Setting off to Penzance tomorrow to start Land’s End to John O’Groats. We thought it would be fine to do 1000 miles in 10 days over Easter without a support vehicle. Uh oh it’s snowing outside right now and the Met Office says light rain and a 27mph headwind on Friday :-/

Anyone here done LEJOG – got any good motivational tips?

Also if anyone’s feeling generous I’m trying to raise money for Cancer Research here: https://www.justgiving.com/LEJOGin10days and my mate Will who has the double challenge of riding with Cystic Fibrosis is raising money here: https://www.justgiving.com/LEJOG4CF

Should be an adventure! (and you’ll feel doubly hard at the end).

Here’s some inspiration from when I did it:

Good luck it looks like it will be a hard one.

Just sponsored you too!

Anyone here done LEJOG – got any good motivational tips?

Cornwall and Devon will be the hardest bits. It’s the hilliest and the easterly wind will be right in your face for 2 days.

That said, the first two days are stunning, really lovely scenery.
Get on the road early, push on for as long as possible. If you start missing miles when it’s wet/cold/miserable, you’ll be out there for much longer.
It gets easier too, you just sort of ride yourself into it, by Day 4 it’ll all feel quite easy. Life just becomes really simple – get up, ride bike, eat, drink, sleep, repeat.

Yep Damaitamit, I’m praying for good weather in Scotland. Wondering if the lights come back on on Arran yet…

Curvature, many thanks for the donation!

Good luck Hooter, It’s something I’ve wanted to do and was planning to do this summer so please report once you complete your journey!
ps how did you pick the route or is it something that is pretty standard, i.e. freely available online?

These guys are doing it now.

https://www.facebook.com/LandsEnd2JohnOGroats6DayChallenge

They are supported and finding things very hard indeed. Suggest you start at least making alternative plans.

Life just becomes really simple – get up, ride bike, eat, drink, sleep, repeat.

Hmm! Sounds life my life before kids.

Yep – day 3 is the hardest. Psychologically it’s then just wash, rinse, repeat for another week. Your body will know what to do.

What route do you have through Scotland?

ps how did you pick the route or is it something that is pretty standard, i.e. freely available online?

CTC Forum has a specific LEJOG/JOGLE sub-forum, loads of useful info in there.
But basically the route goes via Okehampton, Bath/Bristol area, Ludlow, navigate round Liverpool/Manchester urban belt as best you can then up through Lancaster, Kendal, Carlisle, up through the frankly awful stretch round Scottish Borders (probably the worst area of all tbh) between Glasgow and Edinburgh, Fort William, Inverness, Thurso, turn right. Go to Thurso then along the northern coast, the run in is FAR better than going up via the A9. Also, you get to visit Dunnet Head, the northernmost point of the mainland.

TooTall, woah those guys are hardcore. Looks like they are trying to do c. 150 miles a day.

dsb181 we’re doing more or less the route crazy-legs says above, except we’re going via Arran and Oban for the southern/mid part of Scotland. There’s no single definitive route, it’s a matter of taking ideas off the internet and adjusting according to how many miles per day you want to do and A roads vs minor roads.

I did it this time last year. It was hot and sunny for the most part until the weather broke just north of Dingwall and we got horizontal sleet and then snow.

Cracking good thing to do. Enjoy.

We got sunburn.

Better to go through Langholm, Innerleithen, skirt Edinburgh to Perth, Crieff and via Amulree to Dalwhinnie then the old A9 to Inverness. The roads are quieter and more conducive to pleasant cycling.

Arran would be a mistake at the moment. I don’t know how much you guys are hearing about Arran and Kintyre on the “national” news but you really don’t want to be there.

There’s no single definitive route, it’s a matter of taking ideas off the internet and adjusting according to how many miles per day you want to do

+1
A mate did it a couple of years ago and they went almost to Oxford, then up through Nottingham and York.
Something a bit different.

Scotroutes, I’m hoping the lights will be back on in Arran/Kintyre in a week’s time, if not plan B will be to smile very nicely at friends and in-laws around Glasgow…

When I spend good Friday riding 110 miles into a headwind, I’ll think of you and be glad I only have one day of this.

I did the LEJOG (my second) with Amit last year – that’s my bum up there in the picture. General (non-weather related) things I learned:

-take as little as possible (we stayed in B+Bs. I think I managed about 3kg of luggage on a rack pack)
-do a dry run carrying all your stuff (er bit late for that now!!!)
-eat lots throughout the day (long lunch stop + grazing suited us, but each to their own) and ASAP when the day is over, even if its just recovery chocolate milk before dinner.
-it really is true, after Devon and Cornwall everything else seems easy.

We rode nine days in mid May, and I spent all of the wettest April on record worrying about the weather. We actually started out in similar conditions to this – not this cold in May, but still unseasonalbly cold, 10/11C at Land’s End with a bitter NE wind. By the time we got to Scotland it was 20C and sunny. By the time we got to North Scotland it was 27/28C!!!

The first days are going to be tough with current conditions, but just keep pressing on and it will get easier. And as the above illustrates, the weather in the UK will always change sooner or later. Even if we revert to weather fronts piling in off the Atlantic, you will be wet but you’ll have a tailwind 😉

Staying with friends, relatives is better than B&B too. Friends are especially good for entertainment, food and washing machines!! Especially washing machines.

These guys are doing it now.

https://www.facebook.com/LandsEnd2JohnOGroats6DayChallenge

They are supported and finding things very hard indeed. Suggest you start at least making alternative plans.

yep, fair play to them. They have hit some serious headwinds. I think they finished riding at 10.30pm the other night

it’s -4 today and snowing where they are!!!

Friends are especially good for entertainment, food and washing machines!! Especially washing machines.

Yep, merino might be stink free for a day or two, but I’ve already discovered how bad it can get after that… wondering if we can find a washing machine in Lochranza or Ballachulish…

Anyone here done LEJOG – got any good motivational tips?

Travel light.

Start early ,finish early

I am sure the good weather is just round the corner,have fun 🙂

good luck hooter.

might join you for horwich to preston.
that’ll be far enough for me!

Hey hey, got my luggage down to below 2kgs, am feeling good 🙂

Oh and don’t do it without mudguards, do avoid the A30 dual carriageway bits and take a proper map (much better for when you don’t like your choosen route or the GPS fails). Do eat loads (guilt free chocolate constantly is ace), have fun.

It was the best thing I have done on a bike.

Don’t believe people who say it is easy once you are out of Devon (they are lying and other places have very big hills). You can do it all with a lowest gear of 34×28 easily.

Don’t forget to take chain lube.

Oh – spare brake pads for the first couple of days riding if my group was anything to go by.