LEJOG Blog 1: Why I’m swapping my boots for a bike
I’ve already been accused of being a MAMIL, a middle aged man in lycra, but to be fair I think I fall more into the category of an OFIL, an old fart in lycra. I’m not exactly sure what years ‘middle-age’ refers to but I’ve always looked at age as a state of mind, and if yoiu can have a child-like enthusiasm for something then it doesn’t really matter what age you are, and in the context of this blog that’s important.
Since stepping down as editor of TGO almost two years ago I’ve had a ball, doing some of the things that I didn’t have time to do when I was more or less tied to a desk. And this spring I want to tick off another item on my bucket list. I want to travel from Land’s End to John O’Groats, to spend some time looking at and experiencing something of the United Kingdom as a whole before Scotland goes off on her own independent adventure in a few years time. Sharp-eyed readers will note that I said I want to ‘travel’ between end-to-end. In this case I’m going to travel by bike.
Now I know I’m an experienced backpacker and I’m aware I’ve spent as much time as anyone promoting backpacking and in particular lightweight backpacking and yes, I remember I’m President of the Backpackers’ Club and proud of it, but do you know what? I don’t think I want to spend two or three months walking up the length of the country, looking for places to camp every night, trying as much as possible to avoid walking on tarmac roads. Timewise my self-imposed backpacking time limit is two or three weeks. Any longer than that I miss home, I miss my wife and my children and my two grand daughters. I miss those things that I enjoy doing, I miss the Scottish highlands and my friends.
I want to backpack in wild places, and the thought of trying to work out an attractive route round Bristol, or through the Warrington/Manchester gap or through the central belt of Scotland doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest, so I’m going to try and travel from Land’s End to John O Groats by touring bicycle, with someone who is my oldest friend.
Hamish Telfer and I met when we were fourteen years of age. We both joined the West of Scotland Harriers at the same time and we’ve enjoyed many adventures in athletics, and on the hills and mountains. Now we’re going on a long bike ride together, just for the fun of it. I love the Last of the Summer Wine aspect to our trip - two 60 plus old farts going off on an adventure. And why use a bike? Because it takes too long to walk it, time that, while I’m still working, albeit as a freelance writer and television presenter, I really don’t have. Hamish and I plan to cycle the route in fourteen days. We’re heading off in April, in the hope that the April winds will blow from the south-west and assist us all the way to John O Groats. We need all the help we can get. Neither of us would consider ourselves as cyclist, but we’re keen and daft, and I guess that might help.
Next time I’ll write about our bikes and what kind of gear we’ll use, and then something of the training regime (that’s probably too strong a word for it but I can’t think of another) that will see us arrive in Land’s End in mid-April fit and strong and looking like racing snakes. Watch out, Mark Cavendish and Brad Wiggins, we’re looking for a place in the peloton!