LEJOG BLOG 2013
This is my blog about our attempt to cycle between the two furthest points on the British mainland, Lands End to John O'Groats, over two weeks in July 2013...
Tuesday 23 July 2013
We did it!
Wednesday 10 July 2013
Update Day 8 to day 12
However, as i write this we have completed 890 miles and are in Nethy Bridge. We have been fully fed with a wonderful meal prepared by Sandra, and have just two days and 175 miles standing between us and John O'Groats.
The weather has actually been too good, not something i actually thought would be a problem, but the heat on the road has just been exhausting for the past 4 days.
Day 8
In my last update we had just got into the Yorshire Dales, and were in Kettlewell. The next morning we headed into the heart of the Dales, cycling along the river Wharf before the assent over Wharfdale and the descent into Wensleydale. The climb was ferocious, taking about an hour, and i'm not ashamed to say it involved a fair amount of pushing, but the descent was the thing of dreams. Starting with a stunning view down into Wensleydale, the first few 30mph twists and turns belie the sheer speed of the slopes that. Like a well designed roller coaster after a false summit the road just drops. With a clear view for about a straight mile to where the road snakes up the dale, its impossible not to release the brakes and let gravity do what Issac Newton invented it for. I hit a top speed of 50mph, and can only describe it as like bungee jumping with a bike between your legs.
Next we had to tackle Hartside Summit, 1900 ft at the top and about a 5 mile climb. What i can only describe as an incredible climb, that i will go back and do on my road bike at some point. The views over Cumbria were amazing and something i will remember for a long time.
We had a quick stop in Wensley Dale, where Anna was given £10 towards MSF by a random person after explaining what we were riding for, before pushing on to Alston YHA arriving just in time to have a row with a pub landlord about ordering food at 8.50pm when food stopped at 9.
Day 9
This was a slog of a day through Northumberland. probably the highlight was arriving a minute or so ahead of everyone else at The Gate pub just south of Rothbury, where on arrival one of two women sat outside smoking announced in a broad Newcastle accent 'bloody hell, it's Alberto Contador!' (as i was wearing an Astana jersey that Contador did race in two seasons ago),To which the other replied in an equally broad accent as Ian arrived after 'Is this Cadel Evans now?'. They then proceeded to discuss who Contador was riding for now, then as Rich arrived in his Radioshack Jersey they said 'and here's Andy Schleck!'. They updated us on the Tour results and then both gave us a fiver towards MSF as we left (but refused to give it to 'Andy' as they didn't trust him)... proof if any was needed of cyclings growing popularity i suppose!
Day 10
The big one, going into Scotland. Yet another glorious morning and we knocked off the 15 miles to the boarder along sun-soaked country lanes in 55 minutes, we then spent about an hour in Duns eating ice creams and feeling pleased with ourselves, forgetting that we still had another difficult 50 miles to complete. Luckily, we spoke to a guy in the local sandwich shop who told us to go a different way to the one planed into Edinburgh, and the decision was definitely the right one. The day got hotter and hotter and as our new route stuck to the valley, we could see my plotted alternative road going over every miserable hill you could imagine. A beautiful day that wasn't too hard, apart from that bloody big ball of hot up in the heavens that is.
The hostel was staying in in Edinbugh made us feel a bit old with lots of young people sporting 'Images', such as large beards, strange hair cuts and unnatural sitting positions. The common room was like something out of the matrix with about 10 20-somethings hooked us to phones, ipads and laptops like the rest of the world didn't exist.Ian got cross (as things like this generally annoy him) and made some comments, but as all of then had earphones in his witty rye remakes were met with no response whatsoever.
Day11
Edinburgh to Pitlochry. It's fair to say i've had better days. Everything started ok, we found a lovely off road route that took us down the South bank of the Fourth past the Fourth rail bridge and Queensferry and safely on to the road bridge. We then managed to get to Perth without too much issue and that's where my brain seemed to check-out on me for the day Firstly my plotting went a bit wrong taking us onto the A9 a dual carriageway. I managed to navigate a hugely difficult detour which then took us onto a cycle path a bit further up on the A9. Trying to make up some time i decided to take to a large grassed area to overtake a dog walker, so as not to have to make them move out of my way, this was a mistake. the grassed area was hiding a rather large kerb, which i hit at about 20mph, my first thought when i relised i was coming off the bike was, 'oh well, this will be ok, grass is soft'. This is true, however, i managed to land on my side digging my elbow into my ribs, the pain was instant and i'm still not sure whether i've cracked a couple of ribs. They hurt like a ... sod. My bike was a bit mangled but Richard and Ian managed to sort it out as Anna told me to stop being a wuss and get up.
Pitlochry is like something out of a film set, the view from the hostel dining room made it look like a model village. I'm certainly going to come back to this part of the world and explore it properly, Perth looked great too.
Day 12.
Today. Couldn't get out of bed to turn my alarm off at 6am, much to the annoyance of everyone else. Another scorcher. We used the old A9, which is now disused and has become a cycle path. Ian and i discussed the eeriness of what appeared to be a major road, catseyes and white lines still there, slowly being reclaimed by nature. It could be used as a film set for The Road, we argued, then we though 'why didn't they use a cycle in The Road', coming to the conclusion that the whole book/film was fundamentally flawed (12 days together...). We then slowly climbed over 25 miles to the summit on the A9 before descending into Scotland proper. Forests, mountains, glens, Lochs, this is what Americans think all Scotland is like before landing in Glasgow. Truly stunning. I'm going to bed now as it's 10.30 and i've got a very very early start tomorrow. Just time for a quick thank you to Sandra and Dick for feeding up, watering us and putting us up for the night, it's really appreciated!
I'll post up some pictures from my phone tomorrow to accompany this bland rambling. I'm not checking this for grammar, spellllling etc, because i haven't got time, so don't bother complaining. Good night x
Saturday 6 July 2013
Day 6 & 7
Thursday 4 July 2013
Days 3,4 & 5
Sunday 30 June 2013
Day 2
Day 1...
Lands end
Wednesday 26 June 2013
A run through of the route...
So with less than 3 days to ‘clip-in’ (Gulp!) I thought I would look outline the route in some detail so you can see what I’ve planned. This isn’t the most direct route as we wanted to make sure we actually saw some of the country, not just the fasted and flattest A roads of Great Britain. A lot of this route takes in the cycle network routes, so it’s not all on road and, although much slower, will give us the chance to get away from cars, trucks and idiots.
The route has taken me about 6 months to plan with literally every road being examined and checked before putting in on the route. It’s been difficult, and I’ve struggled to find the elusive, quiet, yet flat, fast and well tarmaced B roads. Basically, A Roads are flat and fast. B roads meander over massive hills and often haven’t been repaved for decades. There are no exceptions it appears, anyway …
Day 1. Penzance to Lands End to Golant YHA. after shuffling down on the sleeper train, avoiding the onboard bar, we have a fairly hilly 60 mile day to Golant through some quiet Cornish lanes. Penzance have a festival on, so might stop there for a breakfast.
Day 2 Golant to Exeter. One of my highlights of the whole tour. It’s one of the shortest days distance-wise, but probably the most difficult save for the penultimate day in Scotland. From Golant we shimmy around the Fowey Estuary and then head full bore straight over Dartmoor. The scenery looks amazing, long trafficless roads stretching to the horizon. There’s a lot of climbing to do though, somewhere in the region of over 7000 feet in one day (that’s two alpe d’heuz!). I’m hoping the scenery and numerous donkeys with spur us on though, and maybe tow us up a few of the hills.
Day 3 Exeter to Cheddar YHA. A bit of a ‘connector’ day, looks to be flatter and it’ll be nice to get away from the hills of Devon and Cornwall and into Somerset. We’re basically following the M5, so probably a lack of photo opportunities.I’m looking forward to going to Cheddar again, I always like it there. We’re not travelling up the gorge, but if there’s anything left in my legs and we get there early enough I might have a sprackle up and down it!
Day 4 Cheddar to Brecon YHA. A very flat first 30 miles, then into Wales, where is becomes very un-flat. The highlights are going to be crossing the Severn on the M42 (which apparently you can do), and the long climb up to our base at Brecon. There are going to be some sort legs.
Day 5 Brecon and Telford. We literally go round the Wrekin before getting to our final location which is aCountry Club by the M54. Apparently they are going to let us use a Board Room for our bikes! Should be nice heading up through the Malverns.
Day 6 Telford to Glossop. We’re stopping with Anna’s sister in Glossop, the lovely Stella and Mew (cat). Nothing exciting springs to mind on this day.
Day 7 Glossop to Kettlewell. I’m looking forward to this day. The plan is to stop off in Hebden Bridge, about halfway. We’re following a cycle network path most of the morning following the Rochdale canal, which appears to be a rather picturesque route. Hebden Bridge, is a cycling mad town with proper cafes, and huge hills either side. After a hearty luch we head into the Dales, quite roads, sheep, dry stone walls, postman pat etc, stopping in Kettlewell.
Day 8 Kettlewell to Alston starts with a difficult morning in the north Dales, before heading right up the centre of England to Alston. Don’t know much about this day, basically the only YHA I could find within striking distance of the north dales.
Day 9 Alston to Wooller, skirting around NorthumberlandNational Park. It looks like it’ll be full of midges due to lakes and forests, I reckon this is where I’m going to get my firstseries of bites. Nice scenery though and the roads lookerelatively quiet. Should be a nice day in the saddle.
Day 10 Wooller to Edinburgh This will be another highlight, and the day that takes us across the boarder into Scotland. We’ve to traverse the stunning B6355 for about 20 miles. (that sounded a bit Alan Partridge), a road which seems to have been forgotten, and that I have failed to find a car on on Google street view. This is our first evening in a non-YHA hostel, and hopefully won’t be as loud as the website appears to show it. I like Edinburgh so I’m looking forward to a walk around and a refreshing pint of Buckfast.
Day 11 Edinburgh to Pitlochry. This day finds us poking our further into the interior of untamed Scotland. The morning will be a series of rat-runs on a cycle path before heading rudely north over the Firth of Forth road bridge with the obligatory photo stop of course. Perth will be our stop for lunch, and then onwards. There are various lochs and firths north of Edinburgh, and it should be okay once we are in the afternoon.
Day 12 Pitlochry to Nethy Bridge takes us around theCaringorms and into Nethy Bridge along a dedicated cycle path for nearly all of the day alongside the A9. This could be a nice day, we stay on the outskirts of the stunning Cairngorms which will be visible all day and won’t have to do any serious climbing. The proximity to the busy A9 might put a bit of a dampner on it, but I’m looking forward to a day without traffic! We are staying with Anna’s old neighbours Sandra and Dick, who are thoughtfully putting us up in their house.
Day 13 Nethy Bridge to Helmsdale. This day is flagged as being the hardest in my book. The distance is going to be over 100 miles and much of it will be headed north east along the coast. A head or cross wind off the North Sea and I might cry. Hopefully, the amazing coastal views and countryside will keep us going. Along with about a dozen energy gels and coffee.
Day 14 Helmsdale to John O’Groats (to Thurso) The beauty of a long day 13 is a short day 14. 50 miles to JOG, although we do then have a 20 mile ride to Thurso. Monique and Dave are meeting us there and (although they don’t know it yet) will be taking our bags for us to Thurso. This day follows the coast all the way. It looks really quiet and hopefully the wind will be with us and the Scottish weather gods will be kind so we can sail into JOG with happy smiles on our faces. There are only 3 hours of darkness in Thurso on 12 July, between just after midnight and 3am. Therefore I’m expecting a suitable nice of revelry, before climbing into bed at the austerely fronted SandrasGuest House. Which looks like it’s been carved out of granite.
So that’s it! Looks easy doesn’t it. 1013.5 miles, 55,000 feet of climbing. … SHIT!
And here’s the link to what we are doing it for. Thanks. Gx
Http://www.justgiving.com/teams/LEJOG4