Thinking of doing LEJOG in 2012 with my brothers but debating about how to go about it? Do we go with an organised group or try to arrange everything ourselves?
Any advice would be great.
Much appreciated
Thinking of doing LEJOG
Re: Thinking of doing LEJOG
I found it much more fun to arrange everything myself. Feels a bit more of an achievement if you do all your own logistics, plus you also get to do the route and see the stuff that you want to, rather than having to do what the organisers think best. And it's cheaper.
Welcome to the forum BTW!
Welcome to the forum BTW!
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kyussmondo
- Posts: 66
- Joined: 29 Apr 2011, 7:15am
- Location: Ipswich, UK
- Contact:
Re: Thinking of doing LEJOG
I am having great fun preparing for my own solo unsupported LEJOG. I love planning my own routes, it feels very much my own achievement rather than having others do most the organising for me.
Whichever way you do it then start planning early. Mine kept getting put on the backburner because other things would come up etc. Now I have made a solid commitment and got it all booked, backing out now isn't really an option!
Whichever way you do it then start planning early. Mine kept getting put on the backburner because other things would come up etc. Now I have made a solid commitment and got it all booked, backing out now isn't really an option!
LEJOG - http://www.daves-lejog.com/
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pedal-pusher
- Posts: 194
- Joined: 2 Dec 2010, 11:20am
- Location: Warwickshire
Re: Thinking of doing LEJOG
It depends on the time (and or money!) you have to spare and what you want to get out of the ride 
If you are a very busy person and its more about achieving an "end to end" rather than having a personal input or opinion about the route etc then an organised ride would be ideal if you are able to manage the set daily mileage. You are fully supported on these rides so wont need to carry a great deal and I guess it is nice to meet and ride with like minded people.
As you say your brothers will be involved you may not need the company of other riders and can also split up the "organisation" between you all which will save a bit on time... This way you can have a greater input on your route, places you want to visit and where you want to spend more time at. Also from a riding point of view you can tailor your route to how many miles you can feasibly achieve each day or on how many days you have available to ride!
Time is a big factor on arranging the ride yourself especially if you want to do the ride for fundraising too as you have to try and fit in the route organising, the fundraising AND most importantly the training!! But if you do have time I think you get a whole lot more out of the experience if you D-I-Y
Have a think about your available resources such as finances, holiday, spare time....... I think then it will become apparent what will suit you best....
If you are a very busy person and its more about achieving an "end to end" rather than having a personal input or opinion about the route etc then an organised ride would be ideal if you are able to manage the set daily mileage. You are fully supported on these rides so wont need to carry a great deal and I guess it is nice to meet and ride with like minded people.
As you say your brothers will be involved you may not need the company of other riders and can also split up the "organisation" between you all which will save a bit on time... This way you can have a greater input on your route, places you want to visit and where you want to spend more time at. Also from a riding point of view you can tailor your route to how many miles you can feasibly achieve each day or on how many days you have available to ride!
Time is a big factor on arranging the ride yourself especially if you want to do the ride for fundraising too as you have to try and fit in the route organising, the fundraising AND most importantly the training!! But if you do have time I think you get a whole lot more out of the experience if you D-I-Y
Have a think about your available resources such as finances, holiday, spare time....... I think then it will become apparent what will suit you best....
The difference between try and triumph is a little umph
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/VickyandPhil
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/VickyandPhil
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cmlstratton
- Posts: 105
- Joined: 28 Dec 2010, 10:43pm
- Contact:
Re: Thinking of doing LEJOG
I'd concur with 'pedal-pusher'. I opted for DIY as I wanted a 12 day ride and no touring company offered that option. 9 or 14 was all I could find and I am not fit enough for 9 but would like to think I am fit enough to do 12. Preferred not to do YHA / share a room so that excluded some anyway.
Are you happy to follow another's route if yes, visit Rob's End to End website and/or buy the 2+ books available. If not you'll need time to plan! It can take hours, hours and more hours to plan your own route (and even more hours = I kid you not). I never ever realised quite how long, learning the route planning software, reading blogs / forums trying to evaluate which route suite my ambitions would take. In the main because I wanted to avoid A roads and hills; both are unavoidable in places!
Are you happy with A roads / traffic if so then Sat Nav is not essential; if not then you'll need a sat nav and that requires another load of time (and money) to learn how to use, plan routes become so familiar with that when you haven't an ounce of strength to even think you can use it to get to where you bed is!
Time to train? Well, this depends on how fit you already are and how quickly you want to do the route! My blog gives you an idea of how much I have done and again it is hugely time consuming. Not just a case of miles divided by average speed. There's the prep time, stop time, rest time etc. And the telling drinking / story telling time too
All time well spent if you have it to spend. With hindsight I think I may be should have opted for a 14 day tour however where would the fun have been in just turning up and riding or the enrichment of reading the advice given on this forum?
Good luck
Are you happy to follow another's route if yes, visit Rob's End to End website and/or buy the 2+ books available. If not you'll need time to plan! It can take hours, hours and more hours to plan your own route (and even more hours = I kid you not). I never ever realised quite how long, learning the route planning software, reading blogs / forums trying to evaluate which route suite my ambitions would take. In the main because I wanted to avoid A roads and hills; both are unavoidable in places!
Are you happy with A roads / traffic if so then Sat Nav is not essential; if not then you'll need a sat nav and that requires another load of time (and money) to learn how to use, plan routes become so familiar with that when you haven't an ounce of strength to even think you can use it to get to where you bed is!
Time to train? Well, this depends on how fit you already are and how quickly you want to do the route! My blog gives you an idea of how much I have done and again it is hugely time consuming. Not just a case of miles divided by average speed. There's the prep time, stop time, rest time etc. And the telling drinking / story telling time too
All time well spent if you have it to spend. With hindsight I think I may be should have opted for a 14 day tour however where would the fun have been in just turning up and riding or the enrichment of reading the advice given on this forum?
Good luck
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Jeremy Bond
- Posts: 92
- Joined: 14 Nov 2007, 8:40pm
Re: Thinking of doing LEJOG
I have just come back from the JOGLE trip and I, like some people, took the DIY approach, taking hours/Days planning my route, researching, taking people’s advice both on the CTC forum and locally and visiting places I wanted to go. Every day of the trip was an adventure and because I took the time to do my homework the cycling experience was great.
One thing I did which goes against Cmlstratton advice, is I cycled on the minor roads and B roads without the expense of a Sat Nav. I just visited the local library, borrowed the OS maps, took photocopies of the 1:50,000 maps of the roads I wanted to cycle on. Highlighted the route on the copies, then I labelled them and use them all the way down, throwing away the day’s maps after each day. It worked well, didn’t get lost much!
One thing I did which goes against Cmlstratton advice, is I cycled on the minor roads and B roads without the expense of a Sat Nav. I just visited the local library, borrowed the OS maps, took photocopies of the 1:50,000 maps of the roads I wanted to cycle on. Highlighted the route on the copies, then I labelled them and use them all the way down, throwing away the day’s maps after each day. It worked well, didn’t get lost much!
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chesterpete
- Posts: 148
- Joined: 9 Mar 2010, 3:43pm
Re: Thinking of doing LEJOG
As a relatively inexperienced solo tourer I'm considering the CTC 17 day tour next year. Has anyone any experience of this, good or bad?
Re: Thinking of doing LEJOG
chesterpete, I roughly followed a CTC YHA/Scenic route over 17 days going via Arran. It's a route I'd recommend but as I wasn't constrained by staying in YHAs, my wife and I stayed in a variety of accommodation, some cheap some expensive. You might glean some useful ideas from my Journal, Michael's 2010 LEJOG (and other Journals on the same website).
http://www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk/index. ... &Itemid=93
I had not intended to buy a Garmin 705 before my LEJOG so prepared detailed cycling directions and just used the Garmin to log my ride. More recently for a C2C I followed a tcx file that I'd prepared. I hardly looked at my cycling notes except to get an idea of distance to the next village, following the tcx track on the Garmin's map was good enough. I like arriving at road junctions and not having to stop to get a map out to answer, which way now? So my recommendation is to use a Garmin if funds allow.
PS. I use OSM on my Garmin 705 downloaded from here-
http://talkytoaster.info/ukmaps.htm
though I'm currently experimenting with OSM non-GB maps from here-
http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/
http://www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk/index. ... &Itemid=93
I had not intended to buy a Garmin 705 before my LEJOG so prepared detailed cycling directions and just used the Garmin to log my ride. More recently for a C2C I followed a tcx file that I'd prepared. I hardly looked at my cycling notes except to get an idea of distance to the next village, following the tcx track on the Garmin's map was good enough. I like arriving at road junctions and not having to stop to get a map out to answer, which way now? So my recommendation is to use a Garmin if funds allow.
PS. I use OSM on my Garmin 705 downloaded from here-
http://talkytoaster.info/ukmaps.htm
though I'm currently experimenting with OSM non-GB maps from here-
http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/
Re: Thinking of doing LEJOG
Organize everything yourselves.
Most of the fun and interest is there for the taking in the organization. Anyone can follow a recipe or route designed by someone else. Do some research and read other's blogs and glean info from posts on here and make your own minds up about what YOU want. Everyone is different with different ways of going about things.
Get a cheap road atlas or two and use a highlighter pen to give rough outlines of routes you may consider. Think about how far you can ride in a day and pick out likely towns to stop at. Vary the distance a little, and even perhaps have a day off somewhere. Aim to ride on a mixture of roads ..... A roads to get the miles in through towns and conurbations, then B roads and quiet roads where the countryside is interesting. This all helps to make the journey memorable.
Where are you?
If in the south, consider JOGLE so you can get home easier. The north or Scotland do LEJOG. How are you going to get to the start or home from the finish? These are big questions and deserve a good answer, so think about it.
Hope that helps, and good luck in the planning. Great fun!
Most of the fun and interest is there for the taking in the organization. Anyone can follow a recipe or route designed by someone else. Do some research and read other's blogs and glean info from posts on here and make your own minds up about what YOU want. Everyone is different with different ways of going about things.
Get a cheap road atlas or two and use a highlighter pen to give rough outlines of routes you may consider. Think about how far you can ride in a day and pick out likely towns to stop at. Vary the distance a little, and even perhaps have a day off somewhere. Aim to ride on a mixture of roads ..... A roads to get the miles in through towns and conurbations, then B roads and quiet roads where the countryside is interesting. This all helps to make the journey memorable.
Where are you?
If in the south, consider JOGLE so you can get home easier. The north or Scotland do LEJOG. How are you going to get to the start or home from the finish? These are big questions and deserve a good answer, so think about it.
Hope that helps, and good luck in the planning. Great fun!
Mick F. Cornwall
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EllieMay968
- Posts: 59
- Joined: 8 Apr 2009, 1:08am
Re: Thinking of doing LEJOG
Get a cheap road atlas or two and use a highlighter pen to give rough outlines of routes you may consider. Think about how far you can ride in a day and pick out likely towns to stop at. Vary the distance a little, and even perhaps have a day off somewhere. Aim to ride on a mixture of roads ..... A roads to get the miles in through towns and conurbations, then B roads and quiet roads where the countryside is interesting. This all helps to make the journey memorable
Completely agree, a great deal of the pleasure for us was in planning the route. Depending on how much time you have you could use cycle paths and towpaths as well, rather than spend three weeks staring at tarmac! An account of our Lejog and a map of our route is here: http://lejogging.blogspot.com/. We did it in 23 days, which included a rest days, a couple of very low mileage days, quite a few towpaths and a few more pubs..
Re: Thinking of doing LEJOG
Are you happy with A roads / traffic if so then Sat Nav is not essential; if not then you'll need a sat nav and that requires another load of time (and money) to learn how to use,
Sat nav?? Whatever happened to good old maps? I've planned many, many routes using paper maps without any problem. And you don't have to buy them - borrow from the library (if there still is one) or get the relevent bits off the internet in the planning stage.
I'm not anti-tech, but on the bike it's good to get away from technology for a while.
Re: Thinking of doing LEJOG
E2E http://www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk
HoECC http://www.heartofenglandcyclingclub.org.uk
Cytech accredited mechanic . . . and woodworker
HoECC http://www.heartofenglandcyclingclub.org.uk
Cytech accredited mechanic . . . and woodworker
Re: Thinking of doing LEJOG
Nareloc wrote: Whatever happened to good old maps?
Indeed. Barts is long gone and now that the OS has discontinued its Travelmaster series of 1:100,000 I can't find any maps as good for longer distance touring. The Landrangers have too large a scale so that you cycle off them too quickly, and other map producers miss out the contour lines.
I'd be happy to be corrected!