Graham on Shap

Professor Dart's Lunchtime Snooze - Kendal

Stretching in Kendal

Benson aka John

With trusty map and camera at the start of day 5 - Chorley to Carlisle.

Day 4 Summary

Is the weather ever going to change?  Overcast, cold and NE wind - mind you we only had rain during the last hour and a half today.  The easiest day so far and all feeling fine at the end  - 114 miles covered (Ludlow to Chorley), 1700m climb and just over 8.5 hours in the saddle.  Apart from aching quads, necks and shoulders and the odd blister and bit of chaffing we are all coping well .  Barry though has an achilles problem which isn't slowing him down as yet. We also had our second fall - this time it was Celia who took a bad tumble onto the pavement just after we left Nantwich. 

A few comments on the route - initially we took back roads out of Ludlow but this soon proved problematic after we hit a hill at over 20% - not a good choice.  We reverted to main roads which proved to be OK with the traffic creating few difficulties.  The route through the Liverpool/Manchested corridor was fine with only a few points where traffic was an issue - Northwich and Leigh areas.  The toll (12p) for the bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal was waived - maybe too much hassle after Barry sailed passed the barrier without even a second look at the toll booth.

Worth mentioning food.  We burn around 8000 calories a day on the road - so when we are not cycling we are busy stocking up on calories.  We munch and drink whilst in the saddle but stop at least a couple of times for proper food.  Today we set off without breakfast and cycled a few miles before breakfasting in Much Wenlock  (nice place populated it seems by rather elderly people), lunching in Nantwich and taking dinner at the end of the ride in Chorley - the two main meals for £10 option was taken up gladly by a few of the team.

Forgot to mention yesterday that Jack's pal Graham had joined us for a few days. He was with us yesterday and today and will also do tomorrow's stage.

Route and stats are here.

Much hungry in Much Wenlock

Day 3 Summary

Bridgewater to Ludlow - 110 miles and  around 1500m climb.  A much better day overall - two bridges crossed (Avon and Severn) and some wonderful scenery in the Wye valley and around Monmouth.  Even the weather started to get a bit better - although we still had the cold NE wind.  Mainly smooth fast road with a few stiff hills thrown in for good measure .  Won the first puncture competition  - had a blow out on way out of Monmouth, luckily on back wheel whilst going uphill. New tyre as well as tube required - luckily Benson (aka John) was close at hand to supply the necessary parts.  Barry won the first to fall off competition (not really a surprise), after he clipped a pavement edge. Muscles are starting to ache  - which both Alan and Jack tried to address with ice cold baths, at the end of the day -  the technique of getting into the cold water with minimum pain  was discussed at length over dinner! All getting into the groove - an earlier finish at around 7.30 pm and the different terrain certainly helped.

Route detail and stats here.

Severn Bridge

Breakfast Day 3

Day 2 Summary

13 hours on the road - 10 spent on the bike (the balance spent eating and chatting). 119 miles and over 3000m climbing. As predicted the hills were the feature of the day, particularly the 26 percenter not long after the start and the long drag before Tiverton. It was cold all day with a north easterly breeze and a bit of rain. Hopefully that's the worst over and we'll get to the hotel tomorrow at a reasonable time - two nights in a row finishing after 9 isn't great.

Route details and stats here.

Welcome to Devon

Day 1 Summary - Lands End to St Austell

A tough day. Delayed start due to a heavy downpour at Lands End meant we didn't start cycling until around 4 o'clock. Weather a bit dull at start with a wee NE breeze but quickly turned into a fine evening. The hills caught everyone by surprise - they were relentless. Up hill, downhill then repeat. All finished in good spirits though, but in desperate need of some food. We didn't really stop, which was probably a mistake. Something to remember for tomorrow when we do double the distance over similar terrain. Total distance around 62 miles (as expected), climb - over 1700m (600m more than expected) and average speed of 12.5mph meant 5 hours on the road rather than the 4 hours initially hoped for. Certainly need to revise our time estimates for tomorrow. Highlights - King Harry Ferry. Low points - the climb out of St Austell centre to the Premier Inn at Carclaze. Not what you want at the end of a hard day. Roll on tomorrow - St Austell to Bridgewater, the toughest day of the lot on paper.

Route details and stats here.

Go Water Rats Go!

Penzance

Oh no, its raining.

Gloucester

Arrived Premier Inn, Gloucester at 1.30am Friday. Fair to say we left it a little bit late in leaving - 8pm. Nevertheless, make good progress down the road. Van is well and truely packed with bikes and assorted gear - not clear to me how we are going to put three bodies in the back for the short stretch from Penzance to Lands End (after we hand back the car). I'm sure we'll manage though.

Penzance Bound

Ready to Roll

The bikes and bags are packed and we are all raring to go.  We leave tomorrow night by car and van, with a stop over in Gloucester before arriving at Lands End around mid-day Friday. We then start the cycle with a 60 mile trip to St Austell. This should break us in gently. We are planning to drop photographs onto the blog from our phones on a regular basis, with a tidy up happening every evening - so make sure to follow our progress.

Here is Friday's route;

Day 1 (half day): Lands End to St Austell


View LEJOG Day 1.1 in a larger map

Route Summary

Thought you might like to see the whole route - here it is.  All 929 miles of it. You can see the individual stages in the March Archive.

Alan goes solo

Alan didn't join the gang this morning , but headed out on his own later in the day.  He made us look as though we were slacking with his 77 mile ride in just over 5 hours (around 15mph average).   Here's what he had to say about it;

"Route - Larkhall, Uddingston, Blantyre, Sykes Brae, Muttonhole Road, Whitelee, Darvel, transmitter hill, Sorn, Muirkirk, Strathaven and then back to Larkhall.  Made interesting by getting caught up in a Glenmarnock road race and pacing a guy from Ayr CC from Muirkirk all the way to Strathaven!  I was flying, amazing - but knackered now!"

Sound fun and should set him up perfectly for next week.

Sunday Bike

A short steady ride round Louden Hill and Whitelee with Jack, Celia and Alex - 40 miles and 750m climb.  If the weather for LEJOG  is as good as today we'll be happy - maybe with just a few degrees warmer. Route map and stats are here.