JOGLE Day 1 - JOG to Evanton

Woke up and got up early, took Rosie (Dog) for a walk around John'O Groats noticed the café (Journeys End) and thought it would be a good idea to have a full cooked breaky instead of porridge.

We packed up the tents and headed to the café at 8:30 (Joy packed her phone in her tent)


We moved to the coffee shop across the road and had baked beans toast scrambled eggs and a bacon roll, we eventually set of at just gone 10 for the official start..

The weather was perfect, the sun was out, there was no wind it was lovely and warm...wifey sprayed sun cream on me like I was a teenager.

The fair skinned Scottish people covered themselves in factor 50 plus...

We stopped for lunch at Dunbeath at 37 miles, sitting outside in the shade.

We climbed up a few 13% hills but nothing to major .

The conditions were perfect and the scenery was amazing, the sweet smell of gorse was everywhere.



We had been on the A99 then the A9 as we passed over the Dornoch Bridge the A9 was becoming very busy but thankfully the route plan had is going down NSR 1, then across some beautiful countryside.

We eventually arrived at Evanton at about 6:10pm

The cycle computer had the ride as 102.64 miles in 6 hours 32 minutes.
The GPS track of todays ride should be available here...

JOGLE the journey begins...

We set of from the beautiful south at a nice and early 7:30

We entered the north (Birmingham) surprisingly quickly!(9:04)...I was however a little taken aback by the continuing signs indicating "The North" ahead of us!

Some 3 hours of driving later we still hadn't reached Scotland!

At about 1:30pm we passed a rather shocking road sign that indicated there was a North beyond Glasgow..

At 3 we picked up Jim at Perth. Couldn't be much further to go could it?

Well we went through the Highlands....I think I may now know why they are called the Highlands ...There was actually snow on the top of some of the wee hill's!

We eventually arrived at John'O Groats at 8pm!!!

Its a long way back...The Midlands are definitely NOT in the middle

We ate nosh in the local hotel and had a who can pitch the tent quickest competition. it was me 1st, Jim second...and Joy finished much later.........

Day 409

Car loaded, Roof rack fitted and bike carriers mounted.......

All that's needed now is a night's sleep and load the bikes and the expensive gear onto/into the car......


I am really not looking forward to tomorrow's drive..... BUT I am definitely looking forward to Sunday.....

Day 408

Got home from work...had BBQ :-)

Then packed all of the cycle clothing....well Wifey did after I had surveyed the proposed clothing.....I wasn't actualy trusted to put it in the bag.....Perhaps my idea of packing isnt the same as wifey's?????

I chopped up a car auxilary power plug and extension lead I put some crocodile clips on the ends of the wires to connect directly to the car battery, this in conjunction with a battery voltage protector should allow me to recharge gps, phone etc over night without mains voltage and without flattening the car battery.

I then packed up the bike spares, cleaning/oiling kit and tools.

Then finaly I packed up the laptop, chargers and the cycle backpack (Light weight water proofs will be with me all of the time!)

We are almost ready to go.....Just one more day of work........

Was interested to see what our daily distances and total mileage will be...

Day 1	102.35
Day 2	96.19
Day 3	95.66
Day 4	93.65
Day 5	64.44
Day 6	108.63
Day 7	72.14
Day 8	86.03
Day 9	82.83
Day 10	95.46
Day 11	61.17
Total	958.55

Slightly less than I thought!!!

Day 407

Worked from home today.... Having a break from cycling untill the weekend.....

Whilst working I updated my laptop and installed phone drivers and Garmin software on it - Hopefully we will be able to get a net connection for uploading photos, maintaining blog and uploading Garmin data!

I have also updated all of the routes to support the Garmin, all of the blog route links have been updated to reflect the current planned routes, I have tried to route us of busy roads where possible.

Whilst tea was cooking I gave the Merida a clean, wash and oil before the epic journey begins!

I have put all of the rechargeable things on charge so they should all be fully powered for the journey :-)

Day 406

Night off....Played computer games :-)

Also spent a lot of time re-plotting the route plans for the Garmin....

Ohhh I tracked the lunch time walk on the Garmin...have a look at it here...

Day 405 (Bank Holiday Monday)

Woke up far to early, had a shower cooked breakfast and went for a walk long before anybody else on the campsite even entered the land of the living...

We packed away the stuff and loaded it in the car, then went and posted payment for the night through the door of the farm....(They weren't up either)!

The final test for the weekend was battery recharge time for the phone and wind turbine, we need the batteries to recharge in 1 hour 30 min (Max)...Unfortunately 2 hours later they still hadnt charged :-(

I bought a Garmin Edge 605.....It has a battery life of 15 hours and a recharge time of 3....

I have now transfered all of the JOGLE routes to the Garmin...

At 6 ish I headed of out into the wild, with the new toy firmly fitted to the handlebar stem. It was navigating me around the very familiar 'Normal 20' :-)

The Cycle computer had the session as 21.40 miles in 1 hour 16 mins witha an average speed of 16.8 mph.

The Garmin plot can be found here...

Day 404 (Sunday)

Got up at a sensible time! Had porridge for breakfast then set of at 9:15.

I enjoyed the cycle ride so much the last time I came to Brecon, I thought I would do it again!

I headed along the now familiar roads to the Severn Bridge.


When I got to Chepstow it was a short stretch of busy main road then a left turn on to lovely quite country roads on NCR42
The sun was out and the weather was fantastic :-)

The climb up Gospel Pass was long and uneventfull, the views from the top were clear and amazing.




I was really looking forward to the descent down the other side, unfortunately I ended up following a queue of cars the lead driver was only doing 20 mph and insisted on doing an emergency stop for every corner and every time a car came the other way! I would not be surprised if the brake blocks are worn out again on the bike :-(

The last 5 miles to the campsite seemed like the longest of the day...

There was an interestingly named village along the way :-)

Once I got to the site I met up with wifey and had a well earned can of cider and some ginger buscuits :-)

We cooked some pasta and some cheat carbonara sauce (Can of condensed mushroom soup,fried pancetta and chopped garlic with a little milk to thin it)

The cooking experiment went very well, I had seconds!

The cycle computer had the ride as 87.85 miles in 6 hours 11 minutes with an average speed of 14.2 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 403 (Saturday)

Woke up and got up early, had porridge for breaky, went for a haircut.

Took some very un-recyclable stuff to the the household recycling centre (I always feel bad when it comes to taking stuff that will end up in a landfill site)

We carried straight on from the recycle centre to Morgans Hill and took Rosie (dog) for a walk, the sun was already up and it was lovely and warm :-)

When we got back from the walk we had lunch and I set of on a cycle ride...I was trying to plan a ride that would take me to Westbury White Horse and Longleat...But I couldn't get the mileage down to 50 so I ended up planning a route to Westbury only :-(

I ended up cycling to Lacock,Melksham,Steeple Ashton then Bratton

I cycle up to the top of the hill...

Then down the other side into Westbury

I then headed along the Bratton Road to Devizes then straight back to Chippenham.

The cycle computer had the ride as 44.74 miles in 2 hours 49 minutes with an average speed of 15.9 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 402

Went for a cycle ride with wifey and Rosie (dog) to Lacock :-)
Rosie was in her travelling back pack for the road bits and was running with us along the cycle track.

Had a couple of ciders and a meal and cycled back home again :-)

It wasn't particularly very far or very fast but it was extremly pleasant to go for a cycle with wifey and dog :-)

The cycle computer had the ride as 7.79 miles in 58 minutes with an average speed of 7.9 mph.

No RunGPS plot as I really couldn't be bothered with it!

Day 401

Got home from work at a reasonable time, stopped and had tea (Salad) with the family then got changed and went out on the bike :-)

I set of at 7:15 on my 'Normal 20' route. The sun was out I was in T and Shorts and I had my cool looking cycling shades on :-)

There was very little wind and I was doing a very good speed, at the half way point my average speed was 19.4 mph!

Then apparently I was mistaken as I appeared to cycle into a head wind :-(

The cycle computer had the ride as 21.32 miles in 1 hour 8 mins with an average speed of 18.6 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 400

Work from home today :-)

Part1...
I got up at 5:45 am and was out on the bike at 6am! The sun was already up :-) but the roads were still damp so the bike got dirty :-(

I headed out on my 'Normal' Wednesday morning 25 miles and it felt great :-)

Unfortunately I was almost taken out by somebody at a roundabout, I was already on it and heading straight on and they pulled out from the left without seeing me! I was about an inch off the front wing of the car - and nothing I could do about it! I had my lights on and a high vis jacket on.

Luckily I did not collide with either the car or the road and it will be chalked up as another experience!

The cycle computer had the ride as 25.8 miles in 1 hour 33 mins with an average speed of 16.5 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Part 2...

Got back out on the bike at 4:30 and did the 'Normal 25', the sun was out and the gnats were out in force!

The cycle computer had the ride as 25.70 miles in 1 hour 38 minutes with an average speed of 15.6 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

It was nice to be able to cycle in the sun again :-) Thinking about having one last long ride at the weekend before JOGLE.....Well it is a bank holiday......

Day 399

Night Off....Played computer games...

Day 398

Got home from work at a reasonable time :-)

Got changed into long sleeve cycle top, cycle shorts and water proofs! Then I set of on the cycle way to Lacock, up Naish Hill (Because its still there!) then towards Headington, making a random right turn towards Calne to see how it got there...

I found myself back on a main road, but as it was gone 7pm there wasnt much traffic so I persisted with it...

At Calne I turned back on to the cycle way and headed back to Chippenham....

When I got back home both myself and the bike was minging...More of the track surface on me than was left on the track.......

The cycle computer had the session as 16.98 miles in 1 hour 18 mins with an average speed of 13 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here....

Day 397 (Sunday)

Got up at a reasonable time :-) Then started the normal Sunday house tidy chores :-(

Was undecided at which bike I was going to take out. It was raining quite hard most of the morning. Just as I had almost made my mind up to going out on the cycle ways on the Dawes the sun came out and the weather looked reasonable - So I went out on the Merida, setting of from home at 12 ish

I did almost the same route as yesterday - Instead of taking the first right turn to Lacock and going up Naish Hill I took the second turn and went up Bowden Hill and instead of going straight on at Tockenham and heading directly to Dauntsey I turned right and headed to Dauntsey indirectly.

The smell of Ransomes (Garlic like smell) at the top of Bowden Hill is still fantastic :-)


There had been a lot of rain and there was lots of standing water.

As I headed towards Headington the sky was very threatening, the wind was howling and generally it wasnt very nice.

Then it started to rain, and I got my first of many drenchings!

Things although wet weren't to bad, until I turned into wind! It was a very good job I had cycle glasses on! The rain was actually stinging.


The cycle computer had todays ride as 41.71 miles in 2 hours 39 mins with an average speed of 15.7 mph (Lyneham had the wind speed as 19mph SSW gusting to 33 mph)

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

The battery flattened on the GPS at about 39 miles - This time by plan, I need to know how long the batteries take to charge from flat using a usb charger.

The intention during JOGLE is to rotate batteries - keeping them charged up in the car, but we need to know how long they will take to charge!

Day 396 (Saturday)

Set of out on a shortish cycle ride at 8:45 am, the weather forecast was for dry weather for the morning and rain in the afternoon.

I set of towards Corsham and then headed back towards Lacock stoping on Mon's Lane over the river bridge to spy on a Heron :-)

There was one hell of a wind blowing and the weather kept on threatening to rain.

When I got to the top of Naish Hill I headed towards Headington and Stockley.

It was the a very fast ride to Tockenham - The Lyneham Met office had the windspeed at 19 mph gusting to 35 - And it was a Tail Wind at one point I was doing over 31 mph on the straight and level :-)

(I hoped the picture would show the strength of wind in the tree - I was cycling through a cross wind)

At Dauntsey unfortunately it was payback time and I was cycling into the wind!

The cycle computer had the ride as 40.17 miles in 2 hours 35 mins with an average speed of 15.4 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

It was good to be back on the Merida - It was soooooo much faster and smoother than the Dawes. It was also very good to be able to get down out of the wind!

Although the Dawes is fun for getting out on the cycle paths where the Merida cannot go!

Day 395

Night off....

Got home and it was raining and howling a gale (WSW 21 mph Gusting to 29 mph)

I think I deserve a rest.....

From now until JOGLE starts NO more long rides, just enough to keep me used to it :-)

Day 394

Good to be back home from the training course. Being a country bumpkin it was a bit of a shock to cycle down some very busy city roads.

I managed to pick up the repaired Merida from Peddlers on the way home :-)

Unfortunately it started precipitating at that point and continued in various degrees for the rest of the evening :-(

After tea I set of on the Dawes towards Lacock on the cycle way and went up Naish Hill (Because its there!) and headed along the country roads to Headington and Stockley.

At Calne I headed down the Calne<>Chippenham Cycleway.

The tracks were all very wet and I got back home with most of the track surface on me!

When I got home the bike got a good hosing down and a spray of WD40 on the important bits.

It was great to know exactly where I was going and what the roads were like, I do have grave concerns about not having local knowledge about the JOGLE route.

The cycle computer had tonight's ride as 18.01 miles in 1 hour 21 mins with an average speed of 13.2 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 393

Got back to the hotel at 5pm by the time I had got myself sorted and out on the bike it was 5:40.

I had planned a ride that would be entirely on cycle paths, heading out towards Hampton Court on NCR 4 and a Local Route E4 and heading back towards Staines on the Thames Cycle route.

The cycle way out of Staines wasnt exactly what I thought...

They obviously coudn't afford to widen the path or even paint it! But still it was better than cycling on the dual carriageway.

Some of the cyclepaths turned into a guess where now puzzle. (Good job the GPS told me when I was heading of route!)

(If you look carefully at the wooden structure you will find a very small sign indicating the right fork in the path)

The ride to Kingston on Thames was much of a muchness with the cycle paths being hidden from plain view or in very poor condition, many requiring the crossing of major roads with no traffic control :-(

However when I got to Kingston on Thames I crossed the Thames and then I was on the Thames Cycle way :-) And that was worth the agravation of getting there!



The cycle path passed Hampton Court Palace

Things went a little awry when 4 miles from Staines the planned route indicated that I could cross the Thames from the left bank to the right, unfortunately at the point of crossing there was nothing but water!

This was a bit of a problem as I don't know the area at all! Thankfully the I told the GPS to plan another route to Staines and it worked :-)

The cycle computer had todays ride as 32.85 miles in 3 hours 34 minutes with an average speed of 12.3 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

I have enjoyed this weeks cycling away from home, I was lucky the Merida broke because it would not have coped with the cycle ways, and I wouldn't have enjoyed cycling on the busy city roads!

I am looking forward to getting back home tommorow and getting out into slower calmer territory!

The GPS carrier I made for the Merida is a godsend most of my navigation issues this week have been down to me having to listen to the GPS over the noise of the traffic whereas on the Merida I can see the route!

Ohh my story is on the local newspapers website today!..... (Gazzete & Herald)

Day 392

Woke up at my normal 5:15 am......although I am in walking distance of the office where I am on my course and I don't have to be there until 9:30 am and the hotel breakfast didn't start until 7:30 am. I suppose as soon as I get used to normal people's hours I will be back to normal work!

I got back to the hotel at 5:20'ish, got changed then set of on the bike at 5:45'ish.

I enjoyed my ride around Windsor Great Park so much yesterday that I thought I would repeat it, this time making a bit more of a direct route to the castle and coming back to the hotel through the Windsor Great Park.

I didn't take any pictures yesterday of the wooded are in the park so here are some to make up for it!



As I was leaving the public access fenced in area of the park I noticed the rules and regulations of the park. (You can click on the picture and it is a high enough resolution to read)

Interesting that the penalty for breaking any of the regulations is only £20 - I don't think I will be putting that to the test any time soon!

The cycle way into Windsor was pavement based and most of the people wanted to walk on the cycle part instead of the pedestrian part.


This time I made a point of taking photos at the castle!


After the Castle I headed on towards Eton then Datchet and then back along the edge of the Windsor Great Park

I used the cycle path on the dual carriageway both on the outward and return journeys.

I made it back to Staines just in time by the looks of the sky...


The cycle computer had todays' ride as 20.84 miles in 1 hour 55 mins with an average speed of 10.8 mph (Some of the cycleways were very poor surface and the head wind was a bit of a killer).

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

I had a phone call today from the local paper (Gazette & Herald) I am going to be in it on Thursday :-)

They asked for some before pictures of me before I found the path to enlightnment.....They scare me...

I am still a little overweight now. Its amazing what a difference a little excerise and watching what you eat can do! (Although it does take a bloody long time!)