Cycling UK Forum

BottomGear wrote:I'm slightly surprised that the trend is for those taking on an E2E is by way of an organised, supported tour. For me the planning and the sense of adventure it will bring is very much part of the experience and although my own ride will be solo, I don't think I'll be missing out - far from it.

Ironically, it's never been easier to plan and sort your own trip. Online mapping, GPS, internet bookings, Google Streetview. It's possible (with a bit of time!) to "ride" the entire route from the comfort of your sofa via Google Earth and a mapping app, change things around, find points of interest en route, book your accommodation, buy the kit that you need, watch "how to..." videos on YouTube...

And yet the most popular way is via organised trips. I can kind of see why - loads of people find it difficult to coordinate the friends, club-mates etc who can get the same time off work, the same desire to do that journey and there's a definite benefit to having the mechanics, broom wagon etc on hand but you're right, I feel that people doing it that way do miss out. I mean, I've done it three times as a Ride Leader for the Deloitte Ride Across Britain event and while the ride is all lovely and we're all very well looked after, I do have this slight niggle that we're not allowed off-route, that we have to do it in this timeframe.

A lot of the riders are so busy looking at their Garmin, following the arrows and just turning the pedals that they don't even know the towns, villages, landmarks etc that they're passing and I find that rather depressing, where the act of riding overcomes the journey being undertaken.

JOGLE doesn't seem to be a popular option ......... goodness knows why.

There's a popular (and usually wrong) opinion that doing LEJOG is with the prevailing wind whereas doing JOGLE is against it. It's complete rubbish but it's been repeated so often that it's become "accepted". Pressure systems can travel over the UK in a day or two changing the wind all the time; you get a raft of low pressures pushing through over 10 days and you can have 10 days of 20 different winds!

Part of it might simply be the location - if you're "between" popular stopping points, people will ride right by on the way to their overnight stop that they've read about and you end up with a situation where a few articles in books, online etc can result in one spot getting 1000 bookings a year whereas somewhere 20 miles away will get a mere handful of bookings.

Possibly more people doing it via organised trips? There seem to be loads of companies offering that now, everything from massive trips like the Deloitte Ride Across Britain right down to smaller, customised arrangements for groups of anything from 4 upwards.
I think there's a general decline in people's ability to think/plan for themselves - maybe it's laziness, maybe people want that safety net, possibly it's a different "breed" of cyclist now; fewer traditional touring cyclists, more of the "sportive" style of rider who likes everything laid on for them? I know that's a bit of a generalisation but it's difficult to put it into words without sounding unintentionally patronising!

How well publicised is the route that you're on? What's it like generally (good quality roads, or rough tracks)? That might be having an effect too if you're on a gravel section and everyone is moving more towards road bikes...

scottg wrote:Seems like an easy jaunt with lots people to keep you interested.
Do people ride it Mick F style on Boris Bikes and such ?

800 people rolling through the night on Boris Bikes
would be quite a sight.

I wouldn't say it's "easy" as such but yes, there are lots of people from all walks of life, the vast majority on road bikes but I've seen riders on hybrids, on MTB with slicks, tandems, even a tricycle once.
Oh and advance notice for anyone who wants to avoid the event / complain about it, it's 10th - 18th September this year, LEJOG again.
http://www.rideacrossbritain.com/

Bear in mind that LEJOG has been ridden on pretty much every type of bike around. Boris bikes, singlespeeds, fixed gear...
I rode with a guy who did it SS (48:17) and he was fine, even up Cheddar Gorge and Shap Fell.

The question should be "will those gears be OK for you?" and only you can answer that!
I mean, I've done it three times on a low gear of 39:25 and always been absolutely fine but I fully appreciate that some riders wouldn't cope on that and others would scoff at my requirement for such low gears!

About your only option is to go and do a couple of back to back rides of about the distance you'll be doing over a rough approximation of the terrain you'll be facing and see how you get on. A bit of training and preparation will work better than just buying the lowest gears you can find.
Good luck!

puffin wrote:Then another idea struck me..... how about going Dover to Cape Wrath? Has anyone here done that?

"Opposite Diagonal" is also a fairly well known ride (starting point can be either Dover or Beachy Head), I've had various ideas about doing it for a while but real job and general logistics have always got in the way. I'm doing LEJOG again in September 2016 so this time I'll stay up north somewhere and ride out to Cape Wrath the following day. It does need a lot more planning than JOG though, there's only one ferry across to it and that's (a) quite seasonal and (b) weather dependent.

Best route is up the middle to Altnaharra then as you go north you reach a crossroads. Right takes you on the route to JOG around the north shore of Loch Naver, left takes you out to Loch Hope just west of Tongue. Turn left and follow the rather winding A838 all the way round to Durness and about 3km south is a hamlet called Keoldale, the ferry goes from there.

Many years ago, touring round Scotland rather than an actual LEJOG, we tried to get the ferry over to the Cape but that stretch of loch happens to double up as an RAF bombing range and it was in use that day. The ferryman said he didn't know what the fuss was, he reckoned the safest place to be when the RAF were flying was on the bombing range as in his words "they always bloody miss!"

Did anyone see this guy's ride?
http://www.davesbigicicleride.co.uk/

He set off on Christmas morning, made it to JOG today through the middle of Storm Frank! If you click on the "updates" section within that website link above and then read from the bottom up it gives his route, timings etc. I think the screaming tailwind the whole way will have been a big help though!

Really worthwhile cause too, very poignant story.

We went through Tain, Invergordon, Evanston, Dingwall, Beauly and Muir of Ord

Tain is the home of Glenmorangie whisky, it's well worth a stop if you've got time. Their distillery is amazing, it's got these incredible tall copper stills.

I'd be tempted to go via Oban and take ferries to some of the Inner Hebrides, then get back on the mainland at Ardrossan, SW of Glasgow.

If you cycle through Oban heading south, go through Lochgilphead onto Kintyre then you can get a ferry from Claonaig in Kintyre to Lochranza (north coast of Arran). Then there's an option of about 25 miles down the east coast or going the long way round down the west coast and back up to Brodick where you can get the ferry back to the mainland (Ardrossan).
Ardrossan itself is a dump, it's only real reason for existing seems to be as a ferry port to Arran and a railway station to Glasgow.

From Muir of Ord / Inverness, you need to decide whether you go west coast (Loch Ness, Fort William, Rannonch Moor) or through the middle (Aviemore, Pitlochry, Perth).

downtube wrote:Hi Everyone. Anyone out there thinking of doing the end to end ride next year or the following. I would like to take 3 weeks over the trip (time to smell the daisies). I live in the south of England but would consider starting in JOG if easier. Would like to stay in B&B. Thanks Steve

It'd be a bit depressing starting in LE, riding more or less past your house (sort of) all the way up to JOG. As you say, probably easier to sort a flight Bournemouth - Inverness or Edinburgh, either a hire car up to Wick Airport (there's a europcar depot there) or a connecting flight to Wick then ride the 15 miles or so to JOG, turn round and head home.

I would advise against the first 2 days of that route that 'honesty' posted though, it means riding the A99 and A9, both of which are horrible roads.
Better option is to head along the much quieter north coast to Bettyhill, turn inland and head south to Altnaharra. That's about 70 miles for Day 1 and the pub at Altnharra is well set up for LEJOG/JOGLE riders (although you will have to book quite a way in advance, it's very popular). Stunning location though.
Then continue down through Bonar Bridge then Dingwall, Muir of Ord, Beauly, Inverness.

If you use a cardboard box to pack the bike, put the panniers etc around it then when it comes to unpacking you can just bin the box.

Mick F wrote:
Calories.

If I'd had a Garmin and all the HR stuff and a good program in my computer in 2006, I could have told you how much energy I expended each way ........................... but I didn't, and I can't.

No, see that's offset by the fact that if you do LEJOG, you finish in Scotland and who wants to replace used calories with haggis?
But arriving in Cornwall having done JOGLE, you finish with cream teas and Cornish pasties and Cornish ice cream and you just scoff the lot.

That throws all your careful calorie expenditure calculations right out of whack and you end up lying on the beach at Marazion too bloated to move.

Runcorn is a nightmare until 2017

Runcorn is a nightmare full stop!

As irc says, much depends on the guard in question and also to a degree your attitude to it.

Last time I travelled on a Virgin Train with my bike, I wheeled it up to the front, the driver got off, opened the compartment, looked at the bike and said "ooh, I've got the model one year later than yours, by the time I came to buy it they'd sold out of that, I had to wait a year!" Got into a chat about that, he asked where I was getting off and said "I'll be here waiting for you".
Sure enough at my stop he was standing by the cab with my bike just waiting for me (my seat was obviously down the opposite end of the train...).

Going up to Glasgow one year (for a tour of the Western Isles), I phoned Virgin to request a bike space. Oh you have to book your own ticket first. Fine, I go off and book my own ticket. Then phone them back. Yes, I've booked my ticket on Train X, can I now book a bike space. Oh no, there's no space on that train, you'll have to re-book but because you booked [whatever ticket type] there's no refund on that ticket.
In the end I just turned up with the bike, ready to try and talk my way around it. Got on the train and the bike carrying space was completely empty. In the end I had a hassle free journey but the stress of getting to the station wondering if I was going to be refused travel wasn't pleasant.
The connecting service at Glasgow out to Ardrossan was no problem in terms of carrying the bike except that it left from entirely the other end of the station so that meant running through Glasgow with a bike and all my bags.

Suddenly, Mick F's idea of pallet transport is looking very good!

Hi Andrea,

Again, not the nicest stretch of road in the world and it's mostly uphill so you'll be going considerably slower but it's only about 3km and the road isn't as busy as the A628. I think no matter what route you do there will always be bits that are like that which are basically unavoidable. Anywhere along Liverpool - Manchester - Sheffield corridor and again at the Glasgow - Edinburgh corridor is going to include a few bits of road that you probably would avoid given the choice.

That said, Snake Pass itself (from Ladybower Reservoir over to Glossop) is one of the most popular roadie routes in the Peaks, the trick is finding a quiet time for it.

Hi Andrea,

I live on the northern edge of the Peak District / South Manchester so I know those roads very well. The A628 Woodhead Pass road is not pleasant at the best of times but your route is only on it for about 600m - the right turn onto it at Woodhead/Torside Reservoirs and then the left turn off it. It's quite popular with cyclists heading over to Holmfirth so most drivers know to expect them.

I'll flag up the bit on Long Hill just north of Buxton too. Your route (on 06A and 06B) shows you forking right off it onto what the map calls "Old Road". Bear in mind that the first part of that route is fairly rough off-road - certainly for cars it's only passable by full on 4x4s. On a bike I've done it on a CX but I wouldn't take my road bike over it. Depending on your tandem and how heavily laden it is, you might be better off doing the full on-road Long Hill - it's a lovely sweeping descent from the summit for about 4 miles down into Whaley Bridge.
The route that you've got between Buxworth and Hadfield is also very steep! (but scenic and pleasant).

06C looks nice but is a bit more challenging navigationally. Try and stay off the A515 as much as possible, that's another horrible road.

If you want to vary your route slightly early on, go a fraction further west and pass through Longnor, there's a lovely little tearoom right on the cross roads. From there you can just head north and pick up Harpur Hill again as per your original route.

Nice going although I still cannot understand why people take the A9. It's a soul-destroyingly awful road with little in the way of scenery. About it's only redeeming feature is the sheer number of distilleries along it. Aberfeldy, Blair Atholl, Dalwhinnie, Dalmore, Tomatin and Glenmorangie plus a few others within striking distance.

Looks like the weather at JOG was a lot worse than for us finishing on the Sunday 13th. We had blue skies and a strong southerly, the offshore wind meant the sea was flat calm.

Thinking about it, I'm certain it was you I saw on Monday 14th, I recognise the bike. I was driving home, caught a quick glimpse of a blue Ribble - can't remember exactly where it was though.

Well done on the double though, that's quite some achievement!