Trip Statistics

The first table shows the distances and height climbed for:

• Lands End to Haworth
• Haworth to John O'Groats
• John O'Groats to Haworth
• Lands End to John O'Groats
• Whole Trip
  (Distances are from bike computer; heights climbed from plots of route using Anquet (OS))

Click on table to see it

From Lands End to Haworth I averaged 78 miles per day (over 83 for the first five days) which was way above my most optimistic expectations. After deciding to slow down a bit, during my chat over a pint in Haworth, I did 69 miles per day for the rest of the journey to John O'Groats, but it was still over the 100 km (62.5 miles) per day I originally aimed for.

I upped the speed slightly on the return from John O'Groats and also increased the average daily climbing by over 400 m.

The second table shows more detailed daily stats:

• daily distance, In both kilometres and miles (because virtually all my touring has been in France -plus some in Italy, Spain, Holland, Switzerland and Belgium- I have got used to setting my computer to kilometres and have stuck with it in the UK)
• distance from Lands End both in kilometres and miles,
• metres climbed ,
• metres climbed per kilometre (this is a fairly meaningless figure which I put in to give an indication of how hilly each day was; in retrospect it doesn't really add anything - though, comparing them with my normal rides from home it does show they are mostly as hilly as the worst and several are hillier),
• maximum height of the highest point during the day,
• average speed (this is the average speed on the bicycle ie takes no account of breaks),
• maximum speed

Click on table to see it

Aviemore to Kinross involved the most climbing (2830 m) and was also the longest distance (175.2 km). By far the hardest day of climbing was the journey from Bellingham to Reeth with its long uphill stretches.

The highest point I reached was Fleet Moss (588 m) and this was probably the biggest climb (although despite the appalling weather conditions not the hardest for me).

My average speeds were slower than I was anticipating (note they are in kilometres/hour!). I did stop and start a fair bit eg photos and this does affect the average. These were much lower than the sort of averages achieved by others doing a similar daily distance. I guess this indicates I was on the road for longer. Certainly my early starts meant I got three or four hours in before others had finished their breakfast at their B&Bs.

Time in the saddle: From Land's End to John O'Groats I spent 99 hours 32 minutes in the saddle an average for the full 14 days of 7hrs 24mins a day).

For the whole trip it was 159hrs 4mins (an average of 7hrs 57mins a day)


Expenditure during trip

Total cash spent: £593 (mainly on campsites, food and drink, including about £120 on 'meals out'), an average of £28 per day.

Campsites: £155 for 20 days camping (average £7.73 per night)

Train fare to Penzance: £31.