It’s time to hit the road again.

Since returning from the ‘big ride’ ­ over two years ago now ­ I’ve been clocking up quite large mileages. What with 4­ – 5 sessions a week of cycle training with schools during term time, occasional rides up to Scotland to visit a Buddhist Centre and trips to visit friends and family, I’ve been covering about 8,000 miles a year. All very well for maintaining cycle fitness and my green credentials as a cycling commuter but it’s not exactly touring.

I’ve been passing myself off as a ’seasoned’ tourer since finishing the circumnavigation [Ernie cycled around the world in 2005] but have not yet completed the classic, must do tour in the UK, namely the Land’s End to John O’Groats, or vice versa, ride. So, the long summer holidays of 2009 are approaching; the last School courses will be finished by the end of July; it’s time to “knock the bastard off” as Sir Edmund Hillary said in 1953 on his return from the summit of Mt Everest.