Lands End to John O'Groats Cycling

Diary

Equipment List I tried to minimize weight wherever possible and took only 1 change of cycling clothes and light trousers and jumper for the evenings. I could fit everything into a Carradice Longflap saddle bag. However I decided to take a Carradice super-c bar bag in addition to the saddle bag as this provided an excellent map case and also some additional space to carry food for evening meals and other odds and ends such as money, camera, mobile phone and waterproofs. I did experiment with a small stem mounted map case but this got in the way of my knees when honking up hills out of the saddle. I never felt the bike was overloaded and handling was good with no shimmy. The full kit list was as follows:-

Tools

Pump

Inner tube

2 Tyre levers

Puncture repair kit.

8 mm open ended spanner

Set of allen keys

1 inner gear cable.

1 brake cable

Spoke key

Chain tool

Nylon cable ties

Spare battery for the bicycle computer.

Insulating tape wrapped round a pen.

Spare camera batteries

Front LED lamb (also doubled as a torch)

Rear LED lamp

Bell (would not bother with again as I only used it once and the pedestrian didn’t hear it!)

Small pair of pliers

Chain oil

Clothes

2 prs padded cycling shorts

2 wicking vests

2 jerseys

1 long sleeved cycling shirt

1 short sleeved cycling shirt

1 Gore-Tex wind proof cycling jacket. (This leaked so I bought a cheap jacket in Millets in Hexham)

1 pr knee warmers

1 pr sealskin waterproof socks (excellent)

2 prs normal socks

1 pr over shoes

1 pr cycling shoes

1 pr lightweight trousers (for evenings)

1 jumper

1 pair over trousers

1 pair padded cycling gloves

1 cycling hat

1 baseball type hat for the sun

2 pairs of pants

Travelling towel

Toiletries

Half bar of soap

Shaving oil (excellent)

1 Bic disposable razor. (Lasted 2 weeks – the oil kept it sharper for longer than shaving foam)

Shampoo in a small plastic bottle

E20 sun block in a small plastic bottle

Midge repellent

Vaseline (not used)

Sudocrem cream (not used)

Small tube of toothpaste

Toothbrush

Knee bandage (not used)

3 Plasters (used one)

2 aspirin tablets (not used)

2 indigestion tablets (not used)

Misc

Plastic spoon

Penknife

Elastic bands

Note book

Pen

Pages from a road atlas

Scanned sections from a few OS maps

A few blank cheques.

100 pounds for emergencies (eg loosing my debit card)

1 credit card for emergencies (I haven’t used this card for 5 years so I was not sure if it would work)

A few sheets of Loo paper

Mobile phone

Digital camera

Wallet with credit card, driving licence, YHA card, train tickets for me and bike, car hire reservation details.

List of names and addresses of friends and relations.

SYHA hostel directory book.

CTC E2E log book (lost en route)

Passport (in case I decided to fly home – these are needed on internal flights now)

Spare glasses.