Just a question about LeJog which has bugged me for a while.

[Alex321]

I thought of this. Problem is you'd hit the East coast North of around about Berwick on Tweed ish, and you'd need to turn left towards Edinburgh.

So "hit coast after less than 300 miles, turn Right as necessary. Hit coast after more than 300 miles, turn Left as necessary until after Inverness, then turn right again". That copes with the Moray Firth as well, and when you hit the North coast of Scotland .

 

[matticus]

Sorted.

I don't know why people think navigation is so difficult ...

 

[Solocle]

Easy to do by road signs, in theory. Not the best roads, though.

Land's End
A30 to Exeter
Exeter gets a bit messy. Follow "Honiton avoiding Motorway (A30)" - A377
City Centre - Pinhoe (B3212)
B3181 - A38 - Birmingham
Avoid A38(M). Follow Aston A5127 to A38 to Derby
A6 to Carlisle
A7 to Edinburgh
Left at A1 junction Princes St, Right onto Queensferry St / Road / A90
A9000 Queensferry Crossing. B981-B980 - A823
Turn right onto A9. Continue onto A99
John O'Groats


That's it. A compact route sheet.

 

[mudsticks]

Has anyone ever done it using no maps, no gps or any other electronic device but only a compass for direction ?

I think that would be fun, to try .

Or just by asking natives directions maybe..??

I have navigated in Spain using only the sun to get out of a roadwork snarled city, map was useless diversion signs were trying to take me onto the motorway.

And I don't do sat nav..

I kept the sun on my left elbow, and headed for what looked like some far distant ruralisation.

Escaped in the end..

 

[ClichéGuevara]

I enjoyed a book by a guy and his mate that did Lejog with nothing at all. They started in just boxer shorts, and had to get to the other end just relying on the goodwill of the people they met.

 

[MichaelW2]

I met a German woman who cycled from an organic farm in SW France to her home in Hamburg by heading to the French Atlantic coast then following the North Sea Coastal path until she came to the big river, then take a right. She could not use a map.

 

[T4tomo]

I enjoyed a book by a guy and his mate that did Lejog with nothing at all. They started in just boxer shorts, and had to get to the other end just relying on the goodwill of the people they met.

Hopefully they met someone with spare bikes in Lands End otherwise it would have been a short book.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

If you have near enough unlimited time to make the trip. Then just using a compass and looking at road signs would work.

 

[Solocle]

If you have near enough unlimited time to make the trip. Then just using a compass and looking at road signs would work.

The fastest route can be done fairly easily just by road signs. It's not a pleasant route, but it sure is fast! No need for unlimited time, nor the compass.
A30 to Exeter
Exeter follow Honiton (A30) onto the A377, City Centre, inner Bypass, B3212-Pinhoe-B3181
A38 to Worcester, A449 to Kidderminster, A442 to Bridgnorth, A458 to Shrewsbury
A49 to Preston via Warrington (touches A5). A6 to Carlisle, A7 in Carlisle, left onto former A74 jsut before M6 junction.
B7076 to Abington, A702 twd Biggar, A73, Thankerton, Carnwath, A70 twd Edinburgh. B7031 Kirknewton, A71 twd Edinburgh
B7030, A8, left immediately, right B800, right A9000, right B981 I'keithing, left B917, left B996, onto A922.
Right rbt Milnathort A911, left Perth B996, A912 Perth
A9 - A99 - JOG

Most of the cues are following old roads that have been replaced by motorways. If you were able to use motorways:
A30-M5-M6-A74(M)-M74-M73-M80-M9-A9-A99
Is the quickest car route, and the same sort of distance (837 mi).

 

[Dogtrousers]

I did half of it this spring, without doing any navigation at all. I just followed my friend's back wheel.

 

[Solocle]

I did half of it this spring, without doing any navigation at all. I just followed my friend's back wheel.

I think we can consider a friend as a navigational device! And a speed assistance, too...

My route you could get by with only taking an standard audax sized routesheet. It just would be horrible unless you also took some steel baubles.

 

[newts]

Tha A30 from Lands End to Exeter is not a route I'd feel very safe cycling along. This year is the first for many that I've seen any cyclists on it, very dangerous IMHO.

 

[T4tomo]

The fastest route can be done fairly easily just by road signs. It's not a pleasant route, but it sure is fast! No need for unlimited time, nor the compass.
A30 to Exeter
Exeter follow Honiton (A30) onto the A377, City Centre, inner Bypass, B3212-Pinhoe-B3181
A38 to Worcester, A449 to Kidderminster, A442 to Bridgnorth, A458 to Shrewsbury
A49 to Preston via Warrington (touches A5). A6 to Carlisle, A7 in Carlisle, left onto former A74 jsut before M6 junction.
B7076 to Abington, A702 twd Biggar, A73, Thankerton, Carnwath, A70 twd Edinburgh. B7031 Kirknewton, A71 twd Edinburgh
B7030, A8, left immediately, right B800, right A9000, right B981 I'keithing, left B917, left B996, onto A922.
Right rbt Milnathort A911, left Perth B996, A912 Perth
A9 - A99 - JOG

Most of the cues are following old roads that have been replaced by motorways. If you were able to use motorways:
A30-M5-M6-A74(M)-M74-M73-M80-M9-A9-A99
Is the quickest car route, and the same sort of distance (837 mi).

was that pretty much the route you did recently, it seem to involve a few big A road from pictures, albeit you did the A30 in the middle of the night

 

[matticus]

Tha A30 from Lands End to Exeter is not a route I'd feel very safe cycling along. This year is the first for many that I've seen any cyclists on it, very dangerous IMHO.

Staycations for cyclists!

 

[Solocle]

was that pretty much the route you did recently, it seem to involve a few big A road from pictures, albeit you did the A30 in the middle of the night

I did the "big two" being the A30 and A9, and threw in the A303 and A82 for good measure. But my route avoided the big A roads where reasonably possible, and was 972 miles.

(n.b. the spur is day 0, my 30 mile warm up).

I hit Carland-Chiverton early evening, then did a few miles at Launceston circa 1am, having done the A39 to avoid Bodmin Moor. Okehampton bypass at 6am(ish)

A303 was the same distance as the A30 to my parents', but significantly less hilly.

I joined the A82 beside Loch Lomond, and A9 at Nigg Roundabout. I didn't find either road too bad.

Other than that there was the A653 from the M62 to Leeds, but a short TT style effort.