lands end to john ogroats

[[email protected]]

Hi

I want to cycle lands end to john ogroats this summer but i need some
people do go with. I am also **** at cycling and want to go only 80 km
per day. Anyone interested (PS I am a girl, this is written by a
friend who knows how computers work)

Rudra

 

[elyob]

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi
>
> I want to cycle lands end to john ogroats this summer but i need some
> people do go with. I am also **** at cycling and want to go only 80 km
> per day. Anyone interested (PS I am a girl, this is written by a
> friend who knows how computers work)

It's 874 miles as the crow flys, however the roads will take you further.
So, say a thousand miles, i.e. 1600kms. It's going to take you three weeks.
I think you'll have difficulty finding many people who want to take so long.
I'd hope to it in ten days maximum, including a rest day.

If I was you, I'd get cycling more regularly, and build up your stregth and
skills for a large trip such as this.

 

[wafflycat]

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi
>
> I want to cycle lands end to john ogroats this summer but i need some
> people do go with. I am also **** at cycling and want to go only 80 km
> per day. Anyone interested (PS I am a girl, this is written by a
> friend who knows how computers work)
>
> Rudra
>

Join the CTC (Cyclists' Touring Club) to get the many benefits of
membership. See www.ctc.org.uk and you can get an information pack on doing
the LEJOG, as well as information on the CTC group local to you. You could
use CTC rides as a way of building up fitness to enable you to enjoy doing
LEJOG.

Cheers, helen s

 

[Tom Crispin]

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 16:58:43 -0000, "elyob" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>
><[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> Hi
>>
>> I want to cycle lands end to john ogroats this summer but i need some
>> people do go with. I am also **** at cycling and want to go only 80 km
>> per day. Anyone interested (PS I am a girl, this is written by a
>> friend who knows how computers work)
>
>It's 874 miles as the crow flys, however the roads will take you further.
>So, say a thousand miles, i.e. 1600kms. It's going to take you three weeks.
>I think you'll have difficulty finding many people who want to take so long.
>I'd hope to it in ten days maximum, including a rest day.
>
>If I was you, I'd get cycling more regularly, and build up your stregth and
>skills for a large trip such as this.

I'm planning to try again this summer taking 3 weeks. But I'll be
camping and taking the hilly route.
--
Let us have a moment of silence for all Americans who
are now stuck in traffic on their way to a health club
to ride a stationary bicycle. -
Congressman Earl Blumenauer (Oregon)

 

[John B]

[email protected] wrote:

> Hi
>
> I want to cycle lands end to john ogroats this summer but i need some
> people do go with. I am also **** at cycling and want to go only 80 km
> per day. Anyone interested (PS I am a girl, this is written by a
> friend who knows how computers work)

Its a great ride. Although its not difficult, there is something special
about it - you will feel you have acheived something which is almost
magical - you will become a small part of Britain's heritage.
80km is a reasonable daily distance that should allow plenty of time for
tea and cakes ;-)

You will meet so many people you may not need a companion, but if
essential many seem to advertise on the CTC message boards:
http://www.ctcforum.org.uk/

The best source of other information is to read others' experiences and
the best collection of links is probably here:
http://www.bikereader.com/e2e.html

As a plug, our own ride is here: http://www.jpbdesign.net/EndtoEnd.html

Once completed, its a ride you will never forget. Good luck.

John B

 

[Ben Barker]

I found this site very good:

http://www.users.waitrose.com/~ianclare/links.htm

He has links to many other peoples sites, as well as his own
experiences. I rode the route South to North over the summer. We took
a very leisurely 3 weeks over it - it really depends on whether you want
a cycling holiday, or a oliday that involves cycling. We had
plenty of time to look at pretty things and places on the way, staying
in hostels as we went.

We went up to Orkney when we arried, which was absolutely amazing -
beutiful sunsets, even if someone di leave the wind on "blow dry" for the
duration. If I were panning it again, I would advise starting from the
Scilly isles, ending up on Shetland, then getting the ferry back to
Aberdeen, and,
if you need to get back down outh, the sleeper rom there to London.
"Bargain Berths" run by scotrail, offer very cheap berths in advance:

http://www.firstgroup.com/scotrail/.../_apps/users/journeys/search_journey_form.asp

Remember to book your bike on the Wick train - it gets full very
quickly, and the guards are not prone to be flexible.

Have fun,

Ben


John B wrote:
>
> [email protected] wrote:
>
>
>>Hi
>>
>>I want to cycle lands end to john ogroats this summer but i need some
>>people do go with. I am also **** at cycling and want to go only 80 km
>>per day. Anyone interested (PS I am a girl, this is written by a
>>friend who knows how computers work)
>
>
> Its a great ride. Although its not difficult, there is something special
> about it - you will feel you have acheived something which is almost
> magical - you will become a small part of Britain's heritage.
> 80km is a reasonable daily distance that should allow plenty of time for
> tea and cakes ;-)
>
> You will meet so many people you may not need a companion, but if
> essential many seem to advertise on the CTC message boards:
> http://www.ctcforum.org.uk/
>
> The best source of other information is to read others' experiences and
> the best collection of links is probably here:
> http://www.bikereader.com/e2e.html
>
> As a plug, our own ride is here: http://www.jpbdesign.net/EndtoEnd.html
>
> Once completed, its a ride you will never forget. Good luck.
>
> John B
>
>
>

 

[vernon]

> It's 874 miles as the crow flys, however the roads will take you further.
> So, say a thousand miles, i.e. 1600kms. It's going to take you three
weeks.
> I think you'll have difficulty finding many people who want to take so
long.
> I'd hope to it in ten days maximum, including a rest day.
>
Quite a lot of the ride journals mention distances ca 1000 miles. Three
weeks is a nice pace having spent that long myself doing it.

> If I was you, I'd get cycling more regularly, and build up your stregth
and
> skills for a large trip such as this.

80km per day is quite reasonable if you're cycle camping and want to be a
tourist rather than a mle eater.

 

[vernon]

>
> You will meet so many people you may not need a companion, but if
> essential many seem to advertise on the CTC message boards:
> http://www.ctcforum.org.uk/

If I had shunned all hospitality and not chatted as much as I did at the
camp sites, I'd have probably done the ride in two weks rather than three.
Still would swap my slower experience for a fastter ride. I did my ride on
my own and met lots of people along the way.

Go for it, you'll love it!

 

[David Martin]

vernon wrote:
> Quite a lot of the ride journals mention distances ca 1000 miles. Three
> weeks is a nice pace having spent that long myself doing it.

> 80km per day is quite reasonable if you're cycle camping and want to be a
> tourist rather than a mle eater.

Especially in the hillier bits. 80k in hills with luggage is a good
days ride. Especially if you want to have fun.

One of the real joys of cycle touring is being able to stop and stare
wherever you are. Experiencing the countryside you are travelling
through rather than seeing it through a windscrean like some sort of
reality TV. This was brought home to me on my first real cycle tour in
1990.[1] I took the bike down to Penzance and did LE-> Plymouth over
many days, visiting the Lizard and taking all the side roads and
passenger ferries. Seeing the tourists staring through their windows at
you as if you are some sort of TV documentary.

The really good things were the traffic jams - sailing past them quite
happily. I visited places I would never have gone to by car, found
quiet roads around the coast which had seen virtually no traffic (grass
growing in the centre), and basically had a good time. Being somewhat
overgeared in both the bicycle and the luggage sense [2] I wore myself
out on 50 mile days in that terrain, then spent 3 days in plymouth with
a friend before crossing Dartmoor to Tiverton station and getting the
train back to London.

...d

[1] on an old Carlton which I had fitted easy gears to for the occasion
- a 30t rear sprocket to go with the 52/42 racing chainset ;-) Add four
panniers, camping gear, an overexhuberant visit to the juggling shop in
Penzance on the first day.

[2] Climbing the hill out of Looe I passed a very lightly laden german
couple who were on a B&B tour. We happened to meet at the next cafe and
they commented on how depressing it was to be passed by such a heavily
laden bike. I didn't tell them that I was in my bottom gear and had to
climb the hill that fast or get off and walk..

 

[vernon]

> Still would swap my slower experience for a fastter ride. I did my ride
on
> my own and met lots of people along the way.
>
Should have read still wouldn't swap my slower experience for a faster ride.

I'll also add that having a riding partner can add to the stresses of a ride
especially if each rider's temperament is not in synch with the other's.
One of my rides was full of tension because my partner was unwilling to wild
camp if there was no likelihood of finding a camp site before dark and I was
unwilling to ride to the next camp site in the dark when there was a
perfectly good camp site 10 minutes ride away with a chip shop and pub
within 400 metres of the site. My partner also wanted to slavishly follow a
meandering Sustrans route which on at least one occasion was 180 degrees in
the wrong direction adding a pointless five miles to the ride with no
visible justification for the detour.

If you do find a compatible riding partner, it can transform a ride. I
completed a 200km Audax ride thanks to a very patient rider who waited for
me at the tops of hills and talked me through the last 30km. I'd have
packed and finished the ride early if it wasn't for him.

 

[vernon]

> One of the real joys of cycle touring is being able to stop and stare
> wherever you are.

I tried to eat blackberries in every county that I passed through on my
Lejog ride. It was a hoot when I was in Shropshire having a chat to the
owner of a local garage who was agog at my adventure. He was in the process
of introducing me to one of his mechanics who had just arrived on the
forecourt who dismissively stated that I get the ride over much faster if I
didn't try to graze every hedgerow clean of blackberries. Apparently he'd
seen me muching the berries in two different parts of the county that
day....I was looking forward to eating raspberries in Scotland but I only
found a few at Balloch

>Experiencing the countryside you are travelling
> through rather than seeing it through a windscrean like some sort of
> reality TV.

The sights, and smells are just amazing. I also tried to spot the scarlet
red berries of cuckoo pint in every county....never saw any in Scotland....

> [1] on an old Carlton which I had fitted easy gears to for the occasion
> - a 30t rear sprocket to go with the 52/42 racing chainset ;-) Add four
> panniers, camping gear, an overexhuberant visit to the juggling shop in
> Penzance on the first day.

My first tour was with a Raleigh Equipe with a standard six speed block on
the back and a 52/39 chainset. Never pushed as much since....
>
> [2] Climbing the hill out of Looe I passed a very lightly laden german
> couple who were on a B&B tour. We happened to meet at the next cafe and
> they commented on how depressing it was to be passed by such a heavily
> laden bike. I didn't tell them that I was in my bottom gear and had to
> climb the hill that fast or get off and walk..

I had the reverse happen..

I was grinding up a long hill onto Exmoor when i heard the sound of
derraileurs grinding behind me. I was overtaken by a chap on a bike pulling
a trailer with his son in it. I decided that there was nothing to be
ashamed of as I probably weighed as much as the rider, the trailer and its
passenger and *I* was carying a net payload of my touring gear in the four
panniers.

I was ashamed of my experience in Monmouth though. I was out-climbed on a
hill by a woman in an electric wheelchair...I just couldn't pull clear.

 

[elyob]

"vernon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>> It's 874 miles as the crow flys, however the roads will take you further.
>> So, say a thousand miles, i.e. 1600kms. It's going to take you three
> weeks.
>> I think you'll have difficulty finding many people who want to take so
> long.
>> I'd hope to it in ten days maximum, including a rest day.
>>
> Quite a lot of the ride journals mention distances ca 1000 miles. Three
> weeks is a nice pace having spent that long myself doing it.
>
>> If I was you, I'd get cycling more regularly, and build up your stregth
> and
>> skills for a large trip such as this.
>
> 80km per day is quite reasonable if you're cycle camping and want to be a
> tourist rather than a mle eater.

Yup, I'm realising that now. I was hoping to do a quick one myself, possibly
with support. But to be honest would probably quite enjoy camping it too. If
I could get three weeks off, I'd love to do it leisurely. My tour around
Cornwall with camping stuff etc, I guess I was hitting a maximum 60 miles a
day. It was really hilly though, and I never set off early once!