Sun Challenge June 2015

[pingu]

Ever heard of isochrones? Me neither. The map below shows isochrones or lines linking places with the same times of sunrise (green lines) and sunset (red lines) for the United Kingdom for mid-June.



(from http://astro.ukho.gov.uk/nao/miscellane ... k_jun.html)

On one of the following dates, we will be driving from Land's End to Cape Wrath to beat the sun from sunrise to sunset. We will then drive from Cape Wrath to John O'Groats to beat the sun from sunset to sunrise.

Thu 25 Jun 2015
Fri 26 Jun 2015
Sat 27 Jun 2015
Sun 28 Jun 2015

The actual date will be decided after Sat 20 Jun, but you will have at least three days' notice. We want the weather to be as favourable as possible .

Accommodation at Land's End has been arranged.


Confirmed
Pingu +1
Deano1712
BertieJaffa +1
Brian H (joining us in Scotland)


Anyone who does the whole route will be eligible for a LEJOG certificate (http://www.landsend-johnogroats-assoc.com/index.htm).

There will be a choice of three routes of varying difficulty. The final choice of the route doesn't need to be made in advance and can be made on the journey.
The possible routes from Land's End to Sheigra

Easy
Hard
Extreme

The route from Sheigra to Duncansby Head
Sunset to Sunrise Route

If anyone is interested, please post your interest. But post your comments anyway .

[maurice the martian]

Ah a run to the sun .interesting.
Biggest problem could be keeping awake.
M

[gookah]

Will it be cancelled if its raining?...

[Alfie]

Completely crackpot.
What a gratuitous waste of petrol.
Love it!


Is this purely for personal satisfaction or is there any urge to raise some money for charity whilst you're at it?

A.

[pingu]

... or is there any urge to raise some money for charity whilst you're at it?

You know me, what do you think? If you feel the urge to donate, just do it.


As for a waste of petrol - ABSOLUTELY

[pingu]

Will it be cancelled if its raining?...

Might be, but the 5-day forecasts are quite good.

Sun = Go
Showers = Go
Constant rain/drizzle = Start and see
Thunder and lightning = No
Snow (it is Scotland in the Summer) = No

[pingu]

Ah a run to the sun .interesting.
Biggest problem could be keeping awake.
M

Before I did John o'Groats to Land's End I thought the same. ProPlus, Caffeine drinks, adrenaline and sleep management sorted that.

The biggest sleep problem is ensuring a good rest before the start and catnaps of no longer than 20 minutes if required. 24 hours is easy if you do that. I have done 56 hours, but it was hot and sandy, not cold and green .

[bertiejaffa]

Complete madness

Count me in

[Deano1712]

Im in

[Brian H]

Would it be cheating to meet you all North of the border?

[Brian H]

Im in

You'll need a fuel tanker as a support vehicle Deano

[pingu]

Im in

You'll need a fuel tanker as a support vehicle Deano

This is a serious point to note. One of the problems to be overcome is the lack of fuel points. Deano won't be in as much trouble as the Ms. 95 octane will be available wherever there is a petrol station, but 98 octane will be scarce.

[pingu]

The run may not take place on the dates of 20/21 Jun, as 20 June is my wife's birthday (as she kindly reminded me )

All is not lost, but it just makes the run a bit tighter on the daylight leg if it's run on the days either side. Oh dear, we'll have to put our foot down a bit harder .

Deano, BertieJaffa and BrianH - Does it have to be run at a weekend and how much notice do you need? When I did JOGLE, I had everything planned, then waited for the weather window and went with five days notice, with the option to not go.

I am 100% flexible (except for SWMBO ) and I'll manage the plans around those who need to go on certain dates.

[pingu]

Would it be cheating to meet you all North of the border?

Not a problem, but you won't get your LEJOG certificate .

[bertiejaffa]

Personally I think we are pretty flexible to be honest... So barring any more failings to remember your nearest and dearests anniversaries we will be fine

[pingu]

I'm doing some homework for this and there are some questions I need answers to...

1. What range does your car have?
2. What fuel does it use (Octane and preferred brand)?
3. Are there any fuels to be avoided?
4. Will you use octane booster if req'd?

[Deano1712]

I was going to book a few days or maybe a weeks holiday in Scotland so will need a months notice or more. Would take car to South Wales to work so saturday or friday start is good, or maybe Thursday. Range is ~200 miles. The v8 is not fussy on fuel.

[bertiejaffa]

Can we get this into the meets area on the home page and drum up some more follows for the Pingu sun god

[pingu]

Accommodation at Land's End is sorted. There is one bed available - the cost would be £37.50.

The date of arrival at the hotel will be either Wed 24, Thu 25, Fri 26 or Sat 27 June, ready to start the challenge at around 0500 the next morning.
The actual date won't be decided until the week of the challenge.

Accommodation at John O'Groats is tent or sleep in the car. I could book accommodation there as well if required, but we won't be getting there until at least 0200 and not many places would let you book-in at that time.


The drive itself will be one of three routes (the times are according to TomTom and Google)...
1. EXTREMELY challenging (25 hours of driving in 25 hours). You would have to "beat the clock" on TomTom to meet the challenge.
2. DIFFICULT challenge (21 hours of driving in 21 hours). You would meet the challenge if you can keep up with the sat nav.
3. RELATIVELY EASY challenge (18 hours in 21 hours). You would meet the challenge and have time for a meal (perhaps).
There's no need to decide the route in advance.

[pingu]

The possible routes from Land's End to Sheigra

Easy
Hard
Extreme

The route from Sheigra to Duncansby Head

Route

[bertiejaffa]

For me the harder it is then the better the challenge.... Is there anything special about the lighthouse, or is it just a route to push the time to the limit?

Im actually thinking of maybe taking in a whisky brewery the next day on the way back - dont know which one yet - maybe the Aberlour one http://www.maltwhiskydistilleries.com/D ... fault.aspx

[pingu]

I'm with you on the harder the challenge, the more the satisfaction if you complete it, but...

The question that we need to answer is do we want to suffer the challenge, or enjoy it.

I think the most enjoyable would be the easy route up (with upto 3 hours of stops for meals, etc), followed by a return down the A82 (Loch Ness road). You can easily detour to Ardnamurchan Point to tick the third ordinal extremity box. I plan to take a short trip to Lizard Point in the evening before we do the run. The easy drive would be more like a "normal ZRoadster cruise", but longer.

The extreme route won't leave time for any stops. It would be more like a car rally.

The hard run would (hopefully) leave enough time for photos, but not enough time to sit down in a cafe for half an hour, It would be more like a fast drive to get somewhere.

[bertiejaffa]

Yeah good point - was too excited about the race against the clock to consider food, water and toilet...

[Deano1712]

I fancy the extreme, but maybe gauge progress at glasgow. If ahead its on, if not then back off.
Worked out my car will need at least 10 full tanks of fuel for the trip! Lol

[pingu]

We can decide what we're doing on the day and plans can change enroute.

There are two points where we have to decide what we're doing...

1. Baillieston Interchange where one way is the easy route and the other is the hard/extreme route.
2. If we chose the hard/extreme route, we have another decision to make at the Corran-Ardgour ferry.

And there's no reason why we couldn't all take different routes and meet at Tesco Dingwall or Sheigra.

There's more options than a Chinese take-away .

[pingu]

I fancy the extreme, but maybe gauge progress at glasgow. If ahead its on, if not then back off.
Worked out my car will need at least 10 full tanks of fuel for the trip! Lol

Are you still happy about your 200 mile range. The biggest gap between the planned fuel stops is 170 miles, until we fill up at Tesco Dingwall when we may have to travel as far as 250 miles until we can fuel up again. For this reason, we will need to carry 10 litres of spare fuel. I hope that's enough.

I'm happy to attempt the extreme, but don't underestimate the challenge. There will be no stops unless they are essential. But you will have "ticked off" a massive list of extremes...

1. Most southerly point in UK (as I plan to take you to Lizard Point the previous night)
2. Most westerly point in the UK (Ardnamurchan Point)
3. Most northerly point in the UK (Dunnet Head)
4. Sunrise to sunset challenge.
5. Sunset to sunrise challenge.
6. Land's End to John O'Groats in less than 24 hours.

[Deano1712]

I will be ok. Just add item 7 to the list to get deanos car to do 250 between fills! Will carry several cans with me, or maybe make or buy a 4 gallon aux tank.

[pingu]

I will be ok. Just add item 7 to the list to get deanos car to do 250 between fills! Will carry several cans with me, or maybe make or buy a 4 gallon aux tank.

You'll be OK. It's 81 miles from Dingwall to Sheigra - that use about 16 litres. Filling up with 10 litres should give the cars a range of about 170 miles.
The drive to Duncansby Head is about 125 miles and then it's another 25 or so to the safety of Tesco in Wick if John O'Groats is closed. You should be able to make Wick with about 20 miles to spare.

Just make sure that you fill the car to the brim, your spare fuel cans are full and that you really can do 200 miles to a tankful .

[bertiejaffa]

Worked out my car will need at least 10 full tanks of fuel for the trip! Lol

For this quote alone - you are my hero !!!

[pingu]

Did a bit of a recce yesterday

[bertiejaffa]

Did a bit of a recce yesterday

quality cream tea & scones in the cafe

[pingu]

Did a bit of a recce yesterday

quality cream tea & scones in the cafe

Not at 0630 there wasn't .

[bertiejaffa]

bloody hell are there 2 of those a day?

[pingu]

New thread: http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopi ... =1&t=42743