Adventure Plans
Skipton to Land's End in Seven Days, 8-14 July 2023
Skipton to Land's End in Seven Days, 8-14 July 2023
A week of riding linked Skipton to Land's End over 7 days, with plenty of rain, quiet roads, route changes, and a strong finish in Cornwall. Across the full trip, we covered 1002.52 km with 13605.8 m of climbing.
Quick Summary
This was a full north-to-south ride from Skipton to Land's End, stitched together over a week from 2023-07-08 to 2023-07-14. The shape of the trip was simple enough on paper, but the reality was a mix of wet starts, headwinds, rougher off-road sections, good town routes, and a lot of adapting as the forecast changed.
What We Got Up To
We set off from Skipton and spent the first day working south through plenty of rain. There was a lot of time spent ducking into bus shelters, but it also felt good to get a chunk of the urban riding out of the way early. Even then, some of the routes through town were better than expected.
Day 2 brought some of the best roads of the trip, with long stretches that were quiet and almost empty of cars. Not all of it was smooth going though, and the off-road sections turned into a fair bit of walking through nettles and brambles. It was one of those days that felt both excellent and awkward at the same time.
Day 3 had more lovely roads, but the weather shut a lot of it down. Crossing the Cotswolds in steady rain meant we knew the area was probably impressive without really getting to enjoy it properly. Add in headwinds and it became more of a grinding day than a scenic one.
Day 4 was the longest day of the trip and one of the standout rides. There were more great roads, and the descent through Cheddar Gorge was a real highlight. After a few harder weather days, it felt good to have a day where the riding itself stood out so clearly.
By Day 5, the forecast was shaping the route as much as the map was. Plans changed: instead of riding through Exmoor in poor morning weather, we rerouted, and the original idea of camping on Dartmoor also shifted. It was a reminder that on a trip like this, sticking rigidly to the first plan is rarely the smartest option.
Day 6 was another big one. With the forecast getting worse, we pushed on and took an extra night in a hostel rather than deal with strong gusts under a tarp. Cornwall delivered hard riding, but it also felt like the right call to trade a rough night outside for a bit of shelter and a better chance of finishing well.
The final day started very wet but improved after lunch. By then it was all about getting to the end, though the road from St Just to St Ives still managed to stand out as one of the best stretches of the whole trip. Reaching Land's End after a week of riding felt simple and satisfying: just relief, tired legs, and the sense that we had seen the route through properly.
Taken together, the photos tell the story well: wet roads, grey skies, brighter breaks, loaded bikes, and the steady change in landscape as we moved south through the week.
Conditions and Gear
The weather was the main theme throughout. Rain shaped the opening days, headwinds made some sections feel slower than they should have, and later in the week the forecast forced a few practical decisions about route choice and where to sleep.
A few things stood out:
- Bus shelters were genuinely useful on the wettest day.
- Off-road sections were slower and rougher than they looked on paper.
- Shelter mattered more than stubbornness when the wind picked up.
- Keeping plans flexible made the whole trip easier to manage.
Camping was part of the original thinking, but the conditions meant that wasn't always the best option. Taking a hostel night when the gusts were building felt like the sensible move rather than a compromise.
Highlights and Learnings
The biggest highlight was the overall line of the trip: starting in Skipton and riding all the way to Land's End under our own steam. Within that, a few moments really stuck:
- Quiet roads on Day 2
- The descent through Cheddar Gorge on Day 4
- The road from St Just to St Ives on the final day
- The feeling of finally arriving at Land's End
The main lesson was that a long ride like this is rarely about forcing the original plan through unchanged. Weather, road surfaces, and energy levels all have a say. The better approach was to keep moving, make sensible adjustments, and enjoy the good stretches when they came.
What I remember most is not one single dramatic moment, but the accumulation of the week: hiding from rain, pushing through headwinds, finding unexpectedly good roads, changing plans when needed, and eventually reaching the far end of the country.