Cycling UK has just announced the Great North Trail in the UK. The end plan seems to be to link the North and South of the UK with a mostly continuous trail route. Which is a cool objective, right?
Today’s announcement is for an 800-mile stretch which goes from the middle of England (Derbyshire) to John O-Groats at the Northern tip of Scotland. A challenge in itself.
800 miles, in this case, means 1,186km and over 16,600 metres of ascent. That should be a demanding challenge to rival the road-based John O’Groats to Lands End route and I’m certain the trail route will be immensely pretty.
I’ve attached a route file with elevations and TBT instructions. Of course, if you live vaguely near any part of the route you can do parts of it.
ROUTE FILES HERE: TCX Format, FIT Format, GPX Format (no TBT) – stored in one ZIP file – I can’t list separately, sorry
NB: This route goes to Cape Wrath rather than John O’Groats – there are two options at the end. I’m assuming the JOG option is via road.
I’m looking for a trail challenge for 2020 and beyond. Paris-Brest seemed interesting, more so than LEJOG. Any ideas?
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This sounds brilliant. Britain’s answer to one of the US trails maybe? ?
i think so. i’m sure there’s more.
my onyl idea so far is teddington (where i live) down the thames to reading, then the river kennet then the kennet and avon canal to BATH. weir to weir…salt water to salt water (ish). not quite coast to coast and not exaclty the hardest of trails. on the other hand it would be a canalside/riverside pub bonanza and everyone’s partner would be happy to go to Bath when we meet at the other end.
Please post individual file links. Can’t access gpx on phone….
sorry i can’t post the links as wordpress doesn’t allow storage of those file types without compression. hence the zip file
Just saw this on the BBC news! For an end to end cycle, what is the story with accommodation? Is wild camping permitted in the UK or does it have to be designated spots? Or is it all town-to-town?
The right to roam in Scotland means that once you’re over the border you can wild camp. South of the border you’d have to be discrete…