Food

 Food

In the main, there will be lots of food options on this trip - full English breakfasts are included or easily available in most accommodation and if you book either a hotel / pub with a restaurant or within easy walking distance to a town, dinners will be easily found.  Lunches will either be available or nowhere to be found.  A little bit of planning and sourcing of food will prevent a miserable afternoon.  

If you have special food requirements, you’ll need to do some additional research on where to eat.  We eat veg, meat, fish, dairy and a bit of fruit.  We avoid processed foods, breads and sugars.  As mentioned in the Charity section, full-blown diabetes is something we’re working to avoid.  Therefore, we are careful about foods that drive up blood sugar for both health and weight reasons.  I have seen many people who manage to cycle LEJOG and not lose or even gain weight during the trip.  LEJOG is not an opportunity to chow down on the food we wouldn’t eat normally.  Each to his or her own when it comes to food, but as we were working on building a healthy foundation for our later years, we weren’t going to build it on loads of processed foods.

In the main we could find what we wanted for food, not always, but mostly.  I did do some extra research to make sure when we were staying in a place with an onsite restaurant and had no other dining options there were a few things on the menu that met our needs. 

Here is how we handle the meals:

Breakfast - either at the hotel / B&B or we’re in a town where we can get some.  I don’t like to pedal on a full stomach, particularly up hills, so even though we usually have a full english breakfast included (eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes plus the continental yogurt and fruit), I tend to eat half and pack up the other half for a mid-morning snack.

Mid-Morning - stop for a coffee and that breakfast snack

Lunch - tends to be picnics purchased from a supermarket or shop along the way.  Chicken drumsticks, sliced meats / cheeses, hunks of cheese, sliced veggies, fruit.  We carry sporks (foldable spoons, forks, knives) in the top box so even things like greek yogurt or cold soup (gazpacho is a great thing on a hot day!).  Note: take care that liquid things cannot leak all over your gear, we bring ziploc bags for this.

Afternoon - stop for a cup of tea and a snack.  We always (ALWAYS) travel with fruit, nuts and dark chocolate in the bag so if we are surprised by an anticipated lunch place being closed, we still have a good amount to eat.  That’s also what we have for our afternoon high energy snack.  It is amazing how much better you feel on a tough day after an orange, as we found on a grueling up hill day in Tuscany.  Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!

Dinner - at the hotel or in the town.  As mentioned our food approach is eat ‘On Plan’ - meat, fish, lots of veg, dairy and some fruit.  Brazilian churrascaria restaurants offer an all you can eat meat and salad feast, and Mexican restaurants offer fajitas without wraps, burritos without buns and salsa / guacamole can be scooped up with peppers or even a spoon - we found several of those along the way.  Mixed grills can be found in many places.  Sides of veg are abundant.  Splitting a cheese plate is a nice alternative to a sweet dessert.