The bikes

Nick rode a steel Dawes Galaxy tourer with triple chainset.  It weighed a ton, probably even before he put his panniers on.  He used his granny gears a lot. I rode a carbon-framed Cannondale Synapse with a Tailfin carbon rack and panniers.  It weighed about 16kg all up, with the loaded panniers. I fitted 28mm tyres and a wide-range 11-36 cassette at the rear, it had a compact 50/34 at the front.  This meant I rarely need to leave the big chain ring, only changing to the smaller ring on the steeper inclines when my legs were tired.  I also fitted a Redshift Shockstop suspension stem to help absorb vibration through the bars on uneven surfaces.  I recommend it.

Both bikes performed well (well, they survived to the end) but mine was not so well suited to the route we took (the Royston Woods route), which included some muddy, stoney, bumpy, uneven, gritty and otherwise unpleasant cycle and canal towpaths - most were fine but there were definitely times when sections weren't a lot of fun.  I was really happy with the all changes I made to my bike, which I am sure helped make the experience more tolerable on some of the surfaces we rode on.  Mud did tend to build up between the frame and wheels because of lack of clearance - a gravel or hybrid bike would definitely be better for that route.

We had only two mechanical issues on the whole trip: Nick started the journey with a slightly buckled rear wheel which became worse after hitting a pothole.  Eventually he had it checked (by which time we were well into Scotland) and three broken spokes were discovered.  Perhaps if he'd had it trued before leaving this might have helped avoid the problem, but of course there's no certainty of this.  I would recommend starting with a good set of sturdy and true wheels though :-)  For me, the internal bracket on one of my lightweight panniers broke but there were no problems with the bike. No punctures for either of us, despite the surfaces we sometimes rode on.

Postscript

I arrived in London on the sleeper train from Inverness. Navigating my way through a maze of near-stationary traffic on the Euston Road, I reached the bottom of Pentonville Road and sprinted up it.  It seemed much shorter than it did two weeks ago.  I turned left at the top soon reaching my flat.  My legs weren't too bothered about stopping so soon, they are quite familiar with my flat anyway.  I showered, had breakfast and started unpacking my kit.  My legs said 'Hey, what's going on, we're ready, let's go cycling'. Time passed with no cycling. I put on some jeans.  My legs said 'wait, what are you doing, you can't cycle in those?'  Gradually it dawned on them: 'OMG, he's going to the office.  He's not going for a nice, long, easy ride in the countryside, he's going to join the morning cycle commuter race.  Oh no!  That's so much harder and more dangerous...'

Day 13 - The End of the Road!

We did it! Today we reached the north-eastern most settlement on the British mainland - John O'Groats. It was a beautiful day for cycling, almost perfect - sunny from the outset, not too hot, not too windy. We started from Helmsdale and were immediately confronted with the Berriedale Braes - a steep ride up to an undulating plateau, followed by a steep descent into Berriedale and another steep ascent out of it. We climbed about 1500' in the first 10 miles. Which as any cyclist knows is quite a lot of up in a fairly short distance, and it was followed by more up afterwards. But, although the Berriedale Braes have a bit of a fearsome reputation among LEJOGers, I found them not as bad as expected. Just the usual matter of getting into a low enough gear and spinning the pedals to the top. The reward once the Braes were over was amazing, sunny vistas over vast expanses of coast and golden and purple land - the gold from cropped fields and the purple from heather on the hills behind. Just simply beautiful beyond words to describe. At least beyond my limited talent. Photos will follow but will not do them justice.

After passing Lybster (which to my surprise had a street with a French name, Quatre Bras), the road turned north and headed straight on for miles and miles - miles without traffic or traffic lights or other streets or houses, before swinging more north-easterly and continuing on in the same vein. I later found out that this relates to a battle against Napoleon's French troops - a skirmish in the larger battle of Waterloo that the allied forces including several Highland regiments won. Sorry Mika (a French colleague) :-)

 The stats:
Distance cycled today: 53.5 miles
 Ascent: 3,053'
Distance from Lands End: 947.5 miles 

After arrival we took the obligatory photos, had lunch, and took a taxi back to Wick for the train to Inverness, which I am on as I am writing this. It was funny getting the taxi because I'd told the controller we wanted to meet it at the 'John O'Groats hotel'. It turned out there is no hotel called 'the John O'Groats hotel', so it had been told to meet us at the Seaview hotel a quarter of a mile back up the road. So it was back on the bikes for 5 minutes to reach it. We both found our legs complaining a bit about this as it seems they'd thought their work was done when we got to JOG. Funny how the body reacts to what the mind expects.

So that's it, the ride is over but this blog isn't finished yet. There are photos to add, videos to edit and perhaps more musings to write.

Day 12 - Inverness to Helmsdale

Today was definitely a day of two halves, cycling-wise.  The first, easy, pleasant, in good sunny weather on minor roads, or well-surfaced cycle paths alongside the A9.  The second, on the A9 itself from Tain to Helmsdale.  This was not a pleasant experience.  At first, from Tain until after the Dornoch Firth Bridge, there is a 'shoulder' for cyclists to cycle on but this quickly disappears and the A9 becomes single-carriageway in each direction, with motorists trying to maintain dual-carriageway speeds and no room for cyclists.  The road is not busy in terms of traffic volume, but the traffic there is wants to get where it's going fast, and while most motorists will still wait until a suitable passing opportunity and give space, some pass by inches leaving the barest of margins - as if wanting to shave your legs as one cyclist put it.  Neither Nick nor I liked it.  The weather turned a little greyer too.

The stats:
Distance cycled today: 70.6 miles
Ascent: 3,347'
Distance from Lands End: 894 miles

Of course, the big news is: This was our last full day of cycling on this trip.  Tomorrow early afternoon we will reach John O'Groats, celebrate briefly and then get the train home.  It's been a fantastic adventure, but I won't write the end before it happens.  That's for tomorrow.  Today was another day in the cycle of eat, sleep, cycle, repeat with some great scenery passed along the way, all adding to a memorable experience.  Today I was thinking 'why did I wait so long to do this?'  It's an adventure I've long wanted to have.  Don't put off your adventures.

I should also mention passing a sign pointing to Barbaraville - a most unlikely name for a remote Scottish village in the far north of Scotland.  I'm sure my colleague Barbara will be chuffed to bits to know someone named a remote Scottish village after her :-)  Well, on checking Wikipedia, that fount of all knowledge, it seems that in Scottish Gaelic it's called "An Cladach", which doesn't sound at all like Barbara, so maybe it has a different derivation :-)

Day 11 - Struan to Inverness

Well, we are in Inverness and only two days from completing our journey.  It seems hard to believe we started only 11 days ago.  Once again we've had an easy day following a hard day, and have been lucky with the weather.  It started off dull and overcast with clag covering the Drumochter pass, which became light drizzle as we climbed it, but soon cleared to become a beautiful day offering wonderful cycling along easy ascents and descents.  The descents were glorious - at once steep enough and shallow enough to offer long miles of hardly needing to pedal or brake.

The stats:
Distance cycled today: 79.3 miles
Ascent: 3,281'
Distance from Lands End: 823.4 miles.

Dinner beckons.  Tomorrow the penultimate day.

Photos from today:

Day 10 - Edinburgh Newbridge to Struan

Today was, on paper, expected to be the hardest day so far - the longest ride and the most climbing. It didn't disappoint. It was harder than expected, or seemed so. It began innocuously enough - 10 fairly flat miles followed by the highest climb of the day that went up in a series of short ramps,  sometimes steep, sometimes not, with flat or downhill bits in between so that you hardly felt the ascent.  The descent into Kinross was exhilarating.  If only the day had stayed like that. What happened was that it kept throwing upward ramps along the way, all the way to Killiecrankie, just before Blair Atholl, which was still 5 or 6 miles from Calvine and Struan.  So it was a hard day in the saddle, even if Garmin thinks it was less ascent than Strava said it would be.

The stats:
Distance cycled today: 83 miles
Ascent: 4,839'
Distance from Lands End: 744.1

Nick's rear wheel had been buckled for a while so he dropped into a cycle shop in Inverkeithing, just after crossing the Forth bridge and asked them if they could straighten it. They found he had three broken spokes, took it in immediately and fixed it.  He was back on the road within 30 minutes.  A big shout out to Ryan's Bike Surgery.  If you need anything bike-related in the area, use them!

For anyone interested in the Royston Woods route, it has been very good so far through Scotland, mostly on minor roads running parallel to the main roads, or on tracks alongside them.  Relatively few off-road cyclepaths have been used and mostly those have had good surfaces, today there were a couple of short sections of unsealed muddy or stoney surfaces making for slow going but on the whole things have been good, main A roads avoided (there was just a short section of A9 today).

Tomorrow, Inverness, then just two more legs to go.  Let's hope our legs hold up :-)

Day 9 Lockerbie to Edinburgh

Well, once again a day as easy as the last one was hard. This was really a beautiful day's cycling - warm sunny weather, easy undulating terrain, nearly all on quiet roads - everything you could want for a day's cycling and a very welcome recovery opportunity from yesterday and tomorrow's expected exertions - tomorrow we hit the Highlands with our longest day in terms of distance and the most ascent as well.

The stats:
Distance cycled today: 74.2 miles
Ascent: 2,931'
Distance from Lands End: 661.1 miles

I've hit  the top of the RPV club leaderboard for this week for distance and ascent finally, but who knows how the weekend will pan out?  I've only got another 160 miles and 8,600' of up to do on Saturday and Sunday' - will it be enough to stay on top? :-)  Some of the guys in the club really do prestigious amounts of miles and feet of ascent, considering they live in a fairly flat area. Lord only knows where they find the time.  Some of us have to work, normally at least :-)

Highlight of the day for Nick was probably finally managing to photograph an Eddie Stobart lorry.  Usually they're gone before he manages to get his camera out. The driver gave him the thumbs up as he did so.  Don't ask me what's so exciting about an Eddie Stobart lorry, but some people find them interesting. There's even an Eddie Stobart lorry spotting fan club.  Did  you know that? Oh well, some people go for train spotting, others lorry spotting...  He also got some toots from bikers while riding topless - it's the last day of summer after all so he had to ride shirtless.  He looks a bit like the older Harley rider type, although the bike he's riding is a good deal thinner and slower.  He might look the type but his bike definitely doesn't :-)

A grim sight on the road - grimmer than 10 grim things on a grim day in Grimsby, as a mutual friend put it:

If you haven't done so yet, please have a look at my fund raising page and consider whether it's something you'd like to support.  Thank you!

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Day 8 - Kendal to Lockerbie

We're in Scotland!  After 8 days of turning the pedals, here we are!  And yet, we're not 'there' yet.  There are still a few '00 more miles to go.  But what a day!  Starting with a 10 mile ascent of Shap from Kendal and a run down into Penrith for coffee and cake.  Then a slog to Carlisle with a lot of up and down, mercifully the steep downs that preceded the steep ups gave just enough momentum to get up the other side without too much effort, an easy run to Gretna Green then what seemed like another slog to Lockerbie.  It was only supposed to be about 17 miles from Gretna Green into Lockerbie, but they seemed like very long miles.  Perhaps it was just the excitement of making it into Scotland and the mind thinking it was nearly done for the day, but it wasn't.

The stats:.
Distance cycled today: 77 miles
Ascent: 3,811'
Distance from Lands End: 586.9 miles.

Today was an exciting day - reaching Scotland a real milestone. But I'm too cream-crackered to write anything more about it!  Tomorrow should be a bit easier, and then hard work for another four days after that to finish.  It's still a way off!

Reflections on Wigan

Wigan is probably not a place that anyone would choose to visit, unless they had to.  It's probably a poor relation to the attractions of Liverpool and Manchester, which it sits between. Most shops were already closed by the time I went looking for something to eat, at about 5.30pm.  But it does have a surprisingly attractive, pedestrianised town centre, sandwiched appropriately between two Subway shops at either end.  Surprisingly attractive for Wigan that is. 

I've always thought of Subway as a kind of downmarket Pret a Manger. You can tell whether a place is going up in the world by whether it has a Pret. It's like the difference between Waitrose and Morrisons, but when I went in to check their sandwiches, I found it was worse than I thought.  So I went to Greggs instead, to see what they had left. 'What have you got that's vegetarian?'  I asked, because all the sandwiches left were on the counter heaped in a pile.  'Well, we've got cheese....' said the attendant, without much conviction. 'Oh, that's good... what else is in it?'  I asked, since I know 'cheese' sandwiches are often 'cheese and onion', that I don't like at all.  'Ham' was the response.  Now I know vegetarianism is a fairly alien concept to some, but a cheese and ham 'vegetarian' sandwich?  Only in Wigan.  I did leave with a Vegan sandwich.  It said it was Vegan on the label so I trusted it.  I didn't ask any more questions.  I couldn't risk it. I'd just cycled 70 miles with only a cup of coffee and a piece of cake en-route.  I needed food.

Wigan does well at hiding its pedestrianised centre.  It's in a very small area surrounded by major roads organised in a one-way system used as a race track by drivers trying to kill you, and a wide underpass where other drivers can avoid Wigan completely.  It seems everyone is trying to avoid it or escape from it, which is probably not a bad idea :-)

That said, it did have a nice cycle track with a good surface through a wooded area that we used to make our own exit.  Perhaps there are things worth visiting Wigan for..

Day 7 - Wigan to Kendal

Today was a very good day.  Despite initial lack of promise, starting with the kind of northern drizzle you kind of expect 'the north' to have, the weather soon cleared to lovely sunny day, not too warm, great cycling weather.  Last night I carried out a repair to my broken pannier with glue and duct tape, and (touches wood quickly) it seems to have held up, although I still kept it lightly loaded.

Confident enough in the repair, I set off on the original planned route with Nick.  This took us soon along a muddy river bank, made more muddy by the early rain, then cycle tracks through the forest with more muddy detrius and debris.  Eventually we got onto minor roads and canal paths, the latter having a very good surface for a change, among the best for a canal towpath on the whole trip, but my bike doesn't quite look like a road bike any more from the finely-sprayed and not-so-finely sprayed mud and dirt all over it.

I stayed with Nick until near the end, when the last canal tow path finally got the better of me - the surface wasn't as good as earlier in the day, we seemed to have been on it for ages with further to go, and the A6 direct into Kendal was just a few steps down the bank away.  I took to the road, as has become usual, Nick stayed on the route until the end, as usual.  I did rejoin the planned route into Kendal near the end, when the A6 became a horrible dual carriageway.  Before that it'd been fine.

The stats:
Distance cycled: 69.1 miles
Ascent: 2,466'
Distance from Lands End: 509.9 miles

We've passed the half-way point for distance, by tomorrow evening we'll be in Scotland!

Cumbria welcomes me! 

You don't get these signs on the canals.  We've crossed so many county boundaries without knowing or being able to mark the occasion.  Yesterday on a canal Nick asked which town he was in.. 'Manchester, mate' said one local with a sort of 'duh' expression on his face.  Well, you'd have thought it was big enough to realise :-)

A very dirty bike.

Day 6 - Stafford to Wigan.

A bit of a mini-disaster today. While cycling along I noticed an unusual rattle coming from the rear of my bike. Stopping to inspect, the cause was quickly revealed - the support for the clip holding one of my panniers on had broken. The pannier was only partly supported at one end, and in danger of falling off completely. That would really have been bad, so to avoid this I packed as much as possible into the other pannier and Nick and I set off into the town we'd just reached to find a bungy that would help support it - or anything else that might help.

At first the search looked like it might be fruitless but a couple of young lads on bikes knew where a Halfords was and kindly offered to guide us there. I bought a bungy cord, and a backpack to help divide the load up, and some glue, in case that might help with a fix of kinds. The only other thing to do was to change the route for smoother surfaces that wouldn't bounce it around so much - if you've read the post on the planned route you'll know it takes in a lot of canal paths and cycle tracks, which, while scenic, tend to be a bit bumpy.

Nick decided to continue the original route (which he said turned into an almost unrideable 'mountain bike trail' near the end) while I took to the roads for a shorter, smoother and eventually, much faster arrival. Big thanks to Nick for coming back to see what happened when I stopped and staying with me while we worked out a solution - of sorts.

The stats:
Distance cycled today: 73.6 miles
Ascent: 2,250'
Distance from Lands End: 440.8 miles

Today's trivia quiz: What do Kellogs and Jodrell Bank have in common?  A. They are both based in the Manchester area, and both of them lay along our planned route (although only Nick passed both of them by sticking to the original route).

Day 5 - Tewskbury to Stafford

Today my legs woke up in a happier place. They didn't complain when I asked them to take me downstairs for breakfast, or back up again to get my things, or when I got on the bike.  In return, I made sure I fueled them adequately during a couple of breaks along the way.  I wonder if they've finally accepted that what we do is, we get on the bike each morning and ride 70 or 80 miles until we stop in the afternoon?

Realistically, today wasn't hard.  In fact, it was as easy as yesterday was hard. We took the scenic route to Stafford, which involved cycle tracks and canal towpaths for much of the way.  The weather was pleasant and warm which meant I could cycle at Nick's pace almost all the way, which is to say I wasn't really exerting myself.  When it's cold and wet I have to cycle faster to keep warm and finish sooner :-)

The stats:
Distance cycled today: 80.2 miles
Ascent: 3,008'
Distance from Lands End: 367.2 miles

We're more than a third of the way, and it feels like it.  People's accents have changed as we've gone along, from 'West country' to Midlands 'Brummie', to.. whatever it is in Stafford.  We've passed County boundary signs.  In two and a bit days we'll finish England and enter Scotland - what a milestone that will be!

This sign says 'Welcome to Staffordshire, The creative county'. Staffordshire - you get the prize, for optimism anyway :-D

Day 4 - Cheddar to Tewksbury.

Today when I woke up, my legs decided to start a conversation. 'You're not seriously going to cycle again today are you?'  To which I replied, 'Yes, I am.  We have to go to Tewksbury today'.  My legs objected 'but we're tired, and it's raining, we'll be cold and wet.'  To which I gave the only reply I could, well known to cyclists of a certain persuasion, 'shut up legs'.

My legs reluctantly got on the bike and we pedalled off together.  I didn't know it then, but later in the ride they would start complaining again - 'you haven't eaten lunch yet, and we can't keep going if you don't fuel us'.  I promised we'd eat soon, but it was ages before I found somewhere, a pub called 'The Salutation' and there was nothing with my brand of vegetarianism on the menu.  We had to settle for a coffee and a small bag of peanuts.  I promised my legs we'd eat again soon, when we got to Gloucester, but they weren't happy and went into a kind of economy mode, conserving energy and making the ride very slow.  When I got to Gloucester I found it so big and confusing to get around that I just wanted to get around it and get to Tewksbury, now not much further down the road, so still didn't stop.  My legs didn't say anything, they just gave me the silent treatment and went into 'ultra-economy' mode  Maybe they didn't have the energy to talk.  Eventually though, they did get me to Tewksbury.

The stats:
Distance cycled: About 75 miles. Garmin didn't record and my phone, stuck in my pocket because of the rain, didn't record it properly, showing me taking straight lines across fields and the like, when I didn't and couldn't have.
Ascent: About 2,400'.  Again a lot of up missed.
Distance from Lands End: About 287 miles

I arrived in Tewksbury at 3.30pm, which would have been early enough to have a walk around this picturesque little town, except that I needed to shower, sort out my wet kit and have something to eat.  I was down in the restaurant by 4.15.  I have just finished  eating and drinking.  It is now nearly 8pm.  I've had two dinners and a dessert.  I hope my legs are happier now, but it seems they're ready to sleep.  Despite the distance or ascent not being that great, with the weather this was actually the hardest day so far.

Nick later told me he'd had exactly the same conversation with his legs in the morning.

The Earth isn't flat and food isn't art.

What has this got to do with riding LEJOG you may well ask? Well, Nick my travelling companion was so incensed about some Facebook postings by fully paid up members of the Flat Earth Society of his casual acquaintance, that he made his own 'The Earth Isn't Flat Society' Facebook page. 'Wait', I hear you say, 'there are still people who believe the earth is flat in the 21st century?' Quite. There really are people who believe that. Despite the fact that Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth without leaving Egypt in around 240BC. The proof's been around for a long time. For Flat Earthers, there is no proof. The moon landings are fake, Nasa's photos of a round earth photoshopped. The proof that it's flat comes from things like pouring water over a balloon - the water runs off. So if the earth was spherical the oceans wouldn't be there - they'd drain off into space. We're all living in a kind of snow globe.

There are other consequences of this belief too - obviously Australia doesn't exist, because there's no 'land down under' :-) Sorry, Karun, Kirstyn, Dharmadeva, Wes aka 'the flying fossil' and other Aussies of my acquaintance. I expect the English cricket and rugby teams probably wonder who the hell they've been playing against all those years :-) Oh, and as for my New Zealand family - well, having been there and grown up with them I'm pretty sure they do exist.

Food isn't art: As a cyclist, I need food.  Everybody does, but I need more, for my size anyway. One of my pet peeves is seeing a big plate with a lot of white space and a few dainty morsels neatly arranged in the centre. Food is not art.  It's sustenance. I've got nothing against a nice presentation but it needs to fill the plate and provide an adequate number of calories. Stop it. I'm sure the original Mr Michelin didn't say food must be surrounded by lots of white space :-)

Day 3 - Lapford - Cheddar

Today was a day of two halves - the last sting in the tail of Devon climbs, followed by miles of canal towpath in Somerset - our first taste of canal towpaths which the 'Safer way' uses extensively on the way through England. The surface of the towpaths was ok~ish -  firm and well made, but not best suited to a road bike.  They made for slow, flat, easy but less-pleasant-than-tarmac-riding miles.  That said, the scenery was very picturesque - no doubt more pleasant than the roads from that point of view.  We saw a swan with 10 cygnets in tow on the canal - that I believe is more than you'd normally expect to see.

The stats:
Distance cycled today: 75.2 miles
Ascent: 2,942'
Distance from Lands End: 212 miles

The best bit about today: with today's miles I now top the RPV (Richmond Park Velo) club leaderboard for the week for distance as well as ascent.  :-)  And there's still Sunday to go - which is a bit of a double-edged sword.  Nick topped his club's leaderboard yesterday.  But as the forecast is for rain, I don't expect anyone else to be going out to do big miles :-)  I don't have the choice.

Actually, there is a choice to be made - about the route:  An extra 15 miles of distance, or an extra 1000' of ascent?  The 'Safer Way' goes along more towpaths and should be slower riding than the roads as well as adding the extra distance.  A more direct road route should be faster going once the climbing is out of the way, as well as a shorter distance.  With rain in the forecast I think I'd like to spend the least time possible in it :-)

Day 2 - Lanivet to Lapford

Well, as expected today was harder than yesterday.  It had to be, because I said Cornwall was easy.  Devon decided to show me what it can do. What it did was lots of punchy climbs, all the way to the end. This time I was often in the small ring, and glad for all my gears.  Of course, Devon and Cornwall have to be different. Do  you know that apparently in Devon the correct way of eating scones is considered to be to put the cream on your scones first, in Cornwall the jam?  You can learn a lot by travelling.

The stats:

Distance cycled: 69.5 miles
Ascent: 4,850'
Distance from Lands End: 136.8 miles

Do you eat cheese?  We passed the Cathedral Cheese factory (other brands of cheddar are available) along the way.  Nick noticed but I didn't, and wasn't with him at the time.  In fact I wasn't with him the whole time, except the first 10 miles along the Camelford trail.  Once we hit the first climb I passed him, it kept going up and up and I'm afraid I kept going, I actually find it hard cycling slower than my own natural pace uphill (which is not to say I cycle fast up steep hills - I don't), and the weather forecast didn't inspire me to stop and wait. It was a day with lots of showers and one fairly heavy spell of rain, but not a bad day on the whole.  We've agreed anyway that we'll cycle at our own pace.

The route today took in a few pleasant cycle trails and was mainly on very quiet roads.  The only traffic being farm vehicles, which took up the whole road width.  At one point I quickly did a U-turn and headed a short distance back up the road to a gate to let a few past going the other way!  There was no choice about that!

Dinner at The Old Malt Scoop Inn. 

A note about our route

For those who don't know, there is no 'official' route for cycling LEJOG, it's not an organised event.  There isn't even an official way of doing it - people have walked it, done it with skateboards, walking, running, walking backwards, swimming, on road and off-road, in the nude (or tried to - google the 'naked rambler') and probably all manner of other ways for which they have not tried to claim a record.  And of course cycling. It's just the iconic British road trip.

Cycling UK, formerly known as the Cycle Touring Club or CTC, has three routes for doing it - a fast route using A roads, a b&b route, a hosteling route.  In fact they've now added a fourth, an off-road route.  The hosteling route might be problematic these days as many rural youth hostels have closed in recent years or only open weekends, which is a shame.  Anyway, our route is none of these.  Our route is based on the 'Google route', as amended by someone called Royston Woods, who wrote a book about it.  Royston had the bright idea, at the time when Google began implementing a cycle route option on its mapping system, of dropping a pin at Lands End and another at John O'Groats, and letting Google decide the route.  And then following it.  It turned out, in his opinion, that Google didn't do a bad job - for most of the way - but occasionally made some bad choices.  So he changed it a bit, and that's the basis for his book, 'End to End - a safer way'.  This seemed appealing because it's not fun - at least I don't think so - cycling on busy roads with lots of traffic.  Who can argue with 'a safer way', at least so long as it's not too slow or unsuitable for road bikes.

This route does seem to take in a lot of canals and cycle trails as it wends its way up through England, so we won't be sticking to it all the time.  Already today we cut out a couple of short sections because they deviated from a more direct route for no real purpose, and in one case in a way that wasn't even cyclable on a road bike, but on the whole it's been good so far.  A lot of quiet country lanes.  Definitely not the fastest way but pleasant riding on the whole.

Update: After finishing England.
The worst bits seem to have been on a path beside the Severn, and a short distance before Wigan. I didn't cycle either of them but Nick did both.  I abandoned the Woods route before reaching the Severn because of rain and wanting to get to our destination asap, before the Wigan section because one of my pannier clips broke and I needed a smoother surface to ride on. I also left it on the way to Kendal because I finally got fed up with the slow pace on the last section of towpath. There were some other 'strange' bits here and there, poor surfaces on many cycle tracks and canal paths, I didn't make a note of where they were.  The main thing is, it's the safe but "scenic route".   No good for getting anywhere fast, but plenty of opportunity for taking in your surroundings in a way you probably wouldn't on the roads because of going faster and the presence of traffic - and because there's often less to see.

Final update: Scotland
The route through Scotland was almost all fantastic, right up to Tain.  Cycle routes were usually minor roads running close to A roads going to the same place, reasonably direct and well surfaced.  There was no feeling of being sent round and round the houses just to get off the road at any cost.  Unfortunately from Tain the route takes the A9 and in my opinion that's definitely best avoided.  It doesn't carry a lot of traffic and couldn't be said to be 'busy' just considering traffic volumes, but the traffic that there is wants to keep travelling at dual carriageway speeds on single carriageway roads, sometimes narrow.  Highly unpleasant and sometimes downright scary.

Would I use this route again?  No.  Not as is. I'd certainly be happy using a lot of it, but in England there were too many poorly surfaced tracks and paths for my taste. In Scotland I wouldn't use it beyond Tain.  I'd try using the English section as the basis for a purely on-road route - ie using the minor roads as is and bypassing the canals and dedicated cyclepaths whereever possible, and try a different route, probably via Lairg, from Inverness.

Day 1 - first full day

So today the cycling started in earnest.  The stats:
Distance cycled: 59.2 miles
Ascent: 4,274'
Distance from Lands End: 67.3 miles.

Cornwall and Devon have a bad reputation among LEJOGers for being hilly.  Consequently I'd planned this day and tomorrow to be short days mileage wise, with longer days for flatter terrain once out of them. But to be honest today wasn't too bad.  4,274' in 56 miles (which was what Strava said it would be, but we missed some turnings and had to backtrack) with loaded panniers seemed a lot, but given a low enough gear and no intention of attacking the hills, they were easy.  I feel scared to say it in case it comes back to bite tomorrow, but they weren't hard.  I rarely even left the big ring. I've had harder days on the South Downs.

Highlight of the day, apart doing it, finding it wasn't hard, and cycling through some lovely countryside, was arriving at the Lappa Valley railway - a steam attraction - just as the train was about to leave the station. Ok, it's only a minature railway, mainly for families and children, but how often do you see a working steam train these days? :-)  'When I were a lad' steam was still powering trains and there was a track near our house where the younger me, just old enough to venture out by himself, used to go and watch in awe as they passed.  Steam is magic.  I never did want to be a train driver though :-)

Soon after passing the railway I saw a roadie on a very bling road bike just ahead, looking like he was waiting for someone.  He recognised me before I recognised him - we'd met before on a BHF London to Brighton ride (my last sponsored ride).  It was Tobias, Nick's nephew, who had come out to meet us and cycle with us the rest of the way to Lanivet.  Tobias lives in Bodmin and Nick had given him our route.  Nick's highlight was probably seeing his nephew's new baby for the first time - 8 months old.  Surely much more significant than a steam train.

Day 0 - getting to the start

Today we travelled about 350 miles, but we're only 8 miles from Lands End.  Most of the distance was by train :-)  It's 'Day 0' because today was all about getting to the start.  We reached Penzance early evening, cycled out to Lands End, took the obligatory and returned back in the direction of Penzance and John O'Groats to our B&B.  Tomorrow is Day 1 and our ride proper starts.

Miles cycled today: 26.5
Ascent: 1,678'
Distance from Lands End: 8.09

No philosophical musings because the Internet connection is poor it took ages to get this far!

The path to enlightenment

No, I'm not talking about attaining the state of ultimate, transcendental bliss - zen-like beatitude - which, were I to have attained it, would no doubt have rendered this trip... superfluous, surplus to requirements.. probably. No, I'm talking about superfluity of a different kind - an excess of things, weight that I need to 'en-lighten' myself of. After saying I  was 'nearly packed' in my last post, tonight, the eve of departure, has been the repack, trying to decide what to leave out.  I know from experience that when you're moving only by the power of your own legs, the less the weight the happier the movement is!

So the 'path to enlightenment' is this: you've started by packing all the things you think you might need, that will be 'useful', that will provide more convenience or comfort at only a 'small' weight penalty, that 'could come in handy if needed'.  Then you weigh the whole lot and find out all those 'few extra grams' here and there added up to more kg than you want to carry.  So you start cutting back.  Reduce everything to just the essentials.  Which is probably not much more than your credit or debit card, a puncture repair kit, and the clothes you intend to cycle in.  But you know that would be cutting back too far, more than you really need.  So you start adding things back, trying to assess things on a scale from 'pretty vital' to 'I could do the trip without this but...', and decide how far away from 'vital' the 'but' is.  Slowly almost everything goes back in, maybe with a few changes here and there.  Enlightenment comes when you realise that as a percentage of the overall weight you'll be pedalling up hill, those few extra grams won't make much difference. Probably. Not when you're not trying to set records or do a massive amount of daily miles anyway.

Speaking of enlightenment, my friend Nick practices the 'Wim Hof' method. Well, he has never actually claimed it will make him enlightened but he has become a bit of a philosopher and more interested in the esoteric since he started it.  He says it makes him healthier. Google it. Or I'll save you the time and tell you that it involves lots of ice baths.  Here he is, sitting in a wheely bin.. full of icy water.. outside, in the snow.. in January.  And you thought I was the mad one.  :-)