QO members take on Land's End to John O'Groats
Ollie and Adam at John O'Groats
On the 13th August Ollie and Adam embarked on the classic British cycling challenge, Land's End to John O'Groats. The challenge quite simply involves cycling between the two extremities of the UK, of which we decided to undertake this feat unsupported, carrying all of our kit on our bikes.
Day 1 started with an early wake up call and a ride to Taunton station for the first train of the day to Penzance. By 10.40am we were on Cornish soil and speeding towards Land End. We skipped the ridiculous queue for photos at the signpost and set off at 11.30am, making strong progress over the Cornish hills towards Redruth. A single 750g pasty provided much-needed sustenance and pushed us on to an overnight camp at Okehampton. Our chosen sleeping arrangement was two bivi bags, great when it's not raining, or when there are no insects trying to bite your face. Night 1 was not one of those nights.
Day 2 started with a midge induced speedy pack up and a big tailwind blast down to Exeter. We made it back to Taunton just before 11.30am for lunch stop #1. This fueled us nicely across the levels, following the coast to Clevedon for lunch stop #2 where we raided the Asda yellow sticker bin. Refined carbs are always on the menu when cycle touring. Day 2 finished after 141 miles at the brilliant Bracelands campsite in the Wye Valley, which even had its own free fish and chip delivery service. Much needed when you can't be bothered to cycle another 2 miles to get your dinner.
Day 3 was a hot one as the heatwave moved into Southern England. A quick stop in Ross on Wye for another refined carb breakfast pushed us on through Hereford, Leominster and Ludlow, where we indulged in a goat curry from a street vendor. We finally reached the Cheshire flatlands after a big climb through Telford, but then realised that this bit of Cheshire is so boring that there are basically no campsites. We experienced our first and only mechanical whilst investigating a potential camp spot on the canal, by which Adam's brake pads fell off. An easy fix thankfully. After a very short search, we found a nice farmer just south of Nantwich who let us camp in his front garden, plus there was a nearby canal for a very warm and brown evening bath.
Day 4 started with the usual refined carb breakfast in Nantwich, and then consisted of extensive weaving through the terrible Manchester/ Warrington urban conglomerate. After reaching Blackburn for a big load of carby lunch and a trip to GoOutdoors to buy Adam a new sleeping matt, the scenery got much better as we reached the proper North of England. Some excellent riding followed as we crossed the Yorkshire Dales via Settle and the Ribblehead viaduct, eventually reaching Kirkby Stephen for yet another food shop. This evening's camp was on the village green in Soulby, where the overly friendly locals offer us food, beer and even showers.
Day 5 was a big one, as there was a promise of a bed at the end, the only catch being it was 165 miles away in Alva, near Stirling. Fatigue was starting to set in as we dragged ourselves into Penrith. A Maccy's coffee and deep fried food sorted this problem and we were soon making strong progress up towards Scotland. We crossed into Scotland at 11am, and picked up a desolate B road following the M74 all the way to Lesmahgow. Several stops for Iron Brew and local Scottish fat-based cuisine were much needed. The rolling hills of Southern Scotland provided tough climbs and excellent scenery until we finally reached Falkirk. We were then rewarded with the flatlands of the Forth Valley and views of the Ochills, which marked the end of our day 5. A massive curry was in order for dinner, as we got to meet the colourful locals of Alva.
By this point we worked out that we had about 280 very hilly miles to go until John O'Groats, which we decided was possible in two days. Day 6 started with the leftover curry from last night and a pleasant cruise over to Loch Lomond National Park. The Scottish roads didn't fail to deliver as we weaved our way around Loch Tay and over several awesome mountain passes to reach the A9 cycle path and the Cairngorms. Our cripplingly expensive lunch #1 at Kenmore was soon burnt through, as were our water reserves. Our mid afternoon pastry based stop was the not very glamorous service station at Dalwhinnie. Although the A9 cycle path delivered excellent riding, the fatigue was starting to accumulate as we crawled into Aviemore. Dinner supplies were quickly secured in Aviemore and we pushed on to a spider filled forest by Loch Vaa to make camp. A cold dunk in the Loch was much needed after a hot day of riding.
The final night was dominated by copious amounts of rain coming in through the bivi door, along with various funky looking floor insects. We spent the first 2 hours in the rain, and crawled into Inverness for a much needed dosing of coffee and saturated fat for breakfast. Unfortunately the Kessock Bridge cycle path was closed, and the detour would have been ~26miles, so we made the decision to send it down the sketchy duel carriageway. Having survived this dodgy bit of road, we made good progress along the NCN1, briefly stopping at Tain to top up our blood sugar before hitting the A9. Contrary to the forecast, the sun did not come out, and the following 85 miles was dominated by a strong headwind, sporadic rain and frequent close passes by the seemingly thousands of cars driving north. A quick stop in Helmsdale resulted in a much needed portion of battered items and chips to power us on through the headwind. After a very tough, and seemingly endless afternoon, we finally made it into Wick, which was certainly a major relief to both of us. The remaining hour on now very quiet roads up to John O'Groats then felt seemingly easy, and we finally reached the signpost just before 8pm. A pint in the John O'Groats pub seemed a fitting way to end the tour as we crashed out in the campsite.
All in all, we cycled 1534km and climbed just over 15,000m. I think I can speak for both of us when I say it was an incredible expedition. There will be a short Youtube video coming out in the next few months on both mine and Adam's channels if anybody is interested.
Getting home from John O'Groats was another challenge in itself. We spent a few days in Kinlochbervie with a friend after the tour, before cycling back to Inverness to camp on the banks of the Ness with a drunk guy passed out in the bushes. Our travelling day started with a 5.30am wake up followed by 13 hours of hopping between various overcrowded trains.... (Thank you very much CrossCountry)