My tip is to remember that it gets dark very early.

Are your lights up to it? Might consider fitting higher rated bulbs, and wear something so that others can see you easily. Clean visor, anti mist stuff, etc.

Plus, the traffic getting into Leeds city centre is usually very heavy - much like the M25, the M62 and M621 are not for the faint-hearted.

i'm travelling in daylight hours so that not a problem. like i say, i've got all day!

oh and hellonic, its 260+ miles

Disagree - remember it gets dark at around 3.15 - 3.30 at that time of year. The further north you go, the earlier it gets dark.

lol. well its not gonna be pitch black once i get there.

Just to throw a spanner in, why not fly heathrow- leeds return £71

nah i've made my mind up.

plus thats far too expensive lol

how about these guys... fashionable enough to use on the way to leeds?!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-WARM-MOTOR...QQcmdZViewItem

Fashionable? No, Will your hands thank you for them? Probably.

Go for it and ignore the prophets of doom!

I'm north of Leeds and at the moment it's dark by 4.45pm so guess in a fortnight it will be about 4.20pm or thereabouts, so if you're allowing all day providing you set off at a reasonable time you should be fine for daylight.

As has been mentioned you might want to consider the M11/A1/A64 route - I recently went to Cambridge and back in a day (320miles) and it was fine depite the heaviest thunderstorm I've been in on a bike; my mistake on the outward half was not putting enough layers on - providing your gear keeps you warm and dry you should be fine; spare socks and gloves as suggested might be useful. I assume you have some breakdown cover - if you're a pessimist like me it's reassuring to know you won't be stranded.

Finally, West Yorkshire is supposed to have a bad record for bike theft although I commute to Leeds regularly by bike and not had any problems just chaining it to something solid - central Leeds is good for on street bike parks.

Hope you have a good journey and a good time up north - polar bears don't normally appear til January so you should be okay :wink: