Thursday 18 February 2010

Route planning

So many options! I spent ages browsing LEJOG journals with route details - in particular, a really good one from Al Pewsey. I pored over road atlases. I downloaded the CTC end-to end pack. I got progressively confused and indecisive. The criteria for the route can be boiled down to:
  1. Avoid main roads wherever possible.
  2. Must be achievable in 9-10 days.
  3. Er, thats it.
So, for the time being, I've plumped for the CTC B&B route which, albeit hilly (but then every option will be!!!) looks splendid and meets my extensive list of requirements. I'll plot the route on G-Maps or some such software when I get time and add it to the blog but suffice to say it is just over 1000 miles and sticks to minor roads and lanes for much of the time.



Have add a chat with Ade (riding partner for the trip) and agreed that it would be a good idea to not over-do the mileage on the first couple of days. Cornwall and Devon are hilly and it seems silly to risk over-use injuries early on in the trip. I've read of others who have fallen foul in this respect. So, the plan is to get a bit of a head start with 40-50 miles when we arrive down there on 'day zero' (29th April) and keep mileage down to 80 miles per day on day 1 and 2. In addition, we also have a 'spare' 10th day in case of problems etc. en route although the advance booking of B&B's might influence whether we do use it. It's really there in case of emergency anyway.

2 comments:

  1. I'm really excited for you!! and I aint ever spoken to you. I can just sense the panic thats starting to infultrate your blog.

    :)

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  2. Not quite panic. Just apprehension at the scale of the challenge. I AM quite excited about it though.

    ReplyDelete