Planning begins in earnest with 46 days to go

It's funny how we become so accustomed to certain aspects of our environment that we simply don't notice them anymore. As we set out last Sunday morning through the Oxfordshire countryside, there was an eerie unreality about the perfect, gin clear blue sky and the uninterrupted natural harmony of the dawn chorus. The absence due to an Icelandic ash cloud, of any aircraft, their noise and their tell-tail vapour trails, was having an unexpectedly profound effect on our world.

Sunday’s ride saw the four of us reunited for the first time in a few weeks. With holidays behind us and travel commitments unusually benign, we thought we should put a good ride in. Leaving Streatley at 06:00 we headed off to Cheltenham for breakfast via Farringdon and Lechlade, the return journey taking us through Cirencester and Fairford. A most enjoyable 125 miles in glorious sunshine all be it at a rather stately average of 16.4 mph, this due in no small part to the after effects of a couple of rather good parties in the village on Saturday Night.

This week saw us start to get to grips with maps, compasses, and an excellent website called Bike Route Toaster as we realised that if we don’t agree the route, it’ll be too late to book any decent hotels. Youth Hostels and formule 1 hotels are out - we’ve all had the misfortune to try them.

Our plan is to do the trip unsupported and we’ll be carrying only absolute essentials; tee shirt, shorts, tools, spares, phones and of course the essential chamois cream (don’t ask). We need to have our hotels booked not only to ensure that we have a bed for the night but also so we can send them Red-Cross parcels full of essentials for the following day’s ride, you can imagine the sort of thing, protein drink powder, carbohydrate gels, underpants etc. We did a similar thing on our last expedition; Graham weighed various powders out into small plastic bags before wrapping them up and sending them off to the various hotels. I'm sure you can see where this is going…. The package received at one hotel in Scotland had split and whilst we didn’t actually have the Drug Squad awaiting our arrival, eloquent and persuasive explanations were required to preserve our liberty.

We haven’t been entirely idle and have in fact booked the start and finish points for the trip. We’ll be cycling down to Portsmouth after work on Friday 4th June and taking the overnight ferry to Caen. All being well, we’ll spend the following Friday and Saturday nights at the Hotel Al Sole in Venice before flying home on the Sunday.

The challenge this week has been to sort out the bit in the middle and we’re now well on the way. Whilst we have yet to agree the finer points, the broad plan at this stage is:

Day 1 Caen to Sonchamp 133 miles
Day 2 Sonchamp - Laignes 147 miles
Day 3 Laignes - Belfort 146 miles
Day 4 Belfort - Weesen 128 miles (Into Switzerland)
Day 5 Weesen - Zernez 67 miles (big hills)
Day 6 Zernez - Margreid an der Weinstraße 104 miles (Into Italy and more big hills)
Day 7 Margeid - Venice 131 miles

 According to one of Jeremy’s gadgets, this route requires us to climb a total of 38,368 feet or exactly 9,339 feet more than the height of Mount Everest – is this possible for four men of a certain age?

Whilst others concern themselves with minimising impossible distances and ludicrous climbs, I have become aware of another, altogether more insidious problem. Day 3 will see us cycling through what is unquestionably the greatest wine growing region in the world; I recall with a certain unease the devastation caused by coming within drinking distance of the Clynelish distillery as we cycled through Scotland, The idea of completing 143 miles in one day through Burgundy will require more self control than I for one could possibly muster.