Well, I have decided on my Summer Cycle Tour destination. Not for me any transcontinental crossing, multi border hopping, bicycle assembling, phrasebook requiring trip. No. I'm going to keep it simple, low carbon and cheap. I'm going to Wales (maybe I will need a phrasebook then?).
The plan is to get a train from Manchester to somewhere in south Wales, probably Cardiff, and then cycle very generally north, camping each night at wherever is convenient and attractive. No final destination and no set route, so unlike on the Pennine Cycleway, this will be a journey where each day will see me making a choice of which way and how far to go, influenced by; weather, craic, legs, bike, camping, culture, kit, alcohol, hills, people, clothing and many other factors i'm sure. However, as I do like having something tangible to aim for rather than just 'North', I am also going to visit a few of the 48 Welsh BCQ checkpoints along the way. Some days I might manage four or even five and on others I might struggle to get one. I won't give myself a target to achieve as I intend them to add colour, history and variation to my journey rather than force me on each day. As the trip nears the end I will head for a town with a reasonable rail connection and make a return home to normal family life.
As I said. Simple, low carbon and cheap. And I still get to see a foreign land very much unknown to me. Brilliant eh?
View BCQ Wales in a larger map
