Land's End to John o' Groats

Land's End to John o' Groats is a journey - the traversal of the whole of the island of Great Britain from southwest to northeast.

• Land's End is the extreme southwestward (but not southern or western) point of Great Britain, situated in western Cornwall at the end of the Penwith Peninsula.
• John o' Groats is the traditionally acknowledged extreme northern point of Scotland, in northeastern Caithness. The actual northernmost point is at nearby Dunnet Head. The point which is actually furthest by road from Land's End is Duncansby Head, about 2 miles from John o' Groats.

The straight-line distance from Land's End to John o'Groats, is approximately 603 miles (970 km); it passes just east of Glasgow, leaves the Scottish coast near the Isle of Whithorn, crosses the sea and passes across the Isle of Man, passes a few miles to seaward of Holyhead on Anglesey, crosses the St David's peninsula of Pembrokeshire, and makes landfall again near St Just in Cornwall.

The distance by road is 874 miles (1406 km), according to the much-photographed signposts at each end. This is similar to the longest regular scheduled Audax cycle ride, the 875 mile London-Edinburgh-London or "LEL".

Expeditions from Land's End to John o' Groats (sometimes referred to as end-to-end or LE-JOG) have been undertaken using numerous forms of transport, and are often sponsored as charity fundraisers (e.g. Ian Botham's walk and Jane Tomlinson's cycle ride).

Walking

The first recorded end-to-end walk (actually from John o'Groats to Land's End) was undertaken by the brothers John and Robert Naylor in 1871. Since then the walk has been undertaken many times, more particularly since 1960, after a well publicised road walk by Dr Barbara Moore. In 1960 the entrepreneur Billy Butlin organised a road walking race, which gave further impetus to the idea.

Since the 1960s, walkers have mostly chosen off-road routes, using the growing network of long-distance footpaths. A classic account is from 1966 by the travel writer John Hillaby. Off-road walkers usually complete the journey in 2 to 3 months. There is a considerable choice of off-road routes, but all are much longer than the shortest road distance, usually 1,200 miles or more. The walk is still undertaken by road walkers, often doing the walk, like Ian Botham, for charity, or as a "challenge walk". They typically take a month or even less.

The first naked walk from Land's End to John o' Groats was done by Stephen Gough.

Routes

There is no continuous long distance path from Land's End to John o' Groats. There are long distance paths for substantial sections of the route, and where they do not exist walkers connect them by rights of way and minor roads. Most walkers broadly follow these routes

• from Land's End to Exmoor by the South West Coast Path; or by a shorter inland route through Cornwall and Devon by minor roads and paths, the Two Castles Trail and the towpath of the Grand Western Canal
• across Somerset by parts of the Macmillan Way West, the Samaritans Way South West or the Limestone Link
• to the Peak District either by
  • an eastern route using the Cotswold Way, the Heart of England Way (or the Severn Way), the Staffordshire Way and the Limestone Way; or
  • a western route across the Severn Bridge then by the Offa's Dyke Path, the Maelor Way and the South Cheshire Way
• to the Scottish Borders by the Pennine Way
• by St. Cuthbert's Way and a section of the Southern Upland Way to the Pentland Hills, then by
  • a western route using the towpaths of the Union Canal and the Forth and Clyde Canal, then by the West Highland Way and the Great Glen Way to Inverness; or
  • an eastern route across the Forth Road Bridge to Perth and Pitlochry, then by Glen Tilt and the Lairig Ghru to Speyside and the old Wade road to Inverness.
• from Inverness to John o'Groats, there is no long distance footpath, so the route is mostly on roads with a few stretches of coast walking
• to avoid road walking, some walkers head north west from the end of the West Highland Way at Fort William using parts of the Cape Wrath Trail, then head northeast through the Flow Country of Caithness. However, this route is through remote country and requires wild camping.

Running

The record time for a runner to complete the route, as reported by the Lands End John O'Groats Club, is 9 days and 2 hours, by Andi Rivett.

Cycling

The record for cycling from Land's End to John o' Groats is held by Andy Wilkinson, who completed the journey in 41 hours, 4 minutes and 22 seconds on a Windcheetah recumbent tricycle. The official Road Records Association record for rider on a conventional bicycle is 44 hours, 4 minutes and 20 seconds, set by Gethin Butler in 2001.

A more typical cycling time is 10 to 14 days. The Cyclists' Touring Club publishes recommended LEJOG cycling routes.

Motoring

Motoring events between the two extremities have been held since the first decade of the 20th century, when the Auto-Cycle Union organised a series of runs for motorcycles. The Motor Cycling Club (which had been running the London to Land's End Trial since 1908, still held today, at least in name) put on an annual Land's End to John o' Groats Run from 1923 to 1928 which included cars as well as motorcycles. These events were also known as the End to End, perhaps the origin of this term. In 2006, the BBC ran a series of programmes called The Lost World of Friese-Greene about Claude Friese-Greene's 1920s road trip from Land's End to John o' Groats, which he filmed using the Biocolour process, developed by Claude's father William Friese-Greene. The original print of Claude's film was subjected to computer enhancement by the British Film Institute to remove the flickering problem inherent in the Biocolour process.

In 1993 John Brown coined the term LE JOG, otherwise known as the Land's End to John o' Groats Historic Reliability Trial. Held each December, this tough three-day rally for vintage and classic cars, ranging in era from the 1920s to the 1970s, continues in 2006 as a popular and demanding annual event, taking a long 1,400 mile (2,200 km) route through the remote upland roads of the West of England, Wales (at night), the Pennines and Scotland. Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded for meritorious performances.

Public transport

Richard Elloway, having completing the return trip using a senior bus-pass "without paying a penny".

Since the introduction on 1 April 2008 of the English National Concessionary Pass, a free bus pass for people over 60 allowing free off-peak travel on local bus services throughout England, and the pre-existing equivalent concession for pensioners in Scotland, Richard Elloway of Somerset claims to be the first person to complete the journey from Lands End to John o'Groats and back for free by local buses. He completed the first leg of the trip in one week and six hours. The entire journey was completed in two weeks, eight hours and thirty minutes.

In 1954 Gertrude Leather travelled by 17 local buses from Land's End to London, at a cost of £1 19s 6d (£1.97½), and the following year travelled from London to John o' Groats by 25 local buses at a cost of £4 5s 9½d (£4.29).

A continuous journey by public transport (bus to Penzance, train to Wick, bus to John o' Groats) takes about 28 hours. The ordinary one-way fare for the rail section of the journey costs £174 (in April 2008).

Organisations

There are two organisations catering for those undertaking the journey. The Lands End – John O' Groats Association is a non-commercial organisation established in 1983 for "those who have completed the epic journey from Land’s End to John O’Groats, or vice versa, by any means in a single trip". The other is the Land's End John O'Groats Club, which is sponsored by the company which operates facilities at Land's End and John o'Groats.

A Scottish equivalent

Until Union with England, Scotland's equivalent of the phrase was often "John o' Groats to Maidenkirk", as Maidenkirk was traditionally considered the southernmost part of that country. It can be found in the song, The Lady of Kenmure:

From John O' Groats to Maidenkirk

You'll never find a truer

For loyal faith and dauntless deeds,

Than the Lady of Kenmure.

See also

• Malin to Mizen

Bibliography

Road walking

• Smailes, B. (2004) John O'Groats to Land's End: the Official Challenge Guide Challenge Publications ISBN 1 903568 18 7

Offroad walking

• Robinson, A. (2007) The End to End Trail: Land's End to John O'Groats on Foot Cicerone ISBN 978 1 852845 12 4
• McCloy, A. (2001) The Land's End to John O'Groats Walk Cordee ISBN 1 871890 59 4
• Salter, M. (2006) Land's End to John O'Groats - a Thousand Mile Walking Route Folly Publications ISBN 978 1 871731 71 2

Cycling

• Smailes, B. (2004) Land's End to John O'Groats: the Official Cyclists Challenge Guide Challenge Publications ISBN 1 903568 11 8
• Salter, P. (2002) Bike Britain: Cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats Epic New Zealand ISBN 0 958225 61 8

External links

• "Walking the Length of Britain" Free e-Book on this great Journey
• A bibliography of LEJOG/JOGLE published reports and guidebooks, and links to relevant websites
• Land's End to John O'Groats on the Long Distance Walkers' Association website