I hope your tour goes well! I'm very excited for you.

I can't believe that I've changed my mind even since starting this thread I had no idea that even going just a little bit more offroad would be so much fun. I think you're right - ambitions extend even faster than ability - which is a wonderful thing really.

I'm starting to wonder about transporting the bike too. DD will start at a nursery one morning a week after Christmas, and there is access to a National Trail just a few hundred yards away... I'm already thinking about driving her to nursery with the bike on the back then hitting the trail for a couple of hours before collecting her again. I guess in January that won't be happening often, but after Easter she will increase her hours to 18 a week, which is a lot of riding! For me, anyway.