Looking forward to our cycling venture does not summarise how I (Andy, Alan can speak for himself) feel. Words like trepidation describe my mood well, fuelled by thoughts of mountains, the first few days of our trip will be through the Pyrenees for example, gulp.

Since Alan suggested this trip, from Perpignan to Caen with a stop over in Tours en route, I have been in training, it has got me fit, but whether fit enough will soon tell. So firstly thanks Alan, that spur to stop being lazy was much needed.

We take an overnight coach from Sheffield to Perpignan and after that it is pedal power only through France. There are lots of unknowns on our trip, like for example where we will stop off overnight. There are smaller unknowns as well, for example Alan told me about a quaint tradition of dipping our front wheels in the two oceans that bookend our trip, but doubt over this tradition has crept in. We are dropped off ten miles in land and to dip the wheels means a twenty mile detour before we start.

So the answers will all be here, how our legs hold up, where our overnight stays are, will we dip our wheels and many more.

Cheers now