THE PLAN: JUST OVER ONE MONTH TO GO
In a week’s time it will be one calendar month until we set off on our epic cycle to Sagres from Bude. Our plan is in place and there’s nothing left to do but train, fret over packing, sort out our trailers, go for bike rides and settle into our saddles. Oh yes, and get married. That’s on the 5th May.
Our plan is to leave Plymouth for Roscoff on the 23rd May. We arrive in the morning of the 24th, which is when the clock starts ticking. From then on we have 90 days to get to Sagres and then back to Santander.
We will set off from Roscoff on the Eurovelo 1 Route, which is known as the Velodysee, a largely off road cycle route that will take us along the across Brittany to the Nantes Brest Canal and into Nantes. Once over the Loire the route heads west to the coast and then hugs it for around 700km until we get to Hendaye at the border with Spain. We will then follow the rough route of the Camino Norte which traverses northern Spain. We will make a few detours to this route as we will be visiting lots of surf spots. When we get to Galicia we will have to make decisions depending on time. The region has lots of peninsulas so we may have to make short cuts.
Once we have navigated northern Spain we will follow the Eurovelo 1 again as it follows the coast of Portugal from Valenca to Sagres. We’ll be making detours to follow the Camino Portugues so we stay as close to the coast as possible, which may also mean taking small ferries across some of the larger rivers.
Once we get to Sagres we will meet our friends Tim and Jo. They are driving our van from Bude to Sagres via Santander and will fly home when we have met up and had a few days together. Having the van will be vital because it will be impossible to get our bikes, trailers and surfboards home any other way. Flying would mean sending batteries by secure courier and packing everything up in bags and boxes that we will not have. Taking the train will also be difficult with trailers. Having the van will enable us to put boards on the roof, trailers into the top box and bikes on the back. Easy!!
We have a few days to drive back to Santander where we will board the ferry for home. We have given ourselves a contingency of 24 hours so that we won’t accidentally trip over the 90 days if we have a disaster.
THE PREPARATIONS SO FAR
BUM CARE: I treated myself to a Brooks saddle. These British, leather saddles have been keeping bums tidy for over 100 years so I thought I should splash out in the interest of my sitting bones. Hopefully there is enough time to wear it in before we leave. It should last me for the rest of my cycling days too.
FOLLOW US: We’d love it if you could follow us. We’ll be setting up a live tracker on Komoot so anyone will be able to use the link to see where we are when we are riding. We’ll also be blogging and making little films regularly to post on the blog. So please follow us!!!
BIKES: We searched long and hard for our bikes but, once we had done all the research, we kept coming back to Focus Bikes, as supplied by Leigh of our local bike shop, Ride It Cycles in Bude. The bikes are Aventura MTB E bikes, with 750w batteries. The advantage they have over other bikes is that they have a good carrying capacity, and the mudguards, lights and pannier racks are factory fitted.
TICKETS AND INSURANCE: All our tickets are booked. We will be travelling with Brittany Ferries. We have insurance – for the bikes, ourselves and the van – booked through The Caravan and Motorhome Club. Their Red Pennant Insurance will cover the van for the entirety of the journey as well as Tim and Jo for their medical and travel cover while they are away. Our bikes are insured with Bikmo, again through the Club.
ACCOMMODATION: We have no accommodation booked, although there are a number of Caravan and Motorhome Club sites we will be visiting along the way as I will be writing about them for the club magazine. There’s just no point in booking anything as we don’t know where we will be at any given time. That’s part of the point of this. We have no idea how things will go. Best keep it loose. We hope to wild campo at times and have not ruled out the possibility of staying in hotels from time to time.
SLEEPING AND EATING: We will be taking a tent, a Robens Pioneer 3x, which is light and has enough space for panniers and kit in the porch. We’ve got Thermarest Neo Air sleeping pads and Alpkit Cloud Nine sleeping bags. We’ll be cooking on a Trangia stove, using meths as a fossil free fuel.
SECURITY: Our trailers will be carrying lightweight aluminium strongboxes that we can lock when we are off surfing or swimming. My trailer also has a rack which will take our surfboards. In addition to our camping kit we’ll also be carrying wetsuits, bellyboards, a Fringe Surf Co breadboard, swimming goggles and a pair of fins.
RANGE ANXIETY AND CHARGING: The heaviest items bar the trailers themselves will be spare batteries. They weigh in at 7kg, but will give us approximately 100km of extra range if we take it easy. That means we will be able to do a couple of days without charging and opens up the possibility of wild camping without power. We will have to recharge only when we have exhausted both batteries, giving us a theoretical range of over 200km. When we do need to charge we will be able to use power at campsites or anywhere there is a plug socket!
CLOTHES AND KIT: We have spent a lot of time wondering what to take in the way of clothes and kit, bearing in mind we will need to keep everything to a minimum in order to keep the weight down. We’ll both be carrying a set of clothes to cycle in and a set of clothes to relax in. We will be wearing helmets.
WASHING AND CLEANING: In order to keep weight down and to create as little mess as possible we’ll be carrying bars of shampoo and conditioner as well as washing up bar. Add to that all the usual eco stuff like bamboo toothbrushes, coconut husk scourers, bamboo towels, stick deodorant and whatnot and we’ll be flying the flag for waste-free washing!
TRAINING: What’s training? Of course we are doing everything we can to prepare! I am swimming most days and cycling whenever the weather allows. I am also doing Yoga and am developing a daily routine with the help of Jenny from Wildspirit Wellness that I will be able to do daily to keep the creaks away. I am still doing some gym work as part of my rehab which involves bikes, stairs and leg exercises.
THE NEXT FOUR WEEKS: Lizzy and I get married on the 5th May. Wahey!!! Once all the prep we need to do for that is over we’ll really get down to packing and panicking. We’ll ramp up our training and try not to fall over or injure ourselves in the process. Hopefully, when we set out for the ferry we’ll be at the peak of our physical fitness – or as peak as our 50-something bodies will allow.
NB: For clarity, none of our kit has been gifted. We either own it already or have paid for it.
