SO LEJoG day by day
I am now officially an end to ender
A few last words...
I really enjoyed my lejog experience except for the dark days when I wasn't 100%. The cycling was fine - maybe a lower gear would have been useful a couple of times but not a biggie. I had no idea it could be so cold in September - in hindsight I was ill-equipped for bad weather but bike shops and credit cards fixed that as the ride progressed. The UK is big with amazing places pretty much end to end - I feel I know it a little better than I did before and there are lots of sites I'd love to revisit (in a car).
Cycling is a great way to travel - whatever the weather - with good weather and company there is nothing to beat it. Would I do it again? Probably not. Will I keep riding? For sure I will.
Beautiful last day - overshoes not required and the jacket was partially unzipped at times! Cycled East across the top of Scotland to JOG via Dunnet Head - the most northerly point on the mainland. Blue skies, awesome scenery and even a tail wind made for a brilliant last day - It was so clear we could see across to Orkney - so lucky. Everyone made the 4pm photo call by the sign and then there was some fizz to celebrate. Definitely a good day - I even have a double bed rather than a prison cell single. Cycling clothes have been dumped on the floor - no need to wash or dry for tomorrow as I won't be in Lycra! Coach to Inverness, plane to gatwick, then train and tube home - can't wait. But first a little more celebrating to do tonight.
Stats: Miles today 62, total miles 1085, climb today 2,700 feet, total climb 60,755 feet or 11.5 miles - that is 2.1 Everests!
Arrived at John o'Groats after 1085 miles
Most northerly point on mainland
Dunnet Head with Orkney in background
Wow! Northern coast near Thurso
So what kind of people am I cycling with? Nice ones (mostly - we all have our foibles). Age wise I'm somewhere in the middle - there are several in their 60's and quite a few mid 50s, youngest are in their 40s. There's lots of cycling tour veterans - people that started touring in the 1970s and have been doing it ever since. Two 'old men of the road' have done lejog several times before (why?). There are 4 tour novices including me - sometimes half a couple where the other half is a keen cyclist. Incredibly we have 5 Australians who like me have struggled with the weather. Mostly it's couples, there are 6 couples (7 if you include the pair that had to abandon) and 7 single blokes. The vast majority are bonkers about cycling and never happier than when discussing previous tours, gear ratios, steep climbs, appalling weather, etc. Fortunately most can be engaged on other topics too. An unscientific straw poll suggests that everyone has more bikes than me (I have two) - the next closest I could find was 3.5 (the half is a tandem!)
Fabulous scenery today from Tain to Bettyhill. Sunny (for a little while) and dry (started raining after I reached the hotel) and spectacular big skies, lochs and open vistas. We were on a single track road with passing places for 40 miles out of Lairg to Bettyhill - I had no idea there still were such things on the mainland. Had lunch at Crask, a tiny place with just two buildings, service and food reminded me of Victoria Wood's "two soups" sketch - had to ride on quickly. Still cold - I had on 4 layers - vest, thermal base layer, cycling Jersey and jacket - plus my lightweight 'waterproof' and had to keep pedalling to stay warm.
Tomorrow we reach John o' Groats (fingers crossed) - only 51 miles or so but a few short sharp hills - there will be celebrating (fingers still crossed)
Stats: miles today 70, total miles 1023, climb 2,520 feet.
Made it to the north coast of Scotland and before the rain too
Carr bridge in background and new waterproof over hat on my head
Pitlochry to Nethybridge - skirting the Cairngorms. The ride started with 20 miles, yes 20 miles, of gentle uphill to the Drumochter pass summit. The climbing was fine, the wind and rain and cycle path surface as we neared the summit were hard work - so glad to start going downhill out of the weather a bit - there's a photo on the photos page that gives some sense of how bad it was. Passed the Dalwhinnie distillery which smelt lovely - I had a wee dram when I arrived at the hotel to rekindle the memory. Once off the cycle path and back on the road was able to set a decent pace and only got soaked once more for the rest of the ride - the sun was even shining when I reached the hotel.
Stats: Miles today 69, total miles 881, climb today 2,558 feet, total climb 52,449 feet or 9.93 miles! (No wonder my legs are a bit tired)
Highest point - of course we had to pass that
Sma Glen - Plenty of time to admire the beautiful scenery as strong head wind
Beautiful Scottish scenery today, hills, glens, rivers and even a red squirrel. Big climb (1000ft) out of Stirling woke up my rested legs and generally felt good even battling the strong head wind. Satnav decided it had had enough 6 miles from the end but I could almost see Pitlochry in the distance so it was no big deal - bit disconcerting though when you have been glancing down to follow a purple line for days to look and see a blank screen. Reminded of how many nice people there are in the world when a man in a cafe in Crieff gave me a £20 donation for Hanwell Neighbourly Care completely unasked - generous and amazing. He's planning a cycle tour around NZ after a 'health incident' - I thanked him profusely and wished him a fantastic ride.
Stats: Miles today 60, total miles 812, climb 4,367 feet
Enjoying the rest day but glad this is the one and only - too expensive! Got my lovely clean laundry back, bought a waterproof over hat for my crash helmet and some warm gloves. Fish and chips for lunch and treated the bike to a professional service at a local bike shop - it's been doing a great job so deserves a little TLC. Sorted out my suitcase and all ready for the last five days cycling. Now just need to put the looming hills out of my mind until tomorrow.
Stats: miles 0 but I did walk up to Stirling Castle!
The land ahead of us
Discretion is the better part of valour
Our route has been designed by "Jenny" apparently - and it generally does a fine job of taking us towards JoG avoiding busy roads and taking in sights and views along the way. Jenny is not perfect however - the route has tried to take us the wrong way down several one way streets, favours horrible muddy tracks, and presented the occasional ford - which given all the rain we have had were definitely not for cycling across. Then there are the course notes which give the vital details about where cafes are to be found. They are often miles out - finding out it is 6 miles further to your planned stop than you thought can be almost heartbreaking. Then again one day they said it was a 67 mile ride and it was only 60 - still not right though, the Owen family don't like mathematical inaccuracy.
Moderately straightforward day today from Abington to Stirling though some lovely and some desolate Scottish countryside. The promised rain only made the occasional appearance in the form of a light shower or two but the strong wind kept the temperature down - "real feel" on my phone said 4C and I could certainly believe it. Had a cheese toastie and a coffee in a cafe in Shotts for £3 - it's different up here. Luxury on luxury there is a laundry near the hotel which can have stuff ready tomorrow - I've given them a bagful of well used Lycra. Tomorrow is a rest day so a bit of time to recover from 13 days straight cycling.
Stats: miles today 60, total miles 752, climb 2777 feet.
The Falkirk Wheel - another day closer to John o'Groats
Made it to Scotland - thank heavens for that
Made it to Scotland after a couple of tough days. Caught some kind of tummy bug on the way through Yorkshire and fair to say I haven't enjoyed the last two days. Cycling is hard work when you can't eat. Hopefully on the mend as I ate a cheese sandwich when I arrived in Abington this afternoon. Hotel did not have hot water as they were expecting us later so not happy having to wait for my bath!
Stats: miles today 59, total miles 692, climb 2400 feet
The Eden Valley - the light streaks are the road
Lost day 2 - Hawes to Wetheral
Bought a coat in Hawes to give some chance of surviving the cold. Not sure when I set out if I could make it after a fairly dodgy night in a fairly dodgy hotel in Hawes. Kept pedalling - often into a head wind as we were heading west - and was ever so glad to get to Wetheral. Cycled the last 40 miles or so with Michelle and Marcus and that certainly helped.
Stats: miles today 58, total miles 633, climb 2408 feet
Lost day 1 - pieced together from feverish fragments of memory.
Outlane to Hawes. Started out ok although there was a huge climb out of Halifax onto some moor or other that we couldn't see for fog/low cloud. Enjoyed Hathersage but by the time we reached Skipton was not feeling well at all and it started pouring down. Made it to Kettlewell soaked through and freezing and decided that I needed a lift for the last 13 miles - if I'd tried to carry on would have had an accident and probably had to abandon. Shirley and Chris had to abandon this morning as he had hurt a rib and it just wasn't getting better after days of struggling on - they will be missed.
Stats miles today 50, total miles 575, climb today 4000 feet.
About to 'fly' up the cobbles in Hathersage
