Having recently been made redundant I have found myself with a time window, and I know that I if I don’t grab now, it might be another few years of trying to find the time to fit it in.
I have been lurking the forum for 3 or 4 years, so have done a lot of reading and mentally putting a route together over that time.
Interestingly, when it has come to it, I have decided that the logistics of doing JOGLE are actually going to work better for me – I live in the Surrey Hills so it’s a lot quicker and easier to get home from LE, especially if I can persuade the good lady wife to come and pick me up from LE (with the promise of a few days in Cornwall at the end of the trip…)
I have spent the last few days sorting out a flight to Inverness (courtesy of Avios points) and will probably take the ‘Bike Taxi’ that has been mentioned elsewhere from there to JoG; staying overnight in the Sea View hotel before setting off on what I hope to be a 9 day ride that has a good balance of speed, quiet roads, and countryside.
I will be using B&B’s and also dropping in on a couple of friends along the way – luckily these are not too far off route.
So my hit list:
*JoG>LE in 9 days
*Take in Dennet’s Head and Lizard Point along the way
*1000 miles covered during the ride
*Pleasant cycling (which for me is a good amount relatively car-free roads, nice scenery,
and the occasional testing climb, but not hills for the sake of hills)*Needs to go via Dalgety Bay (North of Edinburgh) and Sale (Greater Manchester)
*Preference for the Wye Valley (I’ve done a lot of cycling in and around Worcester and want to explore new roads)
The plan is to go superlight, post things ahead, make the most of the free soap and towels at the B&Bs! There’s a chance of getting a bit of support along the way from friends (which I hope will also help with travelling light). For what it’s worth I’m a regular cyclist and 200 miles per week is about average (when the sun’s out), but that will increase now that I have a bit of time on my hands in-between job hunting.
I would really welcome some thoughts/comments/advice on the route as it stands at the moment.
As you will see it is almost all based upon various recommendations picked-up on this forum – notably the Cornwall sections (thanks Mick F) and the route around Bristol (thanks to wjhall, bikepacker and whoof), although I would still welcome reassurance that this route will work. Especially using a carbon sportive bike…with 25mm road tyres…
I think that I have a decent route into Sale, but less sure about the stretch between the ship canal and Preston, so local knowledge on that section would be great. But any general advice or comments on any part of the route would be really helpful.
Route here:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27743054
