Just under 2 months to go! Accommodation Reccommendations?

[Fathead]

Considering I put this idea to my mate early last year, time has flown by and we are now less than 2 months before we start our LEJOG.

Anyway, just wondering if anybody can help?

We are in the process of sorting out accommodation, we have 4 nights sorted but was just wondering if anybody can reccommend a decent cheap B&B or hotel at any of the following locations?

Truro, Langport, Monmouth, Bishop's Castle, Malpas, Eccleston, Bowness-On-Windermere, Gretna, Sanquhar, Fort William, Inverness & Helmsdale

Cheers

[Mick F]

Less than two months is too late! You should have had all this booked two months ago. Accommodation gets booked up months and months before during the summer.

Any road up, you are where you are, so get Googling and make a list of ideas and get on the phone ASAP.

Looking at your list, sorry can't help much but suggest the Belgrave Hotel in Helmsdale.
http://www.belgravearmshotel.co.uk/
I stayed there B+B for two nights in 2006 - superb and reasonable price.

[eileithyia]

http://www.aboutbritain.com/bed-and-bre ... st3734.asp
this is in eccleston

[Geemachine]

Myself and my wife are doing the JOGLE in Sept, and not yet booked our accommodation. Planning on booking them over the weekend. Hope were not to late or else we'll be camping. Booked the train tickets to wick with free bike tickets £20 each for the 12hour and three changes from Wigan. I've sorted the route we will be taking and we have been doing plenty of training.

[Captain Cruton]

I did the JOG-LE solo and took the chance of not pre-booking any accommodation at all.
With just one exception (The Drovers Inn) at Glen Falloch, all the accommodation that I found was reasonably priced, warm and clean, and these included some very pleasant and inexpensive surprises.
It's certainly more of an adventure to do the trip unplanned, but it's obviously not suited to everyone.
However if you can't manage to pre-book all your overnight stays then what I'd suggest is that you stop riding at around 4pm, start looking around and start asking questions.
Remember that you will be talking to people who only have a very short time in which to assess your character, so show them a pleasant and relaxed smile, it may well open a door for you that a more anxious look might not.

My overnight stays were at - Station House, Mid Clyth. Station Hotel, Alness. Berkley House, Fort William. Drovers Inn. Glen Falloch. Holmlands Country House, Crawford. Albany House, Penrith. Hunters Lodge, Charnock Richard. Lion & Pheasant, Shrewsbury. Three Counties Hotel, Hereford. Bristol YHA. Blue Mantle Hotel, Wellington. White Hart Hotel, Launcheston. Vyvyan Arms Hotel, Camborne.

Enjoy your trip and good luck with the weather.

[juice]

There is a really nice small hostel (just been done up) in All Stretton, its a few extra miles north, its yha affiliated and a short walk to a good pub.
If you are stuck in Gretna PM me, I visit my Dad there and stay B+B with a lady who does a very good breakfast, is happy to accommodate bikes, and not expensive.

[Fathead]

Thanks for the responses folks. I am surprised a few people (on this forum and others) are saying pull your finger out?

We have purposely chosen to start on the weekend before kids go back to school, so that should free up a lot of options.

Incidentally, one thing I have learned in this relatively new world of the internet is that for example if you do a search for B&B's in a village and it returns 4 venues, more often than not, those 4 will be booked up as everybody has found them. With a bit more alternative searching and research (friends reccommendations you find B&B's that do not appear immediately when doing a Google search and as Captain said, you can always find accommodation.

Anyway, it's all part of the fun

[Geofff]

The Barrasgate House - Springfield rather than Gretna is OK and cheap, cost me £20 for a single room last week
Rossmount guest house in Argyle Street in Inverness great value & very good eating / drinking at The Castle 5 mins away.

[Mick F]

Hi Fathead,
I speak from experience. I have ridden E2E a total of four times, and every single journey produced headaches in booking accommodation.

You MUST get booking ASAP, as everything gets booked up early no matter if it's school hols or not. For instance, I had one heck of a lot of trouble booking a place in Penrith in May this year. (Not bank hol or school hols) Penrith was difficult because Morrisons was being re-built after a fire, and all the accommodation in the area was taken up by contractors. I was very lucky to eventually find somewhere. I was passed around from one place to another, and given phone numbers and suggestions. It was the hardest place to book! I chose Penrith because it was exactly where I wanted to be. No choice, no options, it had to be Penrith.

When I stayed at Admiral Blake Guest House in Bridgwater, the owners told me of how they and other places have been almost fully booked for months because of the new power station being built. Again, I was lucky - just!

What I'm saying is that the sooner you book, the sooner you can firm up your route. If you have plenty time and don't mind deviating off the route, you can perhaps mix and match places/towns for your accommodation. Personally, I didn't want to go off track, and picked my schedule and route to fit in with what I wanted. I was booking in January/February for a May JOGLE. Three or four months wasn't really enough, it would have been better had I got telephoning in December!

Good luck, make a list, and be prepared to ask for suggestions for alternative places.

[Chris.City]

Hi Fathead, your only crossing my route at Malpas so try here for your Cheshire accomodation :

http://www.egertonmanorfarm.co.uk/

Have a great time

[juice]

Have just finished a slow lejog, we booked all the English acc. but did Scotland as we went along mainly using syha and the blue guide to the many private hostels. The best advice on whats available locally we found was from other B+B owners who often knew all the available acc in the area if they were full.

[keviboy]

I'm afraid I can only support the "get booking" camp. I cant think of a worse ending to a tough day than frantic phonecalls or going door to door looking for a room. Sods Law states that this will happen after several "mechanicals", with the wind against and the heaviest rainfall for three years! You have to make the calls to the B&B's that are already full before they can recommend the unlisted alternatives! You might get away with it as a solo but expect problems for two or more. Good Luck. P.S. I also had problems booking in Penrith. A Coast to Coast route used for charity rides goes through.

[lastant]

Hmm...very interested to see all the people claiming you're too late and 'get booking now' I did my LEJOG this year, started on Saturday May 15th and looking at my bank statements I didn't start booking ANY of my accommodation until w/c April 19th!

The only place I had a little difficulty booking accommodation for was Edinburgh, and that was because it was a Saturday night and the Edinburgh Marathon was being run the next day. Having said that, when I say difficulty, I had to go for the third option of Caledonian Backpackers after seeing both hostels (City and Metro) were fully unavailable.

In England I stayed in predominantly Bed & Breakfasts (bar one YHA in Westward Ho!) and got all of those for less than £30 per night each. Once over the border and past Edinburgh I stayed in SYHA accommodation in Crianlarich, Tongue and John O'Groats (which I didn't book until a few days before I got there, whilst in Morecambe actually!).

Of all the places I phoned or enquired, none of them said they were unable to accommodate me...including the Admiral Blake Guesthouse in Bridgwater! I planned my route, decided whereabouts I wanted to stop each day and then looked for somewhere to stay. The only deviation I made from my original plan was to stay in Morecambe instead of Lancaster (mainly as it was close-ish and I wanted to see 'that' statue!). I didn't have to change my route to fit available accommodation at all. Just goes to show, different experiences for different people!

[peterm]

Excellent hostel in Helmsdale. I only booked my accomodation one day in advance for 3 month long trip and had few problems. As long as you are not travelling in July/August you will be fine.Look up the independent hostels website as there are now more of them than official youth hostels and most of the ones I used were brilliant. The official hostels will book ahead for you free of charge.Photos on my site taken during last years round Britain trip of lots of hostels including Helmsdale.
One thing I did before I left was make a list of all the tourist info offices in the towns on my route. There is a website listing them all if you just google for it. They can be rung during the day when you have an idea whereabouts you will be reaching that evening.Good luck.
http://www.petermaddern.weebly.co.uk

[paul dormer]

Have you considered camping? you wouldn't need to book anything, I slept very comfortable every night on my recent ride, and when in campsites the facilities are normally excellent. Choose lightweight equipment, tent 1.2kg, sleeping bag, 700g, thermorest, 450g, and you are sorted with a warm and cosy bedroom every night.

Another advantage is that you can extend days, have lie-ins in the rain etc. I met several people who were B & B'ing who were jealous of my nomadic lifestyle on the road.

Paul