Welcome to my Land's End to John O'Groats (LEJOG) page.
This is where I'll provide update and links to images of my June 2007 LEJOG.
Visit my justgiving page to find out more and maybe make a donation or sponsor me.
The rather unplanned plan is to grab the minimum amount of gear, get myself and the bike on the train and head down to
Spare tube, bivvy bag, and what cash I can muster – what can go wrong? I’ve got about two weeks to fine tune this elegantly simple plan.
I’m hoping that most of the kit I’ll need I’ll already have (donations of expensive, technical and lightweight kit always welcome of course). The bike (a Giant SCR2) is relatively new and so in good nick. And me? Well I’ve cycled over 1,000 miles commuting to work so far this year (saving nearly half a tonne of CO2), two recent 90 mile trips, I reckon I’ll make it...
But how long will it take? – and how will I get home? (don't want to miss Bike Week and then there's a Dragon Boat Race!!)
Glossary:
LEJOG =
Bivvy Bag = no accomodation planned - sleep in a plastic bag!
I've finally managed to order some bags to carry the minimal kit I need to make the trip possible. One handlebar bag, one rack pack and a seat-post mounted rack to put in on. As ever nothing is simple and despite the rack pack and rack being a set no one seemed to be able to supply both at short notice. More on this if/when the kit arrives.
The other must have item was the train ticket to John O’Groats. Again not simple! You can check train times on the net and you can book –but it seems you can’t reserve a place for the bike! Logic suggested that visiting a real human in a real ticket office would resolve this. Yesterday after an eternal (lunch hour time reckoning in use here) wait in a queue I discovered that their network was down and so no I could book my ticket.
Today – A result! Again quite a lengthy process and scratching of head by the ticket guy but I now have my ticket; well… I actually have 13 tickets! Some it seems need to be attached to the bike, some for me and some for the seat.
Well I've been waiting with fingers crossed that the bags I order would turn up for the weekend so I could try things out on a trip to Bala (50 miles). Things looked promising handlebar bag - yep, rack - yep, rack pack - y.. well no wrong one! I phone the Cycle Store to arrange a return and end up paying a few extra quid at a local shop that claimed they didn't have one in stock!
At the same time I got two bottles and cages plus a new bottom bracket as the old one started clicking and creaking on the ride home from work.
All now fitted and adjusted (see photo) but not sure all my gear is going to fit in the bags - time for a re-think!
I've also managed to get info from the CTC, which I joined but as they are having technical problems hadn't been able to access their End2End info. Some really useful stuff for anyone planning the trip.
Well the half term holiday provides the perfect test for the set-up. The plan being to cycle to Bala to meet the family for camping and canoeing. It's a good route from Shrewsbury to Bala via Knockin, LLynclys, Llanyblodwel, Llangynog and up over the Milltir Gerrig Pass.
Other than having to tighten the handlebar bag bracket all went well and the load didn't seem to make the up hills too much harder.
Towards the end of the week I gained enough courage to try out the bivvy arrangements. The nights had been cold and a silk sleeping bag liner was brought to help compensate for the lack of sleeping bag. This wasn't very successful and it lloks like I'll be in for a week of sleep deprivation as well as cycling! In case you're interested this and this is what Llyn Tegid / Lake Bala looks like at 2am!
In response to my generous supporters:
The route is shaping up (sort of) at least I know I'm starting at Land's End! I'll be coming through Shrewsbury rather than Telford. A rough plan is to get to the Cheddar area on day 1. I just might be able to find a bed for the night with a friend. I would then hope to get to Shrewsbury by the end of day 2! That's over 300 miles in two days - I might not make it! From then on the route is up to Runcorn and over the Mersey to Widnes. Up the A6 then to Glasgow, Glen Coe, The Great Glen, Lairg and then the remotest road north!
Wikipedia informs me midges aren’t that speedy, but “can quickly gather again if a person stops moving” this may do wonders for my average speed! I’m sure I can look forward to some inhalation experiences.
Consider that hello said – I’ll even have an ice cream for you!
I can cycle to the local shops, but not back as the bike would have been nicked!
For me money is the ultimate performance booster
Mentalist as in - "psychic" entertainers whose illusions feature the ability to read minds, project the mind to alter the state of matter, foretell the future, and see distant and hidden objects?
Last but not least thanks for the generous performance booster – did I mention the lengthy detours I had planned???
