Oh good grief, remind me why on earth am I doing this again? I feel ever so slightly nauseous, I haven’t slept properly and despite a great celebratory evening, my very first thought when I open my eyes is “what is the best way to explain to Marc that I have changed my mind and he is on his own!” Yes, it’s day one and yes, I am just a teeny tiny bit on edge!

To be fair its the same every single time we do this ….it all seems lovely and dreamy and fantastical when we come up with idea for the next adventure and start planning but when it actually comes to the physical doing of it, its really very scary. It’s like Mike Tyson may or may not have said “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face” well this morning I’m getting absolutely battered.

Speaking about getting punched in the face…..this morning, of all mornings is the one where I manage to smash my head on the bathroom cabinet, open a big gash on my head and spurt blood all over the bathroom floor! I kid you not, the day where you have 80 miles of cycling planned and a ferry to catch is the one day where you could really do without spending 4 hours in A&E and yet….here we are.

Fortunately our ferry is not until 2200 and so eventually, rather later than advertised and having been skilfully put back together by the NHS, we do actually turn our first pedal towards Seville.

Goodbyes are never ever easy, and in fact they are for me the bit I truly dread about our adventures, and today is of course no different. Even though we are already several hours behind schedule it takes me a good 20 minutes and at least half a dozen half hearted and therefore failed attempts before I actually manage to really, really “leave”.

As is always the case by the time we take our first turn at the end of the road the focus changes ….no longer thinking about what we are leaving behind but very much eyes forward to where we are heading!!

Given we are now on a “bit of a time crunch” we set off at quite the pace and whizz through Kingston, Hampton Court and then soon after out into the Surrey countryside. The weather forecast was “chilly with chance of showers” and whilst we can see all of that happening around us in the distance we seem to have been provided with a channel of warm, dry golden sunshine all day ….long may it continue. As is now obligatory we completely ignore any “road closed” signs (its the TMAAT way) and keep pedalling out the miles. Before I somewhat inconveniently threw myself at the bathroom cabinet this morning I had booked a table at Pizza Express for 6pm…obviously that is not going to happen but it won’t be for want of trying.

I honestly can’t recall a time when we have pushed along so quickly with barely any stops at all….and remarkably, despite heading off 3 hours later than planned we still manage to arrive in Portsmouth, and the Pizza Express where I am sitting typing this now, just before 7pm. The word “heroes” is often thrown around without any true meaning …but honestly we earnt it today!

Ok….day one is done and first blog is done (I cannot tell you how much of a proper nightmare it is doing this on your phone, with sketchy WiFi and what may of may not be a mild conclusion). Thank for you reading, please don’t forget to donate and please do stick around….lots more to come.

Ps…we are about to get on (not sure that’s acceptable terminology?) the ferry and so, depending on the state of their sketchy WiFi, that may mean you don’t hear from us again until Sunday morning …(yes I know, it is a v long time to be trapped on a ferry!). Never fear we will back on Sunday in the land of “El Scorchio ”!!