LEJOG 10 days end of May

[gjkathome]

Hi All,
I plan to set off from LE in a couple of weeks and have been working through multiple iterations of my route. Thanks to all who have contributed so much wise advice on this forum. It has been a huge help.
I would very much welcome any comments on the current version of my route. I also have some specific queries:

• I have tried to plan shorter rides on days I think may be harder going. Do I seem to have got this about right?

• Any views on using the A38 past Bristol and on to Gloucester?

• Any suggestions for good routes through Penrith and Perth?

• I have opted for the A9 route between Perth and Inverness. I can see there are dedicated bike routes for much of the way. However, I really do not like gravel, especially as I can't squeeze anything bigger that 25mm under my front mudguard. Will I be OK?

Here is the route:
LE to Camelford (80 miles) https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2591503
Camelford to Wellington (85 miles) https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2596623
Wellington to Gloucester (104 miles) https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2593218
Gloucester to Knutsford (117 miles) https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2615099
Knutsford to Penrith (114 miles) https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2618825
Penrith to Lanark (98 miles) https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2620478
Lanark to Pitlochry (96 miles) https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2620483
Pitlochry to Inverness (90 miles) https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2620502
Inverness to Altnaharra (72 miles) https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2620503
Altnaharra to JoG (74 miles) https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2620474
Thanks

[Paulatic]

Looks like you’re overnighting in Penrith so your route is the best to do that. Thoroughly recommend staying at The Wafarers full toolkit and good drying room there if needed.

[rareposter]

Knutsford to Penrith (114 miles) https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2618825

Stay off the A6, it's busy and quite narrow in places. Instead of going up through Garstang, take the minor roads on the other side of the M6. Foothills of the Trough of Bowland but never steep - the main hills are off to your right.

Basically from mile 51, turn right onto New Lane then head north through Scorton, Dolphinholme, Quernmore, Caton, Halton, Over Kellet and rejoin the route at Carnforth. Again, stay off the A6 - you cross over it at a crossroads junction in Carnforth, go past the station and through Warton, Yealand Conyers & Yealand Redmayne up to Beetham.

There are back roads through to Kendal from there up through Hincaster, Sedgwick and Natland. Do not use the A591, it's horrific!

From Kendal over Shap Fell is fine.

Why people insist on using the A6 is beyond me. It's either busy and narrow or busy and dual carriageway.

[PeakPedaller]

Hi All,
I plan to set off from LE in a couple of weeks and have been working through multiple iterations of my route.

I too am planning and plotting a route at the moment too using Plotaroute. Probably 14 days in September.

I'd be interested in in how you decided on the route you came up with.

[cycleruk]

Knutsford to Penrith (114 miles) https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2618825

Stay off the A6, it's busy and quite narrow in places. Instead of going up through Garstang, take the minor roads on the other side of the M6. Foothills of the Trough of Bowland but never steep - the main hills are off to your right.
Why people insist on using the A6 is beyond me. It's either busy and narrow or busy and dual carriageway.

Yes the A6 is busy but it is relatively flat and easy to navigate.
Preston to Lancaster is single carriageway.
East of this section of the A6 is lumpy and adds a few miles and gets lumpier the more east you go, but is quieter.
West of the A6 is flatter, but not as flat, and can include a tarmac cycleway from Condor Green to Halton.(8mls)
I would not use the A6 from north of Levens to Kendal - 70mph dual carriageway.
(By the way Shap hill climb = 9 miles, 3% average gradient, 8% max,)
A possible option :-
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/46694879

[puffin]

Hi All,
I plan to set off from LE in a couple of weeks and have been working through multiple iterations of my route. Thanks to all who have contributed so much wise advice on this forum. It has been a huge help.
I would very much welcome any comments on the current version of my route. I also have some specific queries:

• I have tried to plan shorter rides on days I think may be harder going. Do I seem to have got this about right?

I just did the A9 Perth to Inverness. I came out of Perth via back roads to Dunkeld, then down along the banks of the river crossing the A9 at the Jubilee Bridge......, actually here's the ride
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/178634518

This ride is the first half of the Perth Inverness ride. Once you join the A9 cycle path ( it's often the original A9) you encounter a range of surfaces, at worst some stretches of scalpings, but it seemed ok for my marathon plus tyres.

In the second path of the route the cycle path disappears and you cycle east via Carrbridge.

• I have opted for the A9 route between Perth and Inverness. I can see there are dedicated bike routes for much of the way. However, I really do not like gravel, especially as I can't squeeze anything bigger that 25mm under my front mudguard. Will I be OK?

[gjkathome]

Hi All,
I plan to set off from LE in a couple of weeks and have been working through multiple iterations of my route.

I too am planning and plotting a route at the moment too using Plotaroute. Probably 14 days in September.

I'd be interested in in how you decided on the route you came up with.

I started with a route I found on the Cycling UK LEJOG page then began to read posts on this forum. That meant I found others' routes and comments on them from still others. I searched for keywords such as "Taunton" and "A9" which led me to yet more routes, yet more comments and yet more tweaks to the route I had started with. I can now no longer remember what changes I made or why I made them!

[gjkathome]

Knutsford to Penrith (114 miles) https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2618825

Stay off the A6, it's busy and quite narrow in places. Instead of going up through Garstang, take the minor roads on the other side of the M6. Foothills of the Trough of Bowland but never steep - the main hills are off to your right.

Basically from mile 51, turn right onto New Lane then head north through Scorton, Dolphinholme, Quernmore, Caton, Halton, Over Kellet and rejoin the route at Carnforth. Again, stay off the A6 - you cross over it at a crossroads junction in Carnforth, go past the station and through Warton, Yealand Conyers & Yealand Redmayne up to Beetham.

There are back roads through to Kendal from there up through Hincaster, Sedgwick and Natland. Do not use the A591, it's horrific!

From Kendal over Shap Fell is fine.

Why people insist on using the A6 is beyond me. It's either busy and narrow or busy and dual carriageway.

Thanks for the advice. Looks a lovely route. I'm now trying to decide in the trade-off between loveliness and hilliness!

[rareposter]

Thanks for the advice. Looks a lovely route. I'm now trying to decide in the trade-off between loveliness and hilliness!

From the turn off onto New Lane just north of Preston which I mentioned, via my route, to Shap village (so including the climb up Shap itself) is about 4400ft.

Your route up the A6 from that same point (junction of A6 and New Lane) to Shap Village is 3000ft so most of the climbing is up Shap itself.

Just depends if you want a road like this:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/QGnuZwA1vUtFRpfbA

or a road like this

https://maps.app.goo.gl/pS8wZHJxz7d6n9UHA

Those pics are about 500m apart. The route up through the woods is just up through Yealand Conyers / Yealand Redmayne, I rode it at the weekend and it was lovely - wild garlic, greenery, shade, no traffic.
Meanwhile, the A6 off to the right has diesel fumes, no shade and lots of traffic...

For 1000ft of climbing, I know where I'd be!

[JerseyJoe]

Just out if interest, what are the longest and shortest Lejog routes?

[Paulatic]

I doubt you can practically shave much off the ‘record route’ (844mls) https://frrt.org/endtoend2018/r/1-michael
Make it as long as you want maybe visit every OS map grid as you go.

[gjkathome]

Knutsford to Penrith (114 miles) https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2618825

Stay off the A6, it's busy and quite narrow in places. Instead of going up through Garstang, take the minor roads on the other side of the M6. Foothills of the Trough of Bowland but never steep - the main hills are off to your right.
Why people insist on using the A6 is beyond me. It's either busy and narrow or busy and dual carriageway.

Yes the A6 is busy but it is relatively flat and easy to navigate.
Preston to Lancaster is single carriageway.
East of this section of the A6 is lumpy and adds a few miles and gets lumpier the more east you go, but is quieter.
West of the A6 is flatter, but not as flat, and can include a tarmac cycleway from Condor Green to Halton.(8mls)
I would not use the A6 from north of Levens to Kendal - 70mph dual carriageway.
(By the way Shap hill climb = 9 miles, 3% average gradient, 8% max,)
A possible option :-
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/46694879

Thanks. I have settled on a slight modification of your suggestion which stays on the A6 between Lancaster and Carnforth. I've chosen flatness ahead of pleasantness!
Incidentally, do you know whether the cycleway along the Lune estuary is tarmacked?

[gjkathome]

Thanks for the advice. Looks a lovely route. I'm now trying to decide in the trade-off between loveliness and hilliness!

From the turn off onto New Lane just north of Preston which I mentioned, via my route, to Shap village (so including the climb up Shap itself) is about 4400ft.

Your route up the A6 from that same point (junction of A6 and New Lane) to Shap Village is 3000ft so most of the climbing is up Shap itself.

Just depends if you want a road like this:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/QGnuZwA1vUtFRpfbA

or a road like this

https://maps.app.goo.gl/pS8wZHJxz7d6n9UHA

Those pics are about 500m apart. The route up through the woods is just up through Yealand Conyers / Yealand Redmayne, I rode it at the weekend and it was lovely - wild garlic, greenery, shade, no traffic.
Meanwhile, the A6 off to the right has diesel fumes, no shade and lots of traffic...

For 1000ft of climbing, I know where I'd be!

No contest really is it! Except that I have set myself a target of about 100 miles per day which, these days, with luggage, is close to my limit so I'm afraid I will have to go for the flatter option. I hope I can return to the area when I'm doing something less silly!

[gjkathome]

Hi All,
I plan to set off from LE in a couple of weeks and have been working through multiple iterations of my route. Thanks to all who have contributed so much wise advice on this forum. It has been a huge help.
I would very much welcome any comments on the current version of my route. I also have some specific queries:

• I have tried to plan shorter rides on days I think may be harder going. Do I seem to have got this about right?

I just did the A9 Perth to Inverness. I came out of Perth via back roads to Dunkeld, then down along the banks of the river crossing the A9 at the Jubilee Bridge......, actually here's the ride
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/178634518

This ride is the first half of the Perth Inverness ride. Once you join the A9 cycle path ( it's often the original A9) you encounter a range of surfaces, at worst some stretches of scalpings, but it seemed ok for my marathon plus tyres.

In the second path of the route the cycle path disappears and you cycle east via Carrbridge.

• I have opted for the A9 route between Perth and Inverness. I can see there are dedicated bike routes for much of the way. However, I really do not like gravel, especially as I can't squeeze anything bigger that 25mm under my front mudguard. Will I be OK?

Hi Puffin, can you check the link you posted above? Thanks.

[Paulatic]

[
Incidentally, do you know whether the cycleway along the Lune estuary is tarmacked?

Closer to Glasson Dock is still a fine grit but towards and through Lancaster is lovely smooth tarmac.
@Colin63 will be more up to date than me I see ( Mercian thread) he was out that way just the other day.