Here are some rarely quoted left field but useful tips when cycling LEJOG, please add your own, they can be really helpful to first timers.
Food
Get a Co-Op members card, it knocks chunks of their meal deal, really useful....I did one LEJOG going from Co-Op Meal Deal to Meal Deal.
I reckon Full English breakfasts are not as good as porridge. If you do persevere with Full English, please please remember that on crossing the border, change your order to a Full Scottish.
In case your accommodation doesn’t do breakfast, take with you a couple of packets of “make in a cup porridge”.
Accommodation
Check out Warm Showers for accommodation, I've not used it but heard great things.
The hardest places to book accommodation can be the last bit, in the Highlands, so do those first.
You can do a lot of it on premier inn or travel lodge, both let you take a clean-ish bike into your room.
Premier Inns are great as they offer breakfast and and evening meal onsite. A few times we got to our accommodation late and then had to search out.
When booking accommodation, have three screens open, Airbnb, Hotels.com, Booking.com to compare location and price.
Book highlands early as it’s plentiful, but sparse. Ballater was totally booked for 1st week in June. Find the most restrictive booking area, work forwards and backwards from there. Use 100% cancellation bookings… then if you’re 100%, make another cheaper non refund booking, then cancel the expensive one. I booked all mine ahead, I had a daily goal. Some days I can up short, loads of spare time, others, longer, more exhausting, but I knew I had a bed sorted, eventually
Routing
Rather than buy a specialist cycle sat nav, I use an old phone.
The last legs of the journey, the A9 is nothing like as good as going inland at (say) Evanton. Also, at Altnaharra, don't go straight north to Tongue, instead turn North East towards Bettyhill. Really nice
Check with the bookings direct about bike storage, it might be just a lean to round the back
When you've planned your route, consider posting it on the CTC forum, the LEJOG thread, asking for comments and tweaks. Really useful, locl people to each section are likely to offer tweaks.
For the more mature lejog over 55 if you own or rent a firstport accommodation you can rent out there guestrooms across the country. Obviously better locations less chance of getting but if u have a route and know if its?a day of the week more chance of booking.
Shortly before you go, check for road closures on one.network....you have to find the active map of the UK, then zoom in along your route. Remember that a road closure might not include the pavement.
If you still stumble across a road closure, try to catch someone's attention and ask if they'll walk you through....it's worked for me a few times.
A big choice is your route going North to Inverness. Essentially you can go over the mountains via the Lecht Pass, or go along the flatter route alongside the A9. The Lecht route is awesome but steep.
Starting from Land's End, the first few days in Cornwall and Devon are tough...sharp hill then steep descent followed by sharp hill and steep descent and so on. You will come to love level flat Somerset
Disused railways converted into cycleways (eg the ones east of Bristol ) are brilliant, flat and traffic free options.
Your route can take you over 3 big suspension bridges, The Severn Bridge, the Forth Bridge (old, knackered and almost traffic free) and the Inverness Kessock bridge. The first two are gobsmackingly huge, almost scary.
Clothing
It can be 4 degrees in Highlands in June! Take some winter kit! I had to buy long finger gloves in Scotland.
Anecdotally, you are more likely to get stopped by saddle sores than by getting too knackered, so get as much training time in the saddle as you can.
Washing your kit, to help it dry put it into a towel, put your foot on one end and twist the other end as tight as you can. Then you can put it back on for a few minutes to finish the drying.
Transport
At the end, if you need to get back quickly, you can free yourself up by leaving the bike at the JOG Hotel for collection by the LEJOG bike company (forgotten it's name) and they'll collect it, box it and send it home. Not cheap, about £130???, but useful if pushed for time. However, your rail ticket will cover your bike for free...Just make sure you've booked a place for it.
Tickets generally become available 12 weeks beforehand, so make a diary note to book the tickets as soon as they become available.
Get a railcard if eligible.
The train's 4 hour plus journey through the Highlands from Wick to Inverness is magical.
Peace of mind! You can buy bicycle break down cover. I use ETA. Gives you a sense of well being.
General
You'll find it very hard to accurately explain to friends and family exactly what the adventure was like.
Some people say the full effect / joy / appreciation of the adventure won’t hit you until six months later.
Don't forget to sign the LEJOG book at JOG, ask in the gift shop where it is as it moves around a bit. Is there a book at Land's End?
Depending on time of year, take midge repellent in the Highlands.
