Two other cyclist have contacted us recently with the prospect of joining the tour. It would be great if they can join....so looking forward to some possible good news in the coming weeks.

Tomorrow is the Weald Cycle charity event - and I 'll do the 44 mile route the same as I did last year. The event starts and ends in Hand Cross (near Crawley) and you can buy entrance tickets on the day for £23.00. Registration for the 44 mile route starts at 09h00, and the shorter rides start slightly  later.

It's for a worthy cause, the route is beautiful, clearly marked out with watering points and stops along the way, so do consider joining.

Here's the route map and website with other details.
 

We've toyed around for many months with ideas about the final route, and at some points even considering going through Europe to Cairo, then down the East side of Africa, but Kumi and I both feel a stronger attraction to the West of Africa. In particular, I'm very much drawn to the Western Saharah.

One of the concerns was that we felt that a route down West Africa might not be achievable in the time we have available, about 10 months.

I've spent quite a bit of time plotting a feasable route and calculating distances in order to determine if such a route was possible given the time constraints, and can now happily state that the new route is a very good starting point for our journey. See the Journey page for the updated map. A small version in included below for quick reference.

New site
This web site has changed slightly to become more event oriented. Come back here frequently to follow our progress. The previous blog can be found here.

Departure Date
The departure date has now been set for the weekend of October the 5th. We had initially planned to leave early September to avoid hitting autum weather on the Spanish leg of the trip, but there were some scheduling issues which resulted in the later date.

Camping Weekend in Bristol
Kumi and I will be joining CTC Bristol for a cycle camping weekend on June the 9th. This will give us the ideal opportunity to ride with an experienced group, and also test some of our gear and learn a thing or two from some of the other riders.