Marj and Garfield's 2007 UK trip

Marj Murphy and Garfield Clack were moved by the experience of Harold Bridge and Betty Darvell Jones, who completed their Land 's End to John O ' Groats ride in 2005. We would try it for ourselves this year. We made allowances. Having ridden self-contained and camped out during our previous bike tours in the U.K. we thought B & B 's would now be more appropriate.

Flying Zoom to Gatwick in mid-June (bikes carried free), we then took trains to Penzance, planning to go first to Lizard Point. A preview of what we were to face stopped us. Heavy rain and very high winds led to our taking a bus to and from the Lizard. Thereafter, we cycled to Land 's End and northwards along the west coast of Cornwall, then Devon and Somerset, to Bath. We met some JOGLE 's along the way.

Our first mistake was following the Sustrans (or National Cycle Route) to avoid traffic. It was the wrong year to do this. Heavy winds, rain and the worst floods (it was said) for 300 years turned much of our cycle paths to mud and debris. We were mostly wet, never cold, but had to push bikes through guck and up many inclines. It took us two weeks and about 600k to get to Bath. We had allowed four-five weeks for the whole tour and were not going to make it at this rate.

Our second mistake was setting out from Bath on A and B roads. We were soon spooked by the traffic and weather so returned to Bath and took the train to Carlisle, avoiding the Midlands and Lake District. By the time we were nearing Lanark and still facing rain, traffic, and the Glasgow-Edinburgh ‘corridor ', it was easy to decide to take the train again, to Inverness. We had cycled over 750k Thereafter, with some letup in both the weather and traffic, our trip was a joy.

Many agree that Scotland provides the finest large cycling area in the U.K. We reached John O ' Groats (via Dunnet Head) on 18 July, very happily. At this point we had cycled 1,056 k. We then took the ferry to Burwick, cycled around Scapa Flow into Kirkwall, and north to the ancient village of Skara Brae. South to Stromness and the ferry to Thurso, where our main cycle tour ended. We cycled further miles while researching family history around Montrose. Then cycled north to Stonehaven to visit friends with whom we left our bikes while we visited families in Germany and France. On balance, the tour was an adventure, we 're glad we did it, and would do it again.