Route for LEJOG - any major issues?

[PH]

That route would suit me more than your original draft, though I don't know the detail for a lot of it. There is a fair few long stretches of unsurfaced trail, the sections in green, I tend to avoid these unless I know what the surface will be like, or I have a lot of time, sometimes they're fine, but other times a 10km stretch of muddy track can add an hour to your day. You can avoid these by choosing "Paved" from the menu on the left. There's also some urban areas that will slow you down and sometimes it just takes a bit of tweaking to avoid them.
What I would do - I'd save that route, then go through it and see where there's a stretch of B road, or short stretch of A, that the mapping is avoiding, such as the stretch from Pershore to Evesham. The routing has even chosen some trails over minor roads, which you might tweak, such as retracing to Selby after your overnight stop, rather than the obvious direct route North. These are minor adjustments, but at some point you might resent the extra mile. There's no reason not to set off with a route A and a route B, as long as there's plenty of opportunity to switch between them. That's what we did, pre GPS days and highlighted on pages from a road atlas.
Overnight in Seahouses, I hope you like Fish & Chips, every other shop is a chippy, and some of the best in the country, Neptune for the trad feel, Lewis's for something a bit special, those are my recommendations, though there's plenty of others and I haven't tried them all. From Seahouses, you've by-passed Bamburgh Castle, one of England's finest, worth the couple of miles just to ride past, you might need it to work off the fish and chips!
Have a great ride.

[Petethefeet]

Hi guys

Well, LEJOG completed! I started off on 11 August 8am and reached JOG on 23 August 2pm. Averaged 90 miles a day, 1177 miles, 51800 feet climbing. Was so so hard!

Thanks for all the advice!

Pete

[puffin]

Hi guys

Well, LEJOG completed! I started off on 11 August 8am and reached JOG on 23 August 2pm. Averaged 90 miles a day, 1177 miles, 51800 feet climbing. Was so so hard!

Thanks for all the advice!

Pete

Huge congratulations, any good stories and advice you can share?

[Petethefeet]

Hi guys

Well, LEJOG completed! I started off on 11 August 8am and reached JOG on 23 August 2pm. Averaged 90 miles a day, 1177 miles, 51800 feet climbing. Was so so hard!

Thanks for all the advice!

Pete

Huge congratulations, any good stories and advice you can share?

Well, where to begin!

Absolutely the hardest thing I have ever done in my life by a light year. I would liken my ride to running a marathon a day for 12 days then a 10k on day 13. On review, the following stand out:

Think carefully about the duration of the ride. I covered 1139 miles in 12 days, then had a final short 38 miles to JOG. My shortest day was over 80 miles, and I had five days over 100 miles. With hindsight I was getting up, having breakfast and trying to get to my end point before it went dark. On some days I had to stop short, which meant a detour to the previous days end point. A better policy would have been to ride shorter miles each day and spend more days on the tour - especially with my age (55) .

Ride as many hills as you can beforehand. I did the vast majority of my training in the peak district, and I can honestly say that there weren't any hills in Cornwall that I found worse than in the peaks...it is just the sheer number of them that makes Cornwall so hard. I got up every hill I came across, and once east of Okehampton the worst is over.

Do not underestimate the effects of fatigue. On day 4 I had done 40 miles and hopped off for a break at a coffee shop in Oldbury on Severn. I literally tripped over a rock about 2 foot tall and face planted the floor - I was so fatigued I didnt even see it. Tiredness and fatigue are easily overlooked, but the effects of putting your body through great stress day after day can have a serious impact - it could easily have ended my ride.

Nutrition - Mars bars, Snickers bars, Boost bars, even Tunnocks caramel wafers are all great at giving short term energy. I took 2 bars of Kendal Mint cake with me every day and ate pretty much all the above on the ride - making sure I had a choc bar every 10 miles (or a load of mint cake). I followed Puffin's advice about Co-op meal deals which were great (also Tesco meal deals) - Coke, Lucozade and Lucozade sport are all great complements to water (not replacements) for staying hydrated and getting energy. I had a massive bowl of porridge in Kingussie which was the best breakfast i had on the trip by a mile - I felt so good that day.

I planned my route to come back to my home in the Midlands and then up the east coast. The worst day I had was in Nottinghamshire - flat, windy, hedges, boring. I was able to make up time but it was awful - so boring. Once on the east coast it was windy cold and wet. I nipped into Asda at Seaham and bought some tights it was so cold - even in August. Although there were a good many cycle paths in good condition, I wouldnt do that route again.

Accomodation - The Osprey Hotel in Kingussie was great. I would thoroughly recommend it. The owner is a cracking guy, I arrived there late, kitchen had closed, he made me the most amazing fishcake anyway and threw in a 'wee dram' for free. Top guy. Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor was brilliant also. Aside from this, Air BnBs were more bike friendly and easier due to time of arrival/depart/ability to cook own meals.

Scotland - Majestic, glorious, amazing. The ride from Dunfermline to Kingussie, through Perth and the Tay Valley, was sublime. After Cornwall and Devon, Scotland was an easy ride - long climbs rather then short steep, and the scenery was incredible. Getting the ferry at Cromarty was a great experience. Only negatives in Scotland - cycling over the Forth bridge in the wind, rain and twilight was awful, and right at the end, at Bettyhill and just before Melvich, there were three beastly stinging horrible horrible hills that absolutely had no right to be there!

Fundraising - If you are fundraising, prepare to be disappointed. I publicised my ride via press releases, local radio, social media, had a shirt printed off with QR code and fundraising details, also printed off leaflets with details on. I would estimate that at least 95% of people that were aware of the ride didnt donate. I had two consecutive days where I had ridden 105 miles then 115 miles. I had one donation of a fiver over those days..it was soul destroying. If you are going to fundraise, take any donation as a bonus, as the vast majority of people wont donate...and remember that you are doing the ride for yourself also, and it is a massive achievement.

Riding solo - it was so much harder riding on own that in a group.

These are my key takeaways, it was an amazing experience and despite some of the above I wouldnt change a single second of it.

Shameless charity plug link: https://www.justgiving.com/page/peter-ennis-1


thanks

pete

[ymfb]

Well done and thanks for that, absolute mustard.

[Pendodave]

Always great to get feedback on actual experiences. Congratulations!
I also love cycling in Scotland - I just miss out the first few hundred miles in the comfort of a train when I do it...

[Ron]

Fundraising - If you are fundraising, prepare to be disappointed.

I'm reminded of a guy I met in Devon and cycled with for a few hours, turned out he was training for Lejog. After a bit we exchanged phone numbers and went our separate ways. Eventually I got home after greatly enjoying the whole experience. I had to attend my local Health Centre for a routine check and the GP asked about my general fitness and exercise regime. I thought it would be helpful to tell him I had just recently completed a Lejog without suffering any health problems but added that I felt a little guilty that I had not used the trip to raise any money for charity. He said I'd done the right thing in using the trip to benefit my own health without worrying about helping other causes.
A few weeks later I had a call from Devon man, he had had a thoroughly different experience. The charity he had chosen to support organised people from the charity to meet him at locations along the way, a sponsor had supplied a motor caravan with driver to drive him to these locations from his stopping points and back to the same points in the mornings. The poor guy was exhausted by the time he finished and got back home. He couldnt believe it possible that Lejog could have been such an enjoyable experience for me, after what he had gone through!
I often wonder if he ever cycled again!

[Blondie]

I felt a little guilty that I had not used the trip to raise any money for charity. He said I'd done the right thing in using the trip to benefit my own health without worrying about helping other causes.

Absolutely it’s a crying shame the way charities have taken over some sporting events , much to their detriment.