Oh dear, I've been lazy...

 Well, lazy on the blog front anyway... Since completing "Stella's Journey" I've just been busy with "other stuff", you know, run-of-the-mill, day-to-day stuff, mostly work. One of the consequences of taking three weeks off to ride half-way across Europe is that I now have no annual leave left until our next leave year, which starts on the first of June. Ho-hum. Well, there's always a few long weekends in the spring anyway...

Another consequence of undertaking a trip like this is that afterwards you are always left with a feeling that there's something missing, a feeling of "what do I do next"? I felt the same after my Land's End to John O'Groats (LEJOG) ride in 2014; it's like a yearning for something else. It will subside, but the truth of the matter is I'd rather it didn't. I'd rather do something else. After my 320-mile return ride from Amicii Worcester to Immingham kennels I asked the question, "Now, how far is it from Viișoara to Worcester?" - that lead to "Stella's Journey", buy after "Stella's Journey", the question is simply "what next?".

Well, this is all a bit deep, so I'll stop before I go any further, although if there are any psychologists following (or indeed if there is anyone following at all!), I'd appreciate your comments.

I haven't been completely lazy anyway. While everything was relatively fresh in my mind, I wrote a book! I have attempted to write books before, one about my time in Antarctica, working for the British Antarctic Survey and another about my 2014 LEJOG, neither of which I managed to finish, but this time, I did it! After many hours spent tapping away on my keyboard and trying to figure out actually how to publish something, I decided to go with Kindle Direct Publishing, on Amazon. Anyway, to cut a long story short, it's available for purchase here.

I've committed to donate all the royalties to Amicii, so anybody that does buy the book will be supporting a good cause. I'm unlikely to be the next Bill Bryson, so I can't imagine it's going to solve all of Amicii's funding issues in one go, but it will help a little.

There's also the possibility that if it does get good reviews and sell well, I may go back and finish the other books I've started.

In addition to writing books, I have been attempting to keep my cycling legs in shape by riding more "Audax" events. Audax is a peculiar branch of cycling. In the words of this article, "There’s luggage but this isn’t touring; there’s sleeping on the floor but this isn’t bikepacking. There’s a time limit but this isn’t a sportive; there are awards but this isn’t a race". I rode some Audax to prepare for "Stella's Journey" - a 200km, two 300km, a 400km and an aborted attempt at a 600km, so I thought I might as well keep things going. Rather foolishly I thought I'd chase a Randonneur Round the Year (RRtY) award, which requires me to complete an event in each of 12 successive calendar months, which would have been a brilliant idea, had I not decided to start my RRtY in September. Actually, September wasn't too bad. My October ride was a bit wet. My November ride, "Crych Cymraeg 200km", was wetter than an otter's pocket. December's "King's, Castles, Priests & Churches 200km" was icy cold. So icy and cold in fact that I rode it on tyres with ice spikes. The average temperature was -2 degrees centigrade, with a minimum of -5. The drink froze in my bottle, it was that cold. In comparison, my rides in January and February were almost enjoyable. Fingers crossed for the rest of the year...

So, the question now remains, what should my next Amicii challenge be? Answers on a postcard, please...