June 10 2017 Lands End To John O Groats - Surly Gets Ready

June 10 2017  Kelowna BC  -- Surly Gets Ready

June 10, 2017

When Agnes and I returned from Phoenix I took Surly down from his hangers in the garage and dropped him at the local bike shop for a refit.  Surly has not been out for a major tour for a few years and was starting to feel pretty neglected.  So he was pretty happy to be taken down, and he knew something big was in the works.   The Surly has been on more than a few major trips; Los Angles to Boston, West Coast USA, Paris to Istanbul, and Rockies I, plus a couple of Golden Triangle rides and a couple of Florida rides.  In the bike shop he was fitted up with new rear cassette, chain, new cables, brakes, saddle, handle bar tape, all the bearings repacked.  All refitted Surly is like a brand new bike.  The Surly Long Haul Trucker is a great handling bike and has a great road feel.   It is going to be great to hit the trail with an old friend.

The Lands’ End to John O Groats (LEJOG) ride is a classic bike ride and one which all bike touring folks talk about.  Lands End is the very farthest South west corner of England in Cornwall.  From there we will travel to John O Groats which is the very furthest north east corner of Scotland.  The distance is 603 miles as the crows fly and 874 miles by road.  However we plan on covering 1250 miles.  It is going to be a bit of a site seeing tour.  This trip will be 35 days long including travel time to Land’s End and returning from John O Groats.  The idea is to cover the distance without seeing any roads which have a center line.  There will be lots of bike trails, tow paths and country roads. 

Jos and I have been taking turns being tour director and this is Jos’ turn so I get to sit back and learn some new tricks.  The places Jos has lined up for us look absolutely amazing.  Old manor houses, country inns, old forges which are now B&B’s, Edwardian town houses, ultra-modern ocean view condos, house boats and all sorts of everything in between. 

There will be four of us on this tour; Jos as tour director, Agnes driving support and luggage van, and Patrick and myself as riders. 

Surly is in the bag and most of my stuff is packed.  We drive to Vancouver on July 13 and over night there.  On the morning of July 14 it is a direct flight to Gatwick where we met up with Patrick and Jos.  This is going to be one terrific trip.

I have posted some pictures of Surly getting into his bag and a map of the places where we will be staying.  The following is a link to my Google map.  If you follow the link it will take you to the map where the places are posted.   LEJOG Map

Thanks for following along on this adventure.

Terry