Greater Manchester Ambulance Service staff sponsored Land's End to John O'Groats magical mystery cycle tour August 2008
what does it all mean?...
This is our site. This is the place where all the juicy information regarding our epic journey lives.
The site is dedicated to the brave and stupid few who are preparing to cycle 1017.8 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats in 10 or 14 days (TBC) to raise awareness and money for the North West Air Ambulance (NWAA).
The site is crammed full of useful information regarding the route, the team, the sponsorship and the preparation etc. so please feel free to navigate your way around the site using the page tabs located at the top of the screen.
If for any reason you are only able to see one row of page tabs (there should be two rows of page tabs highlighted in green at the top of your screen) at the head of this page then please click on the following links to be directed to the other pages that may (or may not) be missing!!
The Preperation Page
The Sponsorship page
The Support & Thanks page
The Photo Gallery page
The Links page
The Blog page
The Contact Us page
There are also several websites listed on our links page which are worth checking out because they contain loads more information, facts and figures.
Once you have had a good ole snoop around, we hope you will have a better idea about our planned trip.
This website is not only designed to give a brief overview of where, who, when and why but also to act as a source of information for those who are participating in the end 2 end challenge.
Please do check regularly for updates and for more detailed information.
Cheers and we hope you enjoy checking out our site!...
Who are we?
If you have ever had an emergency in the Greater Manchester area and have dialled 999 for an ambulance, the chances are one of us faceless and nameless people have helped you.
All of us who are participating in the LEJOG work in the Paramedic Emergency Control room (PEC) for the Greater Manchester Ambulance Service NHS Trust (GMAS), part of the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NWAS).
In the PEC, those of us who are Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMD's), answer all 999 calls from members of the public and healthcare professionals. Utilising state of the art diagnostic computer software and a series of interrogating questions, it is our job to quickly establish where you are and what is wrong (why you need an ambulance).
Then depending on the nature of your emergency, we EMD's stay on the line with you (the caller) and offer you medical and trauma management advice, helping you, help us help the patient until the ambulance arrives.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, from the moment we have established the location of the emergency, a team of Control Dispatchers are working extremely hard and often against some overwhelming odds to ensure you receive an ambulance immediately.
The Control Dispatchers choreograph the movements of all ambulances, rapid response vehicles and cycle responders in the Greater Manchester locality. Dispatchers also regularly liaise with the team at the NWAA to get the helicopter running on certain types of incidents.
Our route - On paper it just about sounds easy...
Our route is inspired and largely based on the route described in the Cicerone Land’s End to John O’Groats cycle guide by author Simon Brown.
Our route covers a total distance of 1017.8 miles and has been broken down into 10 and 14 daily rides averaging 101.7 and 72.7 miles per day respectively (although some days we may cycle more or less than 101.7 and/or 72.7 miles depending on the terrain, gradient and beers consumed the night before etc).
The route has been planned south to north, although this is psychologically ‘uphill all the way’ it does take advantage of the south-westerly winds to cool our backs and if we are lucky help us up those hills!
Below is a brief description of the route we will be taking. Please view the itinerary pages (plan A or plan B or plan C) for a detailed day to day breakdown of the route complete with daily maps etc.
Britain is a country rich in diversity. The landscape varies from the flat and fertile to the wild and mountainous. The climate too ranges from sub-tropical in the south west, wet temperate in the west, dry in the east and grim up north!
The route forsakes the dramatic granite cliffs of the northern shore for the more pastoral southern coast with its labyrinth of natural harbours, fishing villages and thickly wooded estuaries and starts at Land’s End. First off on our tour we will visit the towns of Penzance and Truro, both built on the profits of tin and copper. The 19th century mines now litter the countryside like a ghostly inheritance from the industrial revolution. St Austell and Liskeard lead into the county of Devon.
Devon has a far more mellow character than its rugged Cornish neighbour with its scattering of traditional farmsteads on a landscape of rolling hills. At the heart of the county lies the granite mass of Dartmoor, a high plateau rising to a mean height of over 1000 ft above sea level! This county will provide possibly some of the most difficult cycling on the tour, as local road builders have chosen a more direct approach to construction compared to some of the more mountainous areas of the country where roads tend to follow contour lines and valleys. Despite this, the scenery around Dartmoor is very rewarding with extensive views across the whole south-west peninsular. Once the plateau is crossed torturous country lanes lead to the less aggressive wilds of Exmoor and on to Tavistock where timber-framed houses flaunt a wealth gained from the woollen industry.
The arrival of Taunton brings the third county of the tour and the rich farming areas of the south-west. Somerset is sculpted by the escarpments of the Mendips, Quantocks and the Brendon Hills as well as the underground labyrinths of limestone that spawned the spectacular gorge at Cheddar. Historic towns Bath, Wells and Glastonbury proudly display their architectural splendour and may well be worth a diversion or two from our route as it now turns north to reach the city of Bristol.
Bristol stands at the estuary of the River Severn – the largest in the country. The impressive water course is followed north into Gloucestershire and the picturesque towns and villages of the Cotwolds. Fertile meadows form a verdant patchwork by the river bank before reaching Tewkesbury between the Cotwolds to the east and the Malvern Hills to the west. The town of Tewkesbury established itself in the 11th century and now displays a well preserved façade of classic Tudor timber-fronted houses.
Our route now continues north along the Severn Valley. The town of Evesham, built on both sides of the meandering River Avon, lies at the head of the plum orchards that line the great vale. The River Severn leads north to the architecturally rich city of Worcester, and on to the heartlands of the industrial revolution and the birthplace of industry at the Severn Gorge at Ironbridge in Shropshire. The route now continues along the course of the Severn Valley Railway through the rich wooded hills between Bewdley and Bridgnorth. To the west the Shropshire hills buffet the Welsh border rising in ever increasing ridges to merge with the mountains of Snowdonia.
From the new town of Telford, the River Severn is left behind to find its source in the hills of mid Wales while the route continues north through the rich arable lands of Cheshire, wedged between the rugged mountains of North Wales in the west and the peaks of the Pennines in the east.
On initial inspection the counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire contrive to present a seemingly impassable barrier of urban sprawl. The cities of Liverpool and our home town of Manchester hug the banks of the River Mersey to the west while the Humber links the North Sea to the towns of Sheffield and Leeds. The central Pennine Chain completes the barricade. It is surprising therefore that it is Lancashire that will provide the breach and will offer some of the most diverse and interesting scenery of our tour.
The area is a unique mix of quaint rural villages with stone built cottages and twisted iron monuments which serve as a constant reminder to the industrial heritage of this area. The landscape changes abruptly in the north of the county as the limestone ridges that shape the hillsides of the Dales sweep down to the coast of Morecombe. Full advantage will be taken of the local cycle routes which will be followed along the country lanes, through the forest of Bowland before joining the eastern leg of the Cumbrian Cycle Way at Kirkby Lonsdale. The rolling hills of the Pennines will be followed to within sight of Hadrian ’s Wall, before leading into Scotland at the historic blacksmiths shop and toll house at Gretna Green. By now we should all feel very much married to our bikes!
The northern coast of the Solway Firth is abundant in heather and gorse that thrives in the predominantly sandy soil. Views across the Solway Firth to the mountains of the Lake District are said to be some of the most picturesque in the UK, so have your cameras ready! Red sandstone is plentiful and is found widely in the local architecture with fine examples in the historic town of Dumfries.
We will then follow a local cycle route north through some of the most beautiful scenery in Scotland to reach the town of Sanquhar at the junction of the Southern Upland Way. This charming section continues through New Cumnock and on to Kilmarnock where a local Sustran cycle route leads pleasantly north along delightful back roads, canal paths and disused rail routes before delivering us to the industrialised banks of the River Clyde.
The Erskine Bridge will provide the route across this infamous river from where a further cycleway leads north along the banks of the River Leven to the shores of Britain’s largest lock at Balloch. We will follow Loch Lomond’s eastern bank to Crianlairch where the meandering road traces the course of the West Highland Way into the Highlands, and across Rannock Moor and into Glen Coe, a place rich in local history.
Fort William stands in the shadow of Britain’s largest mountain Ben Nevis, at a point where the Caledonian Canal flows into the waters of Loch Eil and Loch Linnhe. The Highlands of Scotland have been formed by a violent series of geological events resulting in a chaotic but diverse infusion of rock types. Ancient sediments lie alongside the explosion of metamorphic rocks presenting the landscape with a cloak of diversity that it displays with pride.
A massive geological fault splits the country along a north-easterly line and gives rise to a chain of Lochs, of which the most famous is Loch Ness. Once on the east coast, the route negotiates the massive incisions of the Beauly and Cromarty Firths with spectacular views back to the Grampian Mountains seen across the Moray Firth. From this point the high peaks are left behind for the undulating course that typifies any coastal route to the town of Wick and finally, our destination, the headland of John O’Groats.
Sounds easy doesn’t it?…..
How it all began....
It all started early one crisp October morning in 2007 when after a long dreary night shift in the Paramedic Emergency Control room, a chance meeting in the men’s toilets spurred an idea which was to change the way a group of vending machine worshiping GMAS staff looked at the roads. For ever…
Perhaps inspired by recently reading an account of a motorcycle trip made from John O’Groats, Scotland to Cape Town, South Africa (Long way down by E McGregor & C Boorman), Dan Vegas said to David Burton ‘wouldn’t it be great to cycle from Lands End to John O’Groats some day?’ David, whilst desperately gasping for air after just cycling an entire eight miles into work from his house nodded enthusiastically and agreed an adventure like that would be great! The seed was planted.
In case you are not aware of where the suggested route would take us, here is a little bit of information;
Land's End to John o' Groats is an epic journey. The journey involves the traversal of the whole of the island of Great Britain from southwest to northeast (as roughly shown in the above map). Land's End, our starting point is the extreme south-westward (but not southern or western) point of Great Britain, situated in western Cornwall at the end of the Penwith Peninsula. John o' Groats, our finishing point is the traditionally acknowledged extreme northern point of Scotland, in north-eastern Caithness. (The actual northernmost point is at nearby Dunnet Head).
Anyway, back to the story. Later that day, an email was sent to all control room staff testing the water to see if people were interested in the Land’s End to John O’Groats (LE-JOG) cycle trip. We received a surprising amount of positive replies and a lot of interest from EMD’s, Dispatchers and even a cycle trip veteran ECP. We also received a lot of responses from those without faith or as I like to call them ‘the non believers’ who didn’t quite get into the spirit of things and sent replies such as ‘you must be mad’, ‘you look awful in Lycra’ and ‘you wouldn’t catch me on a bike even if the police were chasing me’ etc etc…
So, we have a good idea where and who, now all we need to do is establish when and why.
Living and working in the North West region, we all get more than our fair share of rain and grey skies. In order to dodge some of the rain, we decided on the summer month of August (2008) in the vain hope of catching a few rays whilst we peddle. We have set ourselves the target of completing the LE-JOG in ten days or fourteen days (TBC) so 2nd to 11th and/or 15th August 2008 it is.
Working for the Greater Manchester Ambulance Service NHS Trust (GMAS), we are all aware of the important work that the staff at the North West Air Ambulance (NWAA) are involved in and we are also acutely aware of what it costs to keep the rotor powered ambulance in the air, so It was agreed we would try and raise a few pennies for NWAA during our adventure by asking people to sponsor us (please view sponsorship page on navigation bar for more info). Come on people, please dig deep…