Nick Mitchell - The End to End Cycle Route: Land’s End to John o’ Groats

Stopping to fix a puncture all part of the adventure

The End to End, like any other adventure worth undertaking, is also a challenge; arriving at the start line minutes before setting off will make your heart beat faster and bring a little dryness to the mouth, raising the question, Can I really do this? The answer is to start and to try. The End to End is best encountered one stage at a time, one goal at a time; to get to Penzance, to the Bristol Channel, Blackburn, Carlisle, the Borders, Inverness and head north in a life-affirming, I'm on my way, I've come too far and I'm not stopping. At times and in places the End to End can be hard, but with a good level of fitness and the right preparation, it is also achievable.

Some days will be very wet, some cold, others windy. The hills can be long or steep, or both; knees will stiffen, muscles cramp, gears will click, grind and slip. There will probably be a puncture or two, but even during the tough times a smile may cross your face when the realisation sets in: I am cycling the End to End, I'm free and on the road and this is my adventure.

The End to End route outlined in this guidebook is designed to take in some of the finest cycling that the UK has to offer, along the quieter A roads, B roads, lanes and cycle paths. End to Enders will find that once they are on the road, it is the numerous small and intensely enjoyable personal moments that provide the sense of adventure. The nervous tingle at the first sight of the End to End distance marker at Land's End; glimpsing Glastonbury Tor through spring morning mist; the fragrant scent of a Shropshire hedgerow after summer rain or the sound of raucous fiddle playing and laughter at an impromptu ceilidh in the Far North. On every stage of the End to End, from Cornwall to Caithness, the cycling is excellent and the landscape never really falls short of being gorgeous.

However, it is the men and women encountered along the way that add to the warp and weft of the adventure; stopping for a word with a gentleman of the road on a deserted Welsh country lane; a cup of tea with the friendliest B&B owner in Lancashire, who will talk and laugh and talk some more; arriving soaked to the skin at Slaidburn YHA and finding that the gruff-looking former Yorkshire miner, now working as a volunteer warden, will put your cycling kit in the washer with a smile. All these characters are out there waiting to take part in your End to End.

Self-supported End to Ender, camping all the way

The End to End route outlined in this guidebook was originally devised for a cycle touring company and so readers can rest assured that the route and the accompanying maps and notes have been successfully road-tested by dozens of people on supported rides over the past couple of years. The brief was to design a 14-day End to End, avoiding fast and busy roads, and it has largely been met, with the exception of 8 miles from Plymouth to Yelverton and 68 miles between Tarbet and Fort William, where there are no sensible alternatives. Fortunately on both these roads motorists are used to seeing cyclists. Wherever possible National Cycle Network (NCN) cycle paths have been used for crossing those large urban conurbations that could not be avoided.