A reasonable night sleep on adventure eve was followed by my alarm waking me for the pre-adventure dog walk and breakfast. A little disappointingly it was raining, and whilst I had invested in good quality cycling waterproof clothing, I wasn't planning on having to use them straight away!

Dog walk complete, a hearty / healthy granola based breakfast was followed by me packing the bike with the double checked list of items, and after an incredible hug from my wife (just the energy I needed to start the journey, thanks Jan) I set off on the first stage of the ride up to Salisbury via Ringwood.

The first few miles of the ride were essentially the same as my normal commute , but it wasn't long before I was on a new road heading north away from home. The rain was also easing, and apart from a relatively large number of cars passing me on their way to work I was settling in to a good rhythm, not cycling too quickly and I felt great.

Then I remembered that I had left the keys to my bike lock at home! So much for lists and planning every detail of the journey. Should I cycle back, or phone Jan......or simply purchase a new lock at the first opportunity ? Not the greatest start (although I could have suffered a puncture or worse) but the very friendly shop assistant of the bike shop in Ringwood was very helpful in selling me a new lock complete with two keys, and once packed away I returned onto the route to get me to Salisbury.

The "gang" was also ready for action; the cycle bag clear pocket filled with my phone (aka satnav) and the power bank which I had named Buble (the brand is a very similar word, maybe with an extra vowel....) but as might be the case with people who travel on their own its very easy to start conversations with items such as these and give them a degree of personification.

Satnav, Buble and I proceeded up the A338 to Salisbury, and whilst there was a fair bit of standing water from the earlier rain, the sun was breaking through and I was finding myself starting to really enjoy the ride. I'd loaded the bike with four water bottles and more than enough food to keep me going for the first day at least, and as I got to Salisbury my satnav companion guided me towards the first part of the journey on one of the National Cycle routes, number 24.

Within a couple of hours I had broken free of my normal daily routines and found myself in the Wiltshire countryside riding through villages on relatively minor roads , meandering my way up towards the city of Bath. For those not familar with Sustrans and National Cycle routes in the UK (and to be fair I wasn't either) I discovered a pattern pretty early on of satnav suggesting I needed to turn left or right with an early warning and a regular, although sometimes very hard to spot set of blue, red and white signs usually stuck on lamp posts or road signs highlighting the route.

For the most part satnav appeared to know the route like she had been this way before (and she because the satnav has a female voice....) There were early moments when I was guided onto a road where there was no sign of a accompanying cycle route sign, but as a solo traveller I was quickly becoming reliant on the guidance.

I made sure I was keeping up my intake of food (chocolate spread and honey pitta wraps are amazing!!!) and water, and with excellent cycling weather (dry, warm, not much wind) I was making excellent progress. Back at home Jan was able to track my progress via Strava and update family and friends who were interested to know how I was and where I had got to.

As I got closer to Bath I began to consider that the city is well known for its hills, and my previous route research and planning was forgotten as I made my way down one particalarly steep hill a few miles away from the city centre, knowing that what cycles down will need to go back uphill at some point.

To my absolute delight however the uphill section lasted for about two minutes, satnav asking me to take the next right turn which I struggled with for at least a minute because the right turn was into a pub car park! Forcing myself to trust satnav (ok, I checked google maps visually before trusting satnav!) at the rear of the pub car park was a gate access to the next part of my route - the Two Tunnels cycle way.

The site of an old railway line the start of the route still had a station platform, and quickly led with gentle gradients through the two tunnels. To my great surprise the hills of Bath were simply cut through with this route, tunnels with excellent lighting, lots of interpretation boards allowing visitors to find out about the history of the railway, and even music being played in the second tunnel.

Hard to tell how long the tunnel ride was, but maybe ten to twelve minutes of musical cycling led me out into Bath itself and a ride that continued close to the river Avon all the way to Bristol. I broke my cycle distance record to date at about this point in the day, stopped to take on more food and water and carried on my journey.

What was truly incredible was that so far, with the exception of the first few miles of my ride, the vast majority of the route had been relatively clear of traffic, this last section to Bristol was another dedicated cycle lane. Could I really get to Liverpool on similar routes ?

Navigating around Bristol with the help of satnav and Buble was effortless; excellent cycle lanes with bridges or under passes to avoid main roads. In fact as I headed away from Bristol I completely forgot the distance I had travelled, and as I returned to minor roads through villages and past farms I started to think about dinner and my hotel room which was virtually on the horizon.

My relationship with satnav had been untested up until this point in the day. Apart from a couple of times I had chosen to ignore satnavs advice to avoid roadworks on one section of the journey, where she had re-routed me within a few minutes by way of a detour, so far I had a reasonable level of trust in the directions.

As I got to about the 88 mile point of the day, and was experiencing a little elevation on the route I had no reason to doubt the directions, but as I headed along what was becoming a very narrow country road with a large amount of grass growing in the middle I began to question where I was being taken.

The thought of dinner was a major influence at this point. Whilst I couldn't see the hotel I had booked, I could hear the M5 motorway up ahead and I knew I had to cross it at some point to reach my destination. As I continued my climb the road became even rougher until I literally reached the end.

My way was barred by a gate and a sign informing me that if I was to continue I would be making my way onto a bridleway, which I understand is a route primarily for horse riding. Two wheel pedal power is not quite the same as four hoof drive, but at this point I was sure I was less than 2 miles away from the hotel......should I trust satnav ? In fairness Buble was very little help in this decision making as he continued to slowly top up the battery of my phone, and therefore keep satnav powered up, but at the end of the road having made quite a climb up from the last village I felt like I had little choice but to venture onto the bridleway.

Using strength I didn't know I possessed, somehow bouncing my way down hill for at least a mile or so with my hand pulling my brakes to keep me from having a high speed crash I somehow navigated my way all the way down to a bridge over the M5 motorway , knowing I was now on the correct side of this six lane monster to get to my hotel. The constant bumps were absorbed by my weary body, the lumps of rock that made up the surface of the bridleway were far from ideal for me, my bike or any discerning horse come to think of it.

A short ride later and I pulled into the car park of the hotel, checked in to my room (very lovely) , with even enough room for the bike too. Day one was complete......now time to recover, recharge myself and get ready for day two.