Route Planning

I used to think that a WAG had something to do with overpaid footballers but I now know it stands for Wild Arsed Guess......route planning for this little event can tie you up in knots, or so we found.  How far in a day? Main roads or side roads? How to avoid the hills?  How to know where the hills are exactly?  I am sure that there is some fancy piece of software out there that will provide us with the answers to all these questions, plus many we have not even thought of, but we have not found it.  So we have drawn straight lines on maps, worked out where our mates live, guessed how far we can ride in one day and tried to somehow combine the three.  Not exactly scientific but we have ended up with a route (albeit a bit longer on some days than we planned!).  And, from what we have heard, it is not too far different in distance from others that have gone before us which must be a good sign.

So you know at the outset (and can then wonder as the days go by why it changes) our planned route is as follows:

Land’s End to Tavistock - 86 miles

Tavistock to Glastonbury – 84 miles

Glastonbury to Corsham – 36 miles (so we can spend a night at home!) 

Corsham to Kidderminster – 81 miles

Kidderminster to Preston – 116 miles (planning hiccup methinks!)

Preston to Gretna Green – 102 miles

Gretna Green to Kilmarnock – 81 miles

Kilmarnock to Bridge of Orchy – 82 miles

Bridge of Orchy to Fort Augustus – 82 miles

Fort Augustus to Brora – 88 miles

Brora to John O’Groats – 63 miles

According to our calculations this comes to a total of 901 miles and three very sore backsides.