LEJOG: 1000 Miles of Pedaling,
5000 Years of History

Embarking on a cycling odyssey from Land’s End to John O’ Groats, we embarked on a journey through the heart of the United Kingdom, weaving through captivating landscapes and embracing the diverse tapestry of its history and culture. Our adventure began in Cornwall, where we savored the quintessential British experience of enjoying fish and chips by the seaside, against the backdrop of rugged cliffs and crashing waves. As we pedaled northward, we explored the remnants of old abandoned tin mines, silent witnesses to Cornwall’s industrial past. Venturing inland, medieval towns like Chester greeted us with their charming cobbled streets and timbered houses, offering a glimpse into centuries of history. Quaint villages dotted the countryside, each with its own story to tell, as we meandered through idyllic landscapes and rolling hills. Riding ever upwards, we ascended into the majestic highlands, where the towering peaks and sweeping vistas of Glen Coe took our breath away. As we reached our final destination at John O’ Groats, we looked back on the memories forged along the way, each mile a testament to the spirit of adventure and discovery that had fueled our epic cycling expedition across the length of the UK. And amidst it all, the ancient wonders of Skara Brae on the Orkney Islands stood as a testament to the enduring legacy of human ingenuity and resilience, leaving an indelible mark on our hearts and minds.

Before We Go

  • Researched popular routes, cycle forums and blogs
  • Scouted out lodging possibilities (and scarcity).
  • Assembled kit including newly acquired wet weather gear for the rainy days
  • Tested out equipment and gadgets
  • Incorporated travel guide suggestions into probable route.
  • Most Difficult Part – getting bikes to starting point
  • Airline cancellations and delays
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Air Travel & Touring Bikes

We’ve used plastic bags in the past, and have rented bikes, but currently we like to use bike boxes and packing material. This requires a little bit of dismantling of bikes, but it’s fairly quick and provides solid protection for our bikes. We fly with airlines that consider a bike your first checked luggage and have designed a

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Getting Bikes to Lands End

This was not as easy as it should have been. Packing up your bike so they are safe for travel is pretty straightforward, as is getting to London Heathrow. But getting your bike to the starting point is unnecessarily difficult.
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Penzance to Land's End to Camborne

England welcomed us with rain. Sometimes heavy but mostly just a slight drizzle. We got a very late start as we need to mend the bike , switch sim cards and had trouble syncing Komoot to the Wahoo. We ended up using Ian’s phone until it ran out of batteries then switched to my phone. We rode out of Penzance past the Pipers, a very large standing of stones then rode up to the Merry Maids. Then continued on to Lands End through countryside and small villages. We did go to Moushole which was beautiful but climbed a lot hills for the view. 
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Camborne to Bodmin

A fairly leisurely start to what turned out to quite the workout, with almost 4000 feet of climbing. A large portion of our day was spent off-road, in trails that were more designed for mountain biking, and definitely not something you’d want to do with panniers…

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Bodmin to Lewdown

This morning we decided to take the A-30 as the grade was much nicer than any of the other paths we could take. While it was not as tranquil and the side of the road did have quite a few dead hedgehogs, rabbits and birds we did make better time and avoided some nasty hills. We left the A-30 and entered the village of Alternu and went into their beautiful church to see the carved bench ends…
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Lewdown to Okehampton

Very rainy day.  Good news, we got to try our all our raingear today. The waterproof gloves worked surprisingly well. Grace’s gators kept her shoes mostly dry. The neoprene covers I had were gave some water protection but when it started to pour water did get into the shoes…
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Okehampton to Oake

The weather has been fantastic today which is great because climbing hills in the rain is not fun and there were a lot of hills to climb today. We started the day by visiting Okehamton Cycles to put air in the tires. They were quite low and the bike shop was very helpful. We stopped in the village to see the church and spoke to the vicar who showed us where Sylvia Plath lived with her husband and the famous Yew Tree she wrote a poem about…
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Oake to Wells to Clevedon

Oh happy day, we are in Somerset. The hills are beginning to flatten!  Ian had another flat tire when we woke the morning. I have new ?? tires and have not had a flat on this trip while Ian has had two using  ?? tires. Today we need to find a bike shop and purchase new tires and tubes. We rode along another tow path past many locks through lovely green trails. At one point the trail had markers for planets to indicate how far the planets were from each other. Each mile marker had facts about the planet it represented. More sheep and cows and then we had to take a detour that led us up and over a train track. We had to carry the bikes up the very steep stair and then back down the other side…
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Clevedon to Monmouth

We traveled over several suspension bridges and did a slow climb up and out of Devon to enter Wales. We traveled through forest, fields and lovely villages. At one point we were out of water so stopped at the town square where there was a water fountain. Unfortunately, it was out of order but a lovely woman took our bottles into her house and filled them for us. It is charming to see the road signs in Welsh…
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Monmouth to Mortimer Trails

With exceptionally nice weather for this time of year and the weekend made it difficult to find lodging. We grabbed breakfast at a bakery in Monmouth and ate at the Monmouth bride, one of the last standing stone gates, where we watched the ducks and relaxed for a moment.We climbed out of the valley through beautiful tree lined roads and fields of sheep We rode to Hereford along a river. Once in Hereford we stopped to see the cathedral. The cathedral had beautifully carved archways and stained glass. We stopped in the town square for jacket potatoes and a pork sandwich, Then it was off to more hills and lovely countryside…
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Mortimer Trails to Shrewbury

We had an early wake up time but a late start to the day was we had a lovely chat with the woman who ran the Air BNB. It was a beautiful sunny day as we rode through the countryside past yet more sheep, cows and cute villages. We stopped at a church where the ladies were arranging flowers for the harvest service at the church. They took us up to the choir stalls and showed us the carved chairs for the guilds, butchers, ale house, musicians and the lovely stained glass. We began to see more and more timber framed houses and timber framed churches all decked with hanging flower baskets…
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Shrewsbury to Chester

A delightful ride with rolling hills and sunny skies although it rained about halfway through the ride so we stopped and put on rain gear. Very little traffic onto roads and more beautiful countryside and charming churches. We pulled into Chester while it was raining and we knew we needed to to laundry in a real laundry mat so we headed to one that was till open. We stripped in the bathroom and washed everything we were not wearing…
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Chester to North Preston

Let’s get this out of the way. Grace is alive and well. It was a close call. First rule of GoneBiking is Grace doesn’t get hurt. We broke that rule today. Traveling on a road that had more traffic than we like, yet the worst sidewalks we’ve seen on this journey. If I had to do it again, I would have stayed on the road. I went off the road and onto the sidewalk, because I’d just seen a kid riding along a sidewalk a few blocks before. As we rode up the hill the hedge was encroaching mightily into the sidewalk, and when you brush up against the hedge it wasn’t budging. As I slowed and stopped to walk the bike, Grace caught the hedge and stopped immediatlely, going down hard onto the road…
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North Preston to Kendal

anymore. Nor loosen it. Needed to find a bike shop. Stopping in Glangsfor? Saw a Sport World sign. Walked in, girl working there said they need to take that sign down. They haven’t been that for some time. Now they sell school uniforms. She directed me to Car Care although the way she said it, “Kaa Kee”, “They call it Care Care” sounded like “They Ka Kaa Kea” We are getting further north…
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Kendal to Carlisle

After a quick breakfast at Greggs we climbed out of town. The climb as slow and steady with a very long lovely descent. Later in the afternoon we met the Runny Granny, She too was doing the end to end but she was running it, 75 miles a day. We spoke to her as we moved along, she was not going to stop, and talked to her sag wagon crew. She is trying to show old people they can get out and do things, she is quite inspiring…
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Carlisle to Moffat

This morning we dropped our laundry off with a Polish woman who has a sort of laundry service she runs out of the back of a warehouse. She told us to come back in an hour so we stopped at Sainsbury for breakfast and visited the Carlisle Cathedral to see its beautiful painted ceiling with magnificent stained glass. The choir had amazing carved seats and an amazing painting on the back of the choir stalls with the story of Cuthbert on one side and the apostles on the other side. We rode by the Carlisle Castle and over the marked path where Hadrian’s Wall had been. Then we picked up our washed, dried and folded laundry from the Polish woman and gave her 5 pounds and headed north to Scotland…
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Moffat to Strathaven

The weather is perfect. Bright blue skies and about 75 degrees. We rode on a bike path that runs parallel to the main road through rolling hills making great time. We met two older gentleman who were out riding their e-bikes, They said they felt like they were 14 year old boys again and were having the time of their lives…

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Strathaven to Arrochar

I can recommend todays route for anyone looking for a good way to get through Glasgow. Started off cold and a big climb, which means the jackets came off early. Then a for many miles we had mostly downhill runs as we approached Glasgow…
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Arrochar to Tyndrum

This was a nice easy ride, even though it was mostly climbing. We kept the day short because of rain, and also we are a bit head of schedule and don’t want to get to John O’Groats too early…
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Tyndrum to Fort William

Best Day Ever!
Today we rode through Glen Coe with spectacular scenery around every corner. We had a gentle climbs up and nice rides down. The day began clear and sunny but around noon it suddenly became overcast and started raining. We put on all of our rain gear as the rain was really pouring. We turned off of the main road and there was a pub open for lunch. So we parked our bikes outside and took off all of our rain gear to have delicious lunch …

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Glenfinnan Viaduct

We woke to a superb breakfast at the BnB of portage w/whiskey and honey and scrambled eggs with smoked salmon. The we rode the bikes down to the train station to see the Jacobite aka the Hogwarts Express. …

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Fort William to Loch Ness, Drumnadrochit

The Great Glen way. Hard to find, kept getting tossed out on the A82. Not a good road to be on. Was on it for like 10 miles or more. Then another 15. But the part of the cycle path we were on was enjoyable. Moss, ferns, lichen, everywhere. Tons of water, alongside lochs, nice…

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Drumnadrochit to Tain

Huge climb out of Drum. Steepest hill we’ve ever done. Had to walk, and at times zigzag across the road while pushing as it was too steep to push straight up. Nice guy while walking up. Had a short chat. He said he wished we had more time, I agreed but we both had work to do. On top, another glorious day, trees, farmland, livestock. Grace is doing so well. Sometimes she takes off while I’m taking a picture and she is out of sight…
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Tain to Dunbeath

Riding today we cam across the Dun Robin Castle. The estate was sprawling and lovely as we rode through a large section of the estate. We stopped near the coast at a cairn to talk some pictures and Ian spoke to a man using a drone to fly above the cairn. We rode through fields along he coast all filled with sheep and more sheep. We climbed massive hills…
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Dunbeath to John o'Groats

Grace and I wear all the rain gear today. It’s raining steadily when we start, then continues to rain more. When I’m thinking it can’t get any worst, the wind picks up. All this while climbing hills. After a couple of hours of riding in the rain we arrive in Wick…
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Orkney Islands

We had and extra day before we had to meet Ian’s sister Inverness so we decided to take the boat over to the Orkney Islands. We took a tour as we did not think we could see enough of the islands in one day by bike. We can highly recommend the tour…
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“You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy a bicycle and that’s pretty close.” — Anon
Grace & Ian
Gone Biking

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