JOGLE ROUTE

This is my JOGLE page, for those who don't know a JOGLE is a journey from John O'Groats to Lands End  ahhhhh :-)  Also known as an End to End, although I don't think it's truly End to End unless you visit the most Northern and Southern point. (note, on my trip I managed to visit Dunnetts Head and Lizard Point) although Lizard point was touch and go!

I am going to list out my planned route and some other information that may be fun useful and or informative.

Click on the link below or the map to view my planned route, each day is coloured differently and there's links on the side for each day. 

My Route:  Link to route map

View DarkNewtJOGLE2013 in a larger map>

This route was based on one I downloaded, I will update this site with links to the tools I used.   For Navigation I am using a Samsung Galaxy S4 with an external battery mounted in an Avenir 8 litre handlebar bag with a built in smartphone holder.  I am using Co Pilot to navigate and I have converted the .gpx files to the .trp format and I have also used a nifty java utility to join all the days into one route, I will update the details.

Route Plan:

Day 1 - John O'Groats to Tongue

Once I have been dropped off by Jazzy and Bill with last minute checks and goodbyes, I will be straight into it :-)

The plan for day one is to start out at John O'Groats, cycle the A836 and leave that on a detour to Dunnetts Head.  This makes a total of aprox  63.9 miles + 9.1 mile detour to see Dunnetts.

This is the Northern most point of the mainland and if I am cycling an End to End I don't think I would be able to resist it.  So while it's down as an option you can pretty much bet I will be doing it on the day.

Map Link:  Google Map of the route off my main Joggle

I will finish up in Tongue, and 71 miles aprox is a good days cycling.  This will be my first camp out and depending upon the weather and or the daylight I will push on until I see a decent camping spot.

According to Google it has wikipedia it has:  "a youth hostel, a craft shop, a general store and garage, a bank, a post office and two hotels, the Tongue Hotel and The Ben Loyal Hotel." 

Arran Island,

I have added a complete circuit of Arran for my trip as I intend to camp out there for the night.  It's a 60 odd mile trip round however it is still classed as "optional" and depends on my progress.

Kit Arrivals and a Win on Fleabay

Backpack Cover

Some More Kit Arrivals & A win on Fleabay:

I purchased a back pack cover from fleabay to fit over the tent sleeping bag etc.. (sleeping bag is in a waterproof bag as well)..  I figured it would be bright and it would add a layer of protection.  Well that arrived and I have also been looking for some front panniers, I have won a pair of 28L oxford front panniers for £16.00 so thats a bargain in my book + £4.00 p&p. 

 

The Oxford Panniers

The bag the cover came in very small

The biggest problem is my bike has front suspension (hybrid) and it's difficult to find front pannier mounts that are compatible with a suspension forks and disc brakes, I have found some (zefal raiders) when they arrive I will post some pictures and give a report on them.



Ohh and I forgot, I purchased someones guide, I will list it books etc..  nothing really new in it, some humourous parts (I read very quickly and front to back took me 20 min..  not a great deal of content).

Training Ride & Repair to My Handlebar Bag:

I put in a 36 mile ride in just over 3hrs from Birmingham to Worcester this morning to get me to work (fully laden).  Good fun and made me feel way more confident as I felt i could have flown on for more.

Sat Nav test worked well however i am going to have to find some way of bracing the bag a little more as the brackets are slipping down and causing the viewing angle to be awkward.  Also cycling with my LED Lenser head torch is great and works really well.

The Avenir bag let me down a little :-(  started to slip the bracket doesn't grip very well (yes avenir i did fix it right and yes i used the right fixings but it has an 8 litre capacity and even half full the weight overcomes your brackets).

Well the fantastic team in the engineering department soon made up an attachment for my stem that securely fixes the brackets and takes all the loadbearing for them :-)  problem solved and a smile on my face to boot.

Dave and Bob

Supporting Bracket fitted to my stem

Dodgy bracket fitting from Avenir

Don't get me wrong the bag is great and the actual bracket is good, just doesn't really live up to the loads.  Still the boys in the engineering department lived up to it, I am sure if i had given them enough time the would have fitted one of those petrol engines from ebay.... maybe there's still time???

Lots of work to do tonight!!

Some Of The Work Carried Out Tonight

SOLVED MOUNTING THE SAT NAV AND SPARE BATTERY 

I have been having problems deciding how I am going to tackle mounting my Samsung Galaxy S4 to be my SATNAV.  I really like co-pilot on my phone so I decided to stick with it.  I have looked at all the phone mounts out there and nothing seemed practical, the waterproof ones didn't really allow me to use extended batteries or power etc..

In the end I decided on a handlebar mounted bag with a waterproof map case that would hold the phone and allow cable access for the external battery charger with the added bonus that it is easy to view when riding so a quick glance is all that's needed.

The bag arrived from Amazon today (amazing service 2 day delivery).  It's an 8 Litre Avenir bag with a sturdy map case on top fitted that fitted the bill nicely (picture below).

This gives more than enough room for a Samsung Galaxy S4 and room for the external battery source inside purchased from fleabay (picture below).

The plan is to recharge both whenever the opportunity presents itself, I am considering buying a second external battery they weigh nothing and I really don't want to run out of juice for my satnav.

The only issue is (can you guess) yep!! Where the hell does my front light go now.... I have an LED Lenser unit that mounts on the bike or on the head, I want to do as little night time riding as possible so after trying it out I have decided that the light is actually better off worn as a head torch on the occasions i may be a little late getting in.  

SETTING UP MY SUUNTO T4C WATCH AND PODS

I bought a replacement Suunto T4c and spent a good while setting the watch up again and pairing it with:

1. Bike Pod (gives me speed + distance)
2. HRM (Makes sure im working hard)
3. Cadence Pod (I prefer working to a high cadence I use it to motivate myself)
4. GPS Pod (new one to me and im seeing how i like it)
5. Foot Pod - gives me speed and distance for running USEFUL WHEN I GET PUNCTURE LOL

Gadgets aren't to everyone's taste but I can give solid advice on one thing, if your trying to lose weight through exercise get a good heart rate monitor, learn about the Karvonen forumla follow your heart rate zones and I promise you will get the results your looking for.

GETTING MY MAPS RIGHT

The maps were all over the place and i have made several alterations to them so I spent the evening checking the gpx files, renaming and stitching everything together properly.  I promise I will make a blog to show how I did it and what tools.  Suffice to say I have had to do the following:

1. get hold of a general route from someone else (don't reinvent the wheel)
2. edit it for my own route
3. annotate the gpx files
4. convert each gpx file to .trp files (used with co-pilot)
5. merge all of the gpx files together
6. convert the merged gpx files to .kml
7. create my own googlemap from the .kml file and link to it from this blog.

and that was enough for tonight!  even my dog agrees!

Well my journey to John O'Groats is all sorted!  I have two friends Jazzy and Bill, from my Travian Days (DHL Death Heads Legion and the Alphabet Killers).  They have kindly offered to put me up for the night and drive me to the start to see me off, I couldn't have hoped for a better beginning.  So the plan is Train to Bathgate on the 27th, set off for John O'Groats at 2 or 3 in the morning :-)  Jazzy & Bill are going to take a B&B.

Jazzy and Bill are like a second mum and dad to me, I know one thing for sure I will be sent off with an amazing scottish breakfast with tatties mmmmm.

It will be great to see them both again, the last time I was up there was Christmas 2012 after an 11 hour motorbike ride in the worst rain in years...

Jazzy & Roxy

Jazzy (aka Jazzynth) is a complete WoW head although she plays other games, it's just a pity I can't take Roxy my Rottweiler with me, that's her with Jazzy.  That's Bill below he's also a big gamer and a great sense of humor!

Bill Smiling as usual :-)

Martin's Boomerang Challenge

I met up with Martin today, he is a boomerang enthusiast and is deep into designing and making them.  He is an amazing fellow really, how many people do you know build their own canoe in the garden by making a template out of paper from their friends canoe...  Martin recently gave me two of his amazing designs which being the inept boomerang thrower (I am sure Martin knows the correct term for someone who throws)...  well you guessed it I lost them both...

So on a visit with him this weekend to break the news about my latest ill thought adventure the JOGLE the conversation naturally alighted on boomerangs at some point and the idea came up that I would at various points of the journey throw a boomerang so I have been furnished with another one of his creations (something else to haul sigh).. 



P.S. I should also mention that his genes seem to have been passed on to his son who was busy painting and repairing his collection of model planes, great fun to see a young kid doing something other than staring at a screen :-)

Testing out my bike

My planning is well under way today i strapped on the tent and all the kit met up with Marc and took it out for a spin.  The bike is heavy with the kit, we did some respectable hills and i found my gear for the hills (2 on the front 3 on the back).

Marc took pity on me today and was very patient with my slow progress up the hills, he repeated several times i need to put more mileage in.  We have both done the solo trip under harsh conditions before and he gave me the friendly reminder about lonely and miserable if the weathers bad (cheers marc).

I had a brainwave earlier, I am going to buy one of those waterproof backpack covers for over the top of the tent etc.. while it's on the bike.  A layer of defence and being reflective a little bit of safety.

Some people may be thinking "TENT, SLEEPING BAG" crazy!!  well my plan is to wildcamp as often as possible, and avoid hotels/B&B so it's all going to be hauled by me.

I will be using this blog to chart my progress and keep family/friends informed.