Preparation

When planning this trip, my starting point was that I carried a 40 litre rucksack when I spent two months walking from the south coast to the north coast of Spain last year. Two fully waterproof 20 litre Ortlieb bike panniers should therefore provide enough capacity for the next two months as I cross Europe. More or less. There are exceptions: I was happy to wear my boots morning, noon and night last year, not so my cycling shoes; and no cycling helmet or bike tools are required walking a Camino. I have also decided to take a two-man tent for comfort rather than the bivvy bag I used in Spain. But, with a bike to hang a few extra items off, everything seems to have been found a place.

The bike is well prepared now, a new chain, cables, tyres, wheels, bearings, and brakes sorted courtesy of Tom and the guys at Spindles in Whitley. And it was a very thorough job, picking up a couple of niggling issues that had escaped others. They also fitted a bigger brake disc on the rear wheel: more weight means harder braking; harder braking generates more heat (and those discs get hot); and a bigger disc dissipates heat more effectively.

My bike might ride sweetly now but my personal preparations have sadly been less thorough. My regular gym sessions obviously help maintain a general level of fitness but whether running, walking or cycling nothing quite helps you prepare as well as training in that activity. And nothing describes quite well the amount of cycling I have done recently. I console myself with knowing my latent fitness will help (although I am sure that I tell myself this more often than I should), that the route is relatively flat and that I am able to choose my distance daily - no strict timetable to chase. But I can’t help but think that a little more effort on my part would make the first couple of weeks easier.

Whatever the future holds, tomorrow I set out.