Britain · January – February 2013

The Winter
LEJOG

In January 2013, Ben headed out on his bike with Natalia and Paulo on the 1,500 km ride from Land’s End to John o’ Groats. They chose to do it in winter because of the extra challenge, and to prepare themselves for harder journeys in the future. The ride did not disappoint.

RouteLand’s End → John o’ Groats, up the west and over the Forth

Distance1,500 km

TeamBen and Natalia, with Paulo for the first half

WeatherHeadwinds and rain on day one; snow from the border north

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109 photos

Ben, Natalia and Paulo with their bikes at the Land’s End signpost

1,500^KM

Land’s End to John o’ Groats

100^KM

Day one, into the wind, arriving after dark

3

Riders at the start — two at the finish

1^WEEK

In Orkney afterwards, still and frosty

The story

A different type of beauty in winter

109 photos ↓

Heading out from Land’s End

This was the first big cycling test that we faced as we looked to prepare ourselves for our dreams. We were accompanied by Paulo for about half the journey, but his knee gave problems and he had to withdraw half way through, leaving myself and Natalia to continue by ourselves.

Winters in the UK can be tough and stormy, and in thinking about the challenges of any polar expedition, we wanted the journey to be tough, but as we had only limited touring experience, something that wasn’t too tough. Landing in London from Brazil and the temperature was noticeably and visibly different from the Sao Paulo summer, with a heavy frost on the ground as we went out to make the final preparations.

After getting the train to Penzance and staying there the night, we faced incredibly strong head winds as we set out on the long ride, and rain pretty much all day. We only arrived at our destination, near Bodmin (around 100km from the start) after dark. Cycling along the busy main roads in those conditions at night was not so enjoyable. Then when we went off the main road on to a dark country lane, with our lights offering only very little help, we were very relieved to get to our destination with a family we had met through Warm Showers.

Paulo cycling in the mist — Paulo in the mist

Wet roads on the first days — Wet roads — the first days out of Cornwall

From there on, however, we made steady progress up north, passing through places like Exeter, Taunton, Timsbury, Worcester, Manchester and Lancaster – where I used to live – before our final city in England, Carlisle. The weather actually held up and, in England at least, we never experienced anything nearly as bad as what we had on that first day.

Ben with a fully loaded bike in the snow — Fully loaded, fully frozen

While it was winter, and you’d expect things to be miserable, it was actually a really enjoyable journey – there’s a different type of beauty in winter and it was nice seeing the places where I had grown up and gone on holiday.

Into the Highlands of Scotland

It seemed that the weather pretty much changed the day we left from Carlisle in the north of England to cross into Scotland as we headed to Galashiels. It snowed overnight so the countryside was just beautiful, blanketed in white. It was a cold day, but we soon warmed up as we cycled. It didn’t seem to take long until we got to that landmark sign telling us that we had left England behind and that we were in the final part of our journey.

A rider at the Scotland border sign in the snow — Into Scotland

From Galashiels, where we stayed the night with a nice young couple we had again met through Warm Showers, we headed up to Edinburgh where we were able to take a day off to explore the city. After that, crossing the Forth, and towards the highlands. We had been advised to not take the main A-road to Newtonmore because it was so busy and dangerous, though the alternative was a cycle track that was just icy, very hilly and treacherous. We tried for a while though eventually made the decision to just go back to the A-road as our progress was so slow – we wanted to get to Newtonmore before nightfall, and we just about managed it.

Inverness followed (we treated ourselves to a hotel there and went to Zizzi where we had what was to us the most amazing pizza and beer ever – it was great, though I do think we were very hungry!). From there, it was just north along the coastal road for a few more days until we got to Brora and eventually Wick – just a few kilometres from John O’Groats. We thought we would stay the night there (and it had been a perfect day) to be able to cycle peacefully in to John O’Groats in the morning, taking our time to take pictures, film some videos and relax… The weather, however, had other plans as it changed overnight and was literally howling as we got out of bed. We had to ride diagonally in the road to be able to go forward as the cross winds were so strong. We got to John O’Groats but didn’t linger as it was so bad… we had done it, but what an ending!

Cycling along the coast at dusk — The last evenings, along the coast

Bike against the John o’ Groats sign — John o’ Groats — the finish

To celebrate the ending of the journey we had arranged to meet my mother and head on over to the Orkney Islands. And the weather as we crossed over – the day after that crazy storm had hit us – was absolutely perfect, still and frosty, and it stayed like that the entire week we stayed in the Orkneys. Almost unheard of during winter!

Photos · 2013