Following my trek to the west of Dorset and some time to catch up with my parents and recover, my planning for the journey to Liverpool continued. Whilst in an ideal world this journey might have involved some camping (more on this in a later blog) the simplest way to break up the journey for some good nights rest would be finding and booking a couple of bed and breakfast / cheap hotels in advance.

Having looked at the route I was planning to take a break on day one after around 92 miles, and on day two after a further 90 miles of so resulted in two hotels being booked, one north of Bristol in Falfield, and one in the town of Bridgenorth. Whilst the ongoing training rides were pushing me physically and mentally, this was new territory for me in almost every way, the booking of these two hotel rooms made the adventure to come very, very real.

Part of the reason I had arrived at this point in my life was through the influence of Youtube. The site is full of videos from every possible corner of the globe about almost every possible subject. Back in late 2021 I found myself with a little time off work before Christmas and with time and surprisingly little on my "to do" list I fell into watching hours and hours of cyclists and walkers having adventures.

This played a significant part in my decision to cycle to and from work, and subconsciously must have fed into my thinking about cycling as a hobby too, seeing people setting off from Alaska and cycling to Patagonia over the course of two years, and sharing their journey in a really exciting way through the power of film is bound to have some sort of impact. At the time it was a very welcome distraction from the depths of a British winter, and if nothing more was excellent TV when I had some time to watch.

As the days of summer rolled by the date of my journey to Liverpool was getting ever closer, and it was in part these Youtube adventurers that helped me as I planned what kit I would need to take with me on the bike. Christchurch to Liverpool might not take in the salt flats of Chile or the deserts of Utah, but its also slightly longer, more complicated route than a ride to the shops and my earlier cycle to west Dorset had taught me one very important lesson - I was not going to get anywhere without some form of satnav style guidance.

So it was time to get the gang together. Via a timely email from the suppliers of my new bike I was reminded that I had gained vouchers to spend with them from my earlier bike purchase, and this would easily cover the cost of a decent quality hand bar mounted bag, part one of the gang.

Part two was comprised of my iphone, which I decided I would use as the navigation tool, mostly because there is a clever tool from google maps which allows you to text your phone with a chosen route, and having modified the journey on google maps the link to each of my three days arrived as texts to then access as I needed them. Part two - phone based sat nav.

The final part of the puzzle was some battery power. My old iphone is useful up to a point, but is heavily reliant on being plugged in to a source of power , especially if being asked to process anything. I purchased a power bank, about the same size as the phone which could easily be connected and slid into the top clear pocket of the newly purchased handlebar bag. Power, maps and a holder would help give me the guidance I would clearly need to navigate all the way to Liverpool.

Before I got to the big ride itself I did manage to squeeze in a few more training rides; longest ride to date 66 miles and with time constraints of work and other family commitments I had not so far managed to do consecutive days of riding apart from the daily commute. In terms of general fitness I don't think I had ever been as fit as I was over the summer (and this is of course relative to a fairly low level of fitness for the previous 20 years or more!) but was I anywhere near fit enough to take on this challenge?

I should acknowledge at this point that it wasn't just a few Youtubers who had got me to this point of readiness; I could not have got to this point without the love and support of my beautiful wife Jan, some expert advise from a colleague at work (who just happened to be a world class triathlete ), and a last minute pep talk from one of my best friends who told me he thought this challenge would be a wake up call to remind me what I was capable of achieving.....all three of you played and continue to play a significant part of my life so thank you.

After an incredibly busy weekend of work at the end of August / beginning of September I soon found myself on the evening before I was due to set off on my adventure. Lists of kit had been written, checked and of course the items required found / washed /filled up / powered up and double checked. The bike was sparkly clean and serviced too. Before I went to bed on adventure eve I was confident that I had the kit, semi-confident that I had the fitness, but it was too late if I needed anything else to get on the road in the morning.

Would I get a good nights sleep ?