LAND'S END - JOHN O'GROATS

GEORGE'S LEJOG PROGRESS : FINISHED!! 8pm 9th June 2007

George's Day by Day Diary

Day 1: Land's End, Cornwall to Exeter, Devon

Having stayed at the Lands End Youth Hostel – which is 5 miles from Lands End – I cycled to the start hoping to get the obligatory photo at the famous sign. Unfortunately, it was closed at 7:30am so we took some “unofficial” photos. The weather was misty and wet – that "fine rain that soaks you through".

At 7:50 I eventually set off and soon discovered why everyone says Cornwall is the worst leg. The hills are never ending – I had to use my “granny gear” often – and some of them last for miles (literally). I started to dread the descents because I just knew that there would be an even steeper climb when I reached the bottom.  But the scenery was beautiful – when I could see it through the mist – and some of the towns and villages were lovely.

I had planned to cycle the length of the A30 to Exeter , a total of 123 miles, but, having driven along it the previous day, decided it was far too dangerous for a bike. So we chose a safer route which turned out to be 145 miles in total!! This distance, along with the 6 miles to get from the YHA to Lands End, meant I cycled 150 miles in total – 46 miles further than I’d ever cycled in a day.

The highlight of the day for me had to be crossing the Tamar Bridge – what a sight that is! I also enjoyed the little stop at the Tresillian Garden Centre where we had a Cornish Cream Tea and the staff kindly contributed to our sponsorship.  The low point had to be when I had cycled for over 10 hours, was absolutely, knackered, then got a puncture in my back wheel! It took me just over 12 hours to do the 144 miles – which included many stops – and I wasn’t in a good state when I finished.   

The girls in the support car were fantastic! They must have been bored out of their skulls waiting for me but they were always available when I needed them.

All in all – a really, really tough day – thank God it’s over!!!!

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Day 2: Exeter, Devon - Stonehouse, Gloucestershire

A much better day today. The scheduled route was supposed to be 103 miles but I ended up doing 112 - mostly because of an unscheduled detour in Bristol. Because it was Sunday the roads were fairly quiet - apart from in Bristol City Centre - and there were fewer hills compared to the first day. I even had a breeze on my back so could manage 20mph for long periods on the flatter roads.
The trick to getting through Bristol seemed to be to follow the signs for the City Centre then pick up signs for the A38 to Gloucester. There were certainly no signs for the A38 in the middle of the city.

The highlight of the day was seeing the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol. The low point was definitely the huge hill that takes you up to Bristol Airport. It must have been at least 3 miles long and steeper than anything I'd climbed in Cornwall on the first day.

All in all - an easier day than yesterday but I'm still knackered!! But at least that's a quarter of the journey completed!

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Day 3: Stonehouse, Gloucs - Ternhill, Shropshire

I started today by travelling up the A38 to Gloucester then Worcester. Both had ring roads to avoid the city centres but these were extremely busy and I never felt really safe on them. I'm beginning to think that driving through the city centres might be the best option. Having said that I then arrived at Kidderminster where I was forced through part of the town centre and the traffic was dreadful. Having got through it successfully I was then faced with some of the worst hills of the day.
Once I entered Shropshire the scenery became stunning but that was soon spoilt by the A442 round Telford! The A442 is a strange road. South and North of Telford it is nothing more than a wide country lane but when it reaches Telford it becomes a motorway (almost). It was a scary road to cycle along because there was no safe area for bikes and thousands of vehicles were thundering past.

Away from the main towns and cities the roads today were excellent and overall I managed to do 103 miles.

The highlight today was the views in Shropshire. There were several low points - I managed to upset my support team, the traffic in Kidderminster, the tough hills north of Kidderminster, and the A442 round Telford.

I'm starting to get really weary after 3 days of cycling - many of my muscles are aching and my magic potions don't seem to be helping (I use ISO Energy and SIS Rego) but I guess it's only to be expected after totting up over 360 miles. Oh well, only another 5 days and 540 miles to go!!!

Day 4: Ternhill, Shrops - Carnforth, Lancs

Today I started by cycling up through Shropshire towards Cheshire. There were some really bad climbs during the first couple of hours but after that it flattened out as I headed towards Warrington and Wigan. It was a really warm day but the breeze kept me cool - as did a lovely cool pint of bitter shandy! Next I entered Lancashire and started seeing signs for places near where we live and eventually I entered Preston at Bamber Bridge.

I'd dreaded going through Preston because I knew how steep London Road was but it actually turned out to be quite easy compared to many of the climbs I'd done earlier in the week. The one bad thing about Preston is the state of the roads. I'm sorry to say that they must be the worst I've experienced for potholes and uneven surfaces. I thought I was going to be shaken off my bike. Having said that, I then went through Lancaster and it was almost as bad and the traffic, with it being rush hour, was terrible.

On the plus side I was on familiar roads, the weather was lovely and, when I reached Carnforth, I was half way through my journey.

We stayed at Sandra and Dan Johnson's house for the night and she did us proud - even making a birthday cake for me!!

The total mileage for the day was 107 miles and, overall, it wasn't too arduous.

The highlight today was reaching the half way point and the low point was the state of the roads in Preston.

Day 5: Carnforth, Lancs - Moffat, Dumfries

Today's route took us through the Lake District (via Kendal and Penrith), up to Carlisle then entering Scotland at Gretna Green. I then cycled up to Moffat.

The weather was fantastic yet again and the views in the Lakes were stunning. Unfortunately for me I was faced with cycling up to Shap summit so I probably failed to appreciate the views as much as the girls in the support car did! The climb up Shap was not nearly as bad as I expected it to be but that's not to say it was easy because it was bloody tough! But the long fast descent was worth the climb!

The roads through the Lakes up to Carlisle and beyond were fairly quiet. In fact they were quiet for most of the journey - especially the B7076 from Gretna to Moffat.  We took photographs at the Scotland sign just outside of Gretna Green.

Today's mileage was 112 miles and the highlight had to be the views in the Lake District. There weren't really any low points other than my bottom - but we won't go into that!!!

Day 6: Moffat, Dumfries - Crianlarich, Stirling

The day started cold and cloudy as I made my first mistake of the day which was to take the wrong road out of Moffat and ended up climbing needlessly for 4 miles! I then picked up the right road for Glasgow but managed to lose it again and cycled a long way towards Edinburgh before I realised my mistake.

Having got back on track (again) we then had to find our way round the south and west side of Glasgow to the Erskine Bridge. We went through 'exciting' places like East Kilbride and Paisley but the roads just south of Glasgow were diabolical in terms of potholes and uneven surfaces. I take back everything I said about the roads in Preston.

Erskine Bridge is spectacular - am I getting a thing about bridges I wonder?

Once over the bridge I joined the A82 all the way to Crianlarich. The A82 goes along the edge of Loch Lomond and as I travelled along it the sun was shining and the views were fantastic. Unfortunately the weather didn't stay like that and the heavens opened when I was still 10 miles from the finish. To top it off there was a 4 mile climb at the end so I finished the day the way I started - only soaking wet!

Had a meal at The Benmore Lodge Hotel this evening, and in there was a wall full of 'legit' graffiti, so we had to sign it for ourselves!

The total mileage today was again 112 miles.

The highlights were the Erskine Bridge and Loch Lomond and the low points were the roads south of Glasgow - and me getting lost of course!

I have to thank Val and Helen, my support team, today as they were tremendous.

Day 7: Crianlarich, Stirling - Inverness

Today's leg started with a 40 mile ride over the highlands to the village of Glencoe. I was expecting it to be really tough but it wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined. There were a few hard climbs but there was always a long downhill to recover. The scenery and views were absolutely stunning - by far the best of the whole journey - and the 6 mile descent from the top of Glencoe was incredible!

Then we headed north-east through Fort William - passing Ben Nevis - and along the Caledonian Canal. The road hugged several lochs including Loch Ness but little could be seen of it from the roads because of the trees.

The 80 miles from Glencoe to Inverness were really tough for me because there was a strong breeze in my face for the whole distance. Whenever the lochs were visible from the road the wind was even stronger. To make it worse some of the roads were really "knobbly". Only a fellow cyclist with a sore bottom will appreciate the term "knobbly"!!! Having said that the views were excellent.

The total mileage for today was 125 miles and by the end I was really tired exhausted and hungry.

The highlight was definitely the 40 mile stretch across the highlands and the low point was the windy crossing to Inverness.

But that's the second last day over with and now I "only" have 120 miles plus to do tomorrow and I've reached John O'Groats.

Day 8: Inverness - John O’Groats

The final day at last! But another long one to look forward to.

We set off from the B&B in Inverness at 9:00am and quickly picked up the A9 to Wick. The road was fairly quiet with it being a Saturday and, once again, the weather was fine and sunny. The terrain was also quite flat apart from one bad climb a few miles north of the city.

We crossed some fantastic bridges (here I go again) over various firths and the road soon started hugging the coast and became more undulating – that’s a euphemism for hilly! It also became very breezy which made it difficult.

I then got my second puncture of the journey – another back wheel one – and, having managed to puncture the replacement inner tube, eventually just replaced the whole back wheel and hoped I wouldn’t get another puncture before the end.

All was going well – the adrenalin was keeping me going – until we came to Helmsdale. The girls in the support car had gone ahead of me then came back to tell me about the hills I was about to reach. I had also been warned by others that the Helmsdale hills were worse than anything else on the whole route. They weren’t wrong! There were two major climbs and I just about managed to keep turning my pedals but slowed down to 5.6mph on one of them. The road then turned flatter (relatively speaking) and I finally reached Wick. Not having seen any sign of real civilisation for tens of miles we joked about there being a giant Tesco at Wick and guess what? Yes, there was one!!!

Wick is about 20 miles from John O’Groats on the A99 and the roads became even flatter so I started to relax thinking the final few miles would be easy. Little did I know that there is a sting in the tail just before the end and, once again, I had to climb another big hill.

At last I reached John O’Groats - after cycling 129 miles - and what a bleak place it is! Luckily the girls got there before me and were ready and waiting at the finish with big smiles on their faces and cameras at the ready.

We then went into the local pub and had a well-earned pint and I made an entry in the book they keep behind the bar for all those who’ve completed the journey. The barman was amazed that I’d done it “in single figures” as, apparently, not many people do it in less than 10 days – I did it in 8 – but he may have been bullshitting me!

Ultimately, my journey was complete after 944 miles.

All in all, a great experience. Would I do it again? DEFINITELY NOT!!!!!!!