Lejog, but longer than normal.

me and the good lady are planning on riding lejog, either later this year, or early next year.
we wont be rushing, planning on doing it over a month with home being the midway point.
we will be staying in yha’s and carrying minimal gear, so plenty of time for sightseeing/pottering about.
looking for some idea’s for a route, away from any busy stuff, and using small quiet yha’s.

any pointers/idea’s greatly welcomed.

Have you read this?

Can’t remember if it has any route info, but would’ve thought it would be right up your street. It makes for a decent bedtime read anyway.

mate, i have, that is what inspired us to do it…… 8)

Top part – Sleeperzzz in Rogart, Crask Inn for lunch, B&B in Tongue then last day along the top. I know a place that does good steak in Wick for when you’re done as well – MacKay’s Hotel.

I did mine in ten but still managed beer en route. I would like to do it again though, but before then I want to go up to the far North again as it’s completely alien to the rest of the UK – breathtaking stuff!

wot no lejoggers!!

Did it in 2006, took 14 days with a day off in the middle. Can’t remember the exact details but we too wanted it to be scenic and had the target of as many modes of transport as possible.

Chain ferry and fisherman’s boat lifts in Cornish villages, by seeking out dead ends the roads are smaller. Cornwall is odd to cycle round, you know it’s beautiful but you can’t see any of it, it’s all hedges. Worth dropping down to the occasional beach to remind yourself. Pint in Bristol and wander about with the trendy young beautiful people. Crossed the Severn and into Wales to tick off 3 countries, bit of a meander round Symonds Yat. Caught up with all the sites in Yorkshire, then headed West and crossed the Mersey back into Liverpool, had a day off here and beer. Gretna for the obligatory photo. Carlisle was a foot deep in water.

Scotland we headed West-ish, wanted to see the big locks on the lochs (?) headed to the SYHA at Loch Lomond, got the boat ferry across the loch. Definitely stay at Carbisdale Castle SHYA, it’s awesome. We stayed at some seriously remote SYHA’s one was just a tin shed. Had a pint and a Sandwich at the Crask Inn which is 100% obligatory. Headed up to Tongue for mind bending sunsets and avoided the main roads.

Advice, Shropshire killed us, who knew it was hilly, I’d never been. Avoid Scottish towns, they are grey and weird. Villages or cities however are awesome. Fort William had the best pies.

Caught the sleeper home with a beer in Glasgow.

We hooked up with cycling minded friends on two occasions who joined us for their local leg, would have great to do this more, really enjoyable to share it with someone else.

Here’s the album, pretty self explanatory, it’s back to front if you see what I mean…

Flickr link[/url]

James

I did it in the summer of 2004 with some old school mates. We started at John O Groats (Prob not the best idea due to the potential wind. We mostly used YHA, a mates house in Bristol and I think one BnB in Chester. We rode over 14 days so fairly casual though we did have a big first day in Scotland down to Carbisdale YHA. Not much accomodation up that way!

Avoid the A9, its horrible, the A836 is quiet and rather lovely. The section through the Manchester, Bolton urban sprawl was a bit average but I suspect some clever routefinding could make that a lot more pleasant.

From Chester we dipped in and out of Wales, Clun is lovely and the borders was some of the nicest cycling we did.

Somerset is flat as hell and if your hungover and its windy = hell.

Devon and Cornwall are brutally hilly. The coastal roads are really pretty but especially in Cornwall the climbs out of the coves are utterly brutal. Dartmoor as well has a few nasty surprises.

Its amazing, I want to do it again.

Looks like Carbisdale castle is no longer open…. Sucks a bit, was great though creepy as hell. I would agree with the Loch Lomond hostel, we had a cruisey day down so arrived early enough for a swim in the loch. Its a nice ride down to Glasgow the next day as well.

Have some money.

We were poor, a particular low point was sitting in a bus stop in torrential rain eating lidl ham watching fellow LEJOGers (you will meet a few) drink hot chocolate in a steamy cafe.

The roof of the bus stop overflowed and poured down my neck. I think may have cried. It rained for 5 days, had to throw in the towel in carlisle and go in a B&B, we couldn’t see the kerb! My shoes fell in half…

CTC Forum have loads of info on this

ton I have a super duper B roads only route that goes via the West Highland islands including ferries. Email me for a copy of the GPX files

pictonroad, fantastic pics those mate, cheers.

DavidB, will do mate. cheers

Have you been to the west coast of Scotland? I toured from Ardrossan to Mallaig a couple of years ago and visited Arran, Kintyre, Oban and Mull, and then went on to Skye. Absolutely beautiful. And the ferries are very easy and cheap with bikes. Quiet roads as well.

At the time there were some extended LeJog’ers on our route who we bumped into at a couple of hostels. Apparently the west coast / islands can be ridden for extra mileage but cut out some of the high highlands.

Did it summer 2011 top to bottom in 13 days. We used mainly YHAs and a couple of b&bs. The far north of Scotland was easily the best part (maybe because we were fresh and it wasn’t raining). Stayed in a tiny b&bs in Altnaharra on the first night. The homemade venison lasagne was to this day one of the best meals I have ever had!

+1 for having money. We tried to get as many free nights of accommodation as we could, so ended up having brutally long days (120miles at worst) followed by 30mile jaunts.

simon, I have, and I have built it into our route, because the wife has not.
arran, Kintyre, islay, and colonsay are on the route so far.

Summer ferry from Ardrossan to Campbeltown opens up the west coast. Avoid the A83 by using NCN78. Up to Oban, ferry out to South Uist and up through the Western Isles. Ferry back from Stornoway to mainland at Ullapool and up to the north coast. Beautiful area, low gears, waterproofs and midge repellent recommended!

DavidB I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to drop you an email as well. I would be grateful if you could send me those GPX files too.

Tony, just an idea, but why not jump on a bus to a point in France and the ride as long as you want, and jump on the bus home?
May find the weather more fun?

http://www.bike-express.co.uk/

jump on a bus to a point in France and the ride as long as you want,

But you’ll miss the midges………… 😛

Haven’t got the time right this minute, but I’ll get together the details for the route I’m doing this summer if it’s any help.

Sorry to barge in, David, could I have a copy of your file also?

Ta

Tony, just an idea, but why not jump on a bus to a point in France and the ride as long as you want,

Nick, plenty of time in the years to come for stuff like that.
also plenty of places in Great Britain that I have seen while biking, but the wife has not, so it will be nice to give her the chance.

I might drop you an email as well David, hope you don’t mind. And I’d be interested in your route Daniel. My sister – who is not sporty and has never ridden more than 25 miles in her life – has decided she wants to do this for her 30th birthday this year. I think we’ll spend 2 weeks this summer (LE-border) and one next year (border-JOG) as I’m a bit worried that trying to do it all in two weeks will destroy her/our relationship! Or am I worrying too much?

Have a look at these guys. I was hoping to get a trip in last summer when my dad got ill and came to live with us to recover. Not sure if I’ll get a chance this year either.

http://end2endbike.wordpress.com/author/end2endbike/#

These guys had a more road based route, but good stuff on here too.
http://travellingtwo.com/12556

If you want a slightly different route, the comedian Dave Gorman cycled LEJOG a couple of years ago via the easternmost and westernmost points of the British mainland. He did a stand-up show each night too, but you could skip that part.

You could figure out his route from the dates listed on his website and there’s a write up of each day in the archive of his blog.

Nick, plenty of time in the years to come for stuff like that.
also plenty of places in Great Britain that I have seen while biking, but the wife has not, so it will be nice to give her the chance.

Aye, good points, well presented!
Have a great time eh? Sounds like it’ll be fantastic! 8)