What is the Lands End to John o'Groats bike ride all about?
The LEJOG cycle ride is the grand daddy of all cycling challenges in the UK, starting (or finishing) at Lands End in Cornwall (the extreme southwestward point in mainland Britain) and ending (or starting) at John o'Groats in northern Scotland - very close to the most northerly point of mainland Britain.
The shortest LEJOG route possible by bike - avoiding motorways - is around 900 miles, whilst avoiding major roads brings this up to over 950 miles. Once you factor in any detours or deviations, such as to your accommodation each night or to avoid the worst hills, then most people ending up riding around 1000 miles on their challenge.
There is no "official" path and people take all sorts of routes; when I rode it I went via Leeds (my home city) cycling 1,060 miles in total, although most people tend to stay west of the Pennines and thread up between Liverpool and Manchester.
All sorts of different bikes have been used to ride LEJOG or JOGLE over the years, from recumbents to tandem bikes, from fixed gears to mountain bikes, and even from unicycles to penny farthings! The challenge isn't just limited to bikes either - hundreds of people each year choose to walk the route, many people drive or motorbike it, and some people even use several modes of transport including kayaks!
Planning a LEJOG / JOGLE ride?
Seahouses, Northumberland
When planning my trip I had hundreds of questions and didn't know where to start. What I should pack? Where would I stay? How do I plan a safe LEJOG route? I wasn't even sure how I was going to get to Lands End or John o'Groats, let alone with my bike!
I learnt a lot whilst planning the ride - and during the trip itself - so I've created this website to pass on my experiences and hopefully help make life easier for everyone else. I've arranged it into following sections:
- Route planning & Navigation: Suggestions for how to approach planning a route and for navigating as you ride.
- LEJOG route for download: This page has the Lands End to John o'Groats route files I created for my ride, ready for download (in GPX format). Obviously they'd work as a JOGLE route too - just reverse them!
- Common online routing tools: Step-by-step guides to using some common tools for planning a LEJOG route, including Strava, Google Maps, and uploading files to a Garmin.
- Equipment: My entire kit list, which might give you ideas for what to take.
- Getting to/from the start & end: Ideas for different ways of getting to Lands End and John o'Groats (and back again!) with your bike.
- Training & fitness: How to train for LEJOG, along with tips for avoiding the most common injuries.
- Safety & Security: Tips on staying safe - including details on different sections of the route - and keeping your bike & belongings secure.
- LE JOG blog: The diary I kept from my trip, with lots of photos!
- Commonly asked questions: Answers to many common questions that might not feature elsewhere on this site.
- Links: Lots of useful links to other resources on the web, such as Sustrans, CTC, train companies' cycle policies, a cycle touring festival, Facebook groups, and other LEJOG / JOGLE websites.
If you have any feedback on the site, perhaps any tips from your own experiences of riding LEJOG or JOGLE, then I'd love to hear please! Please contact me at: [email protected]
Cocklawburn beach, Northumberland