Paperwork

It's all very well deciding to ride from John O'Groats to Lands End, takes about thirty seconds if there are a couple of you who like cycling together and have maybe enjoyed a nice glass of wine with a meal... You get the picture.

If, several days later, you both still like the idea (or are both too embarrassed to admit to the other that you don't think you can do it), the biggest thought is getting in enough training. Actually this can be the easiest part if you have a turbo trainer you can set up in the garage / conservatory. Provided you have a radio or something to aleviate the boredom you can put in the time on the saddle regardless of the weather out side. When the weather is better you go out for real rides. Easy.

After a couple of weeks you start to look at the logistics. How to get to John O'Groats, what route to take, where to stay, how much is all this going to cost?????

There are basically two options - do everything by yourselves, or have a support team. The latter can be the easiest as you then have transport to JoG, and if they are in a motorhome, or similar, you have all your accommodation sorted too. The alternative requires a bit more organisation.

It looks as though we will be going self supported, so a good few hours have been, and will be spent pouring over maps to design a route, and trawling the internet to find accommodation amongst other things.

Getting to JoG.

Fly or train? It is possible to fly from Exeter to Wick (18 miles from JoG). The tandem will not go on the plane though, so a courrier would be required to deliver the bike, and we'd have to get to Exeter (100+ miles)It would mean setting off and arriving on the same day though. The train takes considerably longer, and initial searches showed it costing considerably more, but a little careful research and it would cost roughly half the price of the flights and leave from Penzance (only ten miles away).

A little more research threw a spanner in the works though. We could take tandem with us on the train, but only as far as Edinburgh. Scotrail DO NOT carry tandems on their trains. Everyone else do, but not Scotrail. So we're back to looking for couriers.

Richard is working out how much he can take the bike apart safely to wrap and pack it to be sure it arrives in good condition. We may end up carrying a fair amount of it with us...

As a tenatative idea, we are looking at the support team method, but we need to find a support team.

We will keep you posted!