anxious

Finally, the night before I leave for foreign shores and my mind is awash with so many small details. I think I am missing the virtue of the bigger picture here. Just spoken to my good friend Leslie on Skype. She is currently at home is the US after an operation. Apparently, they are not quite so well equipped in Rwanda. Anyway, I digress. It was great to her from her and it got me to thinking just what an adventure I have stretching out ahead of me. My cycling buddies from last year’s trip, Pete and Mary, were also on the phone tonight, wishing me luck with the tour. I really wish they were joining me.

This weekend was my dear friends Caroline and Duncan’s wedding, in wet and windy Devon. It was the best wedding I have been to in ages. So many friendly faces and a lot of gossip to catch up on. I think Caroline’s mother thinks I am nuts and there I cannot fault her. However, comfort zones are there to be lived both inside and outside of.

Now, time to go to be as I have a very long first day of cycling ahead of me tomorrow. I reckon about 90 miles through central London down to Dover. Apparently, the rain will fall hard so I envisage a tough day in the saddle. Something interesting to sink one’s teeth into.

So far, people have been pretty generous on the old charity donations. I have raised almost £750 on my Just Giving site. Child’s I Foundation, the charity I am raising money for posted a story about me on their blog today.

I would have to admit at this point in time, I am a little nervous – nervous in a good way but nervous nonetheless.

Tomorrow is the day I leave for Lands End. Pete and Mary are due to catch the ferry over from Guernsey this afternoon. For them, the reality and enormity of this adventure is even more immediate.

Strangely enough, the most poignant thing I am concerned with is not fitness or the route but weight. I have packed my bags and they were heavy. So, I ditched a load of stuff, repacked and guess what, they are still heavy! One of the most common things I have read from other cyclist’s blogs and books is that they wish they had taken less stuff. However, we are likely to see all types of weather along the way and the last thing you want to be is cold, wet or uncomfortable.

Having to wash kit pretty much every day to keep the latent weight down reminded me of my time in South America, whilst on an Operation Raleigh expedition. Though the day was far less complicated in terms of activities vying for one’s attention, it was the necessities that were first and foremost: Collecting wood, building a fire, cooking, sleeping and chores. Long evenings were spent entrenched about the campfire, regaling the collective with stories and jokes. Mercifully, there were no ‘Kum Ba Yah’ moments.

We hope to maintain this blog on a regular basis, provided Orange can get their act together and deliver my new mobile phone to me today. It has been fantastic not having a phone for a month but I think the poor bugger who was passed on my old mobile number will probably be thankful if I manage to get reconnected so people stop pestering him.

Stay in touch and keep reading!