With no walking this weekend, I’ve been sitting at my PC planning walks. Hadrian’s Wall is pretty much all done now and that’s “in the can” as they say in the film industry. My thoughts, as they have often done over the past year or two, then turned to Lands End to John O’Groats (LEJOG).
This is a very long term goal for me, probably not possible for another 10 years or so, due mainly to work, financial and family commitments. I’ve sort of got it pencilled in for 2020, by which time I’ll be 56 and in my walking prime 🙂
I have the route sketched out in Memory Map and I want to incorporate three coast to coast walks into the overall walk. That is a coast to coast for Wales, England and Scotland, as part of the End-to-end walk. The Welsh C2C will be Offa’s Dyke with the start and end tweaked slightly to make it a true Welsh C2C, then an unorthodox English C2C, using the Pennine Way and finally the Scottish C2C will be achieved by using the Southern Upland Way.
I’ve broken the route down into 8 main stages and these run roughly as follows:
1. South West England – 330 miles (SW Coast Path & Two Moors Way)
2. Welsh C2C – 185 miles (Offa’s Dyke)
3. North West England – 95 miles (Link paths thru Cheshire)
4. Northern England – 300 miles (Pennine Way)
5. Scottish C2C – 200 miles (Southern Upland Way)
6. South West Scotland – 150 miles (Link paths to Glasgow)
7. Northern Scotland – 310 miles (WHW & Cape Wrath Trail)
8. The Last Leg – 110 miles (Cape Wrath to John O’Groats)
Thats about 1680 miles in total, much more than a regular End-to-end walk and probably about 100 days walking if I’m lucky. So how much is that going to cost me? I’ve no idea. But if I was to estimate £25 per day, including everything (and assuming I can camp for much of it I think that’s achievable), then its going to take £2,500 for the walk. I then have to add a significantly larger sum for lost earnings, that is of course if I can persuade my employer to let me have 3 or 4 months off work!
These are the reasons its a long term plan for me. As much as I would love to set out tomorrow, it just ain’t going to happen, not for a long while. I’ll keep you posted as to how things progress over the coming years 🙂
10 thoughts on “LEJOG Planning”
Rob – route is all planned pretty much – i just need to fund 4 months off work to do it now 🙂 pencilled in for 2020. I can send my proposed routes for those sections if you like.
Drop me an email me and I’ll respond to that with some GPX files – you should be able to read those in whatever mapping app you’re using (assumption there), or even into Google Earth.
Hope that helps
Stuart
Hiya,
just come across this site while Planning my LEJOG for next year(2012). How far have you got?
I still have a few gaps in my route ie Cape Wrath to JOG, Barnstaple to Chepstow and From Offas Dyke to Pennine Way. Do you have any route plans for these available?
Kind Regards
Rob
Martin
I like the idea of taking on a tent in Scotland – I would be much fitter at that point and more able to tak the extra load. I think B&B availability shouldn’t be a problem until that point either. Like you say a good compromise.
Thanks for the link – that looks very useful.
Cheers
Stuart
Hi
I did LEJOG in 2004 when I was 57/58 – definitely in my walking prime! I did not camp, and you might find, as I did, that by that age you can do with a bit more comfort and less weight. However, those who do camp have a lot more flexibility in planning the route (apart from saving money). Andy Robinson (the Cicerone guide) picked up a tent when he got to the Highlands, which seems to me a good compromise.
For ideas on route planning (mine and other people’s), you might find this from my website useful:
http://www.hockeylejog.co.uk/routeplanning.htm
Good luck with your plans.
Martin
Just for a change I haven’t LeJoged. But happy to support anyone keen enough to go for it.
My LEJOG is in 2009 after being in the planning for the last year or so. Lots more planning to do. My blog is at litehiker.wordpress.com but I’m thinking of switching to another host as I find that I can’t email postings to WordPress. I’ve set up an embryo blog at litehikersblog.blogspot.com and have emailed the first test posting.
Alan, I came across your site after listening to your interviews with Bob. Your journal and others like it are what keep the interest for this trek at the forefront of my thoughts. They also make me determined to try and keep a live blog going when I do the walk. Hopefully technology will have moved on enough that it is much simpler to do this when I do the walk.
Thanks for the encouragement!
Hi there
I have just spent a happy time reading of your endeavours. I am so happy for you as you seem to be having a whale of a time in your recent conversion to “getting out there.”
Like Gayle & Mick I have recently completed a LEJOG – not too disimilar to your plans – mine ended up at 1687 miles. You can find my blog that incorporated an ‘on the hike blog’ at http://alansloman.blogspot.com
I am really lookng forward to ‘reading you’ as preparations unfold. I shall add your site to my ‘Great Places to Visit’ section so that others can enjoy your experiences as well.
All the best
Alan
Gayle, thanks for taking the time to respond. I listened to your interview with Podcasting Bob and it sounded like you had a great time. I keep having to temper my enthusiasm with the knowledge that I have to wait a few years before I can attempt the “Big One”, but you’re right I have time on my side for some things – like saving the money.
Reading other blogs it seems that camping and particularly wild camping is much easier the further north you get. Hopefully by the time I end up doing the walk we will have had some change in the English legislation with regards to wild camping (but I ain’t holding my breath on that one).
I walked LEJOG, with Husband Mick, over the course of twelve weeks this year. We camped almost as much as was reasonably feasible (just three B&Bs which weren’t strictly necessary) – but there were areas where there just weren’t campsites or obvious wild-camping opportunities.
I wrote a piece about the cost, which may or may not be of use to you. You’ll find it at http://gayleybird.blogspot.com/2008/08/lejog-cost.html
One thing that I would stress is not to underestimate how much you’ll be eating on a daily basis, and how much it costs to shop in little village stores on a daily basis.
At least you’ve got plenty of years to be working out a budget!