LEJOG – Routes
When planning Lands End to John O’ Groats we decided upon a scenic route, and one that would challenge us. We also wanted to avoid as many A roads as possible as it’s not the sort of cycling we enjoy. I have a Garmin Edge 705 GPS unit, so we were able to plan and draw out our routes using Google Maps. Street View was essential for checking the quality of country lanes to ensure they were suitable for our road bikes. There were a few we missed, but on the whole the routes worked out very well.
Our route deviated from typical LEJOG’s. We went through Exmoor, and also cut across into the Peak District. From their we went up to the Yorkshire Dales and then cut across to the Lake District. Not a very direct route but certainly very scenic and challenging. We then went up the west side of Scotland before cutting across to Loch Ness.
I’ve put up all the photos on Flickr.
LEJOG – Equipment list (Finalised)
LEJOG – Training
Leading up to our LEJOG trip we’ve been training so that there aren’t any surprises on the trip. With a World Cup on, Wimbledon, occasional F1 Grand Prix’s, bad English weather, and general commitments it’s been tricky making the time, especially to train as a trio. But we have still got in quite a few runs.
Because of this we started our training mid April, and focused on making the most of the May bank holidays for back-to-back training. Here’s a break down of the runs we’ve done. In between the below runs done at the weekends, I (and typically the others) also cycle to work during the week. 32km round trip, but not every day so that I can rest for a big weekend run.
LEJOG – Equipment list
* I do now have a finalised kit list, with photos, which I wrote up a few weeks after doing this post.
As usual cycling has been my biggest interest of late as the Summer weather begins to come into play. This year I’ve decided (after writing it off at first) to try and cycle 1,000 miles from Lands End to John O’Groats (LEJOG) on my Boardman Pro Carbon road racing bike.
I was initially put off, as my bike, being a carbon fibre competition bike, doesn’t have any pannier mount points and typically isn’t really built for long distance in terms of riding position etc… The lure of such a ride was too much though, and I pushed ahead with figuring out how I could achieve it.