Preparations

 With a week to go Iain and Helen Berry kindly delivered a strong bike box into which I planned to put my trusty steed and all of my camping equipment. It was clear that I would have to do a certain amount of dismantling of my bike. However after removing the front wheel, the pedals,  the seat post and the handlebars the bike was still too long to fit in. So the front mudguard and both of the front racks were removed and the bike finally went into the box. Joy? Unfortunately 3cms of the seat tube were poking through the lid of the box. Workaround?

Leslie Bike Shop came to my rescue. I asked nicely and they were happy to give me a larger, strong box into which my bike and all of my gear fits. So far so good. I hate to think how long it will take me to unwrap and then reassemble at Basel.

I fly into EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg on Easyjet flight EZS1234 arriving at 11.05 on Friday May 12th.