In July of 2007 we (Tom Chambers, Josh Wicks, Josh Knowles, John Jarrom and George Hutton) took on the gruelling task of biking from John O' Groats to Lands end - hence the title of JoGLE - taking 17 days in our summer holiday from Monday July 16th to Wednesday August 1st. If you're planning to take the same journey I hope this is a bit of help. Gage's mum also put a blog together here.

Money was raised for Cancer Research UK both online and offline co-ordinated with justgiving, and the total can be seen here.

Some general tips

  • You can certainly get away with not training, but it will be grim. The more you do beforehand the easier your daily route becomes
  • As well as solo training, a few practice runs with the rest of your group so you get the hang of keeping pace will be beneficial
  • You'll meet many drivers who have no idea where to go with cyclists, so make sure you're indications are clear at junctions and roundabouts and follow the rules of the road
  • The padded shorts and gloves really are worth it; and even then a tub of vaseline won't go amiss
  • If you're raising for charity, most campsites will give you a discount and some will even let you camp for free, so make sure to mention this when making bookings 

GPS Advice

A GPS will be very useful, as you'll often be in remote places without  signposts, and GPS makes it incredibly easy to work out where you need to go. Our choice was the Road Angel and Memory Map software which allowed us to plot routes beforehand and then follow them over the course of the day. A bike mount will also come in handy, but make sure it is secure, as ours fell off on day two and we had to carry it after that. The GPS was most useful when a few miles away from the next campsite, since it can tell you exactly where to go given the postcode. Despite all the help that a GPS provides, it is still important to have a paper copy of the map as we found out, since most GPS units are designed to be continually powered by a cigarette lighter in the car and don't have the battery life you might expect.

Reccomended kit list

At bottom of panniers or in support vehicle

  • One man tent
  • Sleeping bag
  • Groundmat
  • Several pairs of underwear and t-shirts 
  • One or two pairs of light trousers/jeans
  • Washkit including toothbrush, toothpaste, shower gel, shampoo and deodorant
  • Cooking equipment 

 Carried on bike journeys

  • A pump (make sure it actually fits the valve type you've got since most touring and racing bikes use Presta or Scrader)
  • Helmet (after 960 miles we had on average one crash every 80 miles, and the helmets definitely came in use)
  • Biking gloves
  • Padded cycling shorts
  • Comfortable footwear 
  • Midge repellent
  • Camelbak (bag with a tube) system or something similar as well as a water bottle on the bike 

 The journey itself

Since we were being supported by Gage's parents in a campervan, they were able to take Gage and John up to JoG along with their bikes. The rest of us, Knowles, Wicks and myself took the 8:00am train from Loughborough to Thurso (with changes at Inverness) and after an overnight stop in Sandra's youth hostel, took a taxi (£25) to JoG whilst sending our bikes there by CityLink. If you are considering travelling by train, I strongly reccomend that you take your bikes along with you, despite the extra hassle, as courier turned out £130 per bike. Most of the journey whizzed by, but the speed of the train dramatically reduced once we reached the middle of Scotland, and the scenery turned from industrial complexes to rolling hills and valleys.

Day 1 - John O' Groats to Helmsdale (55 miles)
The very first day of cycling begins fairly easily, we set off at 9:30 taking the A99 onto the A9 which runs down the East coast of Scotland. However, the hills soon appear and we end up struggling along through the Scotch mist. The visibility became very poor here, which was especially a problem since we hadn't really learned how to keep each others pace yet. There are two immense hills just before Helmsdale to climb, which we attempted to cycle up, but ended up getting off and walking about a quarter of the way up. On the way back down though we manage an incredibly 45mph according to John's speedo. Finally we reach Helmsdale at 3:30, a journey time of 5 hours - our best for the whole trip - and find out that the youth hostel is shut for another hour and a half. While exploring the town, we happen upon La Mirage, a tacky but cheerful café whose most famous patron appears to be celebrity nonce, Gary Glitter, judging by the lifesize photo of his visit hung on the wall. Helmsdale youth hostel turns out to be very comfortable, tastefully decorated with a log fire and plenty of facilities.

Day 2 - Helmsdale to Beauly Campsite (68 miles)
As we move south, we begin to encounter more towns and villages, which is great for lunch, meaning we no longer have to lug about our food as well as equipment. The day was mostly very flat, and although there are gentle ups and downs, we travelled at the same speed consistently. There is a strong wind pushing us back on the Dornoch Firth bridge but we worked very well as a group, meaning that only the front person really had to brave the winds. We stop off in a co-op in Tain for lunch and as we tuck in, an elderly man berates us for not accepting the love of Christ so we quickly move on. The weather is perfection, sunny, but not too hot for cycling. We arrived at Beauly at about 5pm, and things go downhill from there, since the campsite appears to be aiming for the title of 'Worst Campsite in the World', from the state of their toilets and the portakabin pub, populated by a lone man who appears to be the owner of the campsite. We decide to risk the apparent cardinal sin of eating spicy food on a bike journey by going to the local Indian restaurant. We suffer no problems.

Day 3 - Beauly Campsite to Fort William (64 miles)
On the map this route appears incredibly straight, which takes the A82 all the way down past Loch Ness, but I seem to remember it being quite a windy route, making it quite dangerous, since it is a main road used by a lot of lorries. About halfway through the journey, we find a beautiful spot to skim stones for a while, although this is apparently illegal. The views out over Loch Ness are absolutely beautiful, and you get to see alot of it as the A82 takes you right down the length of the West side.

Day 4 - Fort William to Loch Lomond (58 miles)
We've now transferred to the west coast of Scotland and day 4 unexpectedly becomes the hardest day so far. A sign at the top of a hill declares that we are at 1142ft, so we crack open a few sandwiches and have a small celebration. We make another stop by a Scottish war memorial, where you can have an astounding panoramic view over the Glencoe mountain range.

Day 5 - Loch Lomond to New Lanark (78 miles)
The day starts off promising, but we soon begin to realise that it's getting late in the day, we've had too many lunch stops already, and we've still got about 3/4 of our journey left. We end up lost in Glasgow, trying to follow diversions that aren't signposted and cycling as fast as we can past the shadier characters. Despite our best efforts we leave Glasgow at 8pm on a Friday night; a somewhat intimidating experience. New Lanark seemed to get further and further away every time we saw a sign, and the last hill we went up was incredible. We arrived at 10pm, and were very glad that we were in a youth hostel that night.

Day 6 - New Lanark to Lockerbie (56 miles)
Since there is now the M74 servicing all transport needs aside from a few farms, there is now an almost deserted A road running alongside which is wonderful to cycle on. Not much to report from these days in the middle, just some very enjoyable cycling.

Day 7 - Lockerbie to Kendal (67 miles)
Today we passed through Shap, the highest village in England, but upon arrival, it doesn't seem so high.

Day 8 - Kendal to Crosston (56 miles)

 

 

 

 

Day 9 - Crosston to Shrewsbury (65 miles)
At the end of the day I discovered that a huge crack had developed in the crossbar of my bike, rendering it unrideable. We just manage to make it back to the campsite whereupon it snaps completely.

Day 10 - Shrewsbury to Leominster (57 miles)
What events took place on this day I have no idea, as I was out buying a new bike in Shrewsbury.

Day 11 - Leominster to Chipping Sodbury (68 miles)
There is a ferocious wind as you start to get close to Yate, which slowed our cycling down to a crawl. We spent the night here at Knowles' dad's house, where he kindly put a barbecue for us.

Day 12 - Chipping Sodbury to Bristol (38 miles)

Day 13 - Bristol to Taunton (58 miles)

Day 14 - Taunton to Okehampton (57 miles)

Day 15 - Okehampton to Lostwithiel (44 miles)

Day 16 - Lostwithiel to Embla Farm (48 miles)

Day 17 - Embla Farm to Lands End (20 miles)
The last day is a very welcome short journey which takes us only an hour or two to complete. We took the astonishingly more beautiful coastal path on the north of Cornwall rather than the far shorter - but astonishingly dull - A30. It didn't feel like long until we rolled together over finish line, similar to the line at John O' Groats, and our journey was complete. I felt a strange sense of dissatisfaction at first, as if we hadn't really achieved anything and that I have would have to go back up and do it again to be worthwhile. This feeling lessened though as we took a stroll around the heavily commercialized complex, buy some Lands End rock, some postcards for friends and pay £7 for an official photo. After we soaked up enough realisation of what we've managed to do, we head to Marazion to grab some lunch with congratulatory parents.

 

Some useful links

Lands End to John O' Groats assocation - can request information pack with lots of useful contacts
Rob and Joe's JoGLE - a very well documented account of their trip
Graham and Ben Brodie's JoGLE - another account of a JoGLE

Youth Hostel Assocation  - discounts on prices at youth hostels
SUSTRANS - lots of advice on safe bike travel, including a book on the LEJoG