Any advice is welcome, whether constructive or not.
North to south or not?
Tourer/ hybrid or race bike best...... Not ridden any. Ever
Is it viable to do it completely self sufficient or best to use b&b's
Thanks in advance.
I'd go south to north, it's uphill, but better chance of a tailwind. I'd do it on a race bike, aiming for 80-100 miles a day and sleeping in the finest hotels available.
I think it's unwise to assume the same bike will be suitable for LEJOG and JOGLE. For LEJOG, you'll need a lighter set-up and lower gearing to cope with the fact that you're going North/up. Coming the other way you're going to need better brakes to cope with the long descent - I'd not be entirely comfortable without discs going that way.
Get a pugsley, by the time you get it up to full speed you would have reached your journeys end
I did it South to North due to there being a better chance of a tailwind as crikey said.
I used a Specialized Sirrius with flat bars, used youth hostels and did it in 10 days. I carried everything between two rear panniers and a bar bag.
If I was to do it again:
I'd use a bike with drop bars as I had nowhere to escape any head winds.
I'd do it in 14 days and give myself longer to take in the sights.
I also found the hills down south harder than in Scotland, which suprised me.
You'll have a fantastic time doing it, I was gutted when the ride came to and end and I had to return to normality.
I bought myself a Hewitt Cheviot tourer as a 40th birthday present. 4 panniers carrying full camping gear. We took 10.5 days and went south to north to make best use of tail winds which we had most days but it poured down a lot. Ended up in b and b's a couple of times due to soakings. As has been said take your time and enjoy the sights. I will do it again but over a couple of weeks. Oh, and pace yourself don't go mad from the off. We hired a van one way to get to penzance and brother picked us up at t'other end.