LE what? What’s this then???

For the first time in over 20 years, I’ve got some meaningful time off work. It’s time for another mid-life crisis.

A new job and gardening leave means that I have the chance to take on something I’ve dreamed of for years… a solo cycle ride from Land’s End (that’s the ‘LE’) to… as far as I can get! I’m hoping to get to John o’Groats (that’s LEJOG), though that may not be possible. I don’t say that over-defensively. I have a proud track record of breaking bikes, components, gear mechanisms, wheels … and even the odd snapped frame.  This ride will not be without incident! I just hope to have enough luck to be able to iron out the hiccups on the way.

I also hope that my aging body and dodgy back holds up, and that my limited fitness level is enough. We’ll soon find out.

The plan

It’s not particularly fleshed out, which will come of no surprise to those that know me. Spontaneous changes of direction and free-styling are joys of life! There is lots of flexibility here…and deliberately so. This is an adventure after all. 

I did research a few routes though, and settled on the Cicerone route (https://www.cicerone.co.uk/cycling-lands-end-to-john-o-groats). This seems to be a nice balance between quiet roads and paths, and it also got some nice support on a few forums I found. It’s 1,000 miles (around 75 miles a day over 14 days), and so longer than some of the routes out there. I don’t want to rely on A-roads though. In fact, I’d like to avoid them wherever possible. Their route seems like a reasonable balance to me.

I’ve a bike… a tent and cooking equipment… some clothes… and precious little else! I’ve just booked the accommodation for the end of Day 1 (camping near St Austell) and will just take it as it goes en route. I had the Land’s End hostel already booked so it’s just a case of getting there today and cracking on in the morning. 

I can’t complete this introductory post without thanking my wonderful and completely gorgeous wife Jules for making it possible for me to attempt this ride; she has been very supportive of this silly idea. I now have to add extra weeks looking after the kids to my very long list of things to be grateful to her for. She is just amazing.

Right. Onwards!




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