Why Lands End to John O’Groats?
In March 2011 we lost a friend to cancer which prompted my friend Nick and I to do something in her memory. She achieved remarkable things in her life, so anything we decided to do in her name had to be, well, hard. We both cycled a bit, but at the time I don’t think either of us would call ourselves ‘cyclists’. We weren’t quite what you would call ‘athletes’ either – so setting ourselves a 10 days or less target to cycle the 900 miles from Lands End to John O’Groats (LEJOG) seemed to tick the ‘difficult’ box.
How we did LEJOG
There are many approaches to taking on this legendary ride – some do it totally unsupported, taking everything they need and camping; some join organised rides where equipment is taken from one place to the next. Our approach was to enlist the services of our friend Roshan to support us with a hired motor home. Nick was keen for the luxury of a proper bed & bath each night, so pre-booked B&B along the route, whilst myself and Roshan slept in the motorhome. Most of the overnight stops were farmhouse type accommodation, so we were usually able to park up at the same place.
One consideration is whether you will stay on schedule to be able to pre-book in this way, but of course the end of each days riding doesn’t necessarily need to be at the accommodation itself when doing it with a support driver. Some days you may come up short by the time you’e had enough, and on others if you’re having a good day you may feel like getting another 10 miles done. With a support vehicle you can be flexible in this way; as long as you start riding the next day where you were picked up the night before it really doesn’t mater if you have a drive backwards or forwards each day.
Our LEJOG route tactic
Research suggested that the first days through Cornwall and Devon were the toughest, so we decided on a tactic to start at 3PM at Lands End. This gave a short ride into Penryn near Falmouth on the first day, then a 70 mile trip to Okehampton on day 2. Once out of Devon things did get a lot easier, and we were then on full 100 miles plus a day for the remainder of the trip except when we were forced to abandon one day early in Scotland. This approach definitely paid dividends, avoiding early burnout.
The generally accepted shortest distance is 874 miles. This does however include very busy roads that most cyclists would want to avoid, making the more realistic answer between 900 and 950 miles.
A typical itinerary is between 10 and 15 days. We set ourselves a target of 10 days and completed in 9 days 4 hours 37 minutes.
The GPX files (one per day) are included on the last page of this article
LEJOG route summary
| Day | Start | Finish | Miles | Climbing | Elapsed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lands End | Penryn | 38 | 2679 | 3:27 |
| 2 | Penryn | Okehampton | 70 | 5950 | 7:31 |
| 3 | Okehampton | Chepstow | 119 | 5875 | 9:35 |
| 4 | Chepstow | Whitchurch | 112 | 4889 | 10:02 |
| 5 | Whitchurch | Hale (Cumbria) | 103 | 4889 | 8:29 |
| 6 | Hale (Cumbria) | Thornhill (Dumfries & Galloway | 109 | 5117 | 9:25 |
| 7 | Thornhill (Dumfries & Galloway) | Tarbet | 103 | 3168 | 8:45 |
| 8 | Tarbet | Glen Coe | 43 | 1857 | 4:57 |
| 9 | Glen Coe | Drumnadrochit | 80 | 1804 | 6:43 |
| 10 | Drumnadrochit | John O'Groats | 128 | 5657 | 11:43 |