UPDATE - Official CTC LEJoG Tours in July and Sept

[Halchemy]

Details of the July and September CTC LEJoG tours have now been finalised. The dates are 6th - 24th July and 31st August - 18th September 2013. As with the May tour, we have spaces for 18 persons on each tour. The full details will be on http://www.ctctours.co.uk from 1st December 2012.
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Details have now been posted, with booking forms, of 2013's May CTC LEJoG tour (18 May - 5 June 2013) at http://www.ctctours.co.uk or http://www.cyclingholidays.co.uk

This will be the 15th time this tour has been run.

It uses a very scenic but hilly route that is unusual in that it goes through the Peak District and Yorkshire Dales rather than through the Liverpool - Manchester Gap.

The tour accommodation has been slightly upgraded in a couple of places since last year but it's basically the same well tried formula.

We use a van to support riders during the day and carry their bags. We have an assistant riding with you as well.

We use 15 hotels (generally three star with a couple of four star) and three hostels.

We include most of the evening meals and all the breakfasts in the cost as we have found that tour members prefer this to arranging their own meals

We include transport for you and your bike from JoG to Inverness and can drop you off at the train station or airport.

We supply Garmin GPS units as tour members have found these to be the easiest way to navigate.

We have a rest day at Stirling before the Scottish Highlands.

Go to http://www.ctctours.co.uk or http://www.cyclingholidays.org for the full details and booking forms.

[Mick F]

How much does it cost?

Yes, I could email or phone, but wouldn't it be nice if you could say on here how much it costs?

I have an idea to go on an organised tour LEJOG, it sounds nice and relaxing and I could try a different route to JOG for a change. It'd be nice to have company and a chat. After getting to JOG, I could turn round and make my own way with my kit and cycle back to LE to complete "The Double" again.

Can you please give more info on here?

[Mick F]

Ah.
Found the info.
£1,695 for 19 days cycling from LE to JOG.

Sorry, I reckon YOU should be cycling it for that price!

[Mick F]

PS:
Me and Mrs Mick F went on a 10day cruise round the Med - including flights from Exeter to Majorca and back - for less than £1,000

£1,695 for one person cycling LEJOG - and not even getting him to LE or home from Inverness - is rather extortionate don't you think?

[robgul]

PS:
Me and Mrs Mick F went on a 10day cruise round the Med - including flights from Exeter to Majorca and back - for less than £1,000

£1,695 for one person cycling LEJOG - and not even getting him to LE or home from Inverness - is rather extortionate don't you think?

I would agree BUT it's horses for courses ... people pay more than that for Ride Across Britain and that's only 9 days. The cynic would suggest that these trips are for the "want it on a plate" market .... although the marketing messages probably target the "cash rich, time poor" market.

To me, a lot of the pleasure is the planning and grappling with train fares and bike transport to and from the start!

Rob

[rualexander]

Three and four star hotels most nights with meals will soon get you up to that sort of price, hotels and b&b's in the UK are a total rip off.
So allowing for that, this tour price is probably reasonable, but you wouldn't get me paying for it, we did Lejog for just around ￡500 each, over three weeks using a mix of camping, b&b, and hostels.

[Rich_Clements]

PS:
Me and Mrs Mick F went on a 10day cruise round the Med - including flights from Exeter to Majorca and back - for less than £1,000

£1,695 for one person cycling LEJOG - and not even getting him to LE or home from Inverness - is rather extortionate don't you think?

We are doing a lejog next year and decided to organise it ourselves after having a reaction like yours to the cost of other providers (wasn't CTC) by the time we had a support van fuelled that for 2000 miles, accommodation, getting back from Inverness it came out at £1200 each it is surprising how quickly the costs mount up.

[Swallow]

Three club mates and I are planning to do JOGLE next May, unsupported. I'm expecting it to cost me around £1000 including travel to JOG but will be disappointed if it comes to any more than that.

[The Mechanic]

If you add up the amount of time you spend route planning and booking accommodation and multiply that by an hourly rate commensurate with your current job, I think you will find that it it a reasonable sum. I did LEJOG with a tour company this year and it cost me roughly what the CTC ride costs. It take a lot of brownie points for me to get two weeks off from family duties to do a cycle tour. If I spent many hours planning it as well I would be in deep doodoos. In short, I work full time and don't have time to do all the planning and booking. Therefore, I pay the price and am fortunate enough to be able to afford the occasional indulgence. Many people think it is cheating not to carry all your own gear but I don't. I want to ride my bike and not carrying luggage is just as fulfilling as with luggage. I cycle camp at other times but usually long weekends.

[Si]

£1,695 for 19 days cycling from LE to JOG.

Doesn't seem too bad. For a good hotel you are looking at around £80 per night* and up. Plus, say, another £20 for dinner. Then there is the fuel/insurance for the van. Accommodation and costs for leader and driver. Added to this is the insurance that the organiser must have for the whole thing, then all of the organiser's costs in doing the admin, booking hotels, sending out info, etc. I can see the cost for an individual coming to over £100 per night. So, one might say that it could be cheaper than organising a similar** thing yourself by dint of the economies of scale.


*Although if people are sharing a room then this comes down somewhat.
** Of course you could do LEJoG for far less by not having a support van and by using cheap accommodation/camping, but in terms of comparing like for like then this would seem reasonable.

[Si]

I did LEJOG with a tour company this year and it cost me roughly what the CTC ride costs.

On a like for like trip the CTC one should come out cheaper because the organisers, IIRC, are not making a profit from it.

[honesty]

This does include the hire of a garmin satnav and you do get a rebate if you provide your own. Not sure how large that is though!

[Mick F]

Well, it seems my thoughts have had a mixed reception!

There ain't no way I'm paying £1,695 to do LEJOG.

[barneybear69]

I have to agree with MickF (as usual)
I did it in 9 days using B&B and a couple of hostels and didn't spend more than £400 including transport there and back and meals.

Isn't (more than) half the fun in the planning and the achievement in doing it unsupported? - just my opinion

[Si]

I have to agree with MickF (as usual)
I did it in 9 days using B&B and a couple of hostels and didn't spend more than £400 including transport there and back and meals.

Isn't (more than) half the fun in the planning and the achievement in doing it unsupported? - just my opinion

that's fair enough - indeed, when I did it it cost me about £350 for two weeks. But we run the risk of getting two different questions mixed up here:

1. How little can you do LEJoG for?
2. Is the CTC organised ride VFM?

The answer to number one is probably not too much at all if you don't want all the bells and whistles (which many of us don't).
But that doesn't mean that question 2, concerning the VFM of the CTC, is not a 'yes' as you do get a number of extra bells and whistles thrown in for your hard earned. So if you want all of these extras then the CTC ride can work out pretty good value for you, and if you don't then it's not mandatory that you do the CTC ride if you want to do LEJoG