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ROAD SAFETY &
CYCLE TRAINING |
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John O'Groats
~ OUR plan for the LAST 3 DAYS ~ Although the schedule prior to the last 3 days will be flexible, primarily because there will be occasions when we'll only do 35 - 40 miles (like the day we climb Glen Coe which is an approx. 11 or 12 mile incline) and others when we might do anything between 60 - 80 miles (although now we will be taking it easier across the famous Somerset Flats as we now have time on our side as a result of the CTC conference in Bath), those last 3 days is the one thing that won't change!! All things being equal, we should be leaving Barnstable on Wednesday 2nd April cycling to Camelford which will be our penultimate layover. Then on Thursday 3rd April we will continue on towards Lands End via Newquay stopping at Truro College just down the road from Chiverton Roundabout. Next morning then linking up with my peers from Truro College for the big one .... On Friday 4th April 2008 the last day will finally be upon us when we'll leave the college [Lyhner Car Park] at approx. 10am to cycle down to Penzance, taking a break there before the final push in the afternoon, leaving at approx. 1.30pm from Tesco's on the edge of Penzance to arrive at Lands End at approx. 3pm ... Journey's end and I'm told on arrival we'll want to turn around and go back and do it all again .. only we're going to party, well have a picnic on the cliffs to be more precise with everyone who brings us in and hopefully one or two others as well LOL The above route gives the nearest large town to the actual roads we will take and those of course, can always change due to road conditions and traffic etc. so even then this is assuming that we don't have the unforeseen to go around ... there are no end of reasons why we might need to take a slightly different route, not least of all by accidentally having taken a wrong turn somewhere and ending up doing a bit of a sightseeing detour that hadn't been planned in but then., would it be a true 'E2E' if we didn't at some stage?? The End to End is the ultimate Bikeability Level 3 - it does requires careful route planning and advanced cycling skills (this is not a project for the faint hearted) to be able to cope with all road conditions over the 900 - 1000 mile route depending on which way you choose to go. But support vehicles and night stops, even in youth hostels still cost money so for that, we have approached some local businesses and as soon as we know who will be helping us, we will add them to this page ....... As we are travelling late March/early April, hopefully we will be fortunate enough to have similar good weather to that of last year at the same time, which time which was perfect for it., clear skies and light breezes without being too hot and the journey culminating with children we have worked with and their families joining us for that last mile or three, bringing a picnic with them so that when we have signed the book at Lands End completing our epic journey and had the proverbial photos taken, we will then have one big picnic party on the cliff top. To see some of the photos that I took whilst doing the route assessment, go to http://www.rsct.org.uk/pages/photo_gallery_14.htm
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