Lands End To John O'Groats Cycle Ride
Club member John Jarvis recently completed a cycle ride from Lands End to John O'Groats for Charity. Here is his account of the adventure:
I have been cycling for pleasure for 10 years and this year five of us, four of whom are Rotarians, decided to go for the BIG ONE. Lands End to John O'Groats. My fellow Rotarian and Club member Richard Taylor was one of the organisers and we decided to get sponsers so that we could raise money for charity. My chosen charity was Northam Youth Club for which Southampton East had pledged support.
We planned a route with the help of the C.T.C (Cycle Touring Club of Great Britain) known as The Breakfast Route! The distance was 1026 miles, nearly all on small B roads. We set off for Lands End by van on 24th April and began our ride on 25th. We did not have a back up vehicle so everything was carried on our panniers - four pairs of underpants and a sweater. We averaged 62 miles per day for 17 days.
The weather was kind, only half a day of heavy rain. However, we had a north easterly wind on the nose for 3/4 of the journey. Devonshire hills were the worst where it was often necessary to push our bikes. The terrain became easier when we reached Manchester. The Yorkshire Moors and Dales were extremely beautiful but very steep - we needed to cycle for 8 hours a day in order to cover 65 miles!
We crossed the Scottish Border at Gretna Green and made our way north east via Loch Lomond, Fort William, Glen Coe and Loch Ness and on to Inverness. The scenery was magnificent, however, the temperature dropped down to 2 degrees as we made for the east coast. On the final leg north we encountered sleet and snow to arrive at John O' Groats on the 17th day.
The bikes performed well, just two punctures and a chain repair. The five of us are aged between 65 to 69 had realised a dream, sampled 32 different ales and had a thousand laughs.
