bike wank, epilogue

[kirkcudbright]

The Next Big Thing is not a new bike, but a new bike trip. Dan and I are going to be biking from John O' Groats, in the far northeast corner of Scotland, to Land's End, in the far southwest corner of England, approximately May 31 to June 14.

I'm actually flying out to Orkney, spending a couple days there, then taking the ferry to JO'G, and meeting Dan there. The clever Brits have mapped, signposted, and in some cases actually built a National Cycle Network. I've got cycle route maps covering both ends (Scotland and the West Country), Ordnance Survey maps of all parts of the country we're going through, and GPS mapping software, so when we get lost, we'll at least know where we're not.

I'll be riding the Bianchi, and Dan scored me a set of God's own panniers at closeout prices (slightly less than obscene). Now I just have to start training...

Comments

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

There's a car rally called "LE JOG (http://www.hero.org.uk/lejog/)" which is a race from Land's End to John O' Groats.

"The aim of LE JOG is to drive from one end of Great Britain to the other using as many minor and remote roads as the route will allow, and complete the journey of approximately 1500 miles in just three and a half days. The weather in early December is totally unpredictable and over the years crews have experienced everything from torrential rain, glorious sunshine, sub-zero temperatures and blizzards - sometimes all in the same event!"

It might be interesting to get a copy of their route and try following some of it.

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

LEJOG is the usual abbreviation for this trek, whether on bike or otherwise, but we'll be going in the opposite direction (JOGLE?). Because Land's End is a cooler place to arrive at than John O' Groats. Also because Francie and Kylie are meeting me at the end, right after Kylie's school ends, and Francie is more interested in Cornwall than in Sutherland or even Orkney.

These guys must be taking an even more circuitous route than the National Cycle Route, because we're planning on about 1000 miles.

IIRC, the record for LEJOG on a bike is about 48 hours. But that's what we call a randonnée, not a tour.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

IIRC, the record for LEJOG on a bike is about 48 hours.

That's an impressive time. Are they going nonstop?

Francie is more interested in Cornwall

Ann and I went to Cornwall and Land's End. It's a nice area. Near Land's End, there's a picturesque little village called "Mousehole" (no mice were visible).

Taking B roads, we drove through Dartmoor and Exmoor and got to see some wild horses, including a cute little foal running circles around its mom.

Ann had great fun using the Ordnance Survey map book to find our way along B roads instead of taking the motorways.

If you (or Francie) are interested, I can try to dig up some info on the places we stopped at.

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

That's an impressive time. Are they going nonstop?

I'm sure there were breaks to eat, nap, and such-like, but yes, a randonnée is essentially a continuous all-day-all-night ride. Around here, there's Boston-Montréal-Boston, which is 1200 km (750 miles) in a limit of 90 hours, starting at 1 a.m. Dan's boss was trying to talk him into doing it this year, and he was trying to talk me into it. Instead, we're doing something much more reasonable (in context).

We're aware of the existence of Mousehole, though not anything in particular about it. But there's no way we can't go there.

There's also a little town on the south coast of Cornwall called Beer. But I don't know if we'll get there. This weeks route has us biking the north coast, through Exmoor, but we've built in time to get lost, re-route, and/or sight-see afterwards.

Francie spent a week in the West Country a couple years ago, and has her own list of places to go back to. But I'm always in favor of more information, if you have recommendations.