13 minute read
Double trouble
The cycling gods conspired to ensure that Nottingham-based Kevin and Tracey Smith’s tandem LeJoG attempt would coincide with the worst weather of summer 2020. But despite chilling rain, pandemic, punctures, rogue tractors, midges and a dodgy lochside B&B, they made it. This is Kevin’s tale…
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KEVIN SMITH
Double trouble Double trouble
O N T H E R O A D N O R T H
I’D BEEN MENTIONING my wish to take the tandem from Land’s End to John O’Groats to my wife, Tracey for a while, but she seemed strangely indifferent to the idea. So it was something of a surprise to learn that, behind my back, she’d registered us for a 2020 LeJoG calendar event. Apparently, according to the organiser, the last time someone did that, it rather back-fired!
Clearly Tracey knew me better. I thought it was a fantastic gift. So, early in 2020, we began our planning and preparation, booked time off work and started upping the training miles.
The challenge was to ride the length of Britain – a 1,402km route – in under 116 hours and 40 minutes. We began studying maps and booking accommodation. Everything was sorted – and then Covid-19 kicked in, and eventually the whole event was cancelled.
Then came the unlocking over July and August – so we resurrected our plans. We decided to ride it ourselves, over seven 200km rides. It would be a little longer than the timed event, but that was how we agreed we’d ride it.
The logistics of getting a tandem one way to and from the finish were a headache, but I found I could arrange a van through my work. The van would be dropped off at our home for the ridiculous cost of £23 plus fuel! The remoteness of John Kevin and Tracey broke their LeJoG attempt into seven main sections. These are their statistics: 1 Land’s End to Barnstaple 128-miles, 2,619m ascent 2 Barnstaple to Hereford 142-miles, 2,623m ascent 3 Hereford to Warrington 125-miles, 1736m ascent 4 Warrington to Carlisle 135-miles, 1,687m ascent 5 Carlisle to Inverbeg 127-miles, 1,486m ascent 6 Inverbeg to Inverness 137-miles, 2,972m ascent 7 Inverness to JOG 126-miles, 1,942m ascent 8 JOG to Wick 17-miles, 202m ascent
Just give me a sign… we arrived at Lands End to learn that, apparently, the famous sign is removed and replace daily to prevent theft – and it wasn’t there!
Bottled… luckily we had some bottled water left from the journey down, and would manage with this on day one
You’re welcome… Our route took us out of Barnstaple and over Exmoor, requiring us to climb almost continuously for more than 25km, some of it very steep and very slow
O’Groats made a van at that end impossible, so we arranged a Hertz hire from Wick, 17 miles John O’Groats, back to Nottingham.
We planned to travel as light as possible, and had put together packages to post to each of our planned B&B stops, which would include staples like chamois cream, natural energy products, salty snacks, energy drinks and recovery products. We also studied our route, picking out feed stops and evening food supplies, which we turned into daily route cards
So, 24 July arrived, and so did our van as planned. We set off for Land’s End on a lovely, warm and sunny day. All was going so well – until we reached our B&B and discovered I’d not packed the water bottles. Plan B was to order some on Amazon and have them delivered next day to my daughter’s home in Barnstaple, where we planned to stop. Luckily we had some bottled water left from the journey down, and would manage with this on day one.
On the morning of 25 July our epic journey began. We’d planned to be on the road for around 7.30am, and were soon heading the one mile to the start point. The weather had taken a complete dive – it was now cold, foggy and damp. We arrived at Lands End to find that, apparently, the famous sign is removed and replaced daily to prevent theft – and it wasn’t there!
Day 1 Saturday 25 July It was too cold to stand still for long, and we were raring to go. We stopped for a quick photo at St Michaels Mount, but the mist obscured the view. We stopped at Camborne for coffee and a snack. From here it was mostly quiet lanes to Truro, then on to Bodmin, where we stopped for lunch.
We were soon on to the Tarka Trail all the way to Barnstaple – a disused railway listed as the longest closed-to-motorvehicles path in the UK. The weather brightened a little after being cold and wet all day. This was to be the theme of the week – cold, wet, and misty, which was a blow, especially after all the fantastic weather we’d had during lockdown. Tracey and I are both key workers and had worked right through lockdown.
We arrived at our daughter’s in Barnstaple around 8pm, welcomed with open arms, given a lovely meal, then off to bed.
Day 2 Sunday 26 July The weather was similar to the previous day before. Our route would take us out of Barnstaple and over Exmoor, requiring us to climb almost continuously over 25km, some of it very steep and very slow going. The roads were narrow and broken in places, resulting in descending no quicker than ascending in some cases. On one particular very steep and narrow, wooded inclined bend, a large tractor with a contraption attached to its rear, had us off the tarmac and on to the soft stuff, I don’t know how we remained upright.
Shortly afterwards, we punctured! This was partly my fault in tyre choice. We usually run 32mm Conti Gatorskin and latex tubes, the combo giving a good ride and fairly puncture proof. However, we run Vittoria Controls on our solo bikes, an excellent tyre for speed and resilience. We’d tested some 30s on the tandem and proved they were quicker with a plusher ride. So we opted for them. This was to our detriment with the rain washing so many flints on to the road. We punctured twice that day.
We broke the ride at Dunster for coffee and snacks, made up some time and lunched at Burnham on Sea. The weather had dried a little, but it wasn’t warm and the roads were still wet. We got back to the bike to find another front puncture.
Over the Severn Bridge we made our
Canal knowledge… heading to Chorley along what we thought would have been a reasonably good-surfaced tow path, but wasn’t – we came off and took a longer but faster route on the road
way to a relative in Chepstow. This was intended to be a quick hello but we stayed longer than planned – not a good idea in hindsight with what was still left to pedal.
We stopped at Monmouth to pick up food for the evening, knowing it would be late and our Airbnb had cooking facilities. We pressed on to Hereford but our stopover was very difficult to find, being at the end of a long dark, unlit lane, and arrived at around midnight. The owners were very nice, and came out to direct us in with torches.
After a hot shower we sat on our bed eating an unappetising microwave meal with rice pudding to finish off, then slept, as best we could. This was the only stopover where our package never made it, in fact it had been returned and was waiting for us when we got home, where it was of no use!
Day 3 Monday 27 July Wet again, and we had to go off-route to get chamois cream. We didn’t want to risk it, and run out of the little we had with all the wet weather we were experiencing. So off into Hereford to find what we could.
The journey to our morning stop at Clun, over a very hilly 40m, was followed by a lovey descent into Shrewsbury, where we picked up lunch which we ate in a bus shelter out of the rain.
We eventually arrived at our night’s stay in Warrington. It was a lovely place, owned by a couple of cyclists. They really looked after us here, with food and wine provided. Not the normal service, they said, reserved only for endurance cyclists!
Day 4
Tuesday 28 July We waved goodbye to our excellent hosts, Helen and Walter. It was windy with more showers. Heading to Chorley along what we thought would have been a reasonably good surfaced tow path, but wasn’t, we came off and took a longer but faster route on the road. The weather brightened slightly, but still not warm enough to remove the jackets and it was quite windy, making for slow progress.
We picked up a sandwich from Subway, not our normal food source, but needs must, and sat by the canal in Lancaster in what little sunshine we were experiencing, the extraordinary long Subway, actually tasted okay and hit the spot.
We pressed on to Carlisle and Westlinton, to our overnight farm stay. Descending into Morcambe Bay, we had a rear blow out at speed. The side wall had worn on the rim. Fortunately, I’d taken a spare folder, so with that replaced, we continued on over Shap. We were very tired on arrival at Mount Farm, but a warm welcome was waiting from Marg, our host. In fact we are staying with her again this year when we ride Hadrians Wall and back via the Rievers Way. A lovely location and fantastic service, the breakfast was the best we had.
While at Marg’s, we agreed we’d had enough punctures so new tyres were on the shopping list. The modern hi-tech world really does come in handy at times. We trawled the shops looking for what I knew and trusted. Evans was our best option, in Glasgow and not too far off route. They closed at 6pm and we had a good 150km to ride before they closed.
Day 5 29 July We decided to ride hard and take a quick break every 25km. It worked. We used the cycle path to navigate Glasgow, and arrived at Evans with about 20 minutes spare. Now with two Conti Gatorskins attached to our rear rack, we grabbed some food and sat in the city square with pasta, chicken and more rice pudding and some gluten free coconut things, in the cool, late afternoon sun, and polished it off.
Our overnight stay was at Inverbeg, but there was no food available and nothing open anywhere. We already knew this and planned to stop at the McDonalds in Alexandria. This was where we encountered Scotland’s midges. With the rules dictating outside seating only, we didn’t hang around, but ate up and pushed on to our B&B.
The B&B on the banks of Loch Lomond was a very nice place indeed and in a prime location, and double the price of the others we’d booked. And I can safely say it was about half as good. It started with being told not to put the bathroom light on as it “annoys the bloke next door”, then the breakfast was a very poor self-service offering of packaged goods. The price certainly didn’t reflect the service. I got attacked by midges unloading the panniers and replacing the tyres, just to finish the day off!
Day 6 30 July We left Inverbeg, bound for Inverness, some 220km away. It was raining again and cold with it. Our day card told us there was a place to stop at Tyndrum for a morning break. At 41km in, we found a lovely little place in the sun, as the weather had improved.
We were in the Glencoe range now and it was very wet and cold, especially considering it was peak summer time. The views were obscured by mist and low cloud, but the lively riding made up for it a little. We stopped at Glencoe for coffee and to warm our bones, as we were getting quite cold.
Our main stop for the day was Fort William, and we wasted a little time finding somewhere to eat. We settled on a chip shop. This meal goes down in history. We both had sausage and chips, and I opted for the black pudding version. When it arrived, we both wondered how the hell to deal with it. Tracey’s came with two, foot long versions, while mine was a single foot long battered black pudding. It took some getting through.
We eventually got back on the bike, though somewhat heavier, and started for Fort Augustus, via Luss and the Caledonian Canal. It was raining quite considerably and we called in for respite from the rain and cold, for a hot drink.
Whenever we stopped the midges arrived within seconds. It was quite unpleasant. At one point we rode past some walkers setting up camp. With the rain and
Braking bad… It was raining quite considerably and we called in for respite from the rain and cold, for a hot drink.
Success in sight… the sun shines in Scotland as we near the end of the journey
midges, it made us feel fortunate we were heading for a warm dry room!
Rather than the more scenic Old Military Road in the mist and rain, we opted for the main road, a busier, longer, but faster, and less wet route. There are dreadful stories around about this stretch, but to be honest, it wasn’t bad. As we neared Inverness, we stopped to pick up a steak each for cooking at the Airbnb. I think we even managed a pudding that night too! It was probably rice pudding.
Day 7 31 July The weather was in stark contrast to the rest of the week on our final day. It was warm – warm enough to remove jackets and exchange our autumn jerseys for summer ones, the first time these had seen daylight!
Our first stop was at Alness for coffee and sandwiches. It was nice now, just as summer should be. We sat on a bench in the sun and off we went, not quite aware what we were about to achieve.
Lunch was at a lovely little place in Golspie, the Coffee Bothy, where Tracey had a tuna and cheese toastie while I sampled the haggis version. Feeling suitably fuelled we headed for Lybster. Our target that day was John O’ Groats.
It was a fast ride from Wick to John O’ Groats. We took the photo and helped a couple of chaps who were there with their Tesla, attempting a one-charge journey record to Lands End. Then we made our way to our Airbnb for a takeaway and a glass of wine to celebrate.
Day 8 1 August A short 17 miles was all we needed this morning – to get to Wick before midday when Hertz closed. It was a nice drive. We stopped at the Coffee Bothy at Golspie for lunch and were home in Nottingham by around 9pm.
Tracey and I have ridden bikes for years. I’ve raced road, CX and MTB for quite some time, but only ridden a tandem for the last five years. I’ve ridden PBP and many Audaxes too. And we completed a tandem RRTY last year.
This ride was our first proper multi-day ride. In hindsight, it would have been nice to spend more time and see more of the places we rode through. The weather was not on our side, we mostly had our heads down, pedalling to the next place on the list. But from a challenge ride point of view, we do feel quite pleased. It is quite surprising just how far you can get on a bike!
