Planning and preparing
It’s been a busy few months since I decided to start the ball (bike?!) rolling towards leaving on a long bicycle adventure in early 2015. I won’t bore you with the gory details, but suffice to say I have now survived laser eye surgery, getting up to date at the dentist and two rounds of immunisation injections (two more to go!). I feel a bit like the bionic man now.
I’m pleased to have made a good start with selling many of my bulkier, higher value items (motorcycle, mountain bikes, boat etc). Now the next four weeks will be a fairly intense push to sell the rest of my house contents and finish the handover process at work (back on full time hours plus to get that done!).
All being well, I will finish my job at the university on 19th December &complete on the house very soon after. I’ll spend Christmas in Scotland and then return to the Northwest of England for a few weeks to complete kit preparations and get everything in order for my planned departure on Saturday 17th January 2015. I plan to leave from Glossop (bound for Staffordshire) around 11am on Sat.17 Jan, so if anyone fancies meeting up for a brew and a final farewell, I’ll be at the Co-op cafe in the centre of Glossop from 10am. If anyone fancies pedalling out of Glossop with me, I’d be glad of the company on any part of day one (or any other day for that matter) – remembering of course that I’ll be on a fully laden round-the-world touring rig, so won’t be blasting up any hills!!
I aim to post more regularly now that things are really starting to take shape, certainly I’ll be adding to the sale items feed on a much more regular basis.
26 January 2015 @ 23:29
Hi Dan. Really good to see you. We’re thinking about you lots. Here’s a book to add to your reading list: a lady’s life by Isabella L Bird.
Your fellow bar staff in St Malo will really enjoy it!
Xxx
28 January 2015 @ 22:03
Hi Phoebe, thanks for the message and the recommendation – I found a free ebook version and just emailed it to my Kindle, so I look forward to sharing it with my fellow down and outs in Paris and London! If I ever get to France that is – I seem to be marooned in Bridport; I deferred getting ferry on Monday as I came down with a horrid cold, now the next crossing from Weymouth on Friday looks set to be cancelled due to high winds. It looks like I’ll have to take the train to Portsmouth and sail overnight from there on Friday if I’m ever to get off this island!! Tell Finn that my adventure glands are starting to defrost and I’ll report back soon!
Much love
Dan.
28 November 2014 @ 23:49
The 24 hour sponsored cycle at the age of 15 has perhaps come in handy then!
2 December 2014 @ 11:18
Hi Gabriel, wow what an amazing surprise to hear from you after all these years! Thanks for getting in touch. Yes, I reckon our bike escapades back in the day were the start of it all. I often think of our boyhood youth hostelling tours – every time I cycle through Yorkshire I bore people with the story of how I almost froze to death sleeping in a plastic bag in someone’s back garden in Kettlewell!
Cheers
Dan