JoGLE: Getting ready to go...
As mentioned on previous posts, I'm riding from John o' Groats to Land's End from Saturday 22nd March to Thursday 3rd April. When internet access permits I shall post up accounts and photographs of my travels southwards for your edumacation.
I set off on the sleeper to Inverness tomorrow night, and hope to reach Thurso on Friday afternoon. From there I will make my way to John o' Groats in preparation for an early start on Saturday.
My planned itinerary is still as follows:
March 22nd: John o' Groats to Inverness (120 miles)
March 23rd: Inverness to Glencoe (81 miles)
March 24th: Glencoe to Stirling, via Loch Lomond (96 miles)
March 25th: Stirling to Hamilton, via the Forth Bridge and the Falkirk Wheel (65 miles)
March 26th: Hamilton to Thornhill (50 miles)
March 27th: Thornhill to Lancaster, via the Lake District (125 miles)
March 28th: Lancaster to Altrincham (62 miles)
March 29th: Altrincham to Shifnal (60 miles)
March 30th: Shifnal to Hereford (57 miles)
March 31st: Rest day! On this day I might ride the 40 miles or so round trip to nip across the Welsh border to ensure that I get all of the countries in the UK mainland in my ride.
April 1st: Hereford to Bristol (62 miles)
April 2nd: Bristol to Plymouth, via Dartmoor (119 miles)
April 3rd: Plymouth to Land's End, then back to Penzance (105 miles)
April 4th: I might, might just possibly ride back to Plymouth from Penzance (87 miles) or I might just get the train.
April 5th: I'm supposed to be playing paintball near Plymouth on the Saturday, if I do it will be in a Slow Old Man Fire Support role. Either way, much of the day will involve lots of carbohydrate replacement therapy (drinking beer) and Special Light Exercise Energy Planning (sleep).
Some of those distances are probably a bit odd to anyone who knows those places, I'm diverting here and there to visit point of interest; also my planned stopping points are based more on places where there are friends and family I can stay with, than on the mileage I would like to do.
Last night I packed up the bike panniers (Ortlieb roller ones) with a horrendous amount of kit - the two panniers were completely full, so much so that the kit overlapped into a small rucksack. I'm going to try and rationalise it down again tonight. I have photographs of the full mad array of kit both before and after packing, which I shall post tonight (as work won't let me upload to Flickr and the Eee is packed in a pannier at home, Grrr).
The full weight of the panniers, rucksack and contents came to almost exactly 20 kilos, which is about twice what would be reasonable and about 5 kilos above what I think will be acceptable.
I've got a few ideas on what to leave behind but the camera, the bottle of whisky and the small toy duck are all definitely coming with me.
The weather is predicted as appalling, although having checked it on both the BBC and Metcheck, I think it's on the right side of possible (based on looking at the locatons I plan to be travelling between on each day). The possible exception to this might be next Sunday but if I get out before the predicted heavy snowfall in the Inverness area I might manage to get down south far enough to be in rain and not snow (according to the forecast anyway). On the plus side, the forecasted wind is in my favour, being at my back on both Saturday and Sunday.
I'll review the forecast on each day and hopefully make sensible decisions. If snow is forecast I'm going to give people I know times at which I will expect to reach my destination and call them. I've got a big range of kit with me including spare clothes, waterproofs and a survival bag if things go really squirrely.
I have a USB modem now for the Eee, so if there's no ride reports in by Monday send out the search party.
I set off on the sleeper to Inverness tomorrow night, and hope to reach Thurso on Friday afternoon. From there I will make my way to John o' Groats in preparation for an early start on Saturday.
My planned itinerary is still as follows:
March 22nd: John o' Groats to Inverness (120 miles)
March 23rd: Inverness to Glencoe (81 miles)
March 24th: Glencoe to Stirling, via Loch Lomond (96 miles)
March 25th: Stirling to Hamilton, via the Forth Bridge and the Falkirk Wheel (65 miles)
March 26th: Hamilton to Thornhill (50 miles)
March 27th: Thornhill to Lancaster, via the Lake District (125 miles)
March 28th: Lancaster to Altrincham (62 miles)
March 29th: Altrincham to Shifnal (60 miles)
March 30th: Shifnal to Hereford (57 miles)
March 31st: Rest day! On this day I might ride the 40 miles or so round trip to nip across the Welsh border to ensure that I get all of the countries in the UK mainland in my ride.
April 1st: Hereford to Bristol (62 miles)
April 2nd: Bristol to Plymouth, via Dartmoor (119 miles)
April 3rd: Plymouth to Land's End, then back to Penzance (105 miles)
April 4th: I might, might just possibly ride back to Plymouth from Penzance (87 miles) or I might just get the train.
April 5th: I'm supposed to be playing paintball near Plymouth on the Saturday, if I do it will be in a Slow Old Man Fire Support role. Either way, much of the day will involve lots of carbohydrate replacement therapy (drinking beer) and Special Light Exercise Energy Planning (sleep).
Some of those distances are probably a bit odd to anyone who knows those places, I'm diverting here and there to visit point of interest; also my planned stopping points are based more on places where there are friends and family I can stay with, than on the mileage I would like to do.
Last night I packed up the bike panniers (Ortlieb roller ones) with a horrendous amount of kit - the two panniers were completely full, so much so that the kit overlapped into a small rucksack. I'm going to try and rationalise it down again tonight. I have photographs of the full mad array of kit both before and after packing, which I shall post tonight (as work won't let me upload to Flickr and the Eee is packed in a pannier at home, Grrr).
The full weight of the panniers, rucksack and contents came to almost exactly 20 kilos, which is about twice what would be reasonable and about 5 kilos above what I think will be acceptable.
I've got a few ideas on what to leave behind but the camera, the bottle of whisky and the small toy duck are all definitely coming with me.
The weather is predicted as appalling, although having checked it on both the BBC and Metcheck, I think it's on the right side of possible (based on looking at the locatons I plan to be travelling between on each day). The possible exception to this might be next Sunday but if I get out before the predicted heavy snowfall in the Inverness area I might manage to get down south far enough to be in rain and not snow (according to the forecast anyway). On the plus side, the forecasted wind is in my favour, being at my back on both Saturday and Sunday.
I'll review the forecast on each day and hopefully make sensible decisions. If snow is forecast I'm going to give people I know times at which I will expect to reach my destination and call them. I've got a big range of kit with me including spare clothes, waterproofs and a survival bag if things go really squirrely.
I have a USB modem now for the Eee, so if there's no ride reports in by Monday send out the search party.