I'm often asked why, at age 65, I wanted to cross Canada on my own; and by bicycle. It is a bit of a 'clever' answer but I say that if you have to ask the question I cannot tell you why. It is just something I wanted to do. Before I describe, briefly, the trip, I should say that I am not,by any means, a regular cyclist. As a test ride I made a trip from Shannon, in Ireland, to Nottingham in 2005, but apart from this I have done no more than cycle to the local post office occasionally. But, you know, when you are retired life can get a bit dull. There is golf, but you can only go round and round a field chasing a white ball so many times a week, and with a handicap of 20 I am never going to be much good at that. The freezer is full of last year's allotment harvest and not much call to grow another five tons of runner beans. So, what to do to keep life interesting. We've travelled around the world, walked the Pennine Way, walked across the Andes, bussed north-to-south through Chile. What next? Why not cycle a while and see parts of Canada that I had never seen before. As I have mentioned, Jan and I have travelled extensively and back-packed through the Andes. We always use hostels in favour of hotels-much more fun. I know that this is a bit far from my cycle ride but I do not want to leave readers with the impression that I was a total novice to roughing it. That said, I was certainly not super confident about the ride. It was a long way, and anything could happen.

Next (page 5)