The final chapter

John O'Groats 24th June - Land's End 9th July 2017

The start

The finish

The party

We had a great party in the Rose-in-Vale hotel on Saturday night and the young ones presented me with a personalised cycling shirt to commemorate the ride and my 60th birthday. Some had to be back in London on Monday so I was up on early on Sunday to make a good start. Prepared for the good weather forecast, low cloud was apparent and I went back for my waterproof jacket, a good move as the cloud level was about 200' above ground level. Once on the road, as with Anthony way back in Devon, 20 miles flew by before breakfast at Hayle, then across the peninsula to Penzance, and abandoning the quiet roads, a blast along the A30 in dry conditions with some sun to Sennen. Then the cloud closed in again but I didn't care and put the foot on the gas to fairly fly into Land's End. There was the welcoming party, champagne at the ready, and a huge sense of relief for me that everything had gone more or less to plan and the journey was over.

Got the T-shirt!

Not too many of those - one more day to go

Sue and Mum on Saturday - not far now

In this final entry I'll try and summarise my JOGLE, but I will sign off with a huge thank you to everyone who contributed through sponsorship (it's not too late!), those who met me en route, cycling or otherwise, and all the friends and family who trekked down to Cornwall to celebrate both the end of the ride and my landmark birthday. I will single out only two people, my Mum who I really wanted to be there for my big event, and Sue who supported me all through the planning and training and came up to Lancashire as well as down to Cornwall for the finish.

Birthday fireworks at the Miners' Arms

Planning

I suppose I started planning this many years ago as a young boy when I first heard of Land's End - John O'Groats. However it only became serious last summer when I thought I should do something for my 60th and this came easily into my mind. I did a fair amount of research, including reading other blogs and getting in contact with people who had done the trip to gain from their experiences. Many evenings were spent reading, trying out route planning tools, deciding which kit to buy and to take, where to stay and whether to book or not, and considering many other factors that could make or break a successful trip. 

Some major decisions were - 

North-South / top to bottom or vice versa?
Wind, distance, a sense of coming home going south,
transport links, getting people to the finish line, all were in the mix.

What sort of bike?
In the end I just took the one I had.

The route
Not as easy as it sounds - there are as many routes as people who do LEJOG/JOGLE. I tried to fit it into the time I had with as few main roads as possible, not possible in Scotland but I did manage some canal towpaths and other offroad sections later on.

Kit
I chose to travel as light as I possibly could - sawn off toothbrush included! I stayed in B&Bs and small hotels mainly which helped and were generally comfortable.

Alone, with a mate, in a group?
I really felt it was my challenge and just wanted to do it myself. I wouldn't have refused an offer from a compatible friend but didn't go looking.

Preparation

At the start I wasn't sure I'd done enough training but I must have done because each day after the first few I didn't have any real doubts about managing, as long as the knee held out. Doing a couple of consecutive long trips at a weekend was good for building confidence. I did quite a lot in the gym over the winter, 45 minute high intensity spinning classes where the majority were 30+ years younger than me. As the weather improved 10 or 20 mile evening or Saturday rides increased to 40s and 50s, then up to 60. A painful knee was diagnosed as....a typical 59 year old knee by a specialist, so I used Ibuprofen as a preventative measure and managed a 74 mile ride followed by 51 on the May Bank Holiday without serious ill effects. It was only then that I started thinking I might be able to do the consecutive long days necessary to complete the distance in two weeks. 

The ride

It was varied: challenging, enjoyable, painful, occasionally boring, fun, frustrating, amusing, just about everything really. You see a lot of Scotland, England and a bit of Wales, some of which I knew, other parts I want to go back to, and it makes you want to stop and explore, but you can't as there's a job to be done and a destination to reach. If I did it again I'd take longer and avoid more main roads than I was able to, particularly in Scotland. The weather was dire to begin with but I decided it could only improve and was relieved to find it did. I met a variety of people, mostly interested, indeed fascinated by what I was doing, and some like the dentist in Lockerbie who I really didn't expect to meet (the tooth did finally crack in Clevedon and will have to be removed). There were ex-naval cyclists also on JOGLE and a German national older than me with spoke problems by the roadside "I was hoping to get back to Germany"; the Egyptian and Jordanian trainee pilots living with the Polish and Irish labourers on a caravan site near Bristol Airport and the 80-year old cyclist still riding Bodmin Moor who handed me a fiver for the cause. It was great to stay with my wife Sue and my friend Paul from schooldays in a Lancashire castle, to ride with brother Giles down the Wye Valley, to have breakfast with colleague Darren F in Somerset and the next day ride with Anthony McG from his lovely village of Uffculme to Sainsbury's in Exeter for breakfast (sorry I missed you the next day Dave R). Glencoe and Rannoch Moor in Scotland, not to forget Lochs Ness, Lomond and lazily named Lochy, were special, followed by Ullswater in the Lake District and the single most arduous climb to 1500' up Kirkstone Pass. Crossing the Severn Estuary on first the M48 and then the M5 (cycleways both!) gave way to the wilds of Dartmoor, the hardest complete day as I added 15 miles, mostly climbing out of Tavistock, in order to shorten the following day - but the scenery and experience were magnificent. And then the final run under lowering skies at breakneck speed having ditched my load at the hotel and knowing I had only a few miles to go, from outside Penzance to Land's End itself. 

The end

I'd heard there are people who never want to get on a bike again and some who want to keep going indefinitely. I was at neither extreme, but was quite happy to get back on two feet and enjoy an extra day visiting a tin mine and St Michael's Mount without going near a bike. The courier who drove me from Inverness Airport to J O'G said some people arriving there from the South spend ten minutes taking photos and turn round for home the same day - I would recommend some R&R if you can manage it, partly to let the satisfying feeling of achievement sink in. I did, and it's great!

Routes and stats

Some take a month, more take about two weeks like me, others race it in ten days or fewer, like Sonny at Airwave who also knocked off the highest mountains in three countries as a hiking side-plate to the main cycling dish. I failed to upload all my routes to the blog on the way, so will finish off with a comprehensive list in the next few days.

Thanks again

Once again, thanks to anyone and everyone who supported me in any way or took enough interest to read the blog and wish me well. If you're thinking of trying it don't hesitate to ask me or anyone else who has: I took advantage of others' experience and while it was my unique trip I took something from everyone I spoke to.

Jim (James) Strother
July 2017

With Sue and Mum, still only 59, one day to go