Preparing

As in my cycle rides across Spain and across Europe to the Black Sea I will be self supporting on this latest trip: all I need for the duration of my journey will be carried with me on my bicycle. My ride from John O’Groats to Land’s End is some 950 miles, long by any standard but still significantly shorter than the distances I covered in Spain or when cycling to the Black Sea. This then will be a journey of days rather than weeks, although during that time my daily distances will be consistently further and the terrain will be consistently tougher than for those other two journeys.

Fourteen years ago I used my road bike, lighter and faster for a given level of effort: that effort might take me around forty percent further on the road bike than on my heavier hybrid. This time though I will be on the heavier bicycle, slower but more suited for rougher roads and better able to carry loads. It is the same bicycle that has seen me through many long trips in England and Wales and my more recent trips overseas; to date it has served me well. 

My main preparation effort for this trip has been in route planning. There are any number of routes that people use to cycle between Land’s End and John O’Groats: via the west of Britain, via the east of Britain, avoiding main roads, maximising use of Sustrans cycleways. There is no official route. For my part I wanted to get a balance of maximising my average speed by using quieter main roads (generally less hilly and longer but which may not follow the most direct route), and of minimising distance by linking smaller roads that are more direct (but which slows you down with more focus required on navigation and more junctions to negotiate). I had already decided I would stay west in order to again enjoy cycling Glen Coe and along the Great Glen so my route through Scotland left few options and was quickly sorted. South of Scotland though, with more road choices and more traffic, planning required more thought. Apart from the dog leg through Scotland and up the Great Glen my 950 mile route is two relatively straight lines, one to the south and a night at home here in Corsham, and the next to the south west and Land’s End. Each is a mix of main roads where I expect them to be quiet, more minor roads and, where they help, parts of the Sustrans national cycle network. In some areas I will be able to cycle for large parts of the day on one or two roads, in others I will be more focused on navigation as I follow a series of quiet roads to maintain my general direction.

The route is planned and entered into my navigation computer, a necessity for the more fragmented sections, and in a few days from today I will be turning that planning on paper into miles on the road.