99 days and counting

There's 99 days to go now until we head off on our first day of cycling when we'll ride from Bristol to Portsmouth to catch our evening ferry to St.Malo. It doesn't feel like very long at all and looking at how busy we are over the summer I'm sure that September 9th will come around much quicker than we'd probably like it to.

On the plus side we've decided where our finish line will be in Montpellier, surprisingly something that we hadn't given much thought to until now. We'll turn the final strokes of our 1,500km pedal at the Promenade du Peyrou, with the sights of a statue of Louis XIV, an Arc d'Triomphe and a 'water castle' that is fed by an aqueduct. Looking to the south we'll have views down to the coast and behind us we'll be able to see the Cévennes mountain range that we will have cycled through over the previous couple of days. It will should be a good spot to have a glass of champagne, celebrate everything we've achieved over the past 10 days, and for us to contemplate how the money that we've raised for charity will impact the lives of many people.

We're certainly starting to get things organised, Gareth has even set up his fundraising page after about 2 months of me hassling him to get it sorted. The ferry is booked and we've settled on our recovery accommodation near Montpellier - it has a pool and a bbq which are post ride necessities. We'll definitely be stocking up on a few bottles of Châteauneuf du Pape when we stop there on the previous day so that we can enjoy a glass or two in the evening.

Aside from continuing our training, our aim over the next 3 months will be to start stepping up the fundraising for our two charities, including holding a fundraising afternoon in one of our local pubs with some DJs playing and a charity barrel of beer for people to sample. It's shaping up to be a good summer of working on our cycling tans, raising some money for two great charities, and maybe even getting our legs waxed so we really look the part come September!