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On June 3rd, I set off for Snowdonia again, but instead of heading south, I went north. Up the west coast, along the north with storm Alex behind me to John o’Groats, then south via Inverness and Edinburgh to the north east coast of England, then down through the hills and over the northern moors to the Yorkshire dales before turning west for Snowdonia.

I have told the story of those 20 days and 1,455 miles in detail on the thread ‘Solar trailer rides again’ at http://www.pedelecs.co.uk.

After a holiday in Wales, on the morning of departure I tested positive for COVID-19. Fortunately I had no serious symptoms, and perfect sunny weather for a gentle ride back home.

I took it easy, taking 7 days over a slightly longer route.

I was blessed with very reasonable weather for my first long journey. Bright or sunny the whole way, quiet roads, cold nights.

Five days, 436 miles, one puncture.

You can read about it in detail on the http://www.pedelecs.co.uk forum. As before, on the ‘Solar trailer build’ thread.

In March, I rode 230 miles over three days, powered entirely by the sun. The route took me over one of the high passes through the Scottish mountains.

Some minor lessons were learnt, but nothing went wrong, so I felt ready for the next adventure, a 900 mile round trip to Wales.

I documented my early solar experiments and the build of my first solar trailer on the http://www.pedelecs.co.uk forum. Search there for ‘Solar trailer build’ and you will find it.

Briefly, the trailer itself uses the base, axle, wheels and towbar from an old Burley Solo child carrying trailer, with a framework of 25mm thin wall aluminium tube mounted on top for the panels, and a luggage platform underneath.

The blue water pipe protects the front corners and anything I get too close to from damage.

The solar panels are three Sunpower 110Wp modules, so the maximum theoretical output is 330W.

Underneath on a front bulkhead made of thin plywood are two Elejoy MU400SP boost MPPT charge controllers, which convert the panel output to the voltage the battery requires.

There is also a data logger, to tell me how much energy I have used and generated, and some jiggery-pokery involving two big diodes to persuade the Shimano system to accept my solar input.

What’s it all about?

I’m riding an electric bike, towing a trailer with solar panels on it. The trailer provides all the energy I use to power the bike and charge my phone and camera batteries.

If the sun shines, I can go a long way. My aim is to learn by doing what happens in less than perfect conditions too.

This is my bike and trailer.

So far we have covered 2,580 miles over three long journeys and a test ride, a total of 35 days riding.