Here Be Dragons

It's time to set off into the unknown again:   This year I will be starting at the Mersey and riding into Wales.  My prior experience of Wales is limited:  distant memories of Snowdon, the Ffestiniog railway, and rain.   A lot of rain.  There are loads of famous places that I'm looking forward to visiting, although Snowdon is not on my cycling itinerary, I'm pleased to say.

The bike is clean, there is a pile of stuff ready to be packed into panniers, and I have a train ticket to Warrington.  Weeks of looking at maps of coastlines, cycle tracks of unknown quality and various types of unreliable sleeping places back in January have got me to my usual level of preparedness, which is a calculated balance of knowing what my options are, but not knowing what I'll be doing each day, or where I'll be stopping each night.

And more importantly - not knowing what I'll discover along the way.  That's always the best part for me - the unexpected surprises that greet you on a regular basis: views, people, cafes, weather, bits of nature or endearing aspects of the locality.    I will be reporting back with a few photos on the blog regularly - do come back for an update.   Even better, if you would like to subscribe (see the box on the right hand side) you will get an email each day that I write something.