Lands End to John O Groats

[emn]

hi everyone thinking about doing lands end to john o groats and back over the course of four or five days next year has any body done this before got any suggestions for routes not wanting to do miles and miles of motorway riding,any places of interest to head for on the way up or down any accommodation that you can recommend
thanks
mal

[emn]

thanks for your help on this

[Luke_Retrofly]

Search BCF for "john o groats" there have been lots of topics on this subject recently.

[Zenarchy]

I didn't go from lands end, but rode from newcastle to the west coast of scotland (with a bit of meandering and getting lost in central scotland on the way there), up the west coast, round the top (taking in john-o-groats) before heading south down the east coast a bit, then inland to lochness for a couple of days (again with a lot of meandering and following my nose) before heading home along the east coast again.

If you're heading to John O Groats and have enough time, I'd try to take in as much of western scotland and the west coast and go along the top to get there (or perhaps ride back down that way) as the scenery is much more impressive and roads seemed much more interesting on the west side of the country (though maybe it was just the roads I was on - I didn't have as much time as I'd have liked - but if you have a look on google maps then click the 'show terrain' button you'll probably see what I mean).

I made it from Ulapool to John-O-Groats in a couple of days with plenty of time for meandering around to see places on the way and stopping to take in the scenery, staying over in durness for a night on the way there from ulapool, then made it down the east coast then inland to inverness and loch ness from JOG in a day.

To be honest John-O-groats was a bit of an anti-climax and as I approached it (riding roughly along the north coast of scotland), there was a definite feeling of leaving the good stuff behind as the scenery and roads started turning into more of what I was familiar with the closer I got, and this continued as I headed out of it down the east coast. It was still nice countryside and the coast was nice, but not as interesting as being in amongst the mountains and scenery and relative isolation on the west side of the country and the western part of the north coast.

I know the lands end to JOG thing is famous, and it'd be good to tick that one off the list, but if you're coming from the south, I'd be more inclined to get up to glasgow in a more direct and quick way then head into the western side of the country amongst the mountains as the scenery and roads there are amazing. Riding through glen coe and applecross then between ulapool and durness was amazing and if/when I do it again, I'll be heading there and exploring more around that side of the country.

Just my impression and I haven't spent a lot of time touring scotland so I might be missing a lot, but still, I wasn't that impressed with JOG as a place compared to the other places I'd ridden around on the way there and back.

[user]

got to agree with zerarchy here, west scotland is brilliant riding, lots of little twisty single track roads with sheep on them if you dig around a little and are prepared to get lost

Around JOG it's quite dull, but your pretty much guarenteed to meet some fairly interesting people there and theres a ton of B+Bs and a campsite.

The A9 north of inverness is a pretty nice road too, possibly all the way down to Perth, pissed down when I was last there and can't remember much

[krebsy]

If you want to do the west coast of scotland then head up through glen coe and to fort william. then back down and across the corran car ferry, through strontian, salen and off to ardnamurchan point (most western tip of the mainland), check out the beach/dunes nearby at Sana (sp?) if sunny and then back via acharacle and up to mallaig. take the ferry, tour skye, back over the bridge and down the stunning sweeping road past "that castle from highlander (TM)" . then either back to fort william or up to inverness...

used to holiday all round there and just waiting for the chance to take the bike for a spin through the highlands...

K.
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