Bikepacking LEJOG Alone VLOG - summary and tips
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
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I cycled and bikepacked from Land's End to John O'Groats solo. 1200 miles, 3 countries and 70,000ft of climbing. This is my experience and summary of the adventure, as well as some helpful tips!
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I don't normally do videos like this, but I thought I'd try something new. Give it a thumbs up if you liked it and please subscribe! New bike packing film every month.
The cinematic film can be found here: • Cycling Land's End to ...
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My Ultimate LEJOG Routes:
Day 1: www.mapmyride....
Day 2: www.mapmyride....
Day 3: www.mapmyride....
Day 4: www.mapmyride....
Day 5 and 6 combined: www.mapmyride....
Day 7: www.mapmyride....
Day 8: www.mapmyride....
Day 9: www.mapmyride....
Day 10: www.mapmyride....
Day 11: www.mapmyride....
Day 12: www.mapmyride....
Day 13: www.mapmyride....
Day 14: www.mapmyride....
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#bikepacking #LEJOG #vlog
Thanks for watching - let me know your LEJOG stories below 👇please subscribe if you like this film - Thanks! :D - Tom
UPDATE - All the routes I created are now in the video description, where you can download them FOR FREE. It's a tough one so be warned! :D
Enjoyed your video, thanks for sharing. I did LeJog this year, June 2021, on my 3 speed Brompton folding bike carrying camping gear and my little dog 🐶 in the front basket. I’m no spring chicken so set a daily average of only 30 miles so as to take things easy. We had the time of our lives 👍🏻🤗🥰
Thanks for watching! We would have been doing it at roughly the same time! That sounds great re the dog :) Sounds like a great adventure! All the best 😀
I did the RideLondon 100 on my Brompton a couple of weeks ago. Great little bikes! But to do LEJOG with a dog on a Brompton - wow, well done!
You did brilliantly! How utterly sensible to set yourself a 'doable' target for each day. I can't imagine that your canine companion would have appreciated a 60+mile dash each day. I'm also highly impressed with the idea of doing it with a 3-speed. I had 21 gears available of which I probably used only half but for the more definite inclines, I was glad of my granny gears. Well done twice over!!! I salute you - AND THE DOG!
I had heavy rain for 70% of the time & 40 mile an hour head winds in Cornwall ,At 59 I'm probably twice your age & I did complain as much as you have ;) ..... seriously well done & for a great cause .
Cheers! Good going 👍
Super Kudos to you! I can't imagine doing that mileage per day on a loaded bike with that gearing. Looked amazing and very much enjoyed your route and going on the route less traveled
Thank you! Yes it was a tough slog but absolutely loved it :)
Enjoyed that. Well done mate
Thanks very much!
Great effort good to meet you on the way up, I finished on the 27th after starting on the 1st, it was a great experience I would recomend Lejog to anyone just don't wait until you're 66 to do it
Thanks Peter! Same to you, glad you made it up the final stretch ok! :)
Congratulations on your achievement. Thanks so much for your vids and tips on where to ride & stay.
Thanks Tim! Glad you enjoyed.
Love the behind the scenes look! This route sounds fantastic, other than the electric fence 😉
Thanks Angela! Yes that was not my best moment I must admit haha
With you all the way. I did it in 1996 - aged 50, unfit and overweight. I took a more direct route using mainly A roads. It was a very pivotal experience, leading to some distress at times and quite a bit of euphoria at other times. With knee pain from Bodmin to Crianlarich, I certainly knew some 'tearful' moments. I nearly died of hyperthermia somewhere south of Helmsdale (that was the very lowest moment of the trip) but flying down Glen Coe at 40mph, tears of joy and thanksgiving were streaming around my face. I really got a sense that I would make it. My overall distance was about 1065ml as I went on to cross Orkney and the on to Shetland to finish at the tip of Herma Ness on Unst. The 'scariest' part of the trip was on the upper tip of Herma Ness when I was on foot in a strong offshore wet wind with Bonxies dive bombing me at the rate of one per minute. That trip gave me some great memories and your video helped to recreate some of them.
Thanks again
Paul in the Midlands
PS I often wonder why folk take some of the 'recommended' routes that take you over the most challenging of hills and riding surfaces. Some bike rides/tours are for the sheer pleasure of the environment and so out of the way routes are great. The LEJOG on the other hand is a definitely serious challenge in itself and to make it harder than it need be seems illogical. I found the A roads* and better B roads OK so long as you lit up your bike with plenty of aggressive flashers. The only real hazard I had on the move was when a flock of tiny birds flew at me for about half a mile as I passed through their breeding ground on Unst. To be attacked by birds smaller than sparrows was quite unsettling for a while.
* A roads usually take the path of least resistance and usually have various 'fuel stops' dotted along the way. With a decent surface, punctures and breakdowns are reduced if not cancelled altogether.
Did you take the cyclepath from Dunbarton to Balloch? I found it like riding over corrugated iron - the only time I lifted my butt off the saddle to protect it! (My butt, that is, not the saddle)
100% empathy with Day 13. My worst day was from Tain to Helmsdale with constant heavy rain, head wind and soaked to the skin. EVERYTHING was grey and foreboding and utterly miserable. The following day to JOG was the absolute opposite. Sun, dropped wind and fairly level going.
Sounds like a great adventure! I wanted to make it hard only because I love the hills and hate riding on busy A roads through less than picturesque places! Orkney and Shetland are in my to do list! Yes I took the path to Balloch and it was ok mostly, the worst stretches were in the midlands for jarring paths in my experience! Thanks for watching!
Top ride Tom, well done and very informative video.
Thanks Jon! Your route sounded like a good one!
Well done!Great insight thank you for making the video.
Thanks Ian! Hope you found it useful 🤞👍
What a great video. I found your latest one a few days ago and am now systematically going through all your back catalogue. It's really nice to see your progression as a film maker, especially how much more comfortable you are in talking to the camera.
I'm having great fun recognising places I have ridden, and there has been quite a few in common.
I'd definitely recommend the North coast 500 and I think your idea of reducing your daily mileage is a good one just to enjoy the scenery. Another one for you to look at is the Great North Trail but again plan this one very carefully as your average speed is way slower than you can normally expect due to the terrain especially in Scotland. ( you did one of the easy sections on this route, tissington trail)
Looking forward to watching the rest 👍
Thanks Richard! Both the NC500 and the Great North Trail are on the list of bikepacking adventures I’m planning on doing at some point so good to hear your recommendations. Hope you enjoy! :)
I am planning my LEJOG trip for this summer. You chose an impressively hilly and off-road route - very scenic but quite a bit more challenging than the norm. I'm planning for the Cicerone route which bypasses some of the worst of the hills (no North Devon coast, Brecon Beacons, Peak District or Lake District!) but will miss some of the more spectacular scenery you captured so well. Congrats!
Good luck with it! No matter the route you’ll have a blast. Thanks for watching my adventure :)
Great video and well done on a fantastic achievement😊
Thanks Tom! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Inspired and jealous, despite the pain I bet that was awesome. And helping that is the beautiful piano music through Scotland. What is it please?
Thanks for watching! I’m afraid I don’t have that information to hand but I’ll try and dig it out for you
Well done, you chose an arduous root. I fully agree about the a74 section
Thanks! Yes I wanted it to be hard so went for the scenic climbing route. :) Glad it’s not just me… awful road 😅
Excellent effort, very inspiring.
Thanks very much! Appreciate it :)
Well done Jonny on yet another magnificent innings for England! Will you be cycling back from Edgbaston with your big bag?
👍
Wonderfully helpful for planning. I'd also really be really interested in how you stay charged with all your electronics etc. And what mapping system you use.
Glad it was helpful! I use an Anker 20000ma battery pack to charge most things like my phone and filming stuff. The drone batteries need a power socket however…
I use a Garmin 520 edge and mostly use MapMyRide to plan my routes and upload them to the Garmin for navigation. 👍
Great video with some useful information. I'm looking to do a solo LEJOG next June and was good to hear your insight to it. The A82 looks an amazing road and one I'd love to ride but from what I've read online it seems it's a bit of a death trap for cyclists in summer - maybe the fact you did it over the pandemic meant you got to enjoy quieter roads rather than worrying about idiot drivers.j
Thanks! Hope your LEJOG is a success! It’s not too bad at certain times tbh. I’ve ridden it a few times but I can see why you’d look at other sections. Good luck!
@@Cycling366 how did you find the wild camps? I plan to mix it up a bit like you did just to keep costs down.
@@cdwilson12 I just used Google Steetview when planning the routes and looked for places I could investigate! Sometimes a wild camping place just presents itself if you keep your eyes peeled in advance. Good luck!
Although the A82 is a bit precarious at times, I still recommend it (even though I was oppressed by miles of caravanners bombing up north for the Bank Holiday and one nearly crushing me against Pulpit Rock) It is a beautiful part of the journey not to be missed but ADORN YOUR BIKE WITH PLENTY OF FLASHERS TO WARD OFF NEGLECTFUL MOTORISTS!! (A good loud horn is another good idea as well as a good thump on the side of caravans too close) I got the last laugh as I passed a mile of stationary caravans on the approach to Crianlarich and that gave me a great deal of smug satisfaction.
Dude that is one hell of a LEJOG - good effort. I need to know what you did in the morning after Days Inn!!? Did you have to go back over the electric fence? You're a machine!!
Thanks very much! Glad you enjoyed it. I actually spent a good hour searching for a way out and found that there’s actually a rideable path (that’s not signed) around the south of the hotel so you can get back to the back road that way! All that trauma for nothing 😂
@@Cycling366 At least you know what to do next time I suppose! All the best for 2022 :-)
Well done mate
Thanks! :)
You present really well and have a very likeable way about you. Were you wild camping part of the time? And could you kindly recommend any side panniers? Thank you. Ray
Cheers Ray! Thanks for watching. Yes I wild camped every time I was camping on this trip. I use Topeak side panniers - all my gear I recommend is here: www.cycling366.com
@@Cycling366 Thanks so much for your help.
@@raygroom1167 No problem!
Hi! Great video. Can you share a bit of your expenses during your bikepacking in LEJOG? Thanks
Cheers Ian. I mixed it up with wild camping and staying with family and b and bs depending on the day. I booked my accommodation early 2021 when things were just opening up so managed to get things fairly cheap to be honest. Wild camping was free of course! 😂
The music was too loud and you could have spoken louder but then I’m hearing challenged and use an iPad. But i love your vids!
Thanks! Always looking to improve so thanks for the feedback
Well done for doing the ride unsupported in such a short time and also for such an interesting record of it. May I ask how you went about finding and booking your B&Bs?
Thanks Richard! Appreciate it. I actually planned all my routes first and then shaved/added miles to fit where I could find B&Bs that would take my bike. I used Booking.com for all of them to be honest!
Hoping to a 400 miler next year so thankyou for your help.
Can you kindly say if it was ok getting your bike on the train from Wick to go home? Did you need to book it on? Thank you. Ray
Hi Ray, you DEFINITELY need to book your bike on as they’re quite strict. 👍
Cheers for letting me know.
@@raygroom1167 No worries! Good luck with it :)