Category: Land’s End to John O’Groats 2021
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Land’s End to John O’Groats 2021 – Day 6: Barnstaple to Bury (nr Dulverton), 56.2k, 1018m climbed
Today was all about getting up and over Exmoor. That meant climbing from 0 to 500m above sea level over a distance of 30k, before descending again. The first 10k gave me a fairly good sense of what the next few hours had in store. In a particularly cruel topographical twist, having reached 300m at…
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Land’s End to John O’Groats 2021 – Day 5: Bude to Barnstaple, 77.5k, 914m climbed
Every picture tells a story. Today was wet. Like the Inuit and her snow, the cyclist has a number of terms for rain, starting with ‘not very nice’ and escalating through ‘a bit damp’ to ‘are we having fun yet?’. Today was definitely a ‘fun yet?’ kind of a day. In fact it was quite…
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Land’s End to John O’Groats 2021 – Day 4: Bodmin to Bude, 57.6k, 929m climbed
Today started as yesterday ended: following the Camel upstream. Despite the rain, I didn’t get the hump. The trail’s railway heritage showed us the way: I passed the usual joggers and dog walkers (no doggers, as far as I could tell – see earlier blog if that comment seems perplexing) but no cycle tourers, let…
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Land’s End to John O’Groats 2021 – Thank you to my sponsors
An important omission from the day 3 blog: yesterday my sponsorship total passed £1,000, so I wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported me so far – with your help, I’m making fantastic progress towards my target, and it’s definitely helping to keep the pedals turning
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Land’s End to John O’Groats 2021 – Day 3: Truro to Bodmin, 70k, 1,030m climbed
There are some snacks that no true cyclist should ever be without. And if your banana is too big for your bar bag then you find another way. Webbo joined me for the first few miles – strangely the hills got steeper after that but I’m sure that’s not the reason she turned back. There…
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Land’s End to John O’Groats 2021 – Day 2: Penzance to Truro, 53.7k,769m climbed
Today was a glorious day of cycling. Starting before 8 to avoid the heat, I shared the South Coast path from Penzance to Marazion with joggers, dog walkers and wild swimmers returning home invigorated from their morning dip. Heading inland, I parted clouds of swallows gathered on the road, preparing to head south. At 10k…
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Land’s End to John O’Groats 2021 – Day 1: Land’s End to Penzance, 30k, 466m climbed
I had thought that the famous Land’s End signpost was a public thing that anyone could bowl up to and have their picture taken in front of. How naive! Turns out it’s a commercial operation, run by the same family since 1957. For a fee, they take a photo and let you put your own…
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Land’s End to John O’Groats 2021 – Day 1 Making a Start
Once I’d got the hang of GWR’s surprisingly neat bike storage arrangements, the Reading to Penzance leg was a doddle. Penzance was Riviera-hot and St Michael’s Mount barely visible through the heat haze when I arrived at lunchtime. I stopped to get my bearings and a man walking by volunteered directions: an early benefit of…
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Land’s End to John O’Groats 2021 – Are you ready/excited/nervous?
As ready as I’ll ever be, yes and yes. It’s fair to say that I haven’t gone overboard on the training. Not due to any over-confidence in my fitness but because it’s only a few weeks since a vague notion to do a long ride coalesced into a firm plan to do Lejog, so there…
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Land’s End to John O’Groats 2021 – Where the wild things are
On my training ride today, I found myself looking at the passing scenery with fresh eyes, thanks to what I’ve learned so far from Wilding – Isabella Tree’s story of how she and her husband Charlie Burrell are returning their Knepp estate in Sussex to nature. I’m lucky enough to be able to ride straight…
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