Actual cost of the ride

[NEvans]

Hi,

Has anyone who has ridden LEJOG (or planning to) kept a record or worked out full cost of the ride. Eg. Travel to/from start and finish (train/car/plane), accommodation (depending on days spent/type), food and other expenses.

Accommodation will vary greatly by the amount of days taken, I'm looking at B&B. Haven't decided how many days over, thinking of a fairly slow ride so probably 14 days. Probably train, although this won't be cheap.

If this is on another forum (which I'm sure it is) a link to would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Paulatic]

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=104088&hilit=Costs&start=15

[robgul]

This is a VERY common question that I receive via my E2E website ( http://www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk )

There is no answer to the question!

Without specific details on transport from/to, accommodation type, meals, beer consumed . . . etc the cost can be anything you want it to be.

At one end of the scale 4* hotels for accommodation and a bottle of expensive wine every night and at the (extreme) other end 2 guys who started at LE in just their underpants and blagged their way to JOG without spending a bean.

That said, from my own experience and informal feedback through the website for the "average" 14 day trip in B&Bs with rail transport from/to the middle of England a ball-park figure would be in the region of £1,200. The package trips that are offered, which benefit from economies of scale, are perhaps also an indication of potential cost.

Doubtless this thread will have follow-up posts on the lines of the Monty Python "luxury" sketch [you need to be of a certain age!] but trust me, there is not a definitive answer

Rob

[Mick F]

^^^
What he said.

For my own part, I've done the ride a few times, with the first couple being YHA. but it's much nicer and better IMHO to use B+Bs plus fitting in the route to take in home and friends/relatives.

You can stop at the end of the day, be picked up by your nearest and dearest, driven home for the night, then taken back to where you left off the day before.

Latterly, I rode JOGLE, and had my bike sent up by pallet truck which I picked up at Wick. I took the train up to Wick, stayed overnight, then collected my bike and stuff, rode to JOG and back to Wick, then the following day headed south. I was due to fly to Wick, but the Icelandic volcano scuppered that, so I took the train instead - similar price.

The transport of the pallet was done for free due to my doing the ride for charity. Me and a mate loaded my bike and luggage onto a pallet and wrapped it in black film. The pallets travel up and down this country every day, and they never stack one on top of the other if you don't want them to. Had I had to pay for the transport, I understand it would have been £60.

Here's my spreadsheet from 2010

[robgul]

^^^^
No food for lunch & dinner - or BEER - in those calculations

By chance I was speaking to a friend that had ridden JOGLE recently (B&Bs, 14 nights) and she reckoned just on £1,300 - slightly distorted as she couldn't book trains very far in advance and paid full whack for most of the tickets.

Rob

[Mick F]

^^^^
No food for lunch & dinner - or BEER - in those calculations

No, exactly.

In my defence, I suggest I'd be eating and drinking even if I weren't cycling an End2End, but it would be more expensive eating out each day rather than eating at home.

[robgul]

^^^^
No food for lunch & dinner - or BEER - in those calculations

No, exactly.

In my defence, I suggest I'd be eating and drinking even if I weren't cycling an End2End, but it would be more expensive eating out each day rather than eating at home.

Indeed - that is logical (and impacts on the ability to acquire a "kitchen pass" ) . . . but I did wonder if Mrs MickF didn't supply you with enough packed meals for the journey!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rob

[Si]

Think it cost me £350ish + train fares....but that was rather a while ago. I remember that the average b&b was about £13 per night. Spent a couple of nights at my parents house to save a bit.

Probably spend that on a three night mini-tour these days!

[TrevA]

Hi,

Has anyone who has ridden LEJOG (or planning to) kept a record or worked out full cost of the ride. Eg. Travel to/from start and finish (train/car/plane), accommodation (depending on days spent/type), food and other expenses.

Accommodation will vary greatly by the amount of days taken, I'm looking at B&B. Haven't decided how many days over, thinking of a fairly slow ride so probably 14 days. Probably train, although this won't be cheap.

If this is on another forum (which I'm sure it is) a link to would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

We kept a log of costs for our Jogle and it worked out at £50 per person per day, staying in B&B's plus the cost of getting to and from the start and finish. Our 18 day Jogle cost around £2100 in total for 2 people.

B&B around £ 25-30 pppn, £10-15 for evening meal, the rest for lunch and snacks during the day.

Trains can be quite cheap if booked in advance. We paid £56 per person to get from Newark to Wick and £75 per person to get from Penzance to Derby and that one was 1st Class. We were also able to claim half that back as the train was 35 mins late into Derby.

[robgul]

Hi,

Has anyone who has ridden LEJOG (or planning to) kept a record or worked out full cost of the ride. Eg. Travel to/from start and finish (train/car/plane), accommodation (depending on days spent/type), food and other expenses.

Accommodation will vary greatly by the amount of days taken, I'm looking at B&B. Haven't decided how many days over, thinking of a fairly slow ride so probably 14 days. Probably train, although this won't be cheap.

If this is on another forum (which I'm sure it is) a link to would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

We kept a log of costs for our Jogle and it worked out at £50 per person per day, staying in B&B's plus the cost of getting to and from the start and finish. Our 18 day Jogle cost around £2100 in total for 2 people.

Trains can be quite cheap if booked in advance. We paid £56 per person to get from Newark to Wick and £75 per person to get from Penzance to Derby and that one was 1st Class. We were also able to claim half that back as the train was 35 mins late into Derby.

Presumably that was in 2009 from your sig line?

Rob

[TrevA]

Yes. B&B costs may have gone up a bit, but not that much. We used Travelodges booked in advance where possible, where you can get a room for as cheap as £15 per night if you are lucky.

[Mick F]

^^^^
No food for lunch & dinner - or BEER - in those calculations

No, exactly.

In my defence, I suggest I'd be eating and drinking even if I weren't cycling an End2End, but it would be more expensive eating out each day rather than eating at home.

Indeed - that is logical (and impacts on the ability to acquire a "kitchen pass" ) . . . but I did wonder if Mrs MickF didn't supply you with enough packed meals for the journey!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rob

That's a good point, but every "partner" would do similar.
We are not alone in this world.

[NEvans]

My initial thoughts before posting this;
2 people, 14 nights, travel by train:

Accom (B&B \ Cheap hotels) @ £60 pn = £840
Food & Drink (while riding \ Evening meals) @50 pd = £700
Train: Reading to Penzance £50 each = £100
Train: Sleeper Thuro to Woking for 2 = £280

Deliberately erring on the high side that tops out at £1920, more than most quotes stated. But that should be a total price, including everything (less anything I've missed!). I know people will say it can be done a lot less (camping YHAs etc), but I'm too old for that, and the wife definitely won't agree. We'll want a nice room and meal at the end of the day. But I haven't gone over the top with expensive hotels or meals, so I think would be looking at a 2K budget.

[robgul]

My initial thoughts before posting this;
2 people, 14 nights, travel by train:

Accom (B&B \ Cheap hotels) @ £60 pn = £840
Food & Drink (while riding \ Evening meals) @50 pd = £700
Train: Reading to Penzance £50 each = £100
Train: Sleeper Thuro to Woking for 2 = £280

Deliberately erring on the high side that tops out at £1920, more than most quotes stated. But that should be a total price, including everything (less anything I've missed!). I know people will say it can be done a lot less (camping YHAs etc), but I'm too old for that, and the wife definitely won't agree. We'll want a nice room and meal at the end of the day. But I haven't gone over the top with expensive hotels or meals, so I think would be looking at a 2K budget.

Yebbut - that's 2 people - one would probably be about 65% of that as single rooms cost way more than doubles per person - and I think that getting B&B accommodation (for 2) at £60 a night is very optimistic

Rob

[PH]

If I wanted to devise a route that reduced accommodation costs, I'd get a map with the Travelodge and Premier Inns marked, I haven't tried but I'd imagine it would be possible to cover at least a third of the nights that way and the savings would run into hundreds. I've used seven in the last couple of years on group tours (Not E2Es), the average price has been around £30 for a room with plenty of space for two and bikes.