Early Planning

My planning started almost immediately, and it started with a trip to the map shop. I was going to need some maps for sure, and a big wall in which to display the route. So following a trip to the shops, and the clearing of a wall in the study, the planning could commence, before realising that folders, dividers, pins and a whole myriad of other resources were going to be needed along the way. Day one would therefore have to settle for a wall displaying the road networks running south from Paris, through the Loire and Dourdogne, into the Pyrenees and into Barcelona. One sliced up road atlas later, and I am peering up at the wall with probably the first realisation for the scale of the challenge at hand..... Brilliant I thought with a gulp... Steph just said ‘Holy Shit!’

So much to consider: The bikes, the kit, the charities, the route, the travel to and from, the accommodation, the kids, the Pyrenees, the financing. It all seemed quite daunting, but then it all seemed quite logical, make a list of the most likely show stoppers, prioritise them, and then start knocking them off! And so I set to it.