LEJOG - the route

Navigating from Land's End to John o'Groats

There is no official route between LE and JOG for walkers. If there was it would include the South West Coast path, Offa's Dyke, the Pennine Way, the West Highland Way, the Great Glen Way and maybe one day the Inverness to JOG trail. Those trails are absolutely fine unless you want to get the job done quickly. So all of the above are out of the question for me. 

I like the DIY aspects of route planning because I can choose the most direct, efficient and safe route between two points using a combination of national trails, footpaths, lanes, minor and major roads, national cycle routes and any other footway that helps me get to where I'm going. That way I can avoid pointless ups and downs ("PUDs*"), unnecessary zig-zags** and adding unnecessary mileage to this already long distance walk.  

Route planning on this scale is new to me and it's thrown up additional challenges beyond that which I have experienced to-date. It's certainly made me more familiar with the O/S Explorer series, measuring distance, calculating difficulty and has re-acquainted me with my possibly psychopathic urge to short cut everywhere in the name of efficiency.

LEJOG with PUDs and zig-zags

LEJOG avoiding PUDs and zig-zags

* PUDs are most often found on National Trails where a route takes the most circuitous, steep and lung-busting line of attack that results in minimal distance gains for the price of unnecessary energy expenditure, often with a much more sensible easy route within eyesight (example: the West Highland Way's Balmaha to Rowardennan forest trail versus the road next to it).

** Zig-zags are where a route deviates unnecessarily from the objective adding additional distance where a more direct route is available (example: Offa's Dyke north of Monmouth zig-zags its way merrily from hill to hill whereas a more direct line of attack with LEJOG in mind beats a path due north to Hereford).  

Jimmy's blog

Objective

To get there as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Why? I've got six weeks off work, unpaid. Money's tight. I need to make the route into a distance I can walk in six weeks. Any longer than that and I'm burning money I don't have.

The rules of route finding

1. Find the straightest, most direct route between re-supply points. 

2. Use any means to get there (on foot).

3. Always head in the right direction.

4. Avoid PUDs and zig-zags.

5. Choose the quicker route over the more scenic route.

6. Don't make it more difficult than it needs to be.

7. Don't worry about places to stay for the night; I'll camp where I drop. Daily re-supply points are more important.

LEJOG statistics

6 weeks = 42 days.
1,000 miles / 42  = 23.8 miles per day.

Doesn't sound too bad, right? But that's 24 miles a day, every day for six weeks without rest days. Even with iron determination and good legs, that's not going to happen. 

Let's suppose I take 5 rest days:

1,000 / 37 = 27 miles a day, 6 days a week. My walking buddy and I walked the West Highland Way in four days which is similar mileage. I needed a day off after that.

The point is, until I'm on the trail I won't know what distances I'll be able to walk in the first week that I can replicate. I'm aiming for 24 mile/8 hour days in the first week and see what room there is, if any, for improvement. I might find I can walk considerably more than that on a particular day, or considerably less.

Distance

To calculate distance I traced the route I highlighted on the paper maps into Mapometer which shows distances and elevation profiles. I've used Mapometer to calculate distances for almost every distance walk I've tackled and I'm satisfied about it's accuracy. Until that work was completed I based my plans on the assumption that my route was 1,000 miles which seemed to leave the least margin for error.

Mapometer

Detailed route mapping

As expected, my margin was some way off.

Sections

I've divided the UK mainland into six sections. Each section has it's own maps, it's own poste restante re-supply and its own backpack weight.

SECTION ONE*: Land's End to Chepstow Post Office (231.85 miles which = 23.185 miles per day over 10 days).

SECTION TWO: Chepstow Post Office to Warrington Post Office (150.18 miles which = 25.03 miles per day over 6 days).

SECTION THREE: Warrington Post Office to Carlisle Post Office (137 miles which = 22.8 miles per day over 6 days).

SECTION FOUR: Carlisle Post Office to South Queensferry Post Office (105.6 miles which = 26 miles per day over 4 days).

SECTION FIVE: South Queensferry Post Office to Inverness Post Office (150 miles which = 25 miles per day over 6 days).

SECTION SIX: Inverness Post Office to John o'Groats (approx 125 miles which = 25 miles per day over 5 days).

* Because this is the longest section and I'll be finding my legs, I've split this section in half with the first poste restante pick up at Tiverton, which all being well I should make in about 6 days.

Total distance

The total distance from Land's End to John O'Groats on the route I've plotted using the principles outlined herein turns out to be about 900 miles - 100 hundred miles shorter than I had originally estimated. Avoiding PUDs and zig-zags makes a difference.

Why did I select these specific locations? 

Two reasons:

1. I selected a start point and an objective based on the prevailing direction of travel (North East for the first section, North for the second section and so on) and drew an imaginary line on the map between them. Using that as a guide I then plotted a course on the O/S Explorer 1:25,000 scale maps using whatever routes were available, keeping as close to that prevailing direction of travel as possible. I used other LEJOGer's blogs (Jimmy, fellow Basingstoker Richard Fosh, Dave Felton's excellent photo journal, Paul Nye and Mike) for up to date SITREPs on the route (or what US thru-hikers call "beta") and Google Street View to reconnoiter the road sections to see if there were pavements (sidewalks) or suitably wide verges, and where there were I'd use the road, being the flattest and most direct route. Where not, I'd find an alternative.

2. Tiverton, Chepstow, Warrington, Carlisle, South Queensferry and Inverness post offices all accept poste restante meaning I can forward essential section maps and supplies ahead and pick them up when I need to.

Maps

I used Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale maps to plot the route. I will carry these with me one section at a time or in the case of the longest (first) section, roughly half-and half. I've used poste restante to send sections of maps ahead.

SECTION ONE: Land's End to Chepstow. 12 maps:
102 - Land's End
104 - Redruth & St Agnes
106 - Newquay & Padstow
109 - Bodmin Moor
112 - Launceston & Holsworthy
113 - Okehampton
114 - Exeter & the Exe Valley
128 - Taunton & Blackdown Hills
140 - Quantock Hills & Bridgewater
141 - Cheddar Gorge & Mendip Hills West
154 - Bristol West & Portishead
OL 14 - Wye Valley & Forest of Dean

SECTION TWO: Hereford to Warrington. 9 maps:

189 - Hereford & Ross-on-Wye

202 - Leominster & Bromyard

203 - Ludlow, Tenbury Wells & Cleobury Mortimer

204 - Worcester & Droitwich Spa

217 - The Long Mynd & Wenlock Edge

241 - Shrewsbury, Wem, Shawbury & Baschurch

257 - Crewe & Nantwich, Whitchurch & Tattenhall

267 - Northwich & Delamere Forest

276 - Bolton, Wigan & Warrington

SECTION THREE: Preston to Carlisle. 6 maps:
286 - Blackpool & Preston
287 - West Pennine Moors, Blackburn, Darwen & Accrington
OL41 - Forest of Bowland & Ribblesdale
OL7 - The English Lakes - South-eastern area
OL5 - The English Lakes - North-eastern area
315 - Carlisle

SECTION FOUR: Longtown to South Queensferry. 5 maps:
323 - Eskdale & Castle O'er Forest
330 - Moffat & St Mary's Loch
337 - Peebles & Innerleithen
344 - Pentland Hills
350 - Edinburgh, Musselburgh & Queensferry

SECTION FIVE: Dunfermline to Inverness. 8 maps:
367 - Dunfermline, Kirkaldy & Glenrothes South
369 - Perth & Kinross
379 - Dunkeld, Aberfeldy & Glen Almond
OL49 - Pitlochry & Loch Tummel
OL51 - Atholl
OL57 - Cairn Gorm & Aviemore
OL60 - Lochindorb, Grantown-on-Spey & Carrbridge
416 - Inverness, loch Ness & Culloden

SECTION SIX: Black Isle to John o'Groats. 6 maps:
432 - Black Isle
438 - Dornoch & Tain
441 - Lairg, Bonar Bridge & Golspie
444 - Helmsdale
450 - Wick
451 - Thurso & John o'Groats

Total: 46 maps.

I bought most of my maps from Meteodale, a reliable online map vendor.

How much do 46 O/S Explorer maps weigh? 

Good question. I didn't weigh them before I took the covers off and trimmed them into strip maps, so I don't know. Each O/S map is different, but I can take a broad sweep of a guess using map OL57 as an example.

OL57 Cairn Gorm & Aviemore weighs 98 grams. 98 grams x 46 = 4,508 grams or 4.5 KG.

OL57 minus the cover weighs 80 grams. After trimming off part of the map I don't need, it's down to 61 grams. I could trim it more but I don't want to restrict my view any further; this is Lairig Ghru and I don't want to get lost here.

However I am able to accurately weigh the trimmed maps.

All 46 O/S maps weigh 1,869g.

By section the maps weigh:

SECTION ONE: 429g.
SECTION TWO: 341g.
SECTION THREE: 225g.
SECTION FOUR: 201g.
SECTION FIVE: 334g.
SECTION SIX: 339g.