50 next year, and vaguely thinking about JOGLEing at some point to commemorate.

Anyone who’s done it (or anyone with an opinion – so most of STW), what are the key things to consider?

Not fussed about fitness or bikes – fairly confident I’m OK for both (with a bit of sensible training and fettling) – what else haven’t I thought about?

Vague plan is to ride light and have Mrs noise and Doug the dog as support in the campervan.

Would like to aim for 100 miles a day but no idea whether that’s realistic?

Pick a route that avoids the a9

tjagain
Pick a route that avoids the a9

That’s pretty much a given…

Consider your sanity. Go to Italy, cycle across France.

I’d probably be having a conversation with myself about my true motivations for choosing those destinations (or indeed legog). Is it because it has some sort of meaning to you, is it because it is a recognisable feat when talking to non cyclists or just a life long ambition. I have a sneaky feeling for most folk that do it it has been chosen because it has bragging rights at the water cooler. Because in truth there are better places to choose that give more pleasant route options, are logistically less of a ball ache and are a bit less cliche. They just don’t tick the impress my non cycling mates box quite so easily.

My 50th is not a million miles away. If I was going to take something similar on as someone who has lived in much of the UK I might try to put together a route that hooked them together and stop and have a walk down memory lane in each. Or I’d sod all that and look at the eurovelo routes and use the trip to go places I have never been before. I don’t think I’d add myself to hoard of lejog/jogle sheep.

I agree with convery and would do one of the Eurovelo routes. I did Eurovelo 15 last year. Most of the route is traffic free and logistically it was easier to get there and back.

Pick a route that avoids Lands End and John O’Groats.

Plenty of more enjoyable routes than LeJoG.

(And as aside, Duncansby Head is just a few miles from JoG and is stunning but how many people go there! )

100 miles a day is doable but what’s the point – you will spend your time riding on main roads to get the mileage and just following the white line. Your wife/kid will never see you and have no time to enjoy themselves.

I’ve done it and I’ve also cycled all over europe. Certainly there are fantastic, scenic places that are more bike friendly in Europe but I found it a fabulous way to see Britain. I enjoyed the variety of our little land and visiting places I hadn’t cycled before. I did the Deloitte LEJOG since it was a logistic no brainer for me. Weather was crap though!

Although next year I’d like to cycle Atlantic to Med across the Pyrenees.

plan your route using the CAMRA handbook. a good pint at the end of the day is a great reward.

It is a bit of a cliche isn’t it? Almost the touring route for non-touring cyclists. That said, there’s plenty of nice scenery along the way if you pick a route that avoids A roads.

LEJOG is easier both logistically and weather wise. Winds will come from the south / southwest more often than they come from the north or northeast. Also means you save the nicest roads and scenery for last.

Bike doesn’t matter, it just needs to be reliable and comfortable. There’s a lot to be said for basic bikes using proprietary parts!

And for your partner it’ll be little more than a 10-day driving holiday so make sure she’s happy with that! Personally, I’d do a European tour rather than a LEJOG. 1000 miles of British roads, drivers and weather or 1600km of nice roads, traffic free paths more reliable weather and better wine and cheese! Although the Scotland bit can easily be combined with a distillery tour or two. 🙂

The worst bit for me was the interminable drive to get to LE and from JOG. Split that up over a couple of days and it’s much more relaxing.

I appreciate this sounds patronising, but how have you reached 50 and feel you still have to choose a ride on the basis of it impressing your non-cycling mates?

I’m with you on the need to find a “thing” for a ride, rather than any old arbitrary tour, but I’m firmly in the camp that says there’s better things to do on a bike than slog it out every day for a week with British drivers. Next big one for me is the Paris Meridian: 1500km from Dunkerque to Barcelona on minor French roads and gravel.

As for how doable 100 miles a day is, only you can really get a feel for that. For some it’s a pipe dream, for others a walk in the park. Though the short answer is “yes, of course”, especially if you’re not carrying luggage.

Just set a sensible time to build up to it and put some milestones in the calendar along the way. Figure out what you’d need to achieve to feel confident enough to tackle Lejog, then what you’d need to do to feel confident enough to tackle that, until you get to something you’re confident enough to tackle now, and once you’ve fitted those things in around everyday life that’s your training plan.

TBH is not about impressing anyone at all. Just musing on doing something like that and the 50 thing seemed like a good excuse – could equally be Coast To Coast off road, Wales South to North, NC500, whatever. JOGLE just seemed an obvious thing and different enough from my normal riding to be interesting to prepare for and ride. Also the possibility with something recognisable to potentially raise a little bit for charity…

Despite knowing this place, wasn’t quite expecting the raft of STWier than thou responses!

Lejog is more popular than jogle due to prevailing winds.

Hopping on the ferry to Aaron let’s you avoid the urban sprawl of Glasgow. The south west is by far the toughest part. Not sure if doing it first or last is best…

You’re right not to worry about fitness. If you’re not fit the miles take a bit longer.

I get the cliche bragging rights thing, but it’s still on my wishlist.

Couple of “ordinary” people I follow have done it recently. One did it in horrendous conditions weatherwise, but once started and committed couldn’t stop due to a limited time window. Mostly 80-90 mile days. Sounded awful. For a regular cyclist with the right kit and training, 100 mile days, 8-9 hours in the saddle, should be doable.

Another friend did Deloitte last year, another mate has been a chaperone on it. It seems a great way to do it logistically, but sleeping in a tent? No thanks.

A retired couple I follow have just got passed Inverness. She’s on an electric bike. They have no time constraints, doing about 50 miles per day, mix of camping, B&Bs, friends and hotels, diverting to see places they fancy on route. Not so much Lejog as a tour of Britain with recognisable start and end points. That appeals to me as a retirement present to myself.

They all say the first days getting out of Cornwall and Devon are a hilly nightmare though.

TBH is not about impressing anyone at all.

Unreserved apology, I must have read the thread too quickly and completely misattributed some of what I read. Doh! Beg your pardon.

So, yes, I’m with you on it needing to be a “Thing”. But I still prefer overseas roads with their quieter traffic and better weather 🙂

Lon Las Cymru looks kind of fun, though.

They all say the first days getting out of Cornwall and Devon are a hilly nightmare though.

Yup, Devon and Cornwall are a straight choice between constant ups and downs or lethal roads. I’d choose the former every time, given multiple near-death experiences of West Country drivers, but it does make for hard work.

The Deloitte was well organised and sleeping in the tents added to the adventure. The best thing about Deloitte was seeing non-cyclists battling through (we had head winds and rain most of the way from Lands End) every day. Super impressive and generally for great charity causes. So many cyclists are sniffy about LEJOG but OP if you want to do it then do it.

@tonyg2003 : what year did you do the Deloitte event? I’ve chaperone’d on that several times.

Although I missed the 2017 event which sounded horrific!

TBH is not about impressing anyone at all.

but…..

Also the possibility with something recognisable to potentially raise a little bit for charity…

So it is a little bit then.

I stand by the lejog/jogle is a bit lacking in imagination as a challenge. A bit like swimming the channel. I’m glad your ideas are borader than that and would urge you to investigate those options more first.

I stand by the lejog/jogle is a bit lacking in imagination as a challenge.

Are you suggesting he has to impress people with his imagination, then? 😉

I read the lejogle book and the one thing that I was left with was that his suffering would have been reduced massively with some mudguards.

Buy mudguards.

IF* i was gonna do it, I’d go lejog.
I’d use a bike with mudguards and a known comfy saddle/riding position,
Id fit largish tyres, dynamo lights, 2 water bottles, a seat pack for puncture outfit etc.
If you’re aiming to do 100ish miles a day, have you actually done 100 miles a day for several days on the trot?
You need to consider your arse, how will you (or your good lady) get your shorts cleaned, and more importantly, dried?
Food, you’ll need a bit more than normal, and it needs to be the correct type, no good living on mars bars for a fortnight.
A mate of mine did it a few years ago, fully supported as there were a group of them, he raised several thousand for a diabetic charity.
He was a previous non cyclist and he managed it no bother.
Plan well, it makes all the difference.
*i’m not.

EDIT.

Not worth the effort…

Ignore the negativity and just do it.

If nothing else it’s a brilliant sampler for long distance rides.

100 mile days can be done easily if you break the day into segments, but if you plan on 80 mile days then you can spend longer in places that interest without suffering white-line fever. It may make it more pleasant for your wife too… 🙂

If I wanted a 1000 mile uk route thats not the one i would chose. Nor would I do the NW 500. I’d pick interesting roads, routes and areas. Perhaps Edinburgh to cape wrath and back again via as many brochs as I could find or something like that.

100 mile days are easy if you want to spend 10 hours riding. Much harder if you want to do 5 hours!

I did Dover to Durness (pretty much the opposite diagonal to LeJoG) a few years ago and greatly enjoyed it. I did it as part of a self-organised group and I think it would be quite lonely doing that sort of thing as a solo ride. Maybe that’s just me but have you considered getting anybody else to join you??

Depending on where you live in the UK the drive back from the top of Scotland can be a lot longer than expected, especialling when the focus is on finishing the cycling.

Midge Repellent – they can be really awful.

It’s an iconic “route”, one that many, many folk will have heard of and that most will recognise the scale of given their exposure to the likes of a weather map. That alone gives it a certain meaning if you are discussing it with others at any point.

If you choose carefully you can make it as direct, as challenging or simply as fun as you want. Even setting yourself the 10 x 100 mile days thing will be a little challenge to give you incentive. I’ve seen all sort of folks on all sorts of bike achieve that. I don’t doubt for a moment that you can. Averaging 10mph (including stops) is fairly easy, especially if you have a support vehicle.

I’ve met/spoken to hundreds of LEJOG/JOGLErs over the years. I can’t think of one that was disappointed in their decision to take it on. Many go on to other long distance challenges afterwards, many are happy to have ticked it off and then carry on with their lives as before.

I did it as part of an organised/charity group. That gave me no control over route or other logistics, going against my nature really. However, the route was interesting and took me to parts of the UK I’d otherwise never had explored. Having company (when I wanted it) was great and it was nice to help/advise some of the less experienced cyclists.

I reckon I’ll do it completely unsupported next year.

Most folk head north rather than south. I’d say about 3 or 4 to 1 in favour of northbound. Your own logistics might dictate your choice though.

If cycling solo you will likely meet other riders in Cornwall and Caithness, less so elsewhere as folk fan out over the choice of roads.

Lots of folk use the Sustrans route. Comments I’ve commonly heard is that it’s a lot better in Scotland than in England.

If you have a bike that will take 28-32mm tyres then the added comfort will be a bonus as the ride progresses and those tyres will handle some of the short gravelly sections better too.

I don’t think people are being too STWish on this, its just most people think there are better, more rewarding routes.

@crazylegs “the 2017 event which sounded horrific” yes I did the 2017 event. Kinda tough at times

I did my first LEJOG in 1993, the first longish ride I’d done. Pre-internet, pre-Sustrans, pre-smartphone. I’d come back from hitchhiking across Tibet and, conceiving a desire to go back and cycle through it, figured I’d better do a practise run first. I was signing on, so needed to fit it into a two week window. Set off on my £350 Raleigh Monsoon mountain bike with 1.25″ Tioga City Slickers, camping kit on a rear rack, and the relevant pages ripped out of my mum’s AA road atlas.

I learned how to use gears properly. Wearing padded shorts, my ringpiece was on fire after three days subjecting it to a sweat-soaked bacterial sponge. I threw the shorts away and went commando under a pair of tracksters for the rest of the trip, which worked fine.

Crossed the Severn bridge, followed the smallest roads I could find up through Wales. Continued through the Dales in a similar vein, then across to Ardrossan as above. Followed the west coast all the way to Durness before heading across the top. Long days – the longest was Arisaig to Ullapool via Skye, incorporating the Mallaig-Armadale and (pre-bridge) Kyleakin ferry crossings. My arse was still in bits after Tibet and I vividly remember fending off angry divebombing seabirds near Cape Wrath while trying to take an urgent sh!t…

Great trip. I went back in 2015 and did a 2200km offroad version, a very different trip in a very different style, but also enjoyable. Ignore the cynics. You’ll learn stuff about yourself and your country, and cycling. Try and plan your own route rather than ploughing the same tired rut everybody else is doing. Can’t comment on how much your family are going to enjoy it, mind.

There’s a specific LEJOG / JOGLE sub forum on Cycling UK:
https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewforum.php?f=22

Lon Las Cymru looks kind of fun, though.

It is indeed! But it’s the only one I’ve done so nothing to compare it against. Next year we fancy the Wild Atlantic Way (not all of it!) in Ireland.

LLC this is 4-5 days so might be a bit short if you’re after an epic: https://pickled-hedgehog.com/?p=4412 – if you want to know more (1 post per day, just scroll up…)

I did get the touring bug for sure, but the LEJOG / JOGLE wouldn’t be near the top of my list!

Seems some more balanced views coming through. Cheers.

Also now musing on some other options. Top of my gut feeling list is multiple off-road coast to coasts (the classic Cumbria to Yorkshire, something in Scotland (Great Glen?), Wales South to North, some other silly ones – that super short Cornish one / west to east Norfolk / whatever). Easier logistics, potentially more interesting riding?

Individually, each of the rides you’ve mentioned might have more “intense” interest but there’s something about long trips that makes them quite fascinating and when you live on an island then crossing it in one go has an attraction.

I have a few other trips in mind – the Irish E2E is one, also a Celtic Capitals taking in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Dublin and Belfast.

For a regular cyclist with the right kit and training, 100 mile days, 8-9 hours in the saddle, should be doable.

Certainly doable but I’ve always thought that about 75 miles a day is perfect for a tour. Long enough to feel like a proper ride, but plenty of time to enjoy the scenery and have a good lunch. I did LEJOG over 12 days iirc.

I’m off to France in two weeks to cycle from the Mediterranean to the Channel. Can’t wait.

but there’s something about long trips that makes them quite fascinating

Yup. Only problem is that once you do one, any ride that doesn’t have a fundamental “A-to-B” element to it becomes totally hollow 🙂

Certainly doable but I’ve always thought that about 75 miles a day is perfect for a tour. Long enough to feel like a proper ride, but plenty of time to enjoy the scenery and have a good lunch.

Amen to that. When you’re looking at 10 days or so, IMO 50 miles a day leaves plenty of room for leisure; 80 is about the limit for it still feeling more like a holiday than a beasting; and 100+ is into hard slog territory (especially if you roll snake eyes with the weather or suffer some other sort of impediment). They’re all great approaches, but only if they match what you want out of it 🙂

There are some people who do it every year. Met one in Dartmoor two years running.

It will be boring for the support crew

There are some people who do it every year. Met one in Dartmoor two years running.

There are quite a few people who’ve ridden the Deloitte Ride Across Britain event as paying customers 3 or 4 times. The most I saw as a chaperone on it was a guy last year who was on his 6th.

I get doing “LEJOG” as a holiday on your own / small group multiple times as you may want to do one fast, one slow, one with some more off-road or visiting a different area of the country on the way but paying £1800 to do the same ride (with very minor logistical differences) each and every year…

Some regulars definitely get a kick out of being in the  “bubble”. I guess that for many it’s the abdication of responsibility, the idea that someone is completely taking care of you for the 10 days. Depending on how you are wired I can see how that might be a good experience and maybe a fundamental change from the other 51 weeks of the years.

My wife did it a few years ago, did the CTC (as was) route. That was two long days, one shorter day, repeat. From memory it took her 13 days. She booked the accommodation beforehand so was committed to the schedule. She took the train down to Penzance, rode out to Land’s End and back that evening then in the morning set off from Penzance. I acted as “support” in Scotland and picked her up at JoG.

For most people the third and fourth days will be hardest as they’ll get long rides done on Sat and Sun but then during the week won’t do much so they aren’t accustoming their bodies to the day in, day out nature of it.

If you are stopping in accommodation there’s usually no need to get to the night’s stop before 5pm or 6pm so depending on how quick you get away in the mornings that’s nine or ten hours to make the distance. Unless you are doing it mid-winter then there’ll be plenty of daylight. Allow a couple of hours for cafe stops that still leaves seven or eight hours ride time. So if the day’s route is fairly flat then 100 miles isn’t too hard to do but multiple 100 mile days or hilly days or days with a headwind will be hard work for most. It’s unlikely that you’ll get a fortnight of perfect weather with a tail wind!

If you’ve a support vehicle as per the OP then you can be much more flexible.