Ok….first things first….turns out it is an exceptionally poor idea to party through eleventy billion bottles of wine the night before you head off on a 1300 mile bike ride. Surprising right? I thought about posting a photo of the recycling bin this morning but frankly I would be ashamed to be associated with it…..safe to say there are a lot of fragile heads this morning.

It was though a really great night with lots of wining , dining, laughter and 80s music (I mean what’ else do you need) and we eventually called it a night around 2am deciding that maybe some sleep at least might be wise.

Amidst all the slightly raucous mayhem two important decisions were made. On previous trips we have always taken the time to pick up a small pebble each from the coast of our starting point and then carry it all the way to the finish line where we then ceremoniously it in the sea. I guess it seems a bit silly really but for some hard to explain reason to us it really means something. Given there is no sea in Rome and that, unless there has been some terrible climate change related incident overnight, Trafalgar Square is not world famous for its beach either, we have to decide on a different, equally symbolic gesture. What we come up with is that we will each throw a one pence piece in the fountain in Trafalgar Square and then carry another one all the way to Rome where we will throw it into the Trevi Fountain (cue “coins in the fountain” by Frank Sinatra…honestly, google it, it’s a thing!) when we arrive. This might also mean that the Trevi Fountain is our new official finish line.

The second decision we made wasn’t a decision at all actually, or at least it was one that I made ages ago but then let the rest of team 3MAAT think they were involved in making it. The, by this time slightly inebriated, discussion turned to how are we actually going to get to the Trafalgar Square start line in the morning. I mean really! Clearly we are cycling there but there really was a discussion about what time train we might need to catch!!!! To be clear….common sense prevailed and we cycled there and that was always the only way it was going to happen!

So nursing our slightly fragile heads we set off for the start line…..

…..where we have the now obligatory start line photos and good luck hugs before throwing our coins in the fountain….

….and then that’s it, with the words of my amazing and incredibly understanding wife Jo ringing in my ears “have fun, stay safe and don’t forget to be funnier when you write the blog” we are off, heading down Whitehall and on our way to Rome.

The first few metres of our trips always feel slightly weird…hard to explain really but leaving loved ones behind, plus of course creature comforts like hot water, actually being in a room and having something to sit on that isn’t the ground feels really counterintuitive….what in earth are we doing!!

The omens to be honest are not super as within half a mile we come up against closed roads and have to take an irritating and unplanned detour and then a further half mile down the road the heavens open with a biblical hail storm. I do the only thing any right minded person would do and take shelter whilst videoing the other two cycling past

We head out across Vauxhall Bridge and south towards Streatham, still through the drizzle, two things happens to put smiles on our faces. The first is that an elderly Italian gentleman, who has clearly spotted the flags on our shirts, starts gabbling away to us in Italian at a set of traffic lights. It takes a few seconds for him to realise that we don’t understand a word he is saying and he walks off in a disbelieving huff when we tell him, in English, that we are cycling to Rome…..let’s just say he seems very doubtful.

The second thing is that someone in the traffic sees our shirts and takes the time to message us on Twitter and wish us luck. I realise of course that this doesn’t constitute “going viral” and it’s more “has a slightly itchy bit of dry skin” but nonetheless it’s a really nice boost!

The rain, unfortunately, seems to follow us as we head out of London through Croydon and out past the M25. It does start to feel like now we have some miles under our belt we have started “proper”!

We crack on out through the grey, but after London traffic free (mostly!) Sussex countryside…..

….pausing only for a quick pit stop at the top of Turners Hill (hard!) and at the side of the road under some trees for some shelter and a snack.

At around the 65 mile point for the day and 6pm we finally roll into Rodmell tired, damp but happy ….Three Men and a Tent are up and rolling! Our ferry is not until 11pm and so there is plenty of time to take on some hard earnt sustenance.

Finally, after nearly two hours of false starts, failed uploads and some mild to medium swearing I get the blog uploaded….sorry if it’s a bit thin today, obviously all the really good bits were lost to the internet gods! Hope you enjoyed it anyway, it will get better!

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