Search found 547 matches

by puffin
6 Feb 2024, 11:45am
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: Which Lejog route do we choose?
Replies: 25
Views: 8745

Re: Which Lejog route do we choose?

JohnR wrote: 5 Feb 2024, 7:59am In addition to putting the daily routes on my Garmin I also load them into OSMAnd on my phone (other similar apps are available). This is both a backup in case the Garmin has a tantrum but is most useful for exploring detail around the route.
Smart thinking! A few years back I got as far as Cullompton when, in a state of exhaustion, in turning my Garmin off I managed to do a factory reset and lost all my routes; and turned it in to a Romanian speaking thing.

The following morning I tried using my smart phone, where I'd saved the routes. Yea! it worked really well, even giving me spoken instructions. I kept the phone charged with a power back, and sailed through the next 10 days.
by puffin
1 Feb 2024, 3:37pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: LEJOG 2024
Replies: 26
Views: 9176

Re: LEJOG 2024

sparnel wrote: 31 Jan 2024, 3:36pm Hi Puffin - thanks for that list. I've noted those places. I think we'll definitely book the first three or four days.
We should know how we're doing by that time. When I walked LeJog I got my son to book accomm for each night
on a daily basis and it seemed to work out ok. Here's hoping.........
You WALKED Lands End John O' Groats????????
by puffin
31 Jan 2024, 12:17pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: LEJOG 2024
Replies: 26
Views: 9176

Re: LEJOG 2024

sparnel wrote: 30 Jan 2024, 7:58pm Hi Puffin - thanks for a great comprehensive reply. One thing - I'm not sure if you book each morning when you're on your
way or if you are doing each day whilst still at home? Maybe I'm not reading you right.....I was thinking - hoping - that we
could book daily 'on the route'. Leaving a lot to chance I know and perhaps thinking of taking a sleeping bag in case we have to beg
for a space to lie down in! I note your method of finding overnights.
We have plenty of big hills around here - I live in the western Highlands so we get plenty training in ups and downs. I do know the
various routes throughout the Highland region and would be able to take up offers of accom from friends & family in various places here.
I have walked LeJog, in 2005. Took me two and a bit months. Great experience. I'll follow your progress with interest.
Thanks for the reply!
Hi Sparnel, I definitely book ahead. In December. Risk averse or what?

Penzance Pirate Inn, TR18 4PS, Camelford The Countryman PL32 9XA. Cullumpton Padbrook Park EX15 1RU, Stanton Drew B&B BS39 4ES, Ross on Wye Premier Inn HR9 7QJ, Much Wenlock The Fox TF13 6AD, Knutsford-ish Laburnum Cottage WA16 7PU, Slaidburn-ish, Clerk Laithe BB7 3EB, Armathwaite Fox & Pheasant CA4 9PY, Traqquair Arms EH44 6PD, Perth Heidi Guest House PH2 8EH, Howe Toberg Glen Cairn AB35 5XL, Inverness SYHA IV2 3QB, Wee Hoos north of Crask Inn IV27 4AB, JOG-ish North Point Pods Scarsferry KW14 8XT
by puffin
29 Jan 2024, 11:21am
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: LEJOG 2024
Replies: 26
Views: 9176

Re: LEJOG 2024

sparnel wrote: 28 Jan 2024, 5:14pm Hi Puffin - been reading your posts and well done on getting your arrangements well to the fore.
Two of us are planning a June start from LE. Can I ask did you find accommodation easy to get on the route
you have planned? Perhaps we should firm up on some dates and get booked!
You will have a great time, and I reckon June is a great month to do it, with a balance of good weather and school holidays. A really good thing to hold onto, the first days are tougher than most of the others...if you can get level with Bridgewater you're going to get to JOG.

Here's what I do. I work out my daily mileage and then plan my routes using (in my case) ridewithgps

Then I sit at the computer with four pages open, booking.com, hotels.com. airb&B and the ridewithgps page for that day's route.

So first off, work out your daily routes. Then find accommodation on those sites as near as possible and in the right price rage. To make finding the best choice easier I initially pick an accommodation near where I want to finish, then use the "see on map" feature, this shows it and other ones near it with the prices. Usually you can reserve without payment which makes the process much easier.

My route is well trodden (ridden?) by me and I will happily share it as a suggestion but it may not suit your style or wishes. For example its quite hilly ,eg it goes through the high part of the Cairngorns, mostly little roads but with an a%%%hole stretch of a few miles on the A9 north of Inverness, and I average between 60 and 70 miles a day. with a couple of 80+ milers

Individual snippets of feedback from my route;

Cornwall and Devon were designed by a hill lover, don't be disheartened, it gets better and you inevitably get fitter. They are followed by the Somerset Levels...yea!

Try to build the Cheddar Gorge into your route.

Herefordshire and Shropshire are beautiful, Cheshire is flat. Lancashire gets hilly again but in a moment I'll tell you about a good descent.

After a few miles north of Teebay (which has big hills and descents before you get there) you climb a long hill, then turn left at the top onto miles and miles of essentially downhill roads.

Try to use the old Forth Bridge, as for a few moments you sometimes get it effectively to yourself which is amazing, you feel like you're in a post-apocalyptic Zombie film. My route takes me over the Severn, the Forth and the Inverness bridges.

My Cairngorns route has four big climbs, the first is from the Spittall of Glenshee and this takes you on the highest A Road in the UK. You then descend into Braemar followed by a generally downhill stretch till you hit the next climb, which is the shortest of the four. A few miles after you descend, there is an excellent coffee and cake shop on the right.

Then you hit the climb at Cock Bridge which starts with a very steep section, then opens out into an Alpine looking road which stretches ahead of you...get a photo. You descend (rapidly) into Tomintoul after which there is a shorter climb followed by a brilliant long descent towards Grantown on Spey.

Here's the weird thing, after Grantown there are very few big climbs left, perhaps the approach to Bonar Bridge but probably until you get to Bettyhill on the North Coast and even these are nothing to what you've encountered already.

Once you're in the Highlands (if you go that way, some use the coast road which I reckon is horrible) its all quite easy going, you'll make good time. If you go past Altnaharra don't continue North to Tongue, hang a right and follow the loch and subsequent river to Bettyhill. After Bettyhill there are a few steep climbs. Before Altnaharra is the famous Crask Inn, well worth a stop if it fits in, you book directly with them.

JOG itself looks remarkably like Land's End, though without the cliffs. There is a book to sign, ask around because its presence seems to move around. There will be no shortage of people who will take your photo by the pole, folks seem really happy for LEJOG'ers.

General points:

B&B's have breakfast times which can make it hard to get away early. I chuck a couple of powdered porridges in my bag and munch those if I need to miss breakfast and get away.

The biggest (and most easily avoided) threat is saddle sore, so get as much saddle time under your belt as you can, and this can be in short manageable chunks. Next, get some times on hills, I only have one big hill near me, so guess what? Yep, I do the most boring 5 X Circuit. Next, if ever you get really knackered...and you will...remember that a short break and some grub puts you back on course. Finally, remember you will get fitter as you go on the adventure.

Let us know how you get on.
by puffin
27 Jan 2024, 4:23pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: LEJOG 2024
Replies: 26
Views: 9176

Re: LEJOG 2024

Final piece of the jigsaw just inserted! Got my train ticket including bike reservation! 98 days to go. I'm going first class because I'm old and need my creature comforts. Accommodation is still as per the opening post except I'm passing the wonderful Crask Inn to a place some miles ahead to give me a shorter but still long last day.

My legendary long suffering wife and our dog, down to one now :( , are meeting me at JOG, then a stay with good friends followed by five days in the Lake District.
by puffin
27 Jan 2024, 4:16pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: LEJOG 2024
Replies: 26
Views: 9176

Re: LEJOG 2024

Mick F wrote: 17 Jan 2024, 9:23am PS:

I did a Grand Tour.
Took the train to Inverness, and rode across west and over the Bealach to Applecross and then via Torridon, then worked my way over to Skye and down through SW Scotland and over the North Pennines to the North Yorkshire coast, then west via Rosedale Chimney and Ripon and into Lancashire. Then south into Wales and down the west coast via Snowdonia and SE through mid Wales and then south back home to Cornwall.

1,500miles
OK, that is out of my league!
by puffin
15 Jan 2024, 10:55pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: In ride entertainment
Replies: 50
Views: 3207

Re: In ride entertainment

Good thread! On last year's LEJOG I had Three Wheels on My Wagon stuck in my head. Its even hard to sing as bits of it are spoken.
by puffin
15 Jan 2024, 10:53pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: LEJOG 2024
Replies: 26
Views: 9176

Re: LEJOG 2024

A very good friend of mine wants to do C2C so I have built it into my LEJOG training programme...it'll get me some hills under my belt. I won't draw attention to the fact that we're doing WotR, its still going from coast to coast.
by puffin
14 Dec 2023, 4:18pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: Why have I never thought of this route before???
Replies: 8
Views: 4493

Re: Why have I never thought of this route before???

in4time wrote: 11 Dec 2023, 7:02am Having reached the northern extremity of your tour I can attest to the feeling of familiarity one experiences upon arrival, particularly when the seasonal inclemencies greet one with such alacrity.
Huh?
by puffin
23 Nov 2023, 10:47am
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: LEJOG 2024
Replies: 26
Views: 9176

Re: LEJOG 2024

Accommodation all sorted! Only 160 days to go.....

Doing 21 miles today. A weird 21 miles...I have to cycle out to a yard, put my bike in a horsebox, drive the horsebox to a garage, then get my bike out and cycle home.
by puffin
15 Nov 2023, 10:08am
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: Anyone tried the East Coast Easy Route?
Replies: 10
Views: 8402

Re: Anyone tried the East Coast Easy Route?

Thanks Matheus and Tractionman for your kind and very useful responses. I'm working....
by puffin
10 Nov 2023, 9:14am
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: Anyone tried the East Coast Easy Route?
Replies: 10
Views: 8402

Re: Anyone tried the East Coast Easy Route?

Huge thanks for the responses here, its a gold mine of experience. I'm now sitting in front of online maps trying to work out my next route.

Best wishes and thanks again
by puffin
8 Nov 2023, 8:56am
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: Anyone tried the East Coast Easy Route?
Replies: 10
Views: 8402

Anyone tried the East Coast Easy Route?

Hi there
Has anyone tried this route, a slightly longer but flatter track?

https://cycle.travel/route/lejog_east_coast
by puffin
6 Nov 2023, 10:47pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: LEJOG 2024
Replies: 26
Views: 9176

Re: LEJOG 2024

There's a difference???? Oh great, now I've got to do C2C!