The first day of the adventure is now complete. After picking our way out of Manchester (and picking the glass out of our tyres from the street warfare of Friday night), we had a well earned breakfast in Bury.

Restocked and ready for the next section, we headed onwards to Accrington where one of the trademark characteristics of cycle touring once again made itself known; encountering random situations and becoming involved in them! This particular occasion saw me on a temporary climbing wall in the town centre hosted by a Lancashire army regiment who were there on some sort of recruitment drive. I was more than happy to have a play then gave them a donation in return.

Leaving the town saw us start the proper hills and soon we were joined by a road cyclist for a short while, who before parting also made a donation to the cause. He was trying to encourage us to tackle the infamous 'Pendle Nick', but as we could see it, and how ridiculously steep it was, we politely declined and carried on with our planned route.

Up until now, the day had been cool and dull and while not unpleasant, it was a stark contrast to the recent balmy sunshine we have been enjoying. Upon our approach to Barnoldswick the clouds parted, the skies turned blue and smiles were aplenty as the sun warmed our backs for the final part of the day.

Having settled into the quaint hostel, I am now composing thus from an equally quaint pub with a steaming bowl of soup planted in front of me. So, with that in mind, I'm signing off until tomorrow....

After setting out at some unearthly hour this morning, the first 20 miles or so have saw us reach Manchester city centre by 7am. Currently refueling on a much needed coffee before setting off. Next stop - Bury for breakfast!

Fundraising target met & last minute adjustments underway!

Well my original target had been £150 to raise . . . it quickly became apparent this could easily be met so I upped it . . . then upped it again to £750. I am very pleased to announce so far a grand total of £1003 has been raised! Thank you very much to all those who have donated. I will, of course, continue to rally for further donations during the challenge.

Speaking of which, today is the packing / last minute adjustments day. It seems a few bits on the bike have worn a little more than expected, so some last minute tinkering has been going on. Hopefully everything is now in working order . . . they at least appear to be. I will be taking plenty of gaffer tape and WD40 . . . apparently anything can be fixed with these two items.

I'm going to attempt a 'mobile update' shortly via my phone, but I haven't got a clue what I'm doing with that really. Fingers crossed for that! I am also looking at perhaps 'Glympsing' each day, where an app on my phone allows people to monitor my progress and speed. I doubt my battery can sustain this all day, so I'll probably just 'come online' for an hour or so a day, provisionally I'll pencil in 2pm as I'm likely to be moving at that time.

Right, off to progress with yet more packing and prep work!

Mechanical tweaks and fundraising update

Well after I was alarmed to discover I'd completely knackered the chain on the bike the other day, it now has a new chain, sprockets and a chainring, meanwhile I now have oily hands which also smell of petrol. Nice. In the process, I've tweaked the gear ratios slightly to give me a marginally lower climbing gear (every little helps) without sacrificing too much of the top end gearing.

The fundraising is going very well too; I've collared a fair number of colleagues on top of the friends and family who have already donated. A big thank you to everyone who has! I'm now over halfway to my £750 target, with £410 raised so far!

I've also discovered an interesting app, courtesy of a colleague, called 'Glympse' (the app is called this, not the colleague). This enables me to send out a signal on my mobile 'phone, allowing people to track my progress in real time (including my speed . . . so unless you enjoy watching paint dry, you might want to look at something else when I'm climbing up towards Shap). I've not yet worked out how I'll manage this, but probably set out a time each day when I'll be 'viewable' for an hour or so. I suspect the battery drain is immense so I doubt I'll get much time before the mobile dies, not to mention a lot of the places I'll be in will be fairly remote and this app will require a reasonable internet connection. More to come on that later anyway . . . .

The charity has been selected!

After much thought, I have decided to raise money for the Mountain Rescue Organisation of England and Wales. I think the MRO are so frequently taken for granted . . . if you've ever walked in the hills, climbed a crag, even stepped off the train on Snowdon, if you had an accident then it would be the Mountain Rescue teams which would step in to help. The Police frequently rely on them in times of extreme weather too, as they are equipped to deal with some of the harshest environments. Yet despite this, they are an entirely voluntary organisation. Everyone involved volunteers in their spare time, it doesn't matter if it's a warm Sunday afternoon in July or a wet Christmas Day - they are on standby every hour of the day, every day of the year.

We are very fortunate to have these highly experienced teams on hand to help and unlike many other countries, their services are not charged to the patient. Please do your bit by sponsoring me on my mad adventure, by visiting www.justgiving.com/foldingadventure

Any donations, however small, are greatly appreciated!

Thank you.

Route Details (at last!)

OK, so this has been a long time coming . . . but I've finally got around to producing a route map. The ride will last 5 days with approximately 300 miles to cover. The 5 legs of the journey can be briefly summarised;

Day 1 - Macclesfield to Earby . This is via the city centre, but departing at about 5am to avoid the chaos. I have kevlar tyres fitted ready . . . this isn't intended to make the tyres bulletproof for the journey through the suburbs, but rather to hopefully fend off the 'Friday night fallout' which will inevitably be strewn everywhere.

Day 2 - Earby to Kendal. No doubt the promise of Lakeland ales at the terminus of this day will keep progress swift, despite the inevitable headwind.

Day 3 - Kendal to Carlisle. This will be the first (of several) big climb days, of course this means there should be some fun downhills too. Still roughly in the Lake District area so hopefully suitable liquid replenishment will be available in the evening.

Day 4 - Carlisle to Denholme. Today will be the day we sail over the border into Scotland. Of course, I say sail, but that would only be applicable if it was flat and with a tailwind . . . but it isn't, it's uphill and I expect we'll have a headwind too. I will try to appease the weather gods by sacrificing a few bottle caps from the night before, but I'm keeping my hopes fairly restrained just in case my efforts are ignored.

Day 5 - Denholme to Edinburgh. The last day will see some pretty big climbs, but what I am rather hoping will be a spectacular descent into the city. I am conscious that if my brakes fail on this descent I'll have two options; a sea estuary or take my chances with the trains by freewheeling across the Forth Rail Bridge. Let's hope the brakes work . . .

Anyway, here's the route map showing the above days: