"M Series" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Well done, you make me envious, I was planning on LeJog in 15 days last summer, but I was made
> redundant and couldn't justify the expense. This
year
> I have been cajoled into Raid Pyrenean so it'll have to wait until next year. Got to do it before
> I am forty.
>
> I look forward to your route details appearing on here.
>
>
As requested, a brief route details. I'll try and set-up a link to a full account some time in
the future.
I had 13 consecutive days off work. The thinking went - 1 day to get to JOG on train, 10 days
cycling, 1 day to get back home on train, 1 days rest before return to work. With 10 days cycling
and approx 1000 miles to cover, 100 miles a day seemed like a good idea. It was less than a
thousand miles, so I had a bit of an allowance built into the plan. I sat down with a road map and
a bit of string that represented 10 miles and came up with the following route. Each day was
approx. 100 miles.
Day 1 - John O' Groats to Invergordon. A9 Day 2 - Invergordon to Glen Coe A9, A862, A833, A82 Day 3
- Glen Coe to Kilmarnock A82, A77 Day 4 - Kilmarnock to Carlisle A76, A75, A74 Day 5 - Carlisle to
Preston A6, A66, A592, A591, A6 Day 6 - Preston to Willenhall (home, M6 J10, between Walsall &
Wolverhampton) A49, A56, A55, A41 Day 7 - Willenhall to Bristol airport. A449, A38 Day 8 - Bristol
to Bideford A38, A39 Day 9 - Bideford to Penzance A39, A30 Day 10 - Penzance to Lands End (and
back.....to Penzance!) A30. (only 20 miles!)
So that was the plan, to get from point A to point B as quickly and cheaply as possible. I intended
to sleep in a hammock, sleeping bag, waterproof cover set-up, grabbing breakfast / evening meals at
roadside cafes / fish n chip shops. 1st night spent on park bench in JOG mini-mal shopping centre.
No trees for hammock. Tried tying hammock to mini-mal rainroof support pillars. Unfortunately
enamelled steel posts, hammock kept slipping down!!...Sea mist in when I arrived, dissappeared about
0300hrs to be replaced by frost. Finally got up around 0630 and decided this might not be a good way
of spending nights following a hard days cycling. Cycled to Carbisdale Castle YHA, as recommended by
someone on this site (thanks!!). Joined the YHA, stayed at castle, well worth it. Hot shower, comfy
bed (wuss, I know!). Due to start-up times at YHA, didn't manage to make cycling start until approx
1000hrs ! Carbisdale left me approx 30 miles short of the 'Crow flies South' target for the first
day, although actual mileage exceeded planned. Both head & taillights had fallen off bike & broken
1st day, due to not being able to use standard fixings thanks to luggage. So, due to lack of lights,
finished 2nd day at Fort Augustus. This meant still another 30 miles just to get to Fort William and
Glen Coe was another 10 miles. Day 3, set out at 0800, got to Fort William at 1130. Realised the 90
miles to Loch Lomond YHA would only be achieved by 2030 at earliest, given no problems and I'd still
be well short of plan (Kilmarnock). As the road over the Cairngorms is very remote and if I got
stuck there was a good chance it would cause real problems, I took the train from Fort William to
Glasgow. This is the deep and dark secret of the trip and if anyone wishes to withdraw previously
issued congratualtions at this point, I'll understand. It meant I could get back on schedule for the
trip. There was dark clouds and snow up there, as could be seen from Ft. William
...... Anyway,
picked route back up at Glasgow and finally got out of Glasgow after
2.5 hours and a close brush with the Clyde tunnel and my first puncture going through the Clyde
cycle tunnel, of all places. Respect to help from a cyclist called Jim who seriously helped out
with finding the A77. Made it to Kilmarnock and got back on schedule, as per above. From that
point on the only deviation to the plan was to avoid the diversion on Day 5 that would've taken me
via Windermere and off the main road for a little while. Due to earlier experience I became
focused on making the target for the end of each day, then relaxing, so I stayed on the A6 all the
way from Carlisle to Preston. Still very pleasant. I also didn't make Bideford on Day 8, fell 10
miles short at Barnstaple due to going through Porlock & Lynton/Lynmouth. 2 unbelievable hills
that could've been avoided I found out later. Managed to make the 10 miles up the following day
into Penzance. My god, that A30 is a bloody motorway, also has lots of useful fast downhills.....
So that's the route and deviations. I stayed in 2 youth hostels, 2 private residences, 2 B&B's, 1
backpackers hostel, 1 pay by the hour cesspit (very nice people though!!) and 1 park bench. I was
aware that I had failed with keeping the costs down, but the mention of 'doing it for charidy, mate'
always got a discount ;-). I was also aware that if I didn't make it to Penzance for the time I'd
pre-booked the train ticket home, I'd have to pay an additional £88, which I really didn't want to
have to do, hence the decision to take the train in Scotland (only £18)....That plus what I like to
consider a potential Health & Safety issue. I didn't want any emergency services put out having to
rescue me.
Cheers,
Dave.
