LEJOG 2026: Land's End to John O'Groats on the Voge DS625X

In May 2026 I rode from Land’s End to John O’Groats on the Voge DS625X. On paper it was a six-day motorcycle trip from one end of Britain to the other. In reality it meant much more than that.

I first completed the journey with my dad in 2008. Returning in 2026, after losing him in 2022, turned LEJOG into a personal tribute as well as a fundraising ride for Help for Heroes under the Riding 4 Troops banner. It became one of the main reasons Almost Enduro exists: a real trip, on an attainable bike, with all the good decisions and bad decisions left in the story.

The six-day route

The ride started at Land’s End on Sunday 3 May and reached John O’Groats on Friday 8 May. The route took me through Minehead, Chester, Keswick, Glasgow and Fort Augustus before the final run north. Along the way there were visits and stops that mattered as much as the mileage, including MotoGB and the Commando Memorial in the Highlands.

I deliberately did not try to turn it into an iron-butt style challenge. Six days gave the ride enough structure to keep moving while still leaving room for the places, people and memories that were the real point of doing it.

How far was LEJOG really?

The Land’s End to John O’Groats leg itself came to roughly 1,014 miles. The wider adventure ended up being considerably longer. A planned courier solution for getting the bike home fell through, so I rode back as well, pushing the total trip mileage beyond 2,000 miles.

That extra riding was not part of the romantic plan, but it became a useful test in its own right. By the time the bike finally got home, I knew far more about what I could live with for long distances and which parts of the setup I wanted to change before the next adventure.

How the Voge DS625X handled it

LEJOG was the first time I really stopped thinking of the Voge as a relatively new Chinese adventure bike that needed proving and started treating it simply as my travel bike. It handled long road days, changing weather, luggage and the accumulated fatigue of repeated early starts without giving me a reason to wish I had taken something else.

That does not mean everything about the setup was perfect. Far from it. But the bike itself earned my confidence, which is a big part of why I chose to keep developing the DS625X for ACT Portugal rather than replacing it.

The Mitas tyres surprised me

The Mitas Enduro Trail XT+ Dakar tyres were another part of the bike I came away impressed with. They gave me the off-road confidence I wanted without making the long road sections miserable. Even in wet conditions I found them predictable enough that I stopped thinking about the fact I was riding on a very aggressive tread pattern.

By the end of the wider trip the set had covered roughly 2,120 miles. I am not claiming that makes them the perfect tyre for every rider, but they suited the mixed use I wanted from the Voge extremely well.

The luggage mistake

Luggage was the weak point. I had problems before the main ride had even properly begun, and the final arrangement was very much a make-it-work solution. It got to John O’Groats and back, which is more than can be said for some supposedly better ideas I started with, but I knew I did not want to repeat that setup on a more off-road-focused trip.

That failure directly shaped the Rhinowalk soft-luggage setup I am now preparing for Portugal. It is a good example of why I value long-term testing more than an unboxing or a first ride. You only really learn what annoys you when you have to pack it again on day five in the rain.

The people were part of the story too

Some of the moments I remember most clearly were not about the bike at all. At one point another biker paid for my fuel. Small gestures like that, conversations at stops and the support around the charity ride gave the journey a sense of community that would be difficult to manufacture for a video.

Why the ride mattered

The destination mattered, but LEJOG was never really about collecting a photograph at the signpost. It was about returning to a journey that already meant something to me, doing it in my own way and using it to support Help for Heroes.

That is also why the final arrival in the video did not need a big speech. Sometimes reaching the place is enough.

What LEJOG changed for Almost Enduro

Almost every major change I am now making to the DS625X can be traced back to something LEJOG taught me. Better luggage, more thought about weight, stronger footrest hangers, improved controls, more organised filming and backup plans: the next build is really the continuation of this trip.

The full six-episode LEJOG series is on the Almost Enduro YouTube channel. If you want the polished version of the adventure, this page is probably not it. The videos show the weather, mistakes, long days and the parts that made the journey worth doing in the first place.