Wednesday, June 12, 2013

A Rough Route - Lands End to John O'Groats and back!

I've spent a lot of time thinking about the route that I want to take.

Being on a moped with L plates automatically excludes me from motorways which suits me fine. I have no desire to look at motorway embankments for 12 days! I'm also going to try and avoid dual carriageways as well.

After much studying of the map I have a good idea of how I'm going to get to the top and back again.

I didn't just want to travel from Lands End to John O'Groats but to do a back to back journey going back to Lands End. But why do that when you could also incorporate the other corners of Durness and Dover!

In a nutshell I'll be leaving Lands End (LE) and heading up the Cornish and Devon coast where I will be scooting towards Bristol and plan to stay around the Ledbury / Hereford area for the night

Day 2 will see me heading towards Shrewsbury, through Oswestry and Wrexham finishing the day at Heswall and at the home of my old army mate Mark and his family.

Day 3 and through the Mersey tunnel to Southport then Lancaster before I turn towards the Lakes. Going past lake Windermere to Penrith where just after this I pass into Bandit Country or as they like to call it Scotland! Continuing North sees me through Dumfries and Kilmarnock. The next part of my journey takes me through Glasgow, thankfully I know Glasgow well as there are some places where not even the police venture! Heading towards Loch Lomond will eventually see me at Crianlarich for the night.

Day 4 off to Fort William before I switch coasts from East to West and Dingwall. From here its due North to Lairg.

Day 5  and on to Tongue, turning right and following the coast through Thurso and finally John O'Groats. (JOG)

An approximate mileage of 993

After a quick photo shoot of my arrival its off again the way I came, back to Tongue keeping the coast to my right as I head for Durness.

Day 6 and it's all down hill from here! Once more I hug the coast as much as possible through Scourie,  Ullapool and hopefully end the day around Invergarry.

Day 7 A return to Fort William and depending on weather and progress have an easy day. Trying to push on to Inveraray before resting my head.

Day 8 on to Helensburgh, back through Glasgow and towards East Kilbride and heading slightly East to Moffat and Selkirk.  Over the border at Carter Bar I'm heading through Otterburn towards Ouston where in 1983 I started my army career. Stopping the night at Catterick.

Neil if your reading this I've just bagged your sofa for the night!

Now not only is Neil an old army mate but also a childhood friend from Shaston. I feel partially responsible for him following me into the Royal Signals and doing his 22 years service!

Day 9 a big push today! Heading for Scarborough, Grimsby and Skegness will see me end up around the Sutton Bridge area for the night.

Day 10 heading for Norwich and the coast at Great Yarmouth continuing South to Lowestoft which also boasts the most Easterly part of my journey. From here to Ipswich and on to Colchester. Across the Thames and towards Gravesend and on to Margate.

Here lives another old Army mate going by the name of Diggers!  He doesn't know it yet but I'm hoping to kip on his floor!

Day 11 and home is in sight! Following the South Coast through Dover,  Rye, Eastbourne,  Brighton,  Bognor Regis, Fareham,  Totton and finally into the New Forest and home to Lymington.

Day 12

Not that this is the end as I have the last 238 miles to do along the coast all the way back through Dorset, Devon and Cornwall to arrive in Lands End that evening!

So that's a rough guide as to my route a total of approximately 2700 miles!

What could possibly go wrong!

Till later..........

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Lands End To John O'Groats And Back - The Mission

Well, I've been inspired by Will Geordie English an old army mate and Ed Marsh who is a mad bloke who has travelled the world on a Honda C90.

After reading of their adventures, I thought it about time that I did something similar myself!

So the mission is to travel to Lands End, where I will set off using a Honda C90 or similar, travel up to John O'Groats, across the Northern coastline of Scotland to Durness where I will head south and ride to Margate/Dover, then across the Southern coast to finish back where I started at Lands End.


This is all to be completed in a two week time slot in April 2014.

I will be raising money for charity. The charity that I have chosen is "Help For Heroes" A charity which helps wounded ex service personnel. Doing the job that our Government should do!

I have set a target of £2000, but to be honest anything I get is a bonus!

You can donate via my justgiving page at http://www.justgiving.com/Julian-Mauro

There is lots to do, I've more or less planned the route but that can change and probably will.

As far as equipment is concerned, the only thing I have is a pair of gel pants and a lot of determination!

Now that I have gone public with this mad capped idea of mine I had better get organised and start trying to blag the equipment I need!

I will try and up date as often as possible so stay tuned to see how things turn out.

Till later.............