Land's End to John O'Groats (often referred to as LEJOG or End to End) is a classic long distance journey, undertaken by many people each year using a variety of means of transport. It starts at the most Southwesterly point of Britain and ends at the most Northeasterly.
Our planed route is hardly the most straight forward. The official distance by road being 874 miles - at least that's what it says on those much photographed signposts at each end. Instead, we have plotted a route that visits a number of Foster Care Associates offices en-route, our visits coinciding with events designed to raise money for For Our Children and publicise the need for more foster carers in the UK. So, we’ll be putting in plenty of extra miles for good causes.
As may be seen from the map above, we are taking in places like Cardiff and Newcastle, not normally on the itinerary for such cycle trips, making the total expected distance around 1017 miles with a total ascent of over 47,000 feet (ie the total height of all the hills we'll be pedaling up). The route was planned using bikehike and transferred onto a road atlas which was cut up into daily sections. A cycle satnav would have been useful, but somewhat expensive (& another thing to master before we start along with the wonders of indexed gears, clippless pedals and blogging).
We’ll be leaving Land’s End on the morning of Saturday 15th May and visiting the following FCA Offices:
Tues 18th | Cullompton |
Weds 19th | Bristol am and Cardiff pm |
Fri 21st | Bromsgrove |
Mon 24th | Derby |
Tues 25th | Leeds |
Weds 26th | Newcastle |
Thurs 27th | Selkirk |
Fri 28th | Glasgow |
We’ll be taking a total of 16 days to cover the distance, with some shorter daily distances and one rest day around the middle. So, we’re not planning to beat any records this time.
Why are we doing this? Lots of reasons really, see elsewhere on this blog for example. Mid-life crisis? .... maybe, but as Alistair Humphreys says in his book about his round the world cycle journey, having met many others who had done long-distance bike rides: "Our memories were the same, our lives had been enriched in the same way by the purity and freedom of a long bike ride. I never met anybody who regretted doing a ride. But I met many who regretted not having done one". Let's hope he's right!
Some Lands End/John O’Groats facts:
- First recorded walk (JOG to LE) was in 1871
- First recorded journey by penny farthing was in 1880.
- Shortest time taken to run is 8 days & 2 hours
- Fastest time by wheelchair is 8 days, 10 hours & 9 mins
- Fastest time by bicycle is 44 hours 4mins & 20 seconds in 2001 by Gethin Butler who fuelled himself mostly with sausages and was tricked by his support crew into thinking he’d slept for hours after being woken up after just 10 mins (but it worked!)
- Youngest person to cycle was aged 7yrs and 9m (in 2002)
- By unicycle?.........14 and a half days (in 1986)
- By skateboard? ....... 28days
- Phantom jet fighter? ....... 46mins and 44secs
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