It is early Sunday morning 10th May 2020. We are still in the coronavirus lockdown (although today our Prime minister is apparently going to address our nation to reveal his thoughts on how the lockdown might gradually be eased!). I am not grumbling - far from it - I fully support our gov't in the fight to deal with the virus issue - but one way I have spent my time at home is to plan for the future ( or maybe dream lol!).
I have just had an early morning bike ride along the sea wall. Much of my ride was taken up with thinking about a plan I have in reality been actually formulating for years and years - to cycle from one end of the Great Britain to the other. (while this is something thousands of people have done - in all sorts of ways - it still constitutes a proper challenge nonetheless because it is just such a long way.)
A bit of background.
The ride I want to do is LEJOG or JOGLE (depending on where you start and finish).
Land's End to John o' Groats is the traversal of the whole length of the island of Great Britain between two extremities, in the southwest and northeast. The traditional distance by road is 874 miles (1,407 km) and takes most cyclists 10 to 14 days
This is a blue riband challenge - an iconic one - a natural one - one end of your country to the other. Obviously it is a very long way. From a small school boy I was aware of it - wondered if I could ever do it - because it would be a tremendous achievement - but for most including me - the time has not been right - ha!
Anyway I have always wanted to do it - it has nagged away in the background! The coronavirus might have created an opportunity. Foreign travel might still be some way off - and I can see it might be possible when the lockdown is eventually lifted or substantially eased.
I am going to have a go at it first opportunity!
PS a bit more from Wiki :
I have just had an early morning bike ride along the sea wall. Much of my ride was taken up with thinking about a plan I have in reality been actually formulating for years and years - to cycle from one end of the Great Britain to the other. (while this is something thousands of people have done - in all sorts of ways - it still constitutes a proper challenge nonetheless because it is just such a long way.)
A bit of background.
The ride I want to do is LEJOG or JOGLE (depending on where you start and finish).
Land's End to John o' Groats is the traversal of the whole length of the island of Great Britain between two extremities, in the southwest and northeast. The traditional distance by road is 874 miles (1,407 km) and takes most cyclists 10 to 14 days
This is a blue riband challenge - an iconic one - a natural one - one end of your country to the other. Obviously it is a very long way. From a small school boy I was aware of it - wondered if I could ever do it - because it would be a tremendous achievement - but for most including me - the time has not been right - ha!
Anyway I have always wanted to do it - it has nagged away in the background! The coronavirus might have created an opportunity. Foreign travel might still be some way off - and I can see it might be possible when the lockdown is eventually lifted or substantially eased.
I am going to have a go at it first opportunity!
PS a bit more from Wiki :
the record for running the route is nine days. Off-road walkers typically walk about 1,200 miles (1,900 km) and take two or three months for the expedition. Two much-photographed signposts indicate the traditional distance at each end.
- Land's End is the traditionally acknowledged extreme southern point of mainland England. It is in western Cornwall at the end of the Penwith peninsula. The O.S. Grid Reference of the road end is SW342250, Post Code TR19 7AA.
- John o' Groats is the traditionally acknowledged extreme northern point of mainland Scotland, in northeastern Caithness, O.S. Grid Reference ND380735, Post Code KW1 4YR.
The straight-line distance from Land's End to John o' Groats is 603 miles (970 km) as determined from O.S. Grid References, but such a route passes over a series of stretches of water in the Irish Sea. Google Earth reports a distance of 602.70 miles between the two iconic marker points.
According to a 1964 road atlas, the shortest route using classified roads was 847 miles (1,363 km) but in a 2008 road atlas, the shortest route using classified roads was 838 miles (1,349 km). An online route planner in 2011 also calculated the quickest route by road as 838 miles (1,349 km), estimating a time of 15 hours 48 minutes for the journey (this uses the A30, M5, M6, A74(M), M74, M73, M80, M9, A9 & A99) but the overall shortest route by road, using minor roads in numerous places and utilising modern bridges, is only about 814 miles (1,310 km). This route is roughly as follows: Land's End, Bodmin, Okehampton, Tiverton, Taunton, Bridgwater, the M5 Avon Bridge, the M48 Severn Bridge, Monmouth, Hereford, Shrewsbury, Tarporley, St Helens, Preston, Carlisle, Beattock, Carstairs, Whitburn, Falkirk, Stirling, Crieff, Kenmore, Dalchalloch, A9, Inverness, Kessock Bridge, Cromarty Bridge, Dornoch Firth Bridge, Latheron, Wick, John o' Groats.
Google Maps, on 2 August 2017, calculated the fastest route by car, from the Land's End Visitor Centre to John o' Groats as being 837 miles and taking 14 hours 40 minutes. It also showed a walking route of 811 miles, which it suggested would take 268 hours, and involve an elevation gain of 30,148 ft and an elevation fall of 30,272 ft.
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