This is the 7th post on a series about the Via Beata pilgrimage by bike concluded on the 3rd of August 2021.
This post has been written in English only. For other languages, please use the Google Translation drop-down option on the right menu (desktop version).
The map below shows a “cleaned-up” version of our route between Lowestoft and East Harling on this day. By “cleaned-up” I mean, where I considered necessary, I edited the “real-life” track to exclude some of the mistakes or issues we encountered along the way, such as navigation errors, closed gates or other impassable obstacles (with a bike), etc. The objective being to prevent you from making these same mistakes or benefiting from the experience we acquired while riding on this route. Keep in mind everything changes… life is dynamic, roads and paths are closed for maintenance or become impassable for a number of reasons, access to certain locations may become restricted, etc. Use it at your own risk.
In addition to the raw GPX route shown in the map above, which you may download through the link below the map, I have also created a Google Maps version of the entire route in the EyeCycled Google Account.
To visualise the Google Map of the Via Beata route and main Waypoints please click on the link below (opens in a new tab).
These are the pictures we took on this day of the journey. Where possible we provided some context in every picture taken. These pictures are not to be sold or used without prior consent.
Click on the thumbnail to expand picture and read about that moment. The navigation numbers below each gallery refer to the number of viewable pages in the gallery.
5. Links to useful online resources for this day of the journey.
We are giving you our experiences here for free, but it is up to you if you want to replicate them or not. Each journey is different and you may want to plan a custom one for you. Hopefully some of your journey may match ours, but for any portions that don’t these are useful online resources for this day.
Hereford Cathedral is a historic Church of England cathedral. It dates back to the 8th century, with the current building begun in 1079. The cathedral features Norman and Gothic architecture and houses the largest library of chained books in the world. Its most famous treasure is the Mappa Mundi, a medieval map of the world created around 13 hundred. The cathedral is dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin and St. Ethelbert the King.
Hereford is a cathedral city in Herefordshire. It's located on the River Wye and has a population of 53,112 as of the 2021 Census. The city has a rich history, with notable landmarks like the Cathedral and the Old House. Hereford was once the site of a castle which rivalled that of Windsor in size and scale. The castle was used as a base for repelling Welsh attacks and was a secure stronghold for King Henry IV when on campaign in the Welsh Marches. The castle was dismantled in the 18th century and landscaped into an area called Castle Green. The city also hosts various cultural events and has a strong educational presence with several colleges and schools.
Hotel, Campground and Event space in the beautiful Wye Valley. This is the Hotel we stayed at the end of this day's journey. We enjoyed our stay here and have no issues recommending it to you.
The easiest way is to use the form below and send us a message, but you can also leave comments both here as well as in YouTube or our social media accounts. Keep in mind we do this as a hobby, not as a job, so our responses might be delayed. We aim to provide a response within a week, but it can happen that we are travelling or otherwise unavailable for longer than that. If you didn’t receive a response within 2 weeks, but send us a follow-up message.
Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night?(Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give).
You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly.
Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5
= Excellent)
This is the 6th post on a series about the Via Beata pilgrimage by bike concluded on the 3rd of August 2021.
This post has been written in English only. For other languages, please use the Google Translation drop-down option on the right menu (desktop version).
The map below shows a “cleaned-up” version of our route between Lowestoft and East Harling on this day. By “cleaned-up” I mean, where I considered necessary, I edited the “real-life” track to exclude some of the mistakes or issues we encountered along the way, such as navigation errors, closed gates or other impassable obstacles (with a bike), etc. The objective being to prevent you from making these same mistakes or benefiting from the experience we acquired while riding on this route. Keep in mind everything changes… life is dynamic, roads and paths are closed for maintenance or become impassable for a number of reasons, access to certain locations may become restricted, etc. Use it at your own risk.
In addition to the raw GPX route shown in the map above, which you may download through the link below the map, I have also created a Google Maps version of the entire route in the EyeCycled Google Account.
To visualise the Google Map of the Via Beata route and main Waypoints please click on the link below (opens in a new tab).
These are the pictures we took on this day of the journey. Where possible we provided some context in every picture taken. These pictures are not to be sold or used without prior consent.
Click on the thumbnail to expand picture and read about that moment. The navigation numbers below each gallery refer to the number of viewable pages in the gallery.
5. Links to useful online resources for this day of the journey.
We are giving you our experiences here for free, but it is up to you if you want to replicate them or not. Each journey is different and you may want to plan a custom one for you. Hopefully some of your journey may match ours, but for any portions that don’t these are useful online resources for this day.
Warwick is a historic market town in Warwickshire known for its rich history and its landmarks include the Castle and racecourse. The town has ancient origins, with evidence of human activity dating right back to the Neolithic period.
Warwick Castle was originally built by William the Conqueror in 1068 and was developed from a wooden fort into a stone structure in the 12th century. The castle played a significant role in English history, serving as a stronghold during the Hundred Years War, and was later converted into a country house by Sir Fulke Greville in the early 17th century. Today, it is a popular tourist attraction operated by Merlin Entertainments, featuring historical exhibits, live shows, and seasonal events.
The easiest way is to use the form below and send us a message, but you can also leave comments both here as well as in YouTube or our social media accounts. Keep in mind we do this as a hobby, not as a job, so our responses might be delayed. We aim to provide a response within a week, but it can happen that we are travelling or otherwise unavailable for longer than that. If you didn’t receive a response within 2 weeks, but send us a follow-up message.
Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night?(Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give).
You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly.
Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5
= Excellent)
This is the 5th post on a series about the Via Beata pilgrimage by bike concluded on the 3rd of August 2021.
This post has been written in English only. For other languages, please use the Google Translation drop-down option on the right menu (desktop version).
The map below shows a “cleaned-up” version of our route between Lowestoft and East Harling on this day. By “cleaned-up” I mean, where I considered necessary, I edited the “real-life” track to exclude some of the mistakes or issues we encountered along the way, such as navigation errors, closed gates or other impassable obstacles (with a bike), etc. The objective being to prevent you from making these same mistakes or benefiting from the experience we acquired while riding on this route. Keep in mind everything changes… life is dynamic, roads and paths are closed for maintenance or become impassable for a number of reasons, access to certain locations may become restricted, etc. Use it at your own risk.
In addition to the raw GPX route shown in the map above, which you may download through the link below the map, I have also created a Google Maps version of the entire route in the EyeCycled Google Account.
To visualise the Google Map of the Via Beata route and main Waypoints please click on the link below (opens in a new tab).
These are the pictures we took on this day of the journey. Where possible we provided some context in every picture taken. These pictures are not to be sold or used without prior consent.
Click on the thumbnail to expand picture and read about that moment. The navigation numbers below each gallery refer to the number of viewable pages in the gallery.
5. Links to useful online resources for this day of the journey.
We are giving you our experiences here for free, but it is up to you if you want to replicate them or not. Each journey is different and you may want to plan a custom one for you. Hopefully some of your journey may match ours, but for any portions that don’t these are useful online resources for this day.
The Grand Union canal is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. It starts in London and one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter stretching for 137 miles (220 km) with 166 locks from London. We actually rode in parts of both arms on this day.
The River and Canal trust holds the guardianship of 2,000 miles of canals and rivers in England and Wales, together with reservoirs and a wide range of heritage buildings and structures.
Place right by the Grand Union Canal in the village of Weedon Bec where we had lunch. The chicken burger was superb and as we were not driving we could enjoy a worry free pint of beer with it.
The easiest way is to use the form below and send us a message, but you can also leave comments both here as well as in YouTube or our social media accounts. Keep in mind we do this as a hobby, not as a job, so our responses might be delayed. We aim to provide a response within a week, but it can happen that we are travelling or otherwise unavailable for longer than that. If you didn’t receive a response within 2 weeks, but send us a follow-up message.
Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night?(Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give).
You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly.
Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5
= Excellent)
This is the 4th post on a series about the Via Beata pilgrimage by bike concluded on the 3rd of August 2021.
This post has been written in English only. For other languages, please use the Google Translation drop-down option on the right menu (desktop version).
The map below shows a “cleaned-up” version of our route between Lowestoft and East Harling on this day. By “cleaned-up” I mean, where I considered necessary, I edited the “real-life” track to exclude some of the mistakes or issues we encountered along the way, such as navigation errors, closed gates or other impassable obstacles (with a bike), etc. The objective being to prevent you from making these same mistakes or benefiting from the experience we acquired while riding on this route. Keep in mind everything changes… life is dynamic, roads and paths are closed for maintenance or become impassable for a number of reasons, access to certain locations may become restricted, etc. Use it at your own risk.
In addition to the raw GPX route shown in the map above, which you may download through the link below the map, I have also created a Google Maps version of the entire route in the EyeCycled Google Account.
To visualise the Google Map of the Via Beata route and main Waypoints please click on the link below (opens in a new tab).
These are the pictures we took on this day of the journey. Where possible we provided some context in every picture taken. These pictures are not to be sold or used without prior consent.
Click on the thumbnail to expand picture and read about that moment. The navigation numbers below each gallery refer to the number of viewable pages in the gallery.
5. Links to useful online resources for this day of the journey.
We are giving you our experiences here for free, but it is up to you if you want to replicate them or not. Each journey is different and you may want to plan a custom one for you. Hopefully some of your journey may match ours, but for any portions that don’t these are useful online resources for this day.
Little Gidding is a Way-Station but also the fourth and final poem of T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets, a series of poems that discuss time, perspective, humanity, and salvation which is one of Katy's favourite poems.
Stanwick Lakes Country Park comprises of 750 acres (304 hectares) of former gravel pits.
Prior to the construction of a bypass road, a Roman villa was excavated between 1984–1992 and several mosaics were found. In 2013, one of the mosaics was returned after being studied and is now on display in the Park's Visitor Centre. There are still extensive archaeological remains in this area, including a mid-late Anglo-Saxon and medieval settlements abandoned before 1450.
The easiest way is to use the form below and send us a message, but you can also leave comments both here as well as in YouTube or our social media accounts. Keep in mind we do this as a hobby, not as a job, so our responses might be delayed. We aim to provide a response within a week, but it can happen that we are travelling or otherwise unavailable for longer than that. If you didn’t receive a response within 2 weeks, but send us a follow-up message.
Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night?(Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give).
You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly.
Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5
= Excellent)
This is the 3rd post on a series about the Via Beata pilgrimage by bike concluded on the 3rd of August 2021.
This post has been written in English only. For other languages, please use the Google Translation drop-down option on the right menu (desktop version).
The map below shows a “cleaned-up” version of our route between Lowestoft and East Harling on this day. By “cleaned-up” I mean, where I considered necessary, I edited the “real-life” track to exclude some of the mistakes or issues we encountered along the way, such as navigation errors, closed gates or other impassable obstacles (with a bike), etc. The objective being to prevent you from making these same mistakes or benefiting from the experience we acquired while riding on this route. Keep in mind everything changes… life is dynamic, roads and paths are closed for maintenance or become impassable for a number of reasons, access to certain locations may become restricted, etc. Use it at your own risk.
In addition to the raw GPX route shown in the map above, which you may download through the link below the map, I have also created a Google Maps version of the entire route in the EyeCycled Google Account.
To visualise the Google Map of the Via Beata route and main Waypoints please click on the link below (opens in a new tab).
These are the pictures we took on this day of the journey. Where possible we provided some context in every picture taken. These pictures are not to be sold or used without prior consent.
Click on the thumbnail to expand picture and read about that moment. The navigation numbers below each gallery refer to the number of viewable pages in the gallery.
5. Links to useful online resources for this day of the journey.
We are giving you our experiences here for free, but it is up to you if you want to replicate them or not. Each journey is different and you may want to plan a custom one for you. Hopefully some of your journey may match ours, but for any portions that don’t these are useful online resources for this day.
Unfortunatelly we were unable to visit this way-station. It is located inside the Harvest Centre in Brandon, which gate was locked. The centre appeared to be closed. Possibly due to covid restrictions.
The easiest way is to use the form below and send us a message, but you can also leave comments both here as well as in YouTube or our social media accounts. Keep in mind we do this as a hobby, not as a job, so our responses might be delayed. We aim to provide a response within a week, but it can happen that we are travelling or otherwise unavailable for longer than that. If you didn’t receive a response within 2 weeks, but send us a follow-up message.
Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night?(Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give).
You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly.
Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5
= Excellent)
This is the 2nd post on a series about the Via Beata pilgrimage by bike concluded on the 3rd of August 2021.
This post has been written in English only. For other languages, please use the Google Translation drop-down option on the right menu (desktop version).
The map below shows a “cleaned-up” version of our route between Lowestoft and East Harling on this day. By “cleaned-up” I mean, where I considered necessary, I edited the “real-life” track to exclude some of the mistakes or issues we encountered along the way, such as navigation errors, closed gates or other impassable obstacles (with a bike), etc. The objective being to prevent you from making these same mistakes or benefiting from the experience we acquired while riding on this route. Keep in mind everything changes… life is dynamic, roads and paths are closed for maintenance or become impassable for a number of reasons, access to certain locations may become restricted, etc. Use it at your own risk.
In addition to the raw GPX route shown in the map above, which you may download through the link below the map, I have also created a Google Maps version of the entire route in the EyeCycled Google Account.
To visualise the Google Map of the Via Beata route and main Waypoints please click on the link below (opens in a new tab).
These are the pictures we took on this day of the journey. Where possible we provided some context in every picture taken. These pictures are not to be sold or used without prior consent.
Click on the thumbnail to expand picture and read about that moment. The navigation numbers below each gallery refer to the number of viewable pages in the gallery.
5. Links to useful online resources for this day of the journey.
We are giving you our experiences here for free, but it is up to you if you want to replicate them or not. Each journey is different and you may want to plan a custom one for you. Hopefully some of your journey may match ours, but for any portions that don’t these are useful online resources for this day.
This way-station is entitled "The Glory of God gives it light". It's based on the scripture of Revelations Chapter 21 v. 23, about a vision of the "Heavenly city" that John had while he was a prisoner on the island of Patmos. It is currently located on the grounds of the Church of St Peter & St john in Kirklet.
We actually missed this way-station. We tried to find it, but were unsuccessful. It could well be we cycled way past it and didn't see it. See video for more details.
Located near the gate to the Emmaus Centre in Ditchingham – a charity that gives homeless people a place to live provides training for job opportunities.
The easiest way is to use the form below and send us a message, but you can also leave comments both here as well as in YouTube or our social media accounts. Keep in mind we do this as a hobby, not as a job, so our responses might be delayed. We aim to provide a response within a week, but it can happen that we are travelling or otherwise unavailable for longer than that. If you didn’t receive a response within 2 weeks, but send us a follow-up message.
Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night?(Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give).
You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly.
Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5
= Excellent)
This is the 1st post on a series about the Via Beata pilgrimage by bike concluded on the 3rd of August 2021.
This post has been written in English only. For other languages, please use the Google Translation drop-down option on the right menu (desktop version).
The map below shows a “cleaned-up” route from Lowestoft to St Davids. By “cleaned-up” I mean, I edited the “real-life” track to exclude some of the mistakes or issues we encountered along the way, such as navigation errors, closed gates or other impassable obstacles (with a bike), etc. The objective being to prevent you from making these same mistakes or benefiting from the experience we acquired while riding from Lowestoft to St. David’s in 2021. Keep in mind everything changes… life is dynamic, roads and paths are closed for maintanance or become impassable for a number of reasons, access to certain locations may become restricted, etc. Use it at your own risk.
In addition to the raw GPX route shown in the map above, which you may download through the link below the map, I have also created a Google Maps version of this route in the EyeCycled Google Account.
I know it looks identical to the map above, but this map can be shared with anyone you know who you think might benefit from it without the need to download it.
As the items it the map don’t appear to be clear, I’ve add a little picture below that might help.
The name ‘Via Beata’ in Italian means “blessed way” or in as preferred by its British founders ‘a way of blessing’.
The Via Beata was the idea of Steve Eggleton, who lives in Banham, located right on the route. In conversation with Steve, before we started our journey, he mentioned that he literally dreamt of it one night and the idea never left his mind. The dream was of a line connecting the west coast to the east coast at its widest point, from Lowestoft (the UK’s most easterly point) to St. David’s Cathedral in Wales. As Steve is master artisan of wood carvings, his dream included a network of Christian art-works along this route that had the intention to communicate God’s love for people. These art-works are referred to by him as “Way-Stations”, positioned in key points along the way. The number of way-stations is increasing gradually with new way-stations being added to the route every year, which gives this pilgrimage a dynamic nature.
The first way-station was set up in Banham in the Summer of 2009 and then the organizers have worked outwards to the East and to the West with the initial aim of establishing a way-station every ten miles or so and linking them with existing footpaths and rights-of-way. The Via Beata was therefore established as a walkers path.
The Via Beata really isn’t yet an established bike route: like Lands-End-to-John-O’Groats, so there is no one way to do it. But it has piqued Sustrans’ interest and we were lucky enough to have been sent a pdf and GPX files of a possible route that Sustrans had put together from various National Cycle Routes and other bike-friendly paths and roads. Katy, who has discovered this route and worked tirelessly on planning before our start in 2021 dedicated a disconcerting number of hours to tweaking the route, avoiding some of the more obvious possible pratfalls resulting in a planned journey to go in 10 stages: long days towards the start (where it is flat) with the shorter days saved for the Welsh mountains.
I confess, if it wasn’t for Katy’s reaserch and planning I’d have probably never heard of the Via Beata, so all credits must go to her. She wrote a blog explaining her motivations and how close this was to her heart. I encourage you to read her blog here.
As it is often the case, things never go completely as planned, especially when you are in a group of pioneers executing th plan for the 1st time. We had our fair share of issues and problems along the way… from inexisting paths, locked gates, weather related detours, blocked roads and other impassable obstacles with a loaded bike. Yet, we’ve managed to keep our route reasonably close to the planned one and achieved our goal in the planned 10 days of the journey.
The series of videos and blog post that follow are an account of our experiences in these 10 days. For the vast majority it was an extremelly positive experience. Both Katy and I loved this trip and when you really like something it is only natural that you want to share it with other like minded people.
So, the product we are giving you for free here, are our experiences and advice on how to avoid the major pitfalls we had along the way. We’ve spent counteless hours editing the videos so they look consistent and present a view of every meter of the route so that, if you want to follow in our footsteps (or bike tracks rather) you’ll know exactly what to expect. For the few people left in the world who are avid readers, Katy has written detailed accounts of every day of the trip in her blog and I’ll be linking my blog posts to hers as she does a much better job in textually describing our experiences than I ever could hope to. The more technical details, such as the GPX route, the stats (altimetry, distances, speed, heart rate and other telemetry stats) and the videos are more on me than on her, but we did work cooperatively in order to provide you with a reasonable guide.
If you read to this point, I’d like to invite you to donate us a coffee for this work. We don’t sell the information, nor get any money through monetizing or advertisment at the moment, so donations are this blog’s only source of income. If enough money is obtained through your generous donations that will enable us to pay for the renewal of EyeCycled.com, the hosting of the information and as a added motivation for us to keep doing this. We are very thankful for anything you can spare.
4. How will the Via Beata materials be presented and made available to you?
The Via Beata materials will be available in written format here, in the blog, and as a playlist of videos in the EyeCycled’s YouTube Channel.
The blog posts will follow a similar structure as presented here with 1 major difference: For the written account of each day’s journey, I’ll just provide a link to Katy’s Via Beata Blog posts. She worked hard in publishing these posts on the same days the journeys happened. I was always very impressed by her commitment and dedication. Even after having cycled long distances all day and being very tired, she always found the motivation to stay up in the evenings writing the posts. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Her blogs are fantastic written accounts of the journey and if it wasn’t for them a lot would have been lost in memory from 2021, when we actually did the journey, to 2025 when these posts and videos are being published in EyeCycled.com.
For those familiar with EyeCycled’s YouTube channel you will know that videos are mostly the “time-lapse” recordings of the journey, with commentary and a musical background. The difference between these videos and previous ones are, in my humble opinion, the unprecedented level of clarity and stabilization of the footage provided by mechanical and electronic means and the clear 4K resolution footage recorded. Katy and I also worked hard in providing relevant commentary to the footage where we considered it to be useful.
From the time this introduction blog post and video are published, there will be 1 new blog post and video every week until the entire journey is covered. As the journey took 10 days and the playlist is planned to contain 12 videos, incl. today’s one, we expect the entire program will complete in 11 weeks after this publication.
The series of Blog posts and videos were the result of hundreds of hours of hard work. We didn’t do this with the objective of making any money out of it, but if they are useful to you and you’d like to recognise the value of this work, please consider sponsoring EyeCycled.com or providing a one-off donation to keep the blog going.
You’ll find below several picture galleries, one for each day of the journey plus an extra one for the days we spent in St Davids after the pilgrimage was complete. These will be repeated on the posts for each specific day. There are 463 pictures between “Day Zero” and “Day 10” of the journey and then another 261 pictures for the remaining 3 days we spent in St Davids. I considered not posting them all at once, but perhaps they might serve as an incentive for you to follow the series of videos and blog posts as they are published. Where possible I provided some context in every picture taken. These pictures are not to be sold or used without prior consent.
Click on the thumbnail to expand picture and read about that moment. The navigation numbers below each gallery refer to the number of viewable pages in the gallery.
Use the links below to jump directly to the desired gallery.
6. Useful online resources for planning your own journey.
We are giving you our experiences here for free, but it is up to you if you want to replicate them or not. Each journey is different and you may want to plan a custom one for you. Hopefully some of your journey may match ours, but for any portions that don’t these are useful online places you can go to aid in your planning.
If you are walking (or cycling) the Via Beata, this is the main place to go. Keep in mind, however, the Via Beata route is mainly designed for walking and there are a few stiles and kissing gates on the route that are challenging for cyclists.
Currently composed of 12 videos, incl. 1 introduction video, 10 videos of the journey (1 for each day) and a final conclusion video in St Davids after out arrival there.
This group is mantained by us (EyeCycled). It is unofficial, but it may be useful as a forum for the exchange of information between those who have already done the pilgrimage and those who are planning to do it. We've created a similar group for the Pilgrims' Way pilgrimage and that has proven to be a valuable resource for pilgims.
The easiest way is to use the form below and send us a message, but you can also leave comments both here as well as in YouTube or our social media accounts. Keep in mind we do this as a hobby, not as a job, so our responses might be delayed. We aim to provide a response within a week, but it can happen that we are travelling or otherwise unavailable for longer than that. If you didn’t receive a response within 2 weeks, but send us a follow-up message.
Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night?(Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give).
You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly.
Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5
= Excellent)
I published a video about my experiences with the “Range Extender” (or additional external battery) with my Fiido C21 e-Bike. This is obviously only applicable to people who either own a compatible bike from the Fiido range or who plan to own one.
The video is below and I have also added some pictures I took while installing the new battery controller that comes with the battery (a bit fiddly to be honest).
As I recommended in the video, if you are planning to get one, it would be good to watch the battery installation guide first.
You may see from the pictures below that the space, in the bottom of the frame, where the new controller should be inserted is very tight. I had to apply some force to all the cables to make it all fit inside again. I hope that over time this will not become an issue.
Also, something else they didn’t show in the installation video was that, in my case, the yellow connectors / sockets where the new controller should be plugged were glued together, so I had to very carefully cut them lose with a knife.
Hope the video is useful to someone.
Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night?(Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give). You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly.
Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5
= Excellent)
How many reviews had you read about in this blog? Or how many review videos have you watched in the EyeCycled YouTube channel?
Not many, right? Yes, and this is intentional…
I don’t typically do reviews… there are so many people out there doing reviews on everything, I have no desire to compete with anyone on this, but sometimes I feel excited about something and this gives me an opportunity to write about it, hence a “review”. So, keep this definition of “review” in mind if you decide to continue reading or to watch the videos I recorded. I am happy with just having written about them (writing has a therapeutical effect on me), but I truly hope this work will be of use to someone else.
If you decide to continue, this is the situation at the time of writing…
This is my 1st e-bike: Although I’ve done test-rides on other e-bikes before, I’ve never owned one myself, so I have no frame of reference to compare with other e-bikes. If you are looking for comparisons, there are quite a few YouTube channels and blogs doing them now… keep in mind many get the products sent to them for free from the manufacturer, so there is always a question on whether their review is neutral and unbiased. This is something you have to decide. I paid for my bike.
First time… I used my Insta360 X2 camera mounted on a bike’s handlebar
First time… I used my Comica BoomX-U wireless microphones connected to an external USB3 Microphone adapter on the camera
How much I paid: USD $1,399.00, down USD $200 according to them. Paid using PayPal’s “pay in 3” option and once converted to £ that made for 3x interest free instalments of £386.23 and a total of £1,158.69.
Order process: Ordered from Fiido directly after exchanging several messages (emails) with their pre-sales team. Excellent pre-sales services. All emails answered within 2h of sending. All information given turned out to be accurate. The email address used was support@fiido.com
Delivery: Free of charge (i.e., incl. in price) and very good… ordered on a Wednesday and Saturday morning 9:30am it was delivered. Although Fiido is a Chinese company, they have warehouses in the UK and EU, so the bike was delivered without any added import duties.
At the time of writing I believe it was the cheapest e-bike of this type in the UK market. Did some “online research” before buying and every other equivalent option was at least 25% more (in the UK! I may have missed options available in other markets… the world is still a pretty big place)
Although this review is for the “Step-over” C21 model most of it is also applicable to the C22 “Step-through” model. This review will NOT focus on specs as they are available in the Fiido Website.
Unboxing and setup of the Fiido C21 Pro e-Grave bike.
Before I start let me tell you that…
I have unboxed, assembled and setup dozens of bikes over the years, but I am by no means an expert.
This is not a guide on “how best” to unbox and assemble this bike, but I hope it helps you do it better and faster than me.
It goes without saying, if you use any information provided here, you’re using it at your own risk.
I think the video below is very self-explanatory, if you have the time to watch the 16 min of it (probably could have done it in less than 10). I will list, however, some highlights and things to watch for from what I learned while unboxing and putting this bike together.
Fully assembled Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel bike.
Don’t waste time! Open the box, cut the cable ties holding the front tire, remove the front tire and the accessories box, then remove the bike from the box. Put the box away, you won’t need it anymore, unless you decide to return the bike. I still have my box, although I have decided to keep the bike.
Assembling the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel bike
RtFM (Read the Friendly Manual). The English in the manual is not the best, but it’s clear enough. The manual itself is well designed and quality printed (not the typical A4 page on printed paper with Chinese to English machine translation). The order stated in the manual is the best to assemble the bike, follow it!
Manual of the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel Bike
Don’t forget to remove the disc brake pad spacer (the little plastic thing that is inserted in place of the rotor for transportation) before you attempt to put the front wheel in place.
Fiido C21 Disc Brake Spacer
I struggled with the assembly of the control panel (meter). This is something I never had to do before as this is my 1st e-bike and it’s not very well described in the manual, in my humble option. It is not immediately clear what cable is connected where and once I figured it out, I struggled a bit with the connection of the cable coming from the handlebar control buttons. The manual and the cables themselves are not very clear in which direction to connect and where, and I was afraid of forcing them and breaking something. In their web site there is a much shorter video that makes this clear.
Underneath the Control Panel of the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel Bike.Front light assembly of the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel Bike
Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel bike control panel and handlebar buttons.
The fenders or mudguards, as known in the UK, are a bit fiddly to install. The is no explanation in the manual for how to install them, so I presume it is something they assume everyone knows how to do. I, personally, could have used some directions to get it done faster.
Rear fender or mudguard on the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel bike
Rear Wheel with mudguard on the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel Bike
Cycling review of the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel bike + Fiido App
Well, the video turned out to be 53 min long (and that is after I cut out significant portions where I wasn’t talking)… I know, I know… who has time these days, but in the video I don’t just talk about the bike, I show you places here in Bracknell, Berkshire (UK), I talk about the camera setup (the Insta360 mounted on the handlebar), the weather and all 😉 .
I did ask in the video for permission to make mistakes and awkward moments 🙂 .
This is the route I’ve taken here in Bracknell to reach the 30 km mark.
I am not going to write more about the cycling here. I’ll let the video do the talking, but I will provide some opinions in the conclusions part of this post below.
Before I move onto the conclusions part, I mentioned in the video that I would be providing more info on the Fiido Smartphone App that you can download and install from the Google Play store (there might be an iPhone equivalent, but since I don’t use Apple, I can’t tell).
The App is relatively simple and a bit “low end” in my humble opinion. In my experience the Bluetooth connection must be handled by the App itself as when I connected to the bike through the traditional Android pairing mode the App could not connect to the bike.
Fiido App Login Screen
The login procedure is also perhaps a bit more complicated than needs to be (I have not used the Facebook option though), but that might be because you can start the bike by proximity if you are using their wearable watch called Fiido Mate (at an additional cost of USD $ 100). The phone App does not allow for proximity start.
The login screen apparently comes up every time you have not used the app for a while and remembering the credentials have proved to be a challenge for me. I’ve already had to reset the password 3x as the App does not remember the credentials and the phone (Google) doesn’t appear to store them.
Fiido App Landing Page. A “Facebook style” feed page with posts from other Fiido App users.
When you get the list of countries to select the country code from, the United Kingdom is listed as “United Kiongdom“, a very visible typo that no one in their development team appeared to have picked up (sorry, I am a detail oriented person). In practice, you can only use it to display information from the bike, not to change any settings in the bike. The default “Home” screen shows you highlights from a feed of other Fiido App users in a “Facebook Style” feed page where you can see updates and pictures posted by other Fiido App users. This is likely linked to the community feed under the “Discover” option, but I am not sure what gets highlighted under the home page.
There are 3 other pages or screens you can switch to at the bottom of the phone screen: Device, Discover and “MY”.
Fiido C21 Pro, Bluetooth icon on control panel.Fiido App Device Page listing all bikes you’ve connected the App to.
The Device screen shows you a list of Fiido bikes you connected to (if you have more than one, I presume). The picture on the left shows the screen before you connect to the bike. Once the bike is connected a little Bluetooth icon is displayed on the control panel of the bike (picture on the right) and when you select the bike (or device) you want then you get the picture below on the left.
Fiido App showing the connected and selected bike.Fiido App Meter Setting Screen
That page allows you to change some settings, but these are App settings, not bike settings. Most of the information it displays at default are also displayed in the bike’s own panel, but there are additional items you can show by selecting the “Meter Setting” option. If you click on that
you get a very “heavy” screen in which the UI overlaps the Android buttons at the bottom (another development oversight, perhaps) and its just a bit messy to understand and use. You drag the desired screen setting (on the bottom) to one of the square areas on the top.
Fiido App Bike Meter ScreenFiido App Setting screen
To see the “Setting” screen (picture on the right) you must be connected to the bike and it will show you info about the bike. As far as I know only some of the information is user configurable, like the name of the bike (device) and the type of measure (km / miles).
When you click on the Cyclist / Bike button just below the settings in the device page (you must be connected to the bike) the information you configured to show under “Meter Settings” will be displayed in the App (picture on the left above).
The “Discover” tab offers a “ranking list” (picture to the right) of Fiido App users and the distance they cycled in a Day, Week, Month and all. There are people that cycled nearly 4,000 km in a month showing in that tab 🙂 In addition to this ranking list, there is a community option to the right where a more extensive “Facebook Style” feed page is displayed (picture to the left).
Fiido App, “MY” screen
Last, but not least, the “MY” tab at the bottom appears to show your own posts to the feed and some personal information you choose to display, which you can setup through the hexagon shape icon on the top left. Just to test it I added a post to the feed with the picture of the assembled bike after the unboxing. Appears to work OK, but remember, your data is likely going to Chinese servers 😉
Personally, I think the Fiido App is a “nice to have” addition to the bike. I usually have details such as distance, elevation, etc, available on my Garmin device and my phone is displaying routes (either using Google Maps or Komoot) and I am unlikely to be contributing to the feed, but I may check it out every now and then. We cyclists are social beings after all and usually proud of our physical achievements (the Strava generation), but it is just another social media feed to worry about. The software definitely needs a bit of polishing as its UI is a bit all over the place sometimes, but it works.
OK, I do have a sense that this post and related videos are way off the mark when it comes to how extensive they probably should be, so it would be good to keep at least this portion short. The table below is not in order of importance.
Pros
Cons
Price
Smaller battery compared to other options in the market.
Hydraulic Disc Brakes
Greater range (related to the battery size above)
Responsive torque sensor
Non-Removable battery. I see this as a "con" because that means you can't simply remove the battery for charging, you need to place the bike closer to a power outlet. That also means if the bike is outside and its raining, you can't recharge it (well, I wouldn't).
Excellent pre-sales customer service
More gears, perhaps a 2x9 system
Easy to use control panel and display. Very visible even under bright sunlight.
No gear indicator panel in the gear shifter.
Included Accessories such as a kick-stand, front and rear LED lights and fenders / mudguards
Only one mount for a water bottle (which might be taken by a range extender battery in the future)
Silent operation (can barely hear the motor)
No rack mount holes in the fork.
Not heavy for an e-bike, approx. 18.5 kg fully assembled and with all accessories.
Instructions manual could use a review, such as more clear instructions for the control panel and fenders / mudguards (minor)
Bluetooth connectivity with Smartphone App and integrated community features.
Smartphone App has a few issues (minor)
Ability to "Promixity Start" the bike using the Fiido Mate smart watch (not tested)
Rear rack mount holes in the frame.
Future availibility for a range extender battery on the water bottle mount (untested)
Good build quality
Step-over or Step-through (easier for women) models available.
Comfortable saddle
Reasonably fast charging, although I have not tested it with the battery completely flat. From 40% to 100% took less than 2h.
At the time of writting and as far as I am aware, the bike can be purchased only through the Fiido site.
As I said in the beginning, this is my 1st e-bike, so I have no frame of reference to compare, but I would give this bike a 4 out of 5 star rating (perhaps a 4.5 if I can get the gears properly setup).
The more I use this bike the more I discover about it (setting’s tweaks, battery time, etc). Instead of changing the post and delaying its publication, every time I find something worthy of mentioning I am going to add a comment here and in the EyeCycled Facebook page, so stay tuned if interested.
As mentioned in the Introduction part of this post, there are a few reviews about this bike on the web already. Tony’s review on ebikechoices.com was the one that convinced me to give this bike a go. You may want you can read his expert review as well, at this link.
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“Faith“… when you hear (or read) this word, what is the 1st thing that comes to mind for you? Religion?
I can’t blame you. I would argue there is no religion without faith. Thankfully, though, the scope of the word is broader. If you write “faith meaning” in Google Search, the religious meaning actually comes 2nd. We are born is this world with nothing but faith.
Unlike many other animals who are up on their feet a few hours after being born, it takes humans many years to become self-sufficient. Even without knowing, we are born with the faith that either our parents or society will care for us. There are perhaps more meanings to this word that I could possibly write about here, but I want to focus on this one particular meaning: Faith in mankind.
I confess that in the last 2 years, especially this last month (Feb/Mar 2022), I have lost some of my faith. Wars and an increasing number of corruptible and power angry human beings lead to this innevitably, I think.
Although I am not a member of any church, I consider myself a religious person. Unlike other people, for my religion to survive I feel I cannot rely on faith alone… it must involve some level of science and evidence for me. I am not the kind of person who can base my beliefs in wild profecies, Biblical or otherwise, although I do believe that “…there are more things on heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”. I do believe there are forces in motion in the Universe that our science may take dozens of centuries, perhaps tens of thousands of years to explain, if we don’t annihilate ourselves first. Our science is just starting to produce a huge network of things in this planet and beyond, so perhaps our universe being, … well, a lot older than us, is in essence a huge network of beings, covering a wide range of planets, realities and dimensions in which living (and “non-living“) humans are just a small part. Where our individual place is in this network is impossible to say, but perhaps many of the things we call “random” or “coincidences” are in fact the works of this network. If we knew ALL the laws that govern the Universe and had a computer powerful enough, we could perhaps even predict it.
Caro (Carolina) on the left and Meli (Melissa) on the right.
Last weekend I received the visit of two Warmshowers guests (if you don’t know what Warmshowers is, visit this page). They were Meli (Melissa) and Caro (Carolina) from Costa Rica. Meli and Caro are on a 2 years journey that started when they flew from Costa Rica to Madrid 3 months ago and presently found themselves at my house last Friday. Among the many obstacles they already had to overcome was the loss of their passports in Spain (according to them a 5 seconds distraction… thieves were likely after money only, but took the passports instead) and a number of other smaller problems, all to fulfill the dream of learning a bit more of this world and explore it with as little impact to nature as possible, by the power of their legs.
Their bikes were really heavy and Caro, had a serious problem in her bike: Only the front disc brake was operational. So I took them to Trek Bicycles here in Bracknell, a new shop I didn’t even know existed as they opened their doors less than a month ago. I must say that, having a general knowledge of prices and values here in the UK, I thought it would cost Caro an harm and a leg to have the problem resolved, especially from a brand such as Trek. Indeed, Trek wanted to charge her as much as £120 for the repair, but upon learning about their story they waived ALL labour fees out, sold the parts at cost and not only fixed the rear brake by replacing the entire braking system with a brand new Shimano one (except disc), but also replaced the pads on the front brake and topped up the braking fluid. They also did an overal inspection on the bike to make sure it was as safe as it could be in the couple of hours the bike was with them.
In my opinion, when you see this kind of attitude, you must bring it to public knowledge because there is too much business and not enough kindness going on in the world these days. To me, personally, it restored a bit of my faith in mankind, that was so damaged lately. My kudos to all in Trek Bicycles Bracknell for understanding that business without kindness is very likely not the most meaningful part of this network I mentioned above. We cannot eat money nor take it to the grave with us, but who knows… perhaps the relationships we add to our individual network in our life-times is something we can indeed take to the grave and beyond (I guess, for Christians is akin to going to heaven).
After all the most urgent issues had been resolved we had a wonderful evening in which my children cooked a delicious dinner for us and the next day (Sunday) I rode together with Meli and Caro to their next Warmshowers host, in Aldermaston by the river Kennet, some 33 km away (67 km in total for me). It was my 1st long distance ride in the year (yes, I should feel ashamed) and the day was beautiful as you can see in the pictures below. Meli and Caro don’t have a fixed plan. They are now riding to meet a friend in Bristol and then they don’t know yet if they are going to Devon or Wales (most likely north). I wish them a safe and pleasant journey in the UK and then back to the continent for their 2 years adventure.
Camino Ingles to Santiago, as part of the NCR 4.
Before I close this post, one interesting thing I learned on this ride was about the signs for the Camino Ingles (English Way) to Santiago on National Cycle Route 4 (NCN 4), which in Spain typically starts in Ferrol (or A Coruna). I rode from Bracknell to Bath a few years ago and these signs weren’t there. It makes sense though… I think pilgrims (on a bike or on foot) would go from London to Bristol on NCN 4, then south to Plymouth on routes like NCN 3, 33, 2 and so on. There is a ferry from Plymouth to Santander, which is part of the “Camino del Norte” (Northern Way to Santiago). Maybe centuries ago it was possible to sail from somewhere in the south of England to Ferrol or A Coruna. The website on the link above suggests English templars used to do this route to Santiago from England to ask Saint James for protection on their way to Jerusalem. Anyway, it was very nice to see these stickers as they reminded me of my own “Camino” journeys in 2015 and 2019.
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