Where, Why, How?

In anticipation of a few questions, here's a few answers for you all:

Why Land's End to John O' Groats?

In short, the journey between these two extremeties (south west-north east) mark the longest distance you can travel on our fair island. You can read a bit from good old Wikipedia here. You can get both further south (Lizard Point) and furhter north (Dunnet Head), and even further northwesterly at Duncansby Head. So it's a complete mystery as to why everyone is obsessed with getting to John O'Groats. There must be something there even more special than the other two points. I'll just have to go there and let you know...

Either way, people have been doing it on bicycles since the late 1800's. Ion Kieth-Falconer did it in 1882 in 13 days, on his trusty penny farthing no less. Puts my plans rather to shame...

Why not take the bus?

Well people have. Richard Elloway managed to do it for free using his bus pass. If I can be up to such heroism at his age, I'll be a happy man. But I want to cycle it for a good reason. Forgive me while I get a little misty eyed here...

I'll be favouring the self supported cycle touring style. What this means is that everything I need will be on my bike including clothes, maps, cooking equipment and my house. The benefit here is I'll be almost completely self reliant. No matter what the circumstances I will have food, shelter and transport. The feeling of freedom this provides is something else. No bills, no job to attend, no obligations other than those defined by me? Yes please. An added bonus is that a fully loaded bike looks pretty cool.

The bicycle itself is a joy. Despite being cheap to run (no fuel!) the fact that it's your own self that gets you to where you go provides an immense sense of satisfaction. "I got myself here" is a sentence which ran wondorously through my head atop many hills on my Coast to Coast ride in the summer.

To boot, you are completely exposed to the weather, sights and smells of the land you travel through. When I get to Scotland, I'll be able to tell you how Scottish rain differs from English, how the south of England smells different to the north. This may sound a bit hippy-trippy... and it absolutely is. We have a beautiful climate here in England. I'll get to know it well. I may hug a tree.

Finally, it's all about having the time to drink in the sights and meet the people. 15-20mph is much nicer than 70mph when your admiring the scenery, believe me. And the lack of a steel cage and windows between me and the great British public makes it much easier to say "hello".

Why now?

Well as I alluded to in my last post, I bought a bike last spring. It's nothing too special. Picked it up from Halfords on sale for £220. It's lovely to ride and gets me to and from work every day. In September I rode it from Workington to Hartlepool, completing the Coast to Coast in three days. I had my tent on the back, and got rained on quite a bit but I loved it. I'm doing this trip now simply because I love cycle touring already despite my limited experience. I just want to put some of the world under my wheels.

Simples.