UK Trip Planning...John O'Groats to Lands End

[ghof]

Howdy..anyone done this trip (length of UK) who can recommend routes, resources, or otherwise? Probably going next June/July but need more information for planning, etc.

Thanks!
George H

[RussSeaton]

In Britain, the John Groats to Lands End ride is the most famous in the whole country.  Every cyclist in the country knows about it.  I am pretty darn positive you can very easily find dozens and dozens of websites devoted solely to riding John Groats Lands End.  And most likely there are a dozen or more current active forums somewhere on the web talking exclusively about this ride.  To me it seems a bit foolish to ask on a cross USA website about riding the length of England.  I'm pretty positive the Groats Lands ride has been going on for much much much longer than the cross USA ride.  There are probably a dozen books on Amazon, Borders, Barnes Noble about the ride.

[Galloper]

Hi, herewith a couple of links that will help.    Sustrans, an organisation dedicated to sustainable travel, produces a number of excellent guides and maps including one for LEJOG as it is often referred to.

https://www.sustrans.org.uk/news/epic-cycling-guide-published

Another organisation, Cycling UK has a very good forum with a particular page dedicated to LEJOG,

https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewforum.php?f=22

Enjoy the trip.

[DaveT]

Another good resource; this guy has ridden it and written a guide: http://www.landsend-to-johnogroats.co.uk/

[Galloper]

Just a quick note, it's generally reckoned best to do it south to north, to take advantage of the generally prevailing winds.   Best account of the trip that I've seen:   Mud, sweat and gears, by Ellie Bennett.

[John T]

I have just completed Land's End to John o'Groats. Weather was wretched, but it was a great trip.  I followed the SUSTRANS route which is wonderful in Scotland, but not so great in SW England.  It is also a lot longer and more hilly than more direct routes.  A UK-based tour operator, Skedaddle, also has bike tour for this route.  I have a ton of information that I can email to you, if you wish.

[Westinghouse]

There are excellent books of maps of the UK. They are highly detailed, inexpensive and light. I suggest you use quiet country lanes of which the UK has many. I cycled the UK for a long time. The country lanes are the way to go.

[Figaro]

I did Lands End to John O'Groats in 1992 with three of my Hunts AC running club buddies. We were distance runners and just decided one evening over a few pints that we would do the bike ride. We continued our running during the week and started bike riding on the weekends...worked up to doing 100 miles on Sundays for about 2 months before starting. We left Lands End sometime in July. We mapped out own route using a UK road atlas. Traveled up the West coast until northern England--I believe we started cutting across to the East Coast around the Peak District, then followed the east coast through Scotland. We did self supported and camped. I was young and full of energy back then....it was about 1,100 miles and we did it in 9 days. I was stationed there in the US Air Force for 6 years--4 in the early 80s and 2 in the 90s. Saw more of the UK in those 9 days than I did in the entire 6 years living there. If I ever do it again, the only thing I would change (other than going a little slower) is I would continue on the west coast all the way up--Scotland was beautiful, but I hear it's even more beautiful in the west. I remember wearing a gore tex jacket a lot on the ride even in July--it can get a little chilly and you can count on rain although it wasn't bad...maybe only a couple days of rain. Have fun...it will be a great ride.

[Bigonabianchi]

http://lejogride.blogspot.co.uk/

just another blog but it's mine lol!

[lgwramp]

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/19278

Navigation:
Garmin 810 loaded with free open source map of UK
"Ridewithgps" to plan the routes, I would use again as it gave voice instructions when loaded on my phone.