Lands End

[ferny]

Well, I'm gonna say it - what a crap place!

What's going on there? Every other control point (even the "just a petrol station" stops) make you feel welcome and you get the impression that they're excited to be part of the event. Lands End make you feel like a burden. I know a few of us all turned up very early within a few minutes of each other but not even the toilets are open. They know we're coming so I can only assume that they're happy for a load of people to relieve themselves in their car park (note - I didn't see this happen but let's be realistic) rather then spend two minutes unlocking a couple of doors. They're a well established business with a monopoly on its location with a large working catering facility, so why can't they put more than one person on to serve food at the beginning, why do they run out of trays and bring out dirty wet ones and why are we left with two large queues forming and waiting outside in the cold for half an hour? It's been managed by different people and owned by different companies yet none of them can get it right.

Ok, this was only my fourth RB[s]R[/s]R but my only good experience of the place is the one when we drove in, drove out and had breakfast elsewhere. I certainly won't be eating there as my only experiences are bad ones. I can't imagine they can be proud of how they present themselves to over 200 people when we visit.

[DaveKent]

Seconded!! as mentioned in  the "Congratulations" thread it's filthy and they don't care a jot!!

[Shed 1969]

Apparently we had been forgotten about as they had a "wedding do" the same day - 2012 was ok there "in, brekkie, sign book out "  we were early -but no earlier than this year so don’t understand why they could have opened up and let people have a dump then wait in the warm for brekkie?
The lady said they couldn’t open the traps until the maintenance staff were on site at 08.00 she was lucky not have a Tracey island incident in the foyer
I take it the staff have to restrain from pre 08.00 bowel movements due to no maintenance staff being on site

[Steve P]

My sentiments exactly.

150 tired cold people waiting outside in the cold while one Doris serves buffet slowly.

We went to McDonalds in the end.

[yorkshire_spam]

Peter, showed my wife what you write above, it's exactly what she's been saying ever since we left LA yesterday morning. She agrees entirely. (and so do I)

[Velocita Rosso]

6797 wrote:

Peter, showed my wife what you write above, it's exactly what she's been saying ever since we left LA yesterday morning. She agrees entirely. (and so do I)

You went to LA.....by ferry? ;D

[Hogie]

I had planned to sleep there for an hour and have no brekky. This I did.
However when I got out to have a leak I spotted the queue for food and was staggered at the lack of pace the food was moving.
Eventually I found the toilets which were clean and tidy.

In ordinary life I've never been keen on the Lands End facility - a tired  and tatty place.

I appreciate that finding a venue to feed and water 100 cars and 200+ people is not easy.
Apart from that it was an excellent event - Well done to the organisers and participants.

Roger

[Jason]

It really is a thorn in our side as organisers and it's one we will try and do something about - our crew took the tactical breakfast option and left. The toilets need to be open at 7am - my own "personal emergency" was only narrowly avoided - I apologise for mincing around like a ponce on a catwalk (and no, I'm not taking to the stage for a private show for you Ferny)
We have tried other venues and frankly they were more trouble than they were worth, after being let down at the last minute in 2012 Lands End did step into the breach once and did us proud but this can't carry on - it's a monumental downer at a place and time when we are all on such a high.
If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions - or knows a caterer or hotelier who can accommodate us then please get in touch.

[Shed 1969]

How about a marquee in field near by and a 07.00 hog roast?...it would also allow the Dolomite crews  to cook up their road kill

[Jason]

8861 wrote:

How about a marquee in field near by and a 07.00 hog roast?...it would also allow the Dolomite crews  to cook up their road kill

BBQ Badger with an owl sauce - yum (puke)

[Spider]

Quote:

If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions - or knows a caterer or hotelier who can accommodate us then please get in touch.

How about "The Old Success Inn" situated in Sennen Cove, just a stones throw away from Lands End.
A very nice old type Inn, right on the sea front, has it's own car park and a council car park 20 meters away so parking should not be much of an issue, not sure how many cars will fit in each though.

http://www.oldsuccess.co.uk/

I knew the landlord many years ago and is a really nice chap. If you would like me to enquire about the possibilities for 2016 then let me know.

[coventry kid]

It's such a shame. Lands End is such a landmark on the Rbrr, and after the achievement of finishing that gruelling M5/A30 stretch, the last thing you want is to be confronted with a queue of 40 minutes and nowhere to 'go'.

I wonder what other LEJOG events do? There must be hundreds of places in that part of the world that can cater for Sunday morning breakfasts, but I dare say a much smaller number that could handle 100 cars and 250 punters.

Scratches head in a slightly dozy fashion.....

[Jason]

The basic specification is that it needs to be close to Lands End, have parking for 100 cars and be able to feed 250 people in an hour - ish - for around a tenner a head (the cheaper the better really)

If you know of somewhere that fits the bill then I'm fine with you making a general enquiry - make no promises :-)

[Jason]

Remember that we are only going there once every 2 years and we are not going to pay a lot for what we are asking - we try hard to keep the costs down and will continue for as long as it's practical (but we will be flexible in order to keep the event alive)

[Davemate]

Team Radders managed to be near the front of the que for breakfast so we had no trouble on that front but as we came out there was still about 20-30 people queuing to get in which must have put them behind on the next bit by at least an hour.

My only gripe was the fact that I couldn't get a photo of team Radders with the car under the "lands end" frontage due to there being abandoned cars there. Take your photo and then park up in the car park so that other people can get a decent picture of their car.
Park -take photo- move car to car park it's not hard is it !
Other than that it was a good event.
There has to some form of checkpoint at lands end as its one of the main points of the run,how about a simple book signing point there and when you get your book signed you get a food ticket and you then cash that in at a hotel nearby who would be happy to lay on a breakfast. I would have thought a hotel in the area that would be happy to sell you 250 odd meals

[Rutty]

Lands End always has been a dump. Believe it or not its better now than it was 20 years ago. Perhaps you could find somewhere nearer Penzance and make Lands End just a drive by on the route.

[Keith]

To be fair I think the organisers need to speak to Land's End and find out what their problem was. We had to queue for about 30mins,  but by the time we were served at 8:30  they had three people serving and the food was coming out of kitchen as quickly as it was being dished out, so was it just a problem with timing?
The breakfast was good enough when we got it.

K

[yorkshire_spam]

michael_charlton wrote:

You went to LA.....by ferry? ;D

I hate trying to type messages on my "smart" phone.... The auto"correct" feature is splendid isn't it?  ;)

[JohnD]

Having last done the RBRR in 2006 and 2008, memory tells me that the same porblem occured on at least one of those.

The contrast was the Village Hall - sorry, can't remember to name - where the most amazing tea, no, Tea, was laid on for us, proper cakes that beat any "Bake In" nonsense, and HOT cups of the brew that invigorates but does not inebriate!

John

[brianthesnail96]

Keith wrote:

To be fair I think the organisers need to speak to Land's End and find out what their problem was. We had to queue for about 30mins,  but by the time we were served at 8:30  they had three people serving and the food was coming out of kitchen as quickly as it was being dished out, so was it just a problem with timing?
The breakfast was good enough when we got it.

K

We were at the back of the queue (despite arriving spot on time & having a bit of a wait we chose not to enter the scrum when the doors opened, thinking it would clear fairly quickly- oops!) and by the time we got to the front it was all under control with two serving quickly and we had a decent portion of a reasonable brekkie- so they obviously can get it right, they just need a bit of a run- up... It did put us back a bit but we only went from being "start of time" to 20 mins into the window so it wasn't a big deal at all really, it just felt like a long time.

It probably doesn't help that the staff at the Seaview were absolutely fantastic, that would have been a hard act to follow at the best of times!

[Steve28]

We was quite late getting to lands end but got a better reception from them than at J O G where we were ignored when we sat down while they served others that came in after us,

[Tim Hunt]

I'm sorry about your experience Steve. I have now had twenty RBR breakfasts at the Seaview (on twenty separate visits thanks you Velocito Rosso) and have always been impressed by the speed and efficiency of the service, even on the more recent events with well over 200 people to be dealt with. I am always amazed by how they manage it all with a smile. I did have to comment on the weak coffee on Saturday but this was quickly replaced with fresh without demur.

I cannot imagine that you were intentionally ignored, this must have been an honest mistake on the part of the hard working servers. I am sure you didn't just sit there meekly and watch later arrivals served before you and when you pointed out the mistake you were quickly looked after.

Tim

[Velocita Rosso]

tim_hunt wrote:

I'm sorry about your experience Steve. I have now had twenty RBR breakfasts at the Seaview (on twenty separate visits thank you Velocito Rosso)



Tim

Moi?.....
(think)(naughty)

[Saltddirk]

We had good experience at JOG, very friendly and quick service. but then most had been served by the time we rolled in.
It was miles better than the Lands end breakfast, still we did not suffer the long queues, but there was hardly anything left, the bacon was half baked... We had joked amongst us that at JOG it was way better so lets head up there again.
Still, while it was not the best of a fry up ever, it was still very welcome and cudooos for those who managed to secure a breakfast for 200 odd people in such a short timespan.
D

[Goody]

This was my 5th time at Lands End.  06 was the best food and service. 08 food good but servers walked off and refused to serve for some time. I understand those who arrived last had no food as LE ran out.  10 was GREAT as we were in a nicer place. 12 the food and service was ok but only one bathroom that was only for 1 at a time and some distance form the hall.  Sorry this year was the pitts.  No bathrooms till 8, no food till 8:30 and slow service with no cereal or toast!    I know it is almost impossible to find another place that can serve our crowd but, sorry Lands End as a whole is not worth paying for.  Except the first time I have allways got the feeling the workers at LE looked at us as a pain that they would rather not deal with and I have never (cept the first time) found them friendly or helpfull.  Lands End is what we in the states call a " I Got Ya" a place that knows you have no other choice and they treat you accordingly.  

JOG has allways been a very good stop, they have their act together.  

In the same vain, I heard gripes about Morrisons and the lack of pies because some were Pigs! Not a problem for my team as 2 of us don't care for them and did not have any, one of us had only one.  So we were not the ones who took more than they should have, nor did we take more than one should at Cannon Bridge.  

I do not eat much on these runs as I don't like to stop to return it.  All in all the meal stops are not that important to me, if I feel the need I will snack when needed.  After all who does the run's for the food.