The route

At this stage, presumably the most interesting piece of information is a detailed description of the planned route.

After my Calgary-Anchorage bike tour I thought that the planning process for such a tour could be minimised as a lot of the things to plan and prepare aren’t new to me anymore. In parts, I guess that’s true. HOWEVER: What I’ve completely underestimated is the planning of the route. Whilst there was only one real decision to make how to get from Calgary to Anchorage back in 2007 (taking the ‘long’ route on Cassier Highway via Whitehorse or going on the Inside Passage via Juneau) and for the rest there existed one single road which I was able to follow for hundreds of miles, my journey through the UK will be completely different. Hundreds of roads, trunk roads, major routes, minor roads, scenic routes, direct routes, hilly, remote, … And all of them add up to approx. 1,600km/1,000 miles in the end. It’s impossible to find “the best option”.

For my part, I’ve chosen the route – God knows whether I’ll actually more or less follow it as planned or if everything changes as the ride moves forward – considering the following:

• I wanted to cycle through all three parts of Great Britain, England, Wales and Scotland (I’ll only be in Wales for 20 or so kilometres, but I’ll be there!)
• I wanted to make it as scenic as possible without losing myself too much in detours and minor roads where it’s necessary to check the map every 5 minutes in order to navigate correctly – with combined input from the British national cycling organisation CTC, loads of websites about recent trips, and a book I bought back in 2008 already, I hope I found a good compromise between directness and scenery while and avoiding the busiest roads of the country. (There’s no point in following the national cycle path network as this often includes paths that are not tarred, partly even muddy, plus there’s not a marked route included in the network such as the “Land’s End to John O’Groats” route. Obviously, I might still end up on cycle paths from time to time.)
• Due to personal memories, I wanted to include a few “specials” which always are equivalent to “detours”.
  However, I want to go through Leeds, my former home town, and spend an evening there. Getting to Leeds means the biggest change to “standard” routes up north as most people obviously simply stay west of the Pennines and continue “straight on” towards Scotland.
  My two favourite national parks, the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District NP including two pass roads (to Oughtershaw and Kirkstone Pass), needed to be part of the route as well. [Not sure if I can arrange it to stop by at my favourite pub with the best chocolate fudge cake in the world, the Old Hill Inn in Chapel-le-Dale…]
  And some minor detours in Scotland which I’ll think about when I’m actually there – the actual most northern point of the British mainland, Dunnet Head, will certainly be worth a few miles extra.

And before I show you the route and the map, some “technical” explanation: I used the pedestrians’ option in Google Maps for planning the route. As this doesn’t let me “walk” on motorways, but as I’m going to cross three motorway bridges which have cycle paths adjoined to it, I needed to split the displaying of the route into 4 different parts – that’s the one and only reason for dividing it. The dots on the map can also be ignored, I just needed them to move the route the way I wanted it to be.

Here you go:

Part 1 [327 km]:
Land’s End – Portbury/Easton-in-Gordano/Pill Avon Gorge M5 motorway bridge cycle path
ascent: 3,624m (GPSIES)/3,335m (Garmin); descent: 3,692m (GPSIES)/3,397 (Garmin)

To see details, check out part 1 on Google Maps and/or on Garmin connect

Part 2 [16 km]:
Shirehampton-Aust (Severn Bridge motorway M48 cycle path)
ascent: 32m (GPSIES)/11m (Garmin); descent: 54m (GPSIES)/25 (Garmin)

To see details, check out part 2 on Google Maps and/or on Garmin connect

Part 3 [702 km]:
Chepstow-Erskine Bridge
ascent: 7,630m (GPSIES)/5,906m (Garmin); descent: 7,648m (GPSIES)/5,922 (Garmin)

To see details, check out part 3 on Google Maps and/or on Garmin connect

Part 4 [502 km]:
Erskine Bridge-John O’Groats
ascent: 4,890m (GPSIES)/3,173m (Garmin); descent: 4,849m (GPSIES)/3,148 (Garmin)

To see details, check out part 4 on Google Maps and/or on Garmin connect

–> total distance: 1,547km + approx. 13km motorway bridges = 1,560km
–> total ascent: 16,176m (GPSIES)/12,425m (Garmin)
–> total descent: 16,243m (GPSIES)/12,492m (Garmin)

My Land’s End to John O’Groats route via Leeds – all significant waypoints incl. distances and planned road info:

description (place/town):	road (“from here”):	km [approx] (at dest.):
Land’s End	A30	0,00
Penzance	A30	14.63
Long Rock	A30	17.00
Marazion (by-passed)	A394 Marazion Bypass, then B3280	20.37
Leedstown	B3280, then B3297	30.08
Redruth	through town centre, then A3047	45.63
Scorrier (by-passed)	A3047	48.65
Chacewater	A3047	52.00
Three Mile Stone	A3047, then A390	55.65
Truro	A390	60.00
St. Austell	A390	82.52
Liskeard	A390	114.36
Tavistock	B3357	142.21
Two Bridges	B3212	155.36
Moretonhampstead	B3212	175.26
Exeter	B3212, then B3181	196.46
Broadclyst	B3181, then A38	204.33
Wellington (by-passed)	A38	236.52
Taunton	A38	247.08
Bridgwater	A38, then A39, then B3141	264.00
Bason Bridge	B3139	276.99
Wedmore	B3151	286.90
Cheddar	A371, then left on minor road	292.62
Shipham	A38, cross A368, then left onto B3133	296.78
Congresbury	B3133	304.79
Clevedon	B3124, then right on minor road	314.30
Gordano Valley through Clapton-in-Gordano		321.60
Portbury/Easton-in-Gordano/Pill	A369, then onto Avon Gorge M5 motorway bridge cycle path	327.00
Shirehampton	A403	330.00
Avonmouth, Aust	Severn Bridge M48 motorway cycle path	346.00
Chepstow	A466	351.00
Monmouth	A466, then A49	378.74
Hereford	A49, then B4361	407.00
Leominster	B4361	428.00
Ludlow	B4361, then A49, then B4365	445.00
Pedlars Rest	B4368 (northeast), then B4378	456.06
Much Wenlock	A4159, then A5223, then minor road	476.50
Telford	B4373, then A518, then minor road	489.71
Newport	B5062, then A519	502.51
Forton	left on minor road via Shebdon, Fair Oak, Podmore	505.20
Baldwin’s Gate	A53	527.41
Newcastle-under-Lyme	A53	536.00
Stoke-on-Trent	A53	540.44
Leek	A53	555.00
Buxton	A6	575.86
Chepel-en-le-Frith	A624	584.00
Glossop	B6105, then A628, then A6024, then A616	598.50
Huddersfield	A62, then A58	625.00
Leeds	A65	653.81
Addingham/Bolton Abbey	B6160	684.83
Buckden	minor road via Oughtershaw	720.07
Hawes	A684	739.80
Kendal	A5284, then A591	780.16
Windermere	A592 (Kirkstone Pass)	794.16
Patterdale/Glenridding	A592, then A5091, then right onto minor road (via Matterdale), then B5288	811.44
Motherby	B5288	826.09
Greystoke	minor road via Oughtershaw Blencow, Hutton-in-the-Forest, Low Braithwaite, Durdar, Blackwell	829.55
Carlisle	A7	857.50
Longtown	A6071, then B7076	871.00
Gretna	B721	877.65
Annan	B724, then A75, then A780	891.76
Dumfries	A76	918.97
Sanquhar	A76	961.00
Cumnock	A76, then B7073	988.00
Kilmarnock	A735	1,012.27
Lugton	B777, then B775	1,029.15
Paisley	B7050, then A726	1,044.22
Erskine	A726, then onto A898 Erskine Bridge cycle path	1,053.82
Old Kilpatrick	A814, then A82/A814	1,057.00
Dumbarton (by-passed)	A814	1,065.18
Helensburgh	A814, then A83 (east)	1,078.00
Tarbet	A82	1,107.50
Crianlarich	A82	1,133.59
Tyndrum/Clifton	A82	1,142.16
Glen Coe	A82	1,189.50
Fort William	A82	1,214.74
Fort Augustus	A82	1,266.00
Drumnadrochit	A831, then A833, then A862	1,296.51
Beauly	A862	1,318.15
Muir-of-Ord	A862	1,322.00
Dingwall	A862, then A9	1,331.77
Evanton	B9176, then A836	1,341.00
Bonar Bridge	A836	1,376.00
Lairg	A836	1,392.41
Altnaharra	B837, then B871, then A836	1,425.43
Bettyhill	A836	1,464.43
Thurso	A836	1,513.43
Dunnet Head	A836, then minor road (to Dunnet Head and back), then A836	1,534.79
John O’Groats	arrival at destination	1,560.38

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