Viewing 17 posts - 1 through 17 (of 17 total)
  • lejog/jogle advice please?
  • titusrider
    Free Member

    Hi all

    So my ‘mate’ has decided we are doing John o goats – lands end on the early may bank holiday and we are looking to start booking stuff.

    There will be 4-6 of us as fairly experienced roadies with absolutely minimal credit card kit and carbon bikes. Looking to do it over 9 days so it stand a chance of still being a holiday! 😯

    Main questions are

    what else do I need other than a toothbrush and a second pair of bibs?

    Which direction should we do it in if we are based in the south East

    How on earth do you get to/from dorking to/from John o groats with 6 people and bikes at a sensible price!?

    Any other tips and experiences welcome

    neilsonwheels
    Free Member

    South to north as the winds should be heading that way in May.

    Cycle back ya big jess.

    flowerpower
    Free Member

    Can’t help much as I rode it with organised (charity) support, but got some good advice from here and used my LBS to post my bike to a friendly bike shop in Newquay for the start. I then drove to Inverness (from central scotland) and left my car there (spoke to an out of town garden centre who let me park in their carpark). I flew from Inverness to birmingham, train to Newquay, picked up bike and headed to the start.

    If you are based in the SE I would do the opposite… Post bike to Inverness bike shop, drive car to Newquay area and use train / plane to get to Inverness (you still need to figure it out from there).

    Have fun, I loved it!

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    grim168
    Free Member

    We did it south to North for the wind which worked out well but it poured down most days. Tourers fully loaded camping and took 10 1/2 days. Live in Preston so did one way van hire to Penzance and brother picked us up at jog.

    AlasdairMc
    Full Member

    Stuff to wear at night, spare clothes, jacket, tools, a couple of tubes and cash. I used a Carradice Camper Longflap on mine, which was more than big enough and even got used for takeaways when we stopped for food before reaching our accommodation. Have you got anything booked yet, or even a route?

    Once at the top, ride back to Wick and get the train down from there. It’s far nicer (or less bad) than Thurso.

    EDIT: my blog is at http://2012lejog.wordpress.com

    titusrider
    Free Member

    Nothing booked (bank hol might mean that is problematic!)

    planning on stealing the route from the deloitte thing:
    http://www.rideacrossbritain.com/2013-ride/route-page-new/day-1/

    pictonroad
    Full Member

    Yep, South to North, I rode it this way and it rained and rained but, the wind wasn’t often in our face. Would take some serious persuading to do it the other way.

    Take waterproofs, Scotland isn’t normal, you will go through 5 weather systems in a day. I used ‘rainlegs’ and they saved me from trench groin tbh. Also, the tarmac north of Carlilse is rougher than the shandy tarmac we have down south, if you can put some bigger volume tyres on I would. The road past Loch Lomond is flippin rough.

    High vis clothing helps, if something goes wrong and you’re out later than intended on a particular day.

    9 days, will be enough of challenge but easily do-able, we did it 12 on tourers with all our kit.

    Try a nice mix of fast and back roads, all back roads, too slow, all A roads, too demoralising. Take a compass, in cities just head North/South, don’t worry about an exact route.

    For that many people I can’t think of a solution to get home other than one way van hire. We caught the sleeper train but you’ll be too late to book bike places I suspect.

    Good luck, it was, interesting?

    James

    fasthaggis
    Full Member

    Travel light.
    Get on the road early so that you finish early.
    B+Bs for the win.

    Enjoy ,the UK is a brilliant and varied place 🙂

    damitamit
    Free Member

    I did it in April with 2 friends over 9 days. We went lightweight, staying in B&Bs and at friends houses. Train from London to Penzance, and Train from Wick to Inverness and the sleeper back to the london. Left bikes with a shop in Wick to be posted home for 50 quid.

    I took a change of clothes for the evening in a Carradice barley (with trainers strapped to the top).

    We used the CTC yha route and adapted it to make detours to friends places.

    Photos here. lejog photos . Take note of the first photo on how NOT to do it, two guys I met on the train. You’ll have a great time!

    I’ve got a google spreadsheet with all the gps routes and places we stayed (and cafe’s to stop at!) if you want to take a look. Give me an email.

    crazy-legs
    Full Member

    OP: that Deloitte route is intended for getting 700 riders of varying ability safely along a 100+ mile route every day and as such it had some bits in it that I’d miss out if I was doing it again, some nasty sections of A-road.

    charliedontsurf
    Full Member

    Not lejog… but Dorset to aviemore…. You can get three blokes and three bikes in a hire car (passat estate). And we drove back and dropped it off at the local southern office.

    Hi viz gillet
    Wet weather gear
    Never stop eating

    I don’t like being booked in as it gives you a deadline, a bit of stress, and some days you can go way further than you planned when conditions are good. I would rather bivi bag it.

    titusrider
    Free Member

    Thanks for the tip crazy, i hadnt thought of that, might re-join CTC and look at their routs as well then

    Dammit, you should have mail, if you dont could you drop me one?

    thanks

    fasthaggis
    Full Member

    I was going to say do it South to North ( I had a tail wind every day,YES every day ) ,but too late for that now 😉

    sockpuppet
    Full Member

    Train from London to Penzance, and Train from Wick to Inverness and the sleeper back to the london. Left bikes with a shop in Wick to be posted home for 50 quid.

    I used the train, having booked bike places *well* in advance, since there are laughably few available: I love the idea of the wick based postage solution! Which shop offers that? Well worth £50.

    Less hassle for you, the shop in wick probably make a decent amount out of it too: winners all round.

    Getting down to Penzance with bikes should be easier, but still worth calling to book.

    Btw, when you get on the train in wick, with what you think are enough beers to last, remember that you can get more in Inverness when you change! Or so I hear…

    alwillis
    Full Member

    north to south here.

    Just 2 of us, so posted bikes to a Thurso hotel and got the train (with student railcards for cheapness) up from Preston. Picked up bikes and had a lovely dinner in the hotel when we got there. Did it in 12.5 days, staying in BnBs, YHAs and with family and friends.

    Maybe we were lucky, but I didn’t notice a headwind at all- a lot of rain though!!

    Pierre
    Full Member

    I did North to South last year in the middle of summer. It was beautiful, and amazing to realise just how much of Scotland there is (yes, I’m from London), but I’d recommend doing it the other way, LE to JOG. Although Lands End is a much nicer place to finish. John O’Groats is a shithole.

    ransos
    Free Member

    Some good advice here…but have a think about your route. I would be tempted to miss out the A82 (beautiful scenery but busy with inattentive caravan drivers) and go via the old A9 and Edinburgh instead. If you do decide to ride the great Glen, there’s a quieter road south of Loch Ness between Ft Augustus and Inverness.
    Further south, the A49 through Shropshire is horrid, it’s well worth detouring via minor roads. If the weather’s good, the ride over Dartmoor is spectacular, and well worth the climb, but have a plan B if it’s wet.

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