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#1
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LEJOG is a Go. Maybe.
Rats, after delaying, procrastinating and putting off the LEJOG [1] that
has been about to happen for half a squillion months; it is now about to go into operation. Tomorrow I shall be cycling off on the pre-LEJOG leg from Manchester to Swindon, where I shall meet up with a friend and recover at a music festival[2] over the bank holiday weekend. Hmmm. After that there will be a short train journey to Penzance and the start of the LEJOG Proper. Will probably call in at Swindon again for a shower, another at Stockpot (Am assured that my cousins wife will feed me lots, and generally spoil and mother me back to health), then meet mates and get bought beer six miles up the road in Manchester again to undo all the good work done in Stockport :-), then off the 560-odd miles to John o' Groats. We will be doing the trip solo[3] and unsupported. I will be camping - although it's technically credit card touring[4] - to keep costs down. After reading Richard Bate's excellent JOGLE journal[5] I might 'wild camp' a bit to avoid the £12 a night campsites! Given that this is a bit of a rush job I've not been able to plant the caches of quality ale along the route, forcing me to rely on an unreliable pub supply, and my training rides have been limited to the odd cycle back from the pub rather than my daily two mile commute (summer holidays, see). Worse yet, my cunning plan to plant relatives along the route has failed abysmally, with only two currently along the route. On the plus side I have youth on my side and, er, not much else :-/ So, if over the next three to four weeks you see an overloaded green racer with spokes pinging off and a half-dead rider heading in a north easterly direction, please have pity on the poor soul. Mark. [1] For newbies to the group, it's Lands End to John o' Groats [2] Greenbelt if any of you are going. I'll be the one that is crawling everywhere after having lost the use of my legs. [3] 'We' being me and the Rat.[3a] As she's not particularly human, and won't be pedalling, it probably counts as a solo ride in most peoples' books. [3a] For some reason none of my friends seem particularly keen to look after Rat whilst I'm away. I knew I should have told 'em it's a Siberian Hamster or something. [4] The trip is entirely sponsored by Barclaycard PLC. Doing it this way ensures that I'll be remembering the trip for many months to come :-/ [5] url:http://www.artybee.net |
#2
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Mark Thompson wrote:
Rats, after delaying, procrastinating and putting off the LEJOG [1] that has been about to happen for half a squillion months; it is now about to go into operation. Tomorrow I shall be cycling off on the pre-LEJOG leg from Manchester to Swindon, where I shall meet up with a friend and recover at a music festival[2] over the bank holiday weekend. Hmmm. snip [2] Greenbelt if any of you are going. I'll be the one that is crawling everywhere after having lost the use of my legs. My wife goes to Greenbelt. If you want a ride around Swindon let me know - I live 2 miles outside. |
#3
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My wife goes to Greenbelt. If you want a ride
Wha? !!!! ...around Swindon let me know - I live 2 miles outside. Phew. I'll take you up on that on my return to Swindon Zog - think it'll be nice to ride an unladen bike for a bit :-) |
#4
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In article 7,
Mark Thompson writes: My wife goes to Greenbelt. If you want a ride Wha? !!!! Jpegs or retract! You decided where to cross the border from Kernow into England? -- Nick Kew |
#5
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You decided where to cross the border from Kernow into England?
Haven't really planned the route out yet, beyond pins in the map at Swindon, Stockport and Manchester where I have friends/relatives living. The (hoped for) advantage of the OS Road maps I'm using (cheers whoever recommended them - Richard again?) is that they display 150-200+miles worth per sheet so it'll be really easy to plan on the fly. Was toying with the idea of following north coast - might not be as hilly, and would make navigation stupidly easy. Might be a bit cooler too if I get lucky with the weather too. I'm resigned to every route in Cornwall having its good and bad points - everyone seems to have to choose between the traffic on the main roads or lots of steep climbing on the minor roads. Am open to suggestions tho, particularly if they pass places serving good food with comfy beds ;-) Mark. |
#6
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In article 7,
Mark Thompson writes: Was toying with the idea of following north coast - might not be as hilly, and would make navigation stupidly easy. Erm, a nice route, and I'd recommend it, but if you think not-hilly then you're in for a bit of a shock. get lucky with the weather too. I'm resigned to every route in Cornwall having its good and bad points - everyone seems to have to choose between the traffic on the main roads or lots of steep climbing on the minor roads. Avoid the main roads. The A30 is nasty, while the stretch of the A38 immediately on the Cornish side of the Tamar is the nastiest road I've seen bar none (and I've lived in some big and busy cities - London and Rome to name but two). Am open to suggestions tho, particularly if they pass places serving good food with comfy beds ;-) If you were crossing the border further south - at Gunnislake or Horsebridge - you'd be broadly speaking in my local area. I don't have things like a spare bed here, but I do know where a cyclist can eat and drink well:-) -- Nick Kew |
#7
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#8
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If you end up looking for camping around 10 miles north of Blairgowrie
on the A93 (Very specific, I know!), you'll find a farm there who's owner runs a small, basic campsite. Ah, that'll be the farm scrabbles around looking for slip of paper at Middleton of Dalrulzion. Yep, that's already circled on the map thanks to your rave review :-) Cheers for the food advice too. Good luck. Cheers. Mark. |
#9
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The 1st campsite I found in Scotland (recent Lejog) was at Glen
Midgedale (NW of Dumfries). The name an awful warning of things to come - mainly midges. cheers Jacob |
#10
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Mark Thompson wrote in message . 193.157...
If you end up looking for camping around 10 miles north of Blairgowrie on the A93 (Very specific, I know!), you'll find a farm there who's owner runs a small, basic campsite. Ah, that'll be the farm scrabbles around looking for slip of paper at Middleton of Dalrulzion. Yep, that's already circled on the map thanks to your rave review :-) Cheers for the food advice too. Good luck. Cheers. Mark. From there to Tomintoul is a tough but doable 58 mile ride to Tomintoul where you'll be able to cap for free in the official Glenlivet Estate free campground. It i=has no facilities but is a short ride ( 1mile) to the town where the public lavs have hot and cold water. When I arrived in Tomintoul the lady at the YH told me about this place as the YH was full. She also invited me to take a shower at the YH, I was minging after 58 miles in the hills, and have a coffee in their members kitchen. I will be doing a write up on my ride soon, essentially I rode from Leeds to Brora, my days were as follows Leeds - Hartlepool (Rellies) Hartlepool - Wooler (YHA) Wooler - Edinburgh (Jon Senior) Edninburgh - 10 miles N of Blairgowrie (cheap camping) 10 M N of B - Tomintoul (free camping) Tomintoul - Contin (near Dingwall, camping) Contin - Brora (camping) Brora - Inverness (camping) You'll notice that when I was in Contin I was a little off route regarding heading for JOG, I was having a bad day and needed to stop, I headed for a non existent YH at Strathpeffer then for the closest campsite. I did really realise at the time that I was so far, about 10 miles, in the wrong direction. Whilst travelling alone none of the camping cost more than £5 and all of the sites I used can be recommended. |
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