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Video: 2 Weeks in 11 minutes! With thanks to Maze Car for the original music.
It is several weeks since I found myself at John O’Groats after an epic two-week cycle from the very bottom of the country. Save for a lingering painful elbow (bizarrely) I have pretty much recovered. Time then to look back and reflect on what was a most memorable adventure. Hopefully the information below will be useful to anyone else who is thinking about tackling the End to End; I can thoroughly recommend it!
Preparations
Training – I started training back in the depths of this year’s interminable winter. On my very first ride I got caught in a blizzard and became so cold I couldn’t unzip my pocket to get my house key when I finally made it home. After that I set myself a rule that the temperature must be above 3 degrees Celsius before getting in the saddle and that proved bearable. Over 3 months I cycled just over 1000 training miles. It was tricky to squeeze that much in to an already busy schedule and I mostly had to fit rides in before or after work. Whilst I certainly didn’t ‘over train’ I could certainly have completed LEJOG with fewer miles under my belt. I reckon half the training would have been enough to stay the course without much additional discomfort. I did find integrating hills into the training and always cycling with loaded panniers invaluable; essentially it was all about preparing as realistically as possible.
The Bike – As expanded in this blog I spent a long time finding the right touring bike. Without rehashing the detail, there is a great deal of difference between a road bike and one that is designed for comfortable load carrying over long distances. I eventually settled for Ridgeback’s Panorama and it proved an excellent decision. Apart from a broken mudguard I can’t fault the bike; it remained a pleasure to ride both on the roads and on tracks even after many hours in the saddle.
Equipment – Conscious that I had to carry all my kit I gave a huge amount of thought to what I needed to take with me. My final kit list is detailed in this blog. Perhaps remarkably, with the benefit of hindsight I wouldn’t change a thing. I took nothing superfluous and I needed everything I had with me. Travelling light did mean doing laundry every couple of days, but that was very manageable as most of the places I stopped had excellent facilities. Other than the bike, my 5 pieces of kit that I found most invaluable were:
- Garmin 800. At times navigation wasn’t easy (especially in cities) but without my Garmin it would have been nearly impossible. If I had my time again I would have upgraded the mapping to Ordnance Survey’s but even with the basic free mapping the Garmin was a lifesaver. Psychologically it was also very helpful to know exactly how far I had to go and how much more I had to climb at any point in the day.
- Toolkit. I was very lucky that I didn’t have any major mechanical failures (or punctures) during the 2 weeks so my limited toolkit was only used for tinkering. However, the peace of mind that comes from knowing you can get going again after a puncture or a broken chain is very reassuring.
- Sunscreen. All tanning is damage! It is easy to forget that 10 hours every day for 2 weeks without any shade exposes you unforgivingly to the elements. As someone who gets worried about sunburn when a light is turned on I found factor 50 essential .
- Chamois Cream. No need for detail here, but if you sit on a saddle for much more than a few hours then a healthy dose of Chamois cream is essential.
- Third water bottle. The bike came fitted for 3 water bottles. I was a little sceptical that this might have been overkill, but on one occasion in particular I was miles from anywhere in blazing sun and I was very grateful for the extra water.
Route Planning – This blog gives more detail about my route planning. In short I decided the places I wanted to go and used the Garmin route planner to join them up. This gave a huge amount of flexibility to make the route my own. I was, for example, able to schedule a rest day at home with my family. To me this is one of the great advantages of planning your own route rather than joining an organised event. The routes recommended by Garmin were mostly direct and on small B roads where possible, which made for very enjoyable cycling. Less enjoyable were some of the cyclepaths that Garmin selected. Some were excellent (for example through Bristol or from Glasgow to Loch Lomond) but some were simply impassable. Even good cyclepaths can be hard going as they tend to require frequent dismounting to negotiate gates or road crossings. I would estimate that 15% of the entire route was on cycle paths and of that I would have preferred roads most of the time. I wouldn’t advise a blanket avoidance of cyclepaths, but before going near them it is essential to have a high level of confidence that they are fit for purpose.
I found local knowledge was really helpful and on a number of occasions I changed my route on the basis of a conversation around a Youth Hostel dining table. Likewise, I sometimes just wanted to get the day done and so opted for bigger A roads rather than the planned Garmin route, as was the case from Melrose to Glasgow.
Accommodation – Staying at Youth Hostels was a revelation. Meeting people from all walks of life and with a real diversity of back-story was all part of the experience, and that was best achieved in Youth Hostels (the smaller the better). Where hostelling wasn’t an option I stayed in B&B’s or hotels. Nothing remarkable to report except a further recommendation for the Crask Inn, which offered exceptional hospitality in a truly unique location at ridiculously reasonable prices.
The Journey
As they say, if it isn’t on Strava then it didn’t happen! Thanks to my Garmin I know that I cycled 1063 miles in 14 days. I climbed 15508 metres and reached a highest point above sea level of 575 metres in the North Pennines. I cycled a total of just under 90 hours, although with breaks a typical day was more like 7-10 hours. My average moving speed was 11.9 mph.
With these numbers I clearly wasn’t going to set any records, but that was never the intention. The pace I set was entirely sustainable and after the first two days (which were the hilliest) I felt that I could cycle 80 miles every day indefinitely. That isn’t to say there weren’t difficult times – those climbs that never end or the destination that just doesn’t get any closer – but overall it was an easier physical and mental challenge than I expected it to be. Cycling LEJOG is well within the capabilities of most people who can ride a bike.
Of course the whole experience was made easier by the weather. I was very fortunate in that I was only rained on for around 3 hours in the entire 2 weeks. Occasionally it was a little hot, and I did have to contend with an unusually persistent northerly headwind but if I were playing weather pontoon I would certainly stick rather than twist.
The people I met along the way also made it easier. Every day I met interesting and kind people who were invariably happy to spend time chatting. I met some familiar faces on the road too, and on a few happy days some old friends rode some of the way with me. It is difficult to overstate how much difference some company makes when you have been riding solo for so long; I am hugely grateful for all those who gave up time to ride some the way with me.
Fundraising
Whilst raising money for charity was never my primary goal I did take the opportunity to fundraise for the Royal Signals Benevolent Fund and the Gurkha Welfare Trust. Both these charities mean a great deal to me and I have been closely involved with both during my Army career so it made sense to support them during the event that marked the end of my military service. I had intended to invest effort in chasing corporate sponsorship, but in a busy year that simply wasn’t possible. I therefore relied on the generosity of individuals, which was quite simply remarkable. I don’t have a final total yet but at the time of writing I have raised just over £1650. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who supported me.
Final Thoughts
This country is a remarkable and beautiful place. More than anywhere else I know it changes dramatically in very short distances. In a day of cycling it is possible to see countryside, coast, mountains and cities without ever feeling that you are missing anything as you sometimes do when travelling by car or train. On a bike the country rolls by at the right pace; not so slow that you feel constrained and not so quickly that its evolution becomes incomprehensible. It is a great way to appreciate all that the UK has to offer and a fantastic way to meet the people who live and visit here. I can’t think of a more rewarding way to spend two weeks.