Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Day 1 - The adventure begins...
Land's End to Zennor - 16 miles
We were standing in our pants on the end of Britain. The sea chewed at the land around
us, and the wind and rain attacked from all angles. We had the skin of freshly plucked tur-
keys. Cycling 1000 miles to the top of Scotland without any money, clothes, shoes, food or
bikes, suddenly felt like a really stupid idea.
Land'sEndis frequented by three types of people;disillusioned holiday makers whoima-
gine that a trip to Britain's most south-westerly point is a rewarding experience,tourists who
arrive there by mistake when they run out of road,and those who a restarting or finishing the
popular Land'sEndtoJohnO'Groatsexpedition.We fellawkwardlyintothelattercategory.
Theplanwassimple. We had threeweekstogetfromthebottomofEnglandtothetopof
Scotland - by foot or by bike - without spending a single penny. Setting off in just a pair of
Union Jack boxer shorts, we hoped to rely on the generosity of the British public to help us
with everything from accommodation to food, clothes to shoes, and bikes to beer.
I was working as a photographer at the time. At least, that's what I told people. I quit
my stable, easy and fairly well paid job a few years previously to become a full-time photo-
grapher. In truth, I spent my days doing unstable, mundane and badly paid temping jobs in
ordertopaythebills.Thephotographyjobsdidcomeinveryoccasionallyandtheyprovided
me with enough credibility to convince those around me that the decision to leave my job
was a wise one. I took a picture of a friend of a friend's dog the previous month and I had a
bar mitzvah booking for the following year. Business was really booming, oh yeah.
My travelling companion was Ben. Ben worked as a composer and an actor, appearing in
a number of Oscar-winning blockbusters such as
Harry Potter
,
The Phantom of the Opera
and
Lord of the Rings.
He had also appeared in countless TV shows including
Eastenders
,
The Bill
and
Casualty
. When I say 'actor', I mean 'extra', and you would have to be incred-
ibly quick-fingered with the pause button to spot him in ANY of his roles. As I mentioned,
he was also a composer. Specifically, he made music for film and television. Three seconds
of his music once featured in a Taiwanese computer advert - shown only on the internet -
and he was still reeling in the glory of that moment. He spent his days watching
Bargain
Hunt
and waiting for the advertising agency to phone back.
I asked Ben to join me on LEJOG (this is what those in the know call the Land's End to
John O'Groats trip. It's an acronym, you see), because he was the only one of my friends
that fitted the necessary criteria; he was a self-employed layabout like me who did not need
permission to take three weeks off work at short notice.
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