Land's End to John o' Groats

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Land's End to John o' Groats is a phrase indicating the traversal of the whole of the Isle of Britain, (like the phrase "from sea to sea", or "coast to coast")

Land's End is the extreme westward point of the English (but not British) mainland, at the end of the Penwith peninsula (Cornwall).
John o' Groats is the traditionally acknowledged (though not factually accurate) extreme northern point of the Isle of Britain.

Expeditions from Land's End to John o'Groats (sometimes referred to as end-to-end or LE-JOG) are undertaken by cyclists, runners and hikers, notably including Stephen Gough, the "naked rambler". These expeditions are often sponsored as charity fundraisers. The distance is around 1400km (875 miles), depending on route. This is similar to the longest regular scheduled Audax ride, the 1400km London-Edinburgh-London or LEL.

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 min 22 sec on a Windcheetah recumbent trike.

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 (who 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.

We cannnot trace any use of the acronym LE JOG prior to 1993, when John Brown coined it as the short name for his creation, 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 age from the 1920s to the 1970s, continues in 2006 as a popular and demanding annual event, taking a long 1,400-mile (2,200km) 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.

External links

[A large list of links to reports by people who have taken this trip]

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