On Monday the 20th of May 2024, I will ride into London to catch the night train down to Penzance! I will then head to Land's End, then turn around and head all the way up to John O'Groats.

Years ago, I was never really interested in doing this ride. I don't know why, I just wasn't. But now I feel it is absolutely something I want to do. It is afterall the most iconic route in Britain.

I've created a number of routes. Some based on existing well ridden roads and some I've made myself. I want to take in various places that I've never been to before, so my route won't be the shortest, but I've avoided making it overly long. There's so many places I'd like to go to along the way, but I can't stop eveywhere!

My route will look something like the below:

It might not be exactly like that - it will depend on how I feel at the time. I've made one version that heads up through Wales after Bristol as I kinda don't want Wales to feel left out. However, the route that stays in England has significantly less climbing! So I will see how I feel when I get there.

The Sustrans route takes you straight through Manchester, whereas my route takes me through Liverpool. The only reason being that I've never been to Liverpool before and feel that I should. I can also take the ferry across the Mersey! Again, this will depend on how things are on the ground once I get up there. I may decide to follow the Sustrans route if it looks nicer.

Once in Scotland, there are choices of course, but I shall be following the generally accepted best route, which is basically straight up the middle.

Once I get to John O'Groats, I plan to head back down to Edinburgh to get a train home. How I get to Edinburgh will depend on all manner of things. I'm hoping to just ride down, but I may get train assistance. It all depends on how much time I have and how much I'm feeling it after well over a thousand miles!