Getting down to work

Now I’m back home for the rest of the year and need to make some real progress in several areas. Firstly, to flesh out more details of the route. This hasn’t been helped by the fact that I seem to have lost the section of route from Newport, South Wales, back to the finish! That’s the problem with using a PC and a laptop at the same time – I must have overwritten the newer file with an older one. Never mind, that won’t take long to rectify. Then there’s publicity. So far I haven’t made progress with BBC's Inside Out or the One Show, but I’ll keep trying. I might have more success if I concentrate on the regional BBC News and Radio programmes. I’ve definitely decided that I will be raising funds for Cancer Research UK and yesterday I met their Area Volunteer Manager supporting local fundraising, Sarah McPhee. She couldn’t be more enthusiastic, which is brilliant. She will be my main link with CRUK and hopefully between us we should be able to maximise the amount raised by the bike ride. She couldn’t promise to find a motorhome but I’ll keep working on that!! Finally I need to get myself fitter. Vicky Lee from Clitheroe’s Lee Carter Health Studio kindly promised that Steve Backhouse will knock me into shape. I met him this morning so that he could put me through my paces and realise what a big job he has!! Suitably inspired I went out and did a fast 26 miles in this afternoon’s fantastic weather. Tomorrow morning (weather forecast dire) will see me in the gym trying to remember all the squats, lunges and what-have-you that Steve (not realising the short-term memory loss of a 58-year old brain) tried to show me this morning. There's going to be some blood sweat and tears...