What Route to Take

 

What Route to Take

In the previous "General Considerations" post I weighed the pros and cons of LEJOG vs JOGLE.  There are many permitations of what overall route to take, for example, some people choose to do the entire journey by the shortest possible route, sticking to A roads.  This for me sounds like hell and I would need to question the reason for undertaking the journey in the first place if all I was going to see was a constant stream of heavy traffic.  Some of the main route planning questions I asked myself when planning the route were as follows:

• Should I make use of long distance footpaths like the Pennine Way, Great Glen Way, Cotswold Way etc. or stick to footpaths and bridleways, quiet roads and Sustrans routes?
• Should I divert around the busy A9 & A99 in Scotland, adding an extra day to the journey?
• Should I follow guide book routes or published GPS trails of others that have completed the walk?
• How many miles should I cover in a day?
  (I have decided to have a daily target of 25 miles, this will cover the 1,100 miles in 44 days).

Route Planning

So where do you start when trying to plan such a long route?  Well, the answer is that there is enough information available to mean that you do not need to scrutinise OS maps and work out a detailed route yourself.  Instead, you can check out some of the published routes of people who have done this before.  Some of the books that almost everyone undertaking this challenge seem to come across are as follows:

• The Land's End to John O'Groats Walk by Andrew McCloy ISBN-10: 1871890594
•  The End to End Trail by Andy Robinson ISBN-10: 1852845120
• John O'Groats to Land's End: The Official Challenge Guide by Brian Smailes  ISBN-10: 1903568188

 These provide useful information from different perspectives.  Andy McCloy's book provides details of scenic routes on quiet routes, wheres Brian Smailes book focuses on the shortest possible route, sticking to A roads.
The most useful resources that I found when researching the route were blogs and published GPX tracks from people who had completed the journey.  I managed to find a complete published track across the country which I used as the basis of my route.  It was still necessary to reverse the route for each day, tidy up any diversions, waymark campsites etc. but having the entire route essentially in place was invaluable.  I shall include my own route for download if and when I complete it successfully.

Websites that proved incredibly useful when planning this trip were the following:

• Dave Greenwood's Blog
• Milkman Gary's Blog
• Michael Walter's Blog
• Mark Moxon's Blog

General Considerations

General Considerations

When considering travelling the length of the country, there are many things to consider, here are a few of my thoughts around the challenge.

Mode of Transport

The End to End challenge has been done in more ways than you could imagine, some so bizzare, the mind boggles as to how on earth they could be done, these include:

• Skate board
• Pogo stick
• Wheel barrow (two brothers who then changed over and went back the other way) 
• Teeing a golf ball all the way
• By bus pass

 Obviously all these methods were going to be out of the question, so this left the following options:

• Cycling - 10 to 20 days
• Running - 30 to 40 days
• Walking - 45 to 55 days

 After having cycled it back in 1985 and having enjoyed every minute, I really fancied having a go at running it this time.  However, the logistics of running proved to be too much, this would require a support vehicle to carry all my gear, every day for up to seven weeks and I didn't have anyone able to do that.  Therefore the only viable option was to walk it.

North South, or South North

This is always a matter of much debate, most people seem to do LeJog rather than JogLe.  If I was on bike then this would definitely be a LeJog to take advantage of the prevailing winds, but on foot that's not so important.  In the end, it is a matter of personal preference and there is no right or wrong way to go.
Here are some of the pros & cons:

South - North (LeJog)

Pros:

• Prevailing winds - can save a whole day if on bike.
• Maps will always be the right way up.
• Established route guides in this direction.
• Sun on your back rather than in your face.

Cons: 

• It gets cooler as you head North.
• Some big hills and midges saved for the end.

North - South (JogLe)

Pros:

• It gets warmer as you travel South.
• Gets midges and the busy A9 and A99 out of the way in the first week.
• You get to finish the walk in surfer country.

Cons:

•  The sun and wind will be in your face.
• Maps will always be upside down.

Alone or Accompanied

Many people choose to do this walk alone, possibly because they can't find anyone else mad enough, or able to spare the time off work to join them.  The prospect of travelling 1,100 miles on foot alone could be quite daunting to many people and perhaps the monotony of some parts is better having someone to share the experience with.  Ultimately this is a matter of whether you think that you need a travelling companion, or prefer break the trail and its many experiences alone.

Conclusions

I decided to do JogLe rather than LeJog because I wanted to finish in a warmer part of the country where I'm used to having summer beach holidays and because I've done LeJog before, so this would be a different experience.  The prospect of doing the journey by foot is certainly a daunting one, but many people complete this challenge every year and some people do it in ways that make my attempt look like a Sunday afternoon stroll!