New LEJOG GPS route with quiet roads throughout

[Danneaux]

Hi All,

British cyclist David Piper has come up with a very interesting route variation for LEJOG. For those in other parts of the world who may not familiar with this very famous British End-to-End route, LEJOG stands for Land's End to John O' Groats. It has been completed by cyclists, walkers, and any manner of transport with records both made and broken in the traverse. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land%27s_End_to_John_o%27_Groats .

David's is not the fastest route -- far from it -- but it is one of the most scenic, tracing its way along B-roads and some truly scenic cycle tracks. Piper is a very experienced cyclist and tourist, so when asked by a charity to plot the route, he was happy to do so.

In the far north, he was able to use little-trafficked main roads; other places, he employed as many Sustrans NCN routes as he could, mixing them with roads having low traffic density. There's some occasional off-road in his routes, but not bad from the sound of it. He said he could handle the fine pea gravel on the many canal paths with his standard-width road tires. In Scotland, part of the route follows an old railroad bed, and should be expanded in years to come. The largest climb on the entire route is Kirkstone Pass, before dropping down to Windermere. Remember, this is not a true off-road route, but a scenic low-traffic route that chooses byways.

Start is in Caithness, Scotland, the finish is truly at Land's End. Total distance is about 2,000km/1,240mi.

The root link to David's home page is here:
http://www.tra-velo-gue.co.uk/home.htm

His LEJOG page is here, with a mapb-based daily log-summary:
http://www.tra-velo-gue.co.uk/trip01.htm

His GPS-based route -- complete with downloadable tracks and waypoints, and turn-by-turn directions for some Garmin devices, is here:
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1307372

I'd go in a minute if I could. It sounds wonderful. Looking forward to hearing from those who have already done LEJOG and are therefore qualified to comment on this variation.

Best,

Dan.

[kwkirby01]

Start is in Caithness, Scotland, the finish is truly at Land's End. Total distance is about 2,000km/1,240mi.

Doesn't that make it a JOGLE rather than a LEJOG 

[Paul S]

Doesn't that make it a JOGLE rather than a LEJOG 

Either way round it's End to End

Paul.

[antonio75]

I completed the End to End (north to south) in 1986 with an organised Bike Events group. The route was specifically designed to use quiet minor roads wherever if was humanly possible. It was a brilliant route through some magnificent scenery, approximately 1,000 miles in length. One thing we all learned on that ride was that major roads go around hills and have the gradients reduced. Minor roads go over the hills and...........don't!! My word, we went over some steep hills during that two week ride. Wouldn't have missed it for the world, though! Believe it or not, despite starting at John O' Groats and getting fitter day by day, the toughest two days were the last two - cycling the minor roads of Devon and Cornwall. One short, steep (often very steep) hill after another, with very little recovery time on the equally short and steep descents. If anyone is planning to do this ride (and it is a once in a lifetime experience), my advice is to do it in a north-south direction and don't try for mega mileage days in the south-west. That's some of the hardest riding I've ever done.

I did have a copy of the route on day-by-day photocopied sheets. A  warden at a youth hostel on the Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper talked me into sending him the route as he was hoping to do the ride. I did send it, on the solemn promise that he would photocopy it and return it. Unfortunately, that was the last I saw of it. Some people, huh?

[Danneaux]

If anyone is planning to do this ride (and it is a once in a lifetime experience), my advice is to do it in a north-south direction and don't try for mega mileage days in the south-west. That's some of the hardest riding I've ever done.

Hi Antonio!

Your advice is very much appreciated, especially as you've made the ride yourself and have a frame of reference for that last part! Thanks! It is something I've always wanted to do, and is on my "Someday" list.

I did have a copy of the route on day-by-day photocopied sheets. A  warden at a youth hostel on the Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper talked me into sending him the route as he was hoping to do the ride. I did send it, on the solemn promise that he would photocopy it and return it. Unfortunately, that was the last I saw of it. Some people, huh?

Well, this is truly rotten! I've had similar experiences time and again, and each time I thought it couldn't possibly recur. I have now concluded if I cannot better judge the character of the borrower, I will resist entreaties until or unless I can provide a copy (keeping the original). I've just lost too much original work to people who took off with it. I'm surely sorry you had this experience, Antonio. The Internet is a remarkable tool for finding people and for coincidence. Perhaps the borrower will see this, be reminded, and contact you. Stranger things have happened to me. See:
http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=4295.0

Best,

Dan.

[antonio75]

Just to confuse the issue - there are two schools of thought on which is the preferred direction for the End to End. South to north or north to south. The toughest cycling is undoubtedly in Cornwall and Devon (i.e. in the south-west), but the prevailing wind is also from the south-west. So imagine your horror if you started from Lands End and ran into a NON-prevailing wind........but what if you started from John O'Groats and all the way to Lands End the prevailing wind was against you?

Tough call!

[peter jenkins]

I did End to End solo in 2006 and have to admit to agonising over my choice of direction, but having read much about prevailing weather decided to LEJOG rather than JOGLE. Wainwright gives the same advice regarding walking Coast to Coast as well. East to West is the preferred route for the majority.

I can say it worked for me. I rarely encountered a head wind and was favoured by the occasional tail breeze (sometimes accompanied by rain).  I counted myself lucky as I travelled from Australia to do the trip.

The topography of Cornwall and Devon is not touring cyclist friendly but once Somerset is reached, it's easier to settle into a rhythm. I was unprepared for the heat during the first week; it was consistently over 30 deg. Celsius and the lack of breeze in the narrow, hedge lined lanes made it tough going.

I found Phil Horsley's book "End to End - The Great British Cycling Adventure" to be very useful and although I didn't stick entirely to his suggested route(s) it formed the basis of my trip. I avoided the conurbations in the Midlands and stuck to rural and semi rural roads for the vast majority, and in Scotland chose a west coast route, via Ardrossan ,the Isle of Arran, Oban, Inverness, Tongue and then across the Northern coast line to JoG. Total distance was 1168 miles.

The trickiest part was getting back to Bicester (near Oxford) after the trip. The cheapest alternative was to catch the train from Wick to Inverness and then hire a car for the remaining few days I had in the U.K. My only regret was that I had waited until I was 55 to do it instead of 20 years earlier.

I would recommend this trip to anyone. And... for the record..... I rode a Thorn Club Tour.


Cheers,

pj