Cycling Expedition

Dickie E

Dickie E


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nice photo. Well done
 
Browner

Browner

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I'm amazed you're sitting down . .. Nice 1

Another of the Bucket list ticked off?
 
B

Blackberry


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Just a heads up if anyone is interested in having a go, I'm going off again, leaving on 26th July from Land's End.
 
matty1194

matty1194


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Blackberry,

Can you PM me any info you have on this, route you took etc as some of the guys from my work are keen to do a similar trek.

Thanks,
Matt
 
Browner

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Blackberry said:
.... I'm going off again, leaving on 26th July from Land's End.
Click to expand...
15215697275_70ecebdc69.jpg
 
B

Blackberry


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matty1194 said:
Blackberry,

Can you PM me any info you have on this, route you took etc as some of the guys from my work are keen to do a similar trek.

Thanks,
Matt
Click to expand...
No worries, I'll get it across to you. There are also the CTC forums http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewforum.php?f=22 and the End to End website http://www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1 .

The Cycling Touring Club publish a few routes (a PDF is on its way to you). Most routes definitely avoid the A Roads, hence the CTC routes max out at around 1000 miles.

There are two ways of making the trip, supported and unsupported. I have always gone unsupported, this means you have to find accommodation close to where you are finishing each day, and carry your stuff with you. It also means you have to get you and your bike to the start and finish......trust me this requires a lot of organisation at JOG, the nearest station is Wick and only has a max of four trains a day so you need to book your bike place asap.

The route cannot be broken down into equal chunks of miles, its the climbs that count. So the first two days through Cornwall and Devon involve many 1000 of feet in climbs, you will be knackered if you try to do too many miles, but Somerset and even parts of Cheshire are much flatter. My route does a monster series of four climbs through the Cairngorns which can involve a serious temperature drop.

Wind is the other variable. If you get a headwind there is nothing you can do except drop a gear, add an hour to your eta and knuckle down.

I finish up by going through the central Highlands (its all quite flat.....you're IN the Highlands). It is beautiful and by then you are fit enough to cycle flat out up anything.

More details will be PM'd to you when I get home.
 
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P

Pinky


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matty1194 said:
Blackberry,

Can you PM me any info you have on this, route you took etc as some of the guys from my work are keen to do a similar trek.

Thanks,
Matt
Click to expand...

Matt, I have friends who did a self supported camping trip in the late spring. I joined them for one day up the Great Glen. They followed one of the routes in one of the many books - we can have a chat when we next see each other and if you want I can find out the book/route they used.
 
B

Blackberry


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Just a heads up if anyone is interested (or wants to join in for a day?) I am off again Lands End John O Groats, leaving 23/7 arriving Portreath 23/7, Camelford 24/7, Bampton 26/7,easy day to Cheddar 28/7, Goodrich 29/7, Much Wenlock 28/7, Somewhere in Rugby League Land called Bucklow Hill 29/7, Slaidburn in the middle of nowhere 30/7, Seriously in the middle of nowhere south of the borders 31/7, Sevens country Traquair 1/8, Easy day to Kinross 2/8, Getting ready to cycle the mountains Spittall of Glenshee 3/8, Getting passed by thin wiry 70 year olds going over the Grampians to Grantown on Spey 4/8, Through Inverness and towards the Highlands thank god no more mad hills to Bonar Bridge 5/8, then the big 110 mile push to John O Groats. My long suffering and slightly bewildered wife is joining me and we're going off to the Orkneys, the thinking being that on an island our mad rescue collie can't get too far away.

If anyone wants to join in for a day just PM me, I'll post a tracker later for anyone who is interested.
 
T

tim White


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Who chose this route? We used to live near Penrith, about 30 miles south of the Scottish border on the A6 -most of the Lands End/ John o' Groats walkers/cyclers/bikers/truckers/quad bikers etc used to go past our front door; Why not you?
 
B

Blackberry


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Thread Resurrection: My valiant attempts to pull together a referees team to do this has failed every year, this is my 13th and so far no joy. Even members of my own Ref's Society studiously avoid me, though maybe they do that anyway. I'm off on 2nd May but as a cunning way of using the tiresome training to its full advantage I am cycling Coast to Coast and back starting Thursday, this time with a very long standing rugby colleague who gamely asked to come along. C2C is very demanding in some places, so I hope I have not mislead him, luckily he is well hard. His rugby career was plagued by injury, but other peoples'.

My missus is driving up to John O Groats to meet me (about 600 miles each way, legend) on condition I send the bike back by courier so she can bring a convertible up, she is very trusting of Scottish weather. With her will be our sheepdog who relishes the Highlands and the beaches. Last year we met up on a beach near Thurso and my wife ran across it to prove she was faster than me....three months of knee physio followed, how we laughed. Well, I did.

We get back just in time to attend the wedding of a dear rugby friend, a youngster from a team I co-founded at university, which has gone from strength to strength in the 30 or so years that I have had nothing to do with it, but they invite me back each year to referee the old boys game. I hear his intended, mindful of how hungry I am after LEJOG, is going to ban me from the buffet. To be honest, its nice to be invited to a wedding, makes a change from all the funerals I get to go to these days.
 
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