The idea.....

The idea came, as all good ideas do, in the pub one evening. After a lovely day ride Mick and I got to chatting about doing a longer ride, maybe another week on a cycling holiday. Another pint or two later and 200 miles had turned into 1000 and a week had extended to a month. Why not cycle from Lands End to John O'Groats otherwise known as the End to End. We were going to join the Lejoggers! (LEJOG is the acronym given to the journey from South to North - with North to South being known as JOGLE)

We have only done one longish ride (ie more than a day ride) before and that was about 250 miles or so, from Bowness on Solway to Whitley Bay and back, roughly following the line of Hadrian's Wall. Here are a few pictures from that trip.


On the Wall



A welcome beer break on route


The too small bivvy bag


The longest and most exhausting day, cycling into a stong headwind - if Mick had a gun right now.....


Farthest point at Whitley Bay - we showed up on a Bank Holiday Monday which was something of a mistake as on bank holidays it is the mecca for hen and stag parties from all over the North East of England....


Newcastle Centre we liked although the outskirts had rather too much broken glass for our liking

We learned a lot though. In particular, to be very conscious of how much to carry (no make up bag or hairdryer this time!!) We also decided that we would take the two man tent rather than the glorified bivvy bag shown here which was too small to be comfortable in. It was so small we had to leave our bags stashed under the bikes, propped up against a wall. In the rain.


At 1000 miles Land's End to John O'Groats is a much more serious undertaking for us.
There is a fairly direct route which is less than 900 miles but its main roads and we want to avoid those. Following B roads and other off road cycle routes will add a few mles but should be worth it for the lack of heavy traffic, never pleasant when cycling.

When I have told people about our plan, a frequent comment is "why go uphill?" Although we are indeed going "up" country, in fact the hilliest counties are Cornwall and Devon and it makes sense to get these done first. (Scotland obviously has bigger mountains but in Scotland the roads pass between them rather then over them as happens down south.) Aso there is a better chance that the wind is behind us as the winds most commonly blow in from the south west. This isn't a given though. Another reason for choosing this way is that John O'Groats is a much nicer spot to finish than the very touristy Lands End. Finally, if the impossible happens, and we get there before our allotted time we will have the option of going on to Orkney on the ferry or touring the north coast.

However many "Joglers" cycle the trip the other way, from John O'Groats to Lands End, I suppose it's a matter of personal preference.

The famously unpredictable weather in the UK is the big unknown, not only the wind which could be blowing the "wrong" way for us, but if it rains for a month it's going to be pretty miserable especially in our little tent!

The other common question is are we doing it for charity? Initally the answer was "no we are doing it just for fun" Cue howls of laughter/derision/disbelief. Well ok - not FUN exactly, it is going to be hard work...however not to try and raise some money for charity does seem a bit of a waste somehow and so we have decided to try and raise some money for BRACE (Bristol Research into Alzheimer's and Care of the Elderly). http://www.alzheimers-brace.org/ Of course if we have a) gone public and b)have sponsors there is also less chance of giving up on day two.....

If you would like to sponsor us please email ellie.bennett@gmail.com or you can use the paypal button here:

The training has got off to a rather shaky start though. On our first major training ride on Thursday I started to cry at about the 55 mile mark, wailing that I would never be able to do it... too many hills....too tired, although by the time we got home we had clocked up seventy miles and I didn't feel too bad. Mick thinks that if I desist from consuming large amounts of alcohol the night before a ride, my prospects may be better...

But more training required I think. And no doubt there will be many more tears.