LEJOG on a bicycle

[ymfb]

Completed the LEJOG on Friday on my gravel bike.

1005 miles
46,000 ft climbed
18 days

One puncture for two riders.

Best section was Perth to Pitlochry

Shortest day was 27, longest 80 miles.

We loosely followed the Ciccerone route.

Biggest challenge was getting home, we caught a ferry to Orkney, cycled across to Kirkwall then overnight ferry to Aberdeen. Five hour wait for a train with bike spaces to Edinburgh, change for Birmingham, change for Basingstoke, change for Salisbury. Problems elsewhere put masses of grumpy Bath fans on the train making it tricky getting on/off.

Absolutely fantastic experience, highly recommended.

The much lauded Crask Inn and the Altnaharra Hotel were both closed, although to fair we ended up having possibly the best lunch of the whole trip at the Bettyhill Bistro. If I venture there on the motorbike I will head straight to the Farr Bay Inn.

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

Fair play, a good effort.

 

[Posh Pete]

Well done the pair of you.

 

[L2RKE]

Blimey Well done. Never heard of this challenge. Hats off to you.

 

[jonnie comet]

Blimey Well done. Never heard of this challenge. Hats off to you.

LEJOG or even JOGLE are well known challenges in the cycling world - I've done it in well under a day.....on an R1150GS -

ymfb - VERY well done Sir -

 

[Monsieur]

An excellent accomplishment!

 

[Davey B]

Excellent, I too, loved it. Proper life affirming stuff. (I did the A9 route from Pitlochry, ignoring the naysayers...and loved it. Riding along the old road for mile after mile, seeing no one and gradually gaining height. I did the first bit, then the last bit and still have the middle bit to do...bloody illness...)

 

[jonnie comet]

ymfb and Davey B - Did you pre-plan your routes into a Garmin/Wahoo/Whatever GPS, and if so, what exact model did you use?

 

[The Other PaulG]

Congratulations, thats great!

Btw you both look a bit thinner in the second pic..

 

[Davey B]

ymfb and Davey B - Did you pre-plan your routes into a Garmin/Wahoo/Whatever GPS, and if so, what exact model did you use?

I simply used the below. It took many hours to sort...even travelling solo...as I had to cross reference towns on the route with available digs as I wanted the assurance of stuff pre-booked. Doing it again, I'd wing it day by day (and risk a longer or shorter day and paying a good chunk more for accom) but it then ends up a bit of an open ended trip and getting from the end can be a challenge (hence my 2 ferry trip from JoG via Orkney to Aberdeen for easier rail connections)

Put start and finish place in left hand boxes...and within seconds you'll have a route. I'd have google maps open, booking.com, Travelodge and Premier Inn (who both allow you to take your bike in the room) and cross ref that way. I enjoyed the planning aspect of it.

Bike map | Cycle route planner | cycle.travel

Plan a bike route on traffic-free cycleways and quiet roads. Unique mapping, route photos, and free PDF and GPX downloads.

cycle.travel

 

[Udders]

Well done!

I’ve just watched a chap on YouTube David Pascoe do it the other way round. It’s called The GB Divide. Well worth watching.

David Pascoe

Hoping to share my love of the outdoors. Mostly bikepacking but also mtb and walking and lot’s of camping…..

youtube.com

 

[jonnie comet]

I simply used the below. It took many hours to sort...even travelling solo...as I had to cross reference towns on the route with available digs as I wanted the assurance of stuff pre-booked. Doing it again, I'd wing it day by day (and risk a longer or shorter day and paying a good chunk more for accom) but it then ends up a bit of an open ended trip and getting from the end can be a challenge (hence my 2 ferry trip from JoG via Orkney to Aberdeen for easier rail connections)

Put start and finish place in left hand boxes...and within seconds you'll have a route. I'd have google maps open, booking.com, Travelodge and Premier Inn (who both allow you to take your bike in the room) and cross ref that way. I enjoyed the planning aspect of it.

Bike map | Cycle route planner | cycle.travel

Plan a bike route on traffic-free cycleways and quiet roads. Unique mapping, route photos, and free PDF and GPX downloads.

cycle.travel

I've done a few short cycle tours (using cycle travel navigation) but nothing as ambitious as an end to end. I completely get it re 'winging it'. I always have a night one booked but that's it. I prefer the slight hassle of winging it to the mental weight of knowing that I HAVE to be somewhere. For the same reason I also always factor in one more day than I think that the tour will take - one of the (many) joys of being retired.

Shame it's such a pig to get home from JOG.

Interesting stuff - Cheers Davey -

 

[ymfb]

ymfb and Davey B - Did you pre-plan your routes into a Garmin/Wahoo/Whatever GPS, and if so, what exact model did you use?

I bought the Cicerone book and downloaded the.gpx that comes with it. I uploaded it to Strava and it automatically migrated to my Garmin 1030 plus, however, we used my friends Beeline balanced route on a day to day basis as our stops didn’t exactly match those in the book.

 

[ymfb]

I've done a few short cycle tours (using cycle travel navigation) but nothing as ambitious as an end to end. I completely get it re 'winging it'. I always have a night one booked but that's it. I prefer the slight hassle of winging it to the mental weight of knowing that I HAVE to be somewhere. For the same reason I also always factor in one more day than I think that the tour will take - one of the (many) joys of being retired.

Shame it's such a pig to get home from JOG.

Interesting stuff - Cheers Davey -

We only booked the next days accommodation, except after Pitlochry we booked the rest and the return ferries and trains as choices became more limited.

 

[ymfb]

Well done!

I’ve just watched a chap on YouTube David Pascoe do it the other way round. It’s called The GB Divide. Well worth watching.

David Pascoe

Hoping to share my love of the outdoors. Mostly bikepacking but also mtb and walking and lot’s of camping…..

youtube.com

Thanks, will watch

 

[Davey B]

Well done!

I’ve just watched a chap on YouTube David Pascoe do it the other way round. It’s called The GB Divide. Well worth watching.

David Pascoe

Hoping to share my love of the outdoors. Mostly bikepacking but also mtb and walking and lot’s of camping…..

youtube.com

The GB Divide is actually a more off road based end to end. LEJoG or JoGLE are road based. https://bikepacking.com/routes/gb-divide/
(GB divide being a copy of the Tour Divide which goes along the spine of the Rockies from Canada to the Mexico Border. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_Divide )


There's loads of really good YT content for rides like this and a fair few folk who make a living from the rides and producing content...and if top to bottom or vice versa just isn't far enough, you could always ride home....from China

 

[jonnie comet]

ymfb - Many thanks for all the info' and the PM. I'm no longer on Strava but it's not a problem, I was simply curious as to how you went about it.

Cheers -

 

[steve hughes]

Congratulations, a real bucket list ride for cyclists. Lad I worked with did it with another cyclist who was a fireman. So every night they kipped in Fire stations . He said he felt really fit at the end and also Cornwall was by far the hardest bit

 

[Greenman14]

Mate in my cycling club did it in 5 days. He is mad though. More than 3 big days riding is too much for me. Chapeau to anyone who completes LEJoG

 

[Shane]

Check out : MTB EPICS UK
lots of off roads routes to download for free.
LEJOG off road
Smoke ring [ circumnavigation of London]
Beeline [ circumnavigation of Manchester]
Cotswold 100 , 200 or 300,
Bullring [ circumnavigation Birmingham]
These are mainly multi day routes although some go for the FKT. These routes are over 200 miles and some riders have completed them in less than 19hrs. I prefer to camp eat and drink beer.