LEJoG off road

Specific board for this popular undertaking.
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A7 Simon
Posts: 46
Joined: 16 Apr 2018, 10:00pm

LEJoG off road

Post by A7 Simon »

LEJoG off road

I have just returned from cycling LEJoG offroad with two others.
When organising this, I didn’t find enough up to date information, so I am posting this in case it is of interest to others who may want to do the trip.
We did 1234 miles, with 104000 feet of climbing.
We rode for 23 days, with a day off in Manchester, and another in Edinburgh.
We used E bikes, a 2018 Trek Powerfly 4 and two Specialized Turbo Levo Carbons.
All full suspension, carrying full loads for half the ride, and then partial loads for the second half.
The Trek had 3 off 500 Wh batteries available, the Levos had two battery extenders each. The ride would have been possible with two batteries on the Trek and one extender on the Levos, we only used the extras towards the end of 2 or 3 days – but it was good to know that a bit of spare power was available if needed.
We used the Cycling UK route as far as Hartington (Derbyshire), and then joined the Pennine bridleway, which then becomes the “Great North Trail” or “An Turas Mor”. We took the John o’Groats option – the other destination is Cape Wrath.
We made minor detours off the route to accommodation each night, and one big one off route to Taunton to fix an issue with a bike.
We also detoured to see the Kelpies, near Falkirk. Not to be missed, in my opinion.
Every day had some sort of adventure – minor ones due to terrain or missing bridleways mainly.

There were two days with major difficulties:
most of the track is missing for a couple of miles below Knock Fell (going north), because it has been washed away. So you have to cross and re-cross the Trout Beck, lifting the bikes up the banks and pushing over rough terrain.
the track east from the Crask Inn is do-able for about a mile, after that it is pushing and paddling through boggy ground, the track has vanished. It re-appears as the climb starts, but is so damaged as to be unrideable. However, the view down the glen from the top (weather permitting) towards Loch a’ Bhealaich and Loch Choire is worth the struggle, we thought.
simonhill
Posts: 5693
Joined: 13 Jan 2007, 11:28am
Location: Essex

Re: LEJoG off road

Post by simonhill »

Interesting report. Is that 104,000 feet correct? An average of four and a half thousand feet a day.
1982john
Posts: 631
Joined: 3 Nov 2012, 9:29pm
Contact:

Re: LEJoG off road

Post by 1982john »

A7 Simon wrote: 10 Jul 2024, 3:11pm LEJoG off road

I have just returned from cycling LEJoG offroad with two others.
When organising this, I didn’t find enough up to date information, so I am posting this in case it is of interest to others who may want to do the trip.
We did 1234 miles, with 104000 feet of climbing.
We rode for 23 days, with a day off in Manchester, and another in Edinburgh.
We used E bikes, a 2018 Trek Powerfly 4 and two Specialized Turbo Levo Carbons.
All full suspension, carrying full loads for half the ride, and then partial loads for the second half.
The Trek had 3 off 500 Wh batteries available, the Levos had two battery extenders each. The ride would have been possible with two batteries on the Trek and one extender on the Levos, we only used the extras towards the end of 2 or 3 days – but it was good to know that a bit of spare power was available if needed.
We used the Cycling UK route as far as Hartington (Derbyshire), and then joined the Pennine bridleway, which then becomes the “Great North Trail” or “An Turas Mor”. We took the John o’Groats option – the other destination is Cape Wrath.
We made minor detours off the route to accommodation each night, and one big one off route to Taunton to fix an issue with a bike.
We also detoured to see the Kelpies, near Falkirk. Not to be missed, in my opinion.
Every day had some sort of adventure – minor ones due to terrain or missing bridleways mainly.

There were two days with major difficulties:
most of the track is missing for a couple of miles below Knock Fell (going north), because it has been washed away. So you have to cross and re-cross the Trout Beck, lifting the bikes up the banks and pushing over rough terrain.
the track east from the Crask Inn is do-able for about a mile, after that it is pushing and paddling through boggy ground, the track has vanished. It re-appears as the climb starts, but is so damaged as to be unrideable. However, the view down the glen from the top (weather permitting) towards Loch a’ Bhealaich and Loch Choire is worth the struggle, we thought.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Would you happen to have any links for your route?
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