What it’s like to ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats

Laura Laker saddled up for a 980-mile cycle journey across Britain

Lejog is a classic cycling challenge (Photography by Threshold Sports)

It was 2am and the tents were blowing away. Among the identical nylon pods that lurched and shifted in the gale-force blasts, one or two of them, presumably unoccupied, were hanging on by a peg. Escapees wobbled like oversized jellies against the mobile shower blocks and in the long grass by the hedgerow. Returning from the toilet that blustery night, I saw one tent rolling over the tops of sleeping cyclists, cartwheeling along the row to join the others.

Their occupants hadn’t had a much better day. In the 119 miles we cycled that day, we discovered there’s a unique cruelty in riding uphill into a 45mph headwind. Some of the lighter riders were blown off their bikes entirely. It was the toughest ride of my life, and it came after seven consecutive 100-odd mile days of riding.

This was the 10th annual Deloitte Ride Across Britain (RAB), a mass participation event in which 800 people cycle 980 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats (Lejog) over nine days.

Lejog is a classic cycling challenge, and one many tackle unsupported, ie carrying their own kit. The RAB organisers offer a supported option, arranging everything with military precision, from carrying bags and feeding riders, to setting up base camp each night. They generally help keep riders and their bikes roadworthy (within reason), but while you pretty much turn up ready to ride, ultimately it’s a gruelling physical challenge, and certainly not for the fainthearted or ill-prepared.

When people ask me how it was, I usually pause for a moment, adopt a mid-distance stare, and say something like: “It was many things, all at once.” In truth, it’s slightly incomprehensible as a single event. I, like the others, laughed, cried, cursed, complained about my sore backside and said ‘wow’ a lot during those nine days.

After months of training, tears, sleepless nights and expensive purchases, seeing St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall shortly after setting off from Land’s End was the ride’s first big landmark for me. It was then the slightly surreal realisation dawned that, all being well, me and my fellow riders would end up in John O’Groats under our own steam. We passed through my home town on day two, so I got to see my mum and sister, who put up silly signs for the occasion.

Crossing the Severn Bridge (Threshold Sports)

The Severn Bridge crossing came with a rush of endorphins the intense drizzle and driving wind couldn’t dampen. Lancashire and Cumbria’s rolling fields popped in the sun, with stone walls framing an intense, late summer green, and views for miles.

Then there were the hills. Who knew Britain had so many of them? The short, sharp ones in Cornwall where you just can’t get a rhythm; the ones you wouldn’t even notice in a car, that sap the strength out of you on a bike. A brutal climb onto the Quantocks, and the ones with views: Shap Fell in Cumbria; the Lecht in Scotland.

Lejog hustles through pretty English countryside (Threshold Sports)

There were lows of numbness and exhaustion on seemingly endless roads through featureless landscapes, when painkillers barely touched the body’s aches. The hours of pedalling, head down, rain mingling with the cockerel’s tail of cold, dirty spray lifted from the hard shoulder by the rider in front. These moments merged into long days that, despite our best intentions, we sometimes simply wanted to be over.

Ultimately, this was your classic type 2 fun: the kind that’s fun in retrospect, if not necessarily 100 per cent at the time.

Mind the cows (Threshold Sports)

For all those lows there were the landmarks: the breaks in cloud and the stunning vistas from hilltops. Scotland in general. The people, not least the event’s chaperones, volunteer riders acting as anything from mobile mechanics, to human windbreaks, a shoulder to cry on, or even engines to physically push struggling riders uphill. The endlessly well-organised and helpful staff, there at day’s end with a clean towel, hot showers, smiles and delicious food.

The fellow riders you join forces with. I met five women riding each day behind an affable man named Bill, who acted as a human windbreak for most of their ride, reducing the others’ efforts considerably.

Riders cycle until sunset (Threshold Sports)

The remarkable backstories, from the man whose brother died suddenly in his early thirties of a sudden heart attack, raising money for CRY charity (Cardiac Risk in the Young) to screen at-risk individuals, to the brothers who lost their father last year to heart disease, crossing the line together for charity. A few people crashed and there were one or two broken bones, perhaps inevitably.

Our schedule was this: wake each morning at 5-6am, eat in the mess tent, pack and get on the bike, usually by 6-7am. Follow the blue directional arrows until, at roughly 35-mile intervals, a feed station at a car park, community centre or similar. Use portaloos, restock pockets and stomach from tables of snacks, see medics or mechanics, chat, stretch and head out again.

Lejog is a 980-mile ride through England and Scotland (Threshold Sports)

At the end of the day, it’s a rush to collect bags, shower, clean the bike perhaps, eat more food and hear the evening’s briefing. There are also medics, massage therapists, physiotherapists and mechanics on hand – and even a drying room, and a laundry service every other day. If you’re not careful it can pass you by in a treadmill of activity, one physio told me as he pummelled my legs.

Scotland was one of the highlights (Threshold Sports)

On the final day, we saw the North Sea. I cried when we reached John O’Groats. I could barely believe I’d made it. It was the biggest challenge of my life and I made it proud and unscathed, if tired and sore.

It may be some time before I call it fun.

Need to know

Miles: 980 in nine days

Riders: 859 started; 801 finished

Best moments: Cycling through my home town, the Severn Bridge, the Forth Bridge, Scotland in general, Cumbria, John O’Groats

Worst moments: Long days in freezing rain – ameliorated by hot tea, delicious food and cheery base camp staff

Travel essentials

Deloitte Ride Across Britain takes place on 5-13 September and applications to take part are now open. For more information visit ​rideacrossbritain.com.

It costs £1,799 for the basic package and £499 with sponsorship (raising £2,200 for the Prince’s Trust). England and Scotland-only options are also available.