Josh takes a rare break from the boozer

As we approach the stage where planning and preparation deservedly carry the label of “last minute”, Josh has still yet to ride his almost finished bike. This trifling matter aside, preparations are going well and kit has been assembled, tested, packed, and then repacked. Maps have been sorted, tool kits merged, and our route, whilst still flexible through Eastern Europe, is beginning to solidify. In fact, with arctic conditions looking likely throughout the continent, we are considering the possibility of making a break for the balmy Adriatic coastline, after we have traversed Germany.

Physical preparations, on the other hand, have been rather neglected.  After months on end when the fastest any of us have moved is to make last orders, we hope that the smooth roads of Holland will be kind on our poorly prepared bodies. We had considered undertaking the trip in reverse, but are all extremely glad to begin with a landscape as flat as the atmosphere at a Michael McIntyre show, rather than the 5000-metre-high passes of the Pamir Mountains. By the time the locals’ diets have altered from chocolate crepes and marijuana to grilled horse and opium, we should be as fit as the fleas we will undoubtedly have contracted.