Great progress, decisions and a perfect cooking pot
Yesterday was one of the better days planning the round the world trip. The long search for suitable cooking pots is over, I have now settled on buying a Sea to Summit X-Pot. On the larger scale this seems quite insignificant, but considering that I won’t go anywhere without proper food, it was an important thing to sort. I haven’t received it yet, but the X-Pot seems to solve the dilemma of trying to get a big enough pot to boil water for pasta and other meals, and the awkwardness of carrying that around. Up until I discovered the X-Pot I was trying to decide whether I want to live a full year on 2-minute noodles or blow my budget eating out. With a 2.8l pot and my smaller Alpkit 900ml super titanium coffee mug I will easily be able to cook some proper spaghetti and the sauce without problems.
I also made some good progress talking to some more sponsors for the trip, watch this space. At the same time Dan, who is helping with this blog, has made some great changes to the look, and we have now acknowledged all my supporters at the bottom of the page, have a look. My approach to finding sponsors for the trip has been pretty selective, I only want to settle for the best kit I can get, riding a singlespeed bike around the world is a proper challenge and the right kit is essential. All the kit I have for the journey so far is the best I could think about, and working together with companies to find the best possible solution has been a great learning exercise for me.
As for my plans for the journey, there is more progress as well. I will leave the UK on 12 September from Plymouth with a ferry to Roscoff in France, to arrive there on 13 September. That will give me 14 days to cycle to Lisbon, which should be possible. I am planning to ride a few big days to start with in France, and give myself more time to cross into Spain and Portugal. As we have now implemented the Spot Tracker into the page, you will be able to follow me from 3 September here.
One last thing to mention: I will give a talk about my bikepacking adventures in Scotland next Thursday at the Edinburgh Central Youth Hostel. It starts at 7.30pm, and tickets are £5/£4, so feel free to come around and bring your friends. If you are interested in the stuff I have been doing and want to experience epic rides like the Highland Trail in pictures, come around. More information is here.
