LEJOG Route advice- leaving in 3 weeks!

[adorey]

Hi

I am doing a 14 day unsupported LEJOG with my partner in 3 weeks time and am finalising the route now.

Have booked most of the accomodation but there are still parts I'm not 100% on yet-
e.g
Getting from nr Warrington to Lancaster as painfree as possible

,
The A82 or A85 from Tyndrum

,
A9/A99 or A386 or A897 to JOG

Expertise, advise or comments would be appreciated on the route, which I have split into section below:

Many Thanks!


Lands End -Camelford- Tiverton- Axbridge

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&sourc ... 634216&z=9


Axbridge -Hereford- Shrewsbury- Stretton

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&sourc ... 9&dirflg=d


Stretton -Lancaster- Carlisle- New Lanark

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&sourc ... 268433&z=8


New Lanark - Loch Lomond- Connel- Invergarry


http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&sourc ... e=UTF8&z=7


Invergarry - Muir of Ord- Helmsdale- JOG

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&sourc ... 536865&z=7






Many Thanks!

 

[delport]

As no one has replied i'll add something.

What do you find difficult about Warrington to Lancaster?

This was the route i took but in reverse of the direction you are going in:

carlisle
shap [mountain]?
carnforth [lancaster area]
lancaster
preston
wigan
warrington

this was all fairly easy except Shap.As far as i can remember much of that region is flat, or not very hilly, except for Shap of course.

I also went along the A82 from inverness straight down to Fort william, no real issues, when i first began cycling along it i was in the dark with very little traffic around, it was fine during day time too.

Lanark [near new lanark] is very high up at least 14% elevation from the direction i entered.The main roads i found poor from there up to glasgow.

And Inverness to John o'groats i found enjoyable, so much so i did the journey twice [but for other reasons].
When i first travelled from Inverness i took the quieter road out the way [not the A9] and ended up in Tain, on the way back down i went through the busy route into Inverness, which wasn't too bad.

Once you are 30 or so miles out of Inverness [going north] the A9 is fine.

 

[adorey]

Thanks for your reply

My concern is that I think navigating the NW towns/ cities with no satnav could be daunting/ time consuming if trying to take minor roads.
Will have pages from AA 3:1 road map and iphone to access googlemaps where required.

Am planning on going straight through warrington on the A49- how is this stretch of road?

In Scotland did you follow the A82 all the way through Glen Coe to Fort William or did you go via Connel instead?

Many Thanks!

 

[delport]

On the A82 i entered at Inverness stayed on it till the very end, which is crianlarich.And yes i went through Glencoe.

I simply took a map, i had no sat nav or gps.
If you look at it on paper it looks fairly easy go on A82 stay on it till you reach Inverness then go on A9 then A99 and that takes you to John o'groats.The A9 and A99 are pretty much the same thing, you can't, as far as i noticed, stay on the A9 and not use the A99 to reach John o'groats or vice versa.
So that's [312 miles according to google] JOG to balloch, yet you only used 2 roads to get there.
Sorry, i just noticed crianlarich is not the end of the A82, anyway i followed the A82 further down to Balloch at Loch lomond all the way heading in the direction of Glasgow so i was still keeping things simple.

The A82 heading in the direction of glasgow has a cycle path that runs parallel with that road.

That is the way i did my whole john o'groats trip, i used very few roads to reach lands end.

From Carlisle i went on the A6, then onto the A49, i pretty much stayed on the A49 all the way to near south wales [ross on wye].

Sections of that road were tricky and narrow at times, but i survived.

My route is by no means perfect, but in terms of map reading it is one of the simplest ways to go, as you only need to go on a few roads to reach lands end or John o'groats.

 

[snorri]

Invergarry - Muir of Ord- Helmsdale- JOG

If you go from Muir of Ord to Ardullie via Dingwall instead of Tore, you will be on a much less busy road, save yourself a lot of climbing and cut 2.5 miles off the overall distance.

 

[adorey]

a much less busy road, save yourself a lot of climbing and cut 2.5 miles off the overall distance.

Sounds good to me- thanks!