Cycling UK Forum

How do people get home from john O Groats ?

You can cycle to Thurso and get a train.

You're could search these fora, this has been discussed quite often before (depends where home is, maybe)
The train calls at Wick too and has good connections at Inverness
Or you could get a ferry to Orkney and another ferry from there to Aberdeen (good train services)

Just pondering the same question myself. JoG to Lancaster.
Initially train from Wick (17 miles from JoG.) Thurso is is 21 miles.
2 concerns - bike on train and cost.

Went there many years ago, I think it was a TSO, single coach, from Inverness, what stock is used there now?

cycleruk wrote:Just pondering the same question myself. JoG to Lancaster.
Initially train from Wick (17 miles from JoG.) Thurso is is 21 miles.
2 concerns - bike on train and cost.

Try splitting it John I just tried as an example Wic > Edi > Lan was £30 pound cheaper than Wic > Lan

+1 for splitting, there’s websites that’ll do it for you but not book the bike, either do that separate or use the website as a guide to what can be achieved. It is sometimes possible to beat even the best price if you’re prepared to leave a gap between trains.
Also note, the best prices are not usually available till around 12 weeks before travel.

Did lejog last 2018. After jog cycled to thurso to stay the night. Got v early train, hotel gave me a packed lunch the night before as I was going to miss breakfast
Connections were tight at Inverness and Edinburgh but the ScotRail trains were a delight. It was nice seeing the cycle route next to the A9 which I had cycled up a few days before
Then the Virgin train was delayed for an hour near Carlisle due to a trackside fire

Paulatic wrote:

cycleruk wrote:Just pondering the same question myself. JoG to Lancaster.
Initially train from Wick (17 miles from JoG.) Thurso is is 21 miles.
2 concerns - bike on train and cost.

Try splitting it John I just tried as an example Wic > Edi > Lan was £30 pound cheaper than Wic > Lan

Thanks for the info' Paul. I know about splitting but it's where to split. You do hear of some people getting very good deals. Also wondering about buses but that would probably entail boxing the bike up as luggage.
Train would be better but then would the bike be a problem.?

cycleruk wrote:

Paulatic wrote:

cycleruk wrote:Just pondering the same question myself. JoG to Lancaster.
Initially train from Wick (17 miles from JoG.) Thurso is is 21 miles.
2 concerns - bike on train and cost.

Try splitting it John I just tried as an example Wic > Edi > Lan was £30 pound cheaper than Wic > Lan

Thanks for the info' Paul. I know about splitting but it's where to split. You do hear of some people getting very good deals. Also wondering about buses but that would probably entail boxing the bike up as luggage.
Train would be better but then would the bike be a problem.?

IME I’ve not had a problem with train or bus. The coach type longer routes we have here in Scotland haven’t refused me yet. Just put bike in the underneath luggage area after asking the driver nicely. I imagine they’d refuse if there were lots of passengers with cases.
The closest I got to being refused on a train was an Audax ride which deteriorated into 4” of snow and a train from Leuchars appeared sensible. The guard weakly said 4 bikes only as at least 6 of us stacked our bikes in to the space.

I was in Scotland on a ship in the RN and we called in at Clyde Submarine Base in spring of 1994.
We spent a few days there and the ship went on to do an exercise or two that I wasn't required for. I was due a couple of weeks leave, so I took the train to Wick with my bike and luggage, rode to Canisbay SYHA overnight, then to JOG in the morning and cycled south.
Took 10days to LE and Mrs Mick F met me in the car and took me the 90odd miles home.

2006 came, and people kept prodding me to do a LEJOG and I protested saying that what would I do when I got there?
Why cycle all the way from Cornwall to JOG? Boring there, and then you have to get all the way home!!!

So ......... I decided to ride LE to JOG, turn round, and cycle back to LE.
Three weeks. 1800miles.

Read about my rides.
http://lejogandback.blogspot.com

When you get to JOG, you are sitting on the best transport known to Man.
Ride it home!!!!

Chat Noir on these very pages did York End2End and back to York. He called his ride YETY.
It can be done. All you need is the time.

I thought that you just turned around and rode back like the previous poster!

Mike

I used the coach and then train.

Simply because the coach starts early on Sunday in Thurso and goes to Inverness whereas the train leaves Inverness and arrives Thurso later.

I had a small roll of gaffa tape which I used to tape the wheels to the frame so as to offer more protection and a "bag for life" bag to cover the drive chain. I then strapped it to the 2" sq steels that coaches have in the hold so that it couldn't move using a bungee I had with me. Essential imho.

I did worry about getting it on the train esp as a folding bike rider said the driver won't take that you know .....

But the driver didn't care and on it went. I was a bit worried about the bike in the hold as the driver drove like he was Colin Mcrae!!

The bike survived fine and the journey to Leeds was slow but uneventful!

Cheers James


Anyway he

Paulatic wrote:Try splitting it John I just tried as an example Wic > Edi > Lan was £30 pound cheaper than Wic > Lan

What price did you get?
I just tried the splitting website for a random midweek day in Feb, £42 splitting in Inv and Edi compared to £132 bought as a single ticket from the Trainline website.

PH wrote:

Paulatic wrote:Try splitting it John I just tried as an example Wic > Edi > Lan was £30 pound cheaper than Wic > Lan

What price did you get?
I just tried the splitting website for a random midweek day in Feb, £42 splitting in Inv and Edi compared to £132 bought as a single ticket from the Trainline website.

I chose a random Monday morning in February and got the £132 right through. I didn’t use the splitting website I just guessed at one to see if the possibility is there. £100 with that guess so I could see the splitting website would definitely be worthwhile.