Lands End to John o’ Groats – Day 1

LEJOG Day 1: Land’s End to Splatt | The Journey Begins!

Welcome to Day 1 of our Land’s End to John o’ Groats (LEJOG) adventure – cycling the entire length of Britain unsupported!🚴‍♂️

We kick things off at the iconic Land’s End signpost in Cornwall, full of energy (and a bit of nervous excitement). Today’s ride takes us through the rugged Cornish coast, charming villages, and steep rolling hills – a true test for the legs right from the start!

Highlights from the day include:
Stunning ocean views near Penzance
Brutal early climbs that remind you Cornwall doesn’t mess around
Quiet backroads and narrow country lanes
Classic British weather – yes, it made an appearance!
and finally, rolling into Splatt – tired but buzzing with day one in the bag!

Stick around as we tackle this epic journey one day at a time. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and follow the full LEJOG series for behind-the-scenes moments, and honest thoughts from the road.

🔔 Subscribe to catch Day 2: Splatt to Okehampton
👍 Like if you’ve tackled LEJOG or dream of doing it!
💬 Comment below – have you cycled Cornwall?

We were fully laden for this trip – around 27kg each and boy was it a tough one. We hope you enjoy sharing in our adventure.

Day 1 route:
https://www.komoot.com/tour/2438149298

Full Route:
https://www.komoot.com/collection/3788711/-lejog-final

[Music] Morning everybody. Welcome to Bike Ventures. We’re at Lansen today. Start of our jog journey. And as you can see, it’s a bit of a grim morning. It’s about4 to 8. It’s warm, but there’s a bit of a breeze, but luckily it’s behind us. So, yeah, we’re just about to start. There’s Lisa. Look, just sorting out the last few bits on the bike. Uh, it’s a bit damp at the minute, so I’m only going to have the internal microphone on initially, but it is forecast to get better. So, 63 miles today on our L jog day one. We’re doing it over 14 cycling days. Taking it steady. There’s no point busting herselves to pieces. So, yeah. Hope you enjoy. I’m Rob. There was Lisa. I don’t know where she’s gone. There she is. This is Bike Ventures. Let’s get cracking. [Music] 29 and I find myself wondering what did happen to the last 10. I ran away with my life. Fast forward, never turn back again. It’s kind of funny that the more we pass time, the more we need to set them rewind. And 19 was the year I had to leave you. But now I’m seeing all the signs. Is this really happening? I can’t believe it’s true. I’m just as surprised as you. Is this happening? I can’t be too sure. But one day I’ll be yours again. That was our campsite last night. Highly recommend it. Lzen camping and glamping. Excellent activities. Lovely hot showers in less than a mile. Yeah, lovely hot showers unless you leave and you put it in the wrong uh box. So, she give someone else free 5 minutes of showering. Yes, highly recommend it. Right, let’s crack on. There’s the first and last in England. Very close to the campsite as well. So, we’re about 63 miles today with about 4,000 ft of climbing. We’re finishing about 5 miles past Padto. And we need to go on the ferry. And then we’re staying at a campsite near Rock on. Now there’s St. Michael’s Mount. much better than its French counterpart. Everyone shows you a video saying Michael’s Mount. So, I thought I’d add the little nugget of information that if you go to its French counterpart, it cost you €25 to park, you’d be crammed in like sardines, and everything is just out to take money off you. I won’t bother. And the car park’s about a 2-m walk, so I really won’t bother. We went last year, the worst place I’ve ever been in France. So, don’t go. It is typical of a tourist trap. Yeah. Look at this. The weather’s much clearer now. It’s still cloudy, but it is forecast to get brighter. We’re heading over that way somewhere. So, it is forecast to get a lot brighter today. But yeah, it’s lovely. So, let’s put you back on the mic and we’ll get going. One in the other 11. Lessons come one in a dozen. The other 11 something. Our faces come one and a other something from another life changes just open the door. One thing I hope is this happen. I can’t believe it’s true. Justice surprises you. Is this really? Right. So, we just stopped for a quick snack and noticed this gold mine spray pumping engine house. This is just sap. In the middle of a housing estate. Cool. Oh, so that’s where the motor the engine used to be. Yeah. Cool. Anyone who’s watched the channel before knows I love stuff like this. This is cool. As you can see, we’re a bit wet. We’re about 26 miles in. We’re just in Cambour. And um it’s not rain so far, has it? Even though it’s not forecast to, but the forecast says it’s going to get better. So, we’ll see, won’t we? Right, let’s crack on. Oh, we’re on a lovely little bridal way. I know it don’t look like a bridal way, but it is. That’s great load coming out of Cambor. We just keep passing loads of old mines. The buildings are still there. I’m guessing they’re the engine houses. Yeah. Cool. So cool. Lovely. This little stretch around Cambones been really nice. Still raining though. Still wet, but it’s still warm. Yeah. Right. We’re just at Red Roof, so we’re 30 miles in for the day. So, we’re doing pretty good. But it’s only 11:00, so we’ve done half of our climbs. The next one is number 15 of 29. So that takes us over halfway. Um, and it’s probably the steepest one. There’s no point showing them. Camera don’t really show the severity, does it? But it looks like the worst one yet. Although we’ve had a couple of stoners. Anyway, we’re going to go and crack on. Let’s get going. hell. Not as bad as I thought it. Speak for yourself. It’s bloody brutal. Oh. That was tough. We left at the top. No. Jesus, that was tough. [Applause] [Music] Right, we just stopped and had a buy a lot the world’s most picturesque lunch spot only because we’ve been looking for a bench for the past 40 minutes. Went through a tiny little town that was literally a few houses. So, I just said to Lisa, “I’m starving. We need to just stop and I need to eat.” Luckily, we picked up some pasta pots. There’s the A30 just there. Look. So, just sat on the side of the A130 having us lunch. Looking at the map, there was nothing coming up. So, at least we’ve had that. Hope we get a brew in a bit. Uh, but we’ve got about 22 miles left for the day, actually. And it’s 20 to1. I mean, we did set off early, didn’t we? Yeah. But we’re way ahead today, so it’s good. We’re happy. Let’s crack on. Woo! Heat! [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] As you can hear, I’m pushing up this one. My legs gave me nothing there at the bottom. Well, Steve was about 14 and a half% if we frame though. Is he Where does it go to? So that’s Padto just over there. We’ve just got ferry across to the other side so we can we got about 3 miles to our campsite for the night. But look at that. That beautiful. Absolutely glorious. Yeah. Cracker. And the sun’s come out now. It’s lovely and warm. So let’s get up this last climb to the campsite. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] She’s going to have to cut some Right. So, that’s day one done. Just had some fish and chips and a beer. 65 miles we’ve done today with 4,400 ft of climbing. Tomorrow’s 57 miles with 4,600. It’s a little bit tougher tomorrow. Um um well, we should get to Oakampton tomorrow. But yeah, we’re on this gorgeous campsite higher pen farm at a place called Splat which is in Rock just outside of Padto. It’s a lovely silock look at that. 20 24 quid I think. There’s not much else around here for that price, but cracking showers, lovely warm welcome. So, yeah, day one done. We’re quite pleased with that, love, aren’t we? Yeah, it’s quite a good day. We felt all right. Got drenched for the first half. Rained from 7 until just gone 11 today. But then eventually the sun came out and it turned out lovely. So, yeah, we’ll uh see you in the morning. We’re going to go chill out and have a couple more beers. We shall see you tomorrow.