As I write this blog we are heading into another Bank Holiday weekend and half term for schools and I'm down to two weeks before I head up to Scotland for what will be my biggest cycling challenge to date. 650 miles in the saddle as I attempt to cycle from Inverness up to John O'Groats, take a signpost selfie and then turn roughly southwards for the remaining cycle down to Liverpool.

As anyone who has read previous blogs will know my ability to plan for these cycling adventures is still a work in progress. Big ticket items including the flight and accommodation are all organised, and I have taken a lot of time to run through the potential cycling routes. I've even organised a box for my bike to get it on the plane and even a full bike service to ensure mechanically "Red" is all ready to go.

Fitness wise I'm about as ready as I think I'm going to be, relying on my current level of fitness which is reasonable, and a hope that I will simply get into a decent rhythm over the eight days I plan to cycle to complete the route.

This does however leave a few items still to plan and organise before I set off. Food and water to keep up my energy levels through the ride has been an ongoing concern since I first started pushing myself over last year; can I ensure I eat the correct food and keep fluids up to cope with what will be between 75 and 100 miles of cycling each day, possibly 4500 calories required for the longer distances?

Looking at the northern most part of the ride from Inverness up towards Wick there is a general lack of pretty much everything, its a relatively uninhabited part of the UK so taking opportunities to stock up on supplies will be important (although I also appreciate its not the Australian Outback - I won't necessarily be needing to channel my inner Bush Tucker Man !)

Water wise I've got 4 water bottle holders on the bike so have the ability to carry easily 4 litres of water with ease......and unless I experience some form of heatwave in Scotland there is every chance I can maintain my fluid intake on this adventure.

List wise this just leaves the usual packing choices - as little weight as possible to cover all weather eventualities, the usual toiletries, minimal casual / non-cycling clothes, some tools and cycling spares, chargers and wires.......hopefully after two reasonable length cycling adventures already this part of the preparations shouldn't be too complicated. I've just got to challenge myself to keep choices down to a minimum, which is a little counterintuitive when you have little idea what weather the journey might involve, but both of my larger trips so far have involved carrying clothing along for the ride which I didn't actually wear.

I've also been contemplating the idea of using a GoPro camera to capture the journey, and whilst I have invested in the kit and tested out a bit of filming on a ride or two I've hit a technical barrier (ie a total lack of ability) to download, edit and produce some reasonable quality video content........but also I've managed to capture previous rides and share via social media using my iphone, and for simplicity I'm likely to continue this for the time being. If you are interested then my Instagram account ( Andrew (@greenhorseontour) • Instagram photos and videos  ) may be of interest as I will be sharing my Scottish adventures here before future blogs get written.  Part of my motivation has been, and continues to be, to share my cycling journeys with the hope of inspiring others and maybe producing films might be part of the plan.....but not right now.

With 650 miles of cycling planned, which might be around 54 hours on the bike my main focus apart from completing the ride and keeping satnav errors to a minimum will be to take in and enjoy all my time on the road. As I wrote in the previous blog there is significant benefit to my mental well being, as well as my physical fitness and well being through spending time on the bike, and whilst I have no sense of what wildlife I am likely to see or what I am going to encounter (and no amount of planning is likely to change this...) I simply can't wait to get out there and experience all that the adventure will bring.

So I'll start to write a list or two to ensure I minimise that I forget to take to an absolute minimum, check the list, probably lay out items on the list in the spare room and be as well prepared as I possibly can be, but there is bound to be a minor issue or two I'm sure (all part of being human...). I'm sure there will be plenty of food related social media content, updates on the hills which I might encounter and of course lots of material for future blogs.

All this planning will of course allow me to maximise the opportunity I have to undertake this cycle ride, and I'm more than likely to encounter fellow cyclists along the way. In fact I'm intrigued to see how many cyclists there are attempting some form of John O'Groats to Lands End style trips. Selfishly I hope its not too many, if only to avoid the cycling traffic jams !