Initial Route - 1,200 miles!

The initial route planning has taken ages (I've joked that it's taken as long to plan it as it will to cycle it) but finally the first draft is complete as set out below: -

Route: From - To and Estimated Daily Mileage
Land's End - Indian Queens - 55.03
Indian Queens - Lydford - 57.52
Lydford - nr Tiverton - 55.39
Tiverton - Wookey Hole - 56.54
Wookey Hole - Monmouth - 62.53
Monmouth - nr Bridgnorth - 66.45
Bridgnorth - Hixon - 56.17
Hixon - Hayfield (High Peak) - 58.03
Hayfield - Cowling (Yorks) - 62.60
Cowling - Keld - 52.96
Keld - Brampton (Cumbria) - 61.96
Brampton - Melrose - 59.63
Melrose - Inverkeithing (Forth Bridge) - 64.89
Inverkeithing - Pitlochry - 68.48
Pitlochry - Boat of Garten (Nr Aviemore) - 66.67
Boat of Garten - Evanton - 58.54
Evanton - Altnaharra - 64.76
Altnaharra - Cape Wrath - 59.20
Cape Wrath - Bettyhill - 56.08
Bettyhill - John O'Groats via Dunnet Head - 57.42


I strongly suspect that anyone that has done it will be scratching their head and saying 'Why that way?' ... to save time; I'm avoiding 'A' roads wherever possible, using cycle routes wherever possible and 'B' roads where not and also visting places of interest, such as Keld which I've passed through on both the Pennine Way and Coast to Coast path (so it seems appropriate to visit it again on the longest tour I've ever attempted. Plus it looks as if there's a nice bunkhouse there now, which wasn't there last time).

I do want to go to Cape Wrath but if it doesn't work out, then I won't - that will save a lot of mileage. Same for visiting Dunnet Head - by that stage I might well have had quite enough!

All that remains are the unanswerable questions of fitness, whether my tricky knee will hold up, what the weather will do, whether I have enough / too much / right / wrong gear and the question Can I really do this? will not be answered until about 20 September, or thereabouts...

Well, that's the first draft and it could all change. If I could just get rid of 60 miles of that, it would give me a day in hand for emergencies, sightseeing, or simply having a rest. Tomorrow then, back to the drawing board.