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LEJOG is a Go. Maybe.



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 21st 04, 07:26 PM
Mark Thompson
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Default 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
Ads
  #2  
Old August 21st 04, 09:25 PM
Zog The Undeniable
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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  
Old August 21st 04, 10:15 PM
Mark Thompson
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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  
Old August 21st 04, 10:44 PM
Nick Kew
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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
  #6  
Old August 21st 04, 11:13 PM
Mark Thompson
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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.
  #7  
Old August 22nd 04, 01:10 AM
Mark Thompson
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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.
  #8  
Old August 22nd 04, 08:05 AM
jacob
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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
  #9  
Old August 22nd 04, 10:39 AM
beegee
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Mark Thompson wrote in message . 193.157...
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.


Mark,

If your route takes you through or near Crieff, in bonny Perthshire,
I'd be happy to assist with a chargeless night's B & B in my Guest
House. Subject to availability on the date in question of course.
Email me with your approximately expected date if you like.

Beegee
  #10  
Old August 22nd 04, 02:12 PM
MSeries
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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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