LEJoG Questions

[billy1561]

Now I'm in my 50's this is increasingly more of a 'must do' for me. Almost certainly my attempt should i actually make it would be in the late summer of 2014 due to finances as i would like to b+b and travel as light as possible.
Would obviously prefer a companion for support along the way.
Its definitely on my bucket list!

 

[GarminDave]

In your 50's a Billy, you must be the Forums Youth Policy! My friend wants to do LEJoG but I'm not keen. I did it a few years ago in 17 hours, but that was on a Harley Davidson Electra-Glide (HERE)! I perceive the route to be on main roads like the A6 over Shap Fell but I guess there are some nice Sustran off road sections it can be done on, never really considered it so not looked. I got the idea of the 6,000kM of the NSCR doing it in bite sized chunks. I did 300kM last year and plan a further 600kM this year so on that basis I'll be in my early 70's before it's completed; just hope I can still get my leg over then!

Later

Dave

 

[billy1561]

Thanks for that Dave, always interesting to get other peoples points of view. So i'm a youngster then lol. I'm just concious of father time in cycling terms
I'm very late to cycling and i love my time on the bike so dont wish to lose any opportunities.

 

[kelv61]

Just wing it. We did it in June 2009. Booked The Old Success Inn in Sennan Cove the night before the off and that was it. We did camp 5 nights out of 17 but that was because of my mates love of camping, I hate it. We never had trouble with B&B's, if one place was fully booked they would recomend a place down the road. Pubs always proved the best B&B option. Dont bother with Youth Hostels. They proved as expensive, if not more so, that a B&B in most cases, and you had to pay extra for your breakfast. All the places we stayed in locked our bikes away. As was said in a previous reply, Travelodge allowed us to take our bikes to our room. If you can get into the mindset that overnight accomodation is not problem, you will enjoy the ride even more, in my opinion. If you are interested, I can giive you a full list of B&B's we stayed in. kelvinhealey@aol.com. Good luck.

 

[Fubar]

Hi HLab, one thing to maybe consider is also packing your cheque book - the campsite we use for the Etape in Pitlochry only accepts cheques (or cash!) and I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few places in the Highlands that don't take credit cards. Regards, Mark

 

[jonny jeez]

I'm in the very early stages of thinking about doing a LEJoG and I have a few questions which are probably stupid as I've never done an unsupported solo tour. I've done plenty of solo consecutive days but all from home base.

• My first thoughts I'd like to travel light (credit card touring) but do I need to be constrained by pre booked B&Bs? or can I just say 'I plan to X but due to mechanical, etc I only done Y' or 'I'm feeling good and I'll go on to the next place'? A tent would be more unconstrained (assuming wild camping is OK) but thats goes against the idea of travelling light.
• Security ? How do you secure your bike at B&B/ camp stops and do you need to lug round a big lock (not very light ) ?
• Insurance - linked to the above if the worse happens are you covered if so who does it?
• Transport - How easy by public transport is it to get to/from the start/finish ?

There's probably other thing I should consider if so what?

Cant offer too much advice as I'm in much the same spot. All i can say is that I shall be booking via an organiser (£1500 including a £3000 commitment to charity raising) who deal with everything, bar the riding bit...

I'm pencilled in for the end of september and was shifted from the August date due to overbooking.

Good luck with yours!

J

 

[bof]

Keep your eyes open for cheap deals on Travelodges - at least for through England. I managed to book four, at around this time last year, for my LeJog, for a princely total of £72.00. The thing to bear in mind is that some of them may have poor or no catering nearby, so you may want to stop to eat before you get to them so you dont have a long bike ride to forage for food, or a choice of Ginsters finest from the next door service station.