Dino's blog for mini adventures and endurance challenges
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Land’s End

July 4th, 2015 | Posted by Dino in UK - (1 Comments)

Distance: 12 miles

And so it begins. In the sunshine, with a strong southwesterly and the taste of Cornish ice cream: Land’s End.

Apparently I had been here before, or so my Dad told me, back in 1991. My four year old self, though I loved my pink bicycle with teddy bear strapped on the back seat, would have failed to foresee that I would be back some 24 years later with my Dad for another ice cream. This time though I didn’t have to suffer in the backseat with two brothers kicking and poking me while I felt sick from too much Ribena. This time I would cycle from Penzance station until one of us, my Dad this time, would call out in the way we had on family holidays for years and years: “I can see the sea!!”

That beautiful, dark blue smudge on the horizon became sparkling and white foam smashing against the rocks as we approached. In touristic mode, we parted with £10 in order to have our photograph taken under the “famous Land’s End signpost” and celebrated the start with the first ice creams of the trip. Here it begins, where the rock meets the sea. Over a thousand miles lie ahead before these two Rocks will meet the sea at John O’Groats.

Signpsot

Lands end selfie

LeJog Blog

June 30th, 2015 | Posted by Dino in UK | Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

LeJog route overviewIt’s almost July and preparations are being finalised for the grandest of all cycling’s Grand Tours. Bikes are being fettled, carbo is being loaded. Saturday 4 July sees Le Grand Depart, when the intrepid cyclists set off on their gruelling three-week parcours. C’est Le Tour de France, ne c’est pas?

Mai non, c’est LeJog (Land’s End to John O’Groats).

While the Tour de France riders are preparing to pootle 13.8 km around the flat streets of Utrecht, intrepid father and daughter combo Steve and Dino will be heading to Cornwall ready to take on their first stage of 62 notoriously hilly miles from Land’s End to Padstow. The professionals’ route may take in higher mountains than Shap Summit (1393 ft), but they will be doing so on bikes weighing only 6.8 kg, instead of solid British steel touring bikes with a loaded weight of 35 kg.

From Cornwall we will be taking in these famous locations:

  • Cheddar Gorge
  • Severn Bridge
  • Ferry across the Mersey
  • Shap
  • The isles of Arran, Mull and Skye
  • The Skye Bridge (not sponsored by a satellite TV company)
  • Cape Wrath (maybe, if we feel up to it on a rest day)

before finishing at John O’Groats on Sunday 26 July – the same day as the professionals will be swigging their champagne en route to the Champs Élysées.

We hope to be blogging (as well as possibly blagging) our way, and subject to the vagaries of mobile telecoms reception and tiredness you will be able to follow our progress here. You can also enter your email, so you’ll get notified of updates as soon as they are posted.

On y va!