Shopping for the last bits and pieces

With just two days to go I'm beginning to get the butterflies of excitment and if I'm honest a little mild apprehension. Mostly, I guess about the usual stuff with travelling...what will I have forgotten? Have I taken too much? Certainly the bags that I have now packed, bar the food, are heavy. The combination of cycling and walking was always going to guarentee that. I think that I have it covered though.

This little computer that Nick Morritt kindly lent me, is fantastic. Nick for your trouble remind me to pass on the mobile dongle thing that I bought today, that will ensure connectivity in some of the places where I can't find wifi.

I'm also grateful to Lizzie, my eldest, for failing to break her old mobile phone, thus enabling me to give it a new lease of life. If you want to call me to chivvy me along, here's the number...

07866 312689.

So apart from the shopping spree I spent most of the day ironing out the final parts of the route. If you ever get to do something like this, there are many ways to skin the cat, so to speak. You could join an existing supported ride, or organise your own, but follow the many routes that are available through organisations like the CTC....or you could do what I've done, and make up your own.

Since this is a journey and not a race, I went looking for the country lanes and will no doubt get mad at too many steep hills as a consequence, but I have also tempered my mileage accordingly. The only piece of advice that I would proffer, however, is this:- Take advantage of google earth. A number of the online mapping programmes show roads where there are none. The classic example would be the apparent track that runs next to the M6 between Carlisle and Gretna. Take a look at Google Earth and you will see that there ain't one. Don't forget folks that you can't take your bicycle on a motorway, and if you could, you'd be nuts to try it.

All I need now is a bicycle! Mr Cycle is working hard on the rebuild of the drive train. The new tyres are on and the rear cassette too, however, the bottom bracket I had had fitted previously doesn't go with the new front sprocket set. Fingers crossed it will be with us by tomorrow in time for a test ride. In the mean time, apart from the bike, this is it.... see photo above.