Anyone followed Dave Barter's road LEJOG route?

[tom84]

Apart from the man himself? I can't find much info on the route as a trip (I have got the route ) I am looking for an easy to navigate but hard/long tour for August.

[Dave Barter]

What do you want to know? It’s an vaguely exciting route

[tom84]

hi, and thanks! I basically want to follow a gps and not fiddle around going through big towns and getting lost, see some lovely countryside and cover many miles. I am pretty hardy and an experienced rider/tourer; however, I am also an idiot (and have very low patience levels when it comes to technology), not inclined to do too much preparation or spend much money. Do you think this might be a good route for me?

Sorry if this is a stupid reply, I have been looking for 'easy long' routes to follow (given as I have little time to prepare) and considered various eurovelo ones and ncn routes (having done many) but everything seems to either be too fiddly or too much on mixed surfaces and I want to ride my racer.

I loved the Obsessive book by the way,

[Dave Barter]

If you mean this route https://phased.co.uk/the-greatest-lejog-route-ever/ then I can promise it meets the "not going through big towns and lovely countryside" criteria. I designed it to be as traffic free as possible with maximal epic-per-mile. It's a hard route with some big climbs in it so not for the faint of heart.

Each day ends somewhere near a B&B, hostel or pub and I rode it with a credit card and change of clothes. Not sure if this helps with your not spending money but you could always AirBNB or pack a bivy ;-)

It's 100% road and I did it on my Omega Ti road racing bike with 23c tyres. I might even have shaved my legs, can't remember.

[composite]

What are roughly the per day milages Dave? I cba clicking all 12 links.

[Asposium]

Here is my Jogle route
Rode on a gravel bike; mixture of road and disused railway tracks
Only one routing error when I went on the A9; scary moments.
8 and a half days of head wind, rain, and undulating climbs.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3710981761

[Dave Barter]

What are roughly the per day milages Dave? I cba clicking all 12 links.

90-100

[tom84]

I think I might give this a go, although the really big difference, the highlands and islands bit I will have to leave because I promised a friend I'd visit her in the Borders. So was thinking turning sharp right around Carlisle.

Thanks Dave!

[ScotRoutes]

In that case, I can recommend the B709 from Langholm all the way to Innerleithen. Fabulous road and it passes the Samye Ling Buddhist Monastery with its cafe.

[Borderer]

Good decision - lots of great riding in the Scottish Borders.

[tom84]

looking into this more today, prompted by the tantalising if ultimately not especially helpful 25% off offer on the YHA website. On the viewranger website where the stages of Dave's route link to can someone recommned which option of the dropdown free maps is most useful, i was going to print off the whole route, I have only just started using a garmin and I don't trust it.

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[PaulB2]

You can use Viewranger on your phone to download the entire route - a tad lighter than trying to print it all. I normally use the Open Cycle Map maps for most riding.

[tom84]

yes, thanks, but which map view do you think is best? (see dropdown menu in image)

[whitestone]

yes, thanks, but which map view do you think is best? (see dropdown menu in image)

Well, which do you think is best? You're the one using it. I'd go for one that shows contours

To get sufficient detail for any navigation work you are going to have to zoom in quite a way which will mean lots of sheets of paper. I'd suggest going for a ride with your Garmin and getting used to it. The only time I've had a problem with my Garmin was when I'd zoomed out so far that the whole earth was hiding behind the cursor! I had been going 24hrs and was very tired though.

[tom84]

I need a series of gpx files of the route please, i can't manually transfer the points from the viewranger to the garmin connect, and nothing else i try is working, please

[Dave Barter]

http://phased.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/LEJOG-2011.zip

[tom84]

thanks so much, we haven't had much luck getting it onto a garmin edge 500 though, could you advise please?

[tom84]

OK, I did this. Finally getting my head round the tech (route was too much to load and I had to use an app to simplify the amount of data) and going for it as far as Carlisle at which point I went Berwick on Tweed via Alston and Melrose. I couldn' find cheap places to stay in the places where each day ended so I commuted to the start most days.

Dave, it is mad 'being inside your head' following this route. It is tough (i cursed your name multiple times a day) and conditions last week were almost 100% dreadful (bar tape stayed sodden all week), but it is stunning and brilliant at the same time.

To sum up my sentiment is: thanks Dave, you b*stard.

[Dave Barter]

Tom I didn't design it to be deliberately tough, it's the fact it avoids traffic that makes it so. I had previously ridden a route with too many cars and it just detracted from the experience. I can imagine it's not great in wind and rain, but where is

Well done for having a go

Cheers
Dave (the b@stard)

[tom84]

it is amazingly designed, and, as i said, brilliant. no real complaints of the route, i was joking and riffing on your handle 'sweary dave'. I really do appreciate you making this available and would do it again