe". Here's the file info at the point I uploaded it:
Running the Application
When the application first runs it needs to know where the Ookla Speedtest cli exe file is. A standard File Open dialog box will appear to allow you to set the path for this. The title of the dialog box is "Locate the Speedtest.exe file"
Double clicking the file or selecting it and pressing "Open" registers the path. It also checks that it is called "speedtest.exe".
It will then create an SQL database to hold the results (in C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Speed_Test) where <User> is your user account.
It creates an ini file for settings in the Application's Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData folder. This is really hard to find so there is a means to get this easily from the application itself (see below). It also creates a log file (appliocation.txt) in the same folder
Assuming this is successful the main form will open:
To look at the database folder use the Miscellaneous menu:
You can select "Show Application folder" for the log file and the ini file or "Show database folder" for the database files
Finally select "Show Application messages" to look at application messages:
To get a speed test press the "Do a Speed test" Button:
At the end of the test you'll see some Stats data (best, worst, average results etc) and the individual results:
Until you have 3 results there will only be a line chart. Once there are 3 results or more there are also some histograms for upload and download:
You can run an automated Speedtest every 2 minutes using the "Start Auto Speed test" button.
Note that there is a 30 second timeout for the Speedtest to complete within. If your machine is timing out you will need to edit the setting in the ini file. Open the folder (Miscellaneous Settings, Show Application Folder) and double click on Speed_test.ini:
Change Timer_Value to a longer value if needed. Note that this is seconds x 1000, so if you want 45 seconds enter:
Timer_Value=45000
You'll also have your User name instead of <User>
Save the file and restart the application
These graphs look better with more results:
There are tooltips on the graphs. On the line graph hovering a mouse over a point will give the speed and date/time of the result:
Right clicking on the lower DataGridview will allow you to export the results as tsv (Tab Separated Values - because some Server names contain a "," symbol):
Here's an example output of the export:
If there are issues you can review the application.txt file and send it to me via this Blog:
This file is appended which each run of the application so can get large. If there are no issues it can be deleted (as long as the application is not running at the time) and it will be recre4ated next time the application starts.
