The beginings of my first ever trip June 2003 Well having come up with the plan of a coastal cycle, I had to check a number of basic things. I spoke to work and they were agreeable and I had to make sure I could support myself reasonably, given I was taking 6 months off work. So I started saving immediately! Both the meetings I had with the hospital were positive, so I was pleased with that, although, as I suspected, a support vehicle was out of the question. (Actually I was pleased about this as I like to be self sufficient!) Now the Brompton can't carry much, so a trailer was the only answer. My friend Steve volunteered to build one for me and I was very grateful for that, but what about the container part? Given the criteria I was after: lockable, watertight and ideally aerodynamic, a car roofbox seemed a good idea. This he built and the result is pictured below. I bought a load of equipment including a tent, sleeping bag and self inflating mattress. It was at this point I looked at what method of mapping to use for the trip, trying to avoid anything too bulky / heavy or too costly. January 2004  I joined the youth hostel association in order to give me more choice of good value places to stay. I bought a rescue package equivalent to the AA for cars which will give me peace of mind should my bike suffer a failure that I can't remedy. I also bought dedicated cycle insurance which includes personal accident cover. I finally obtained a car-roof box at a very good price (see sponsorship page) and although large at least I can take all I want with me!. Towards the end of January I appeared in an article in the Bournemouth Echo and a week later the same article appeared in the local Advertiser. Finally also, I bought some more camping kit including a combat survival kit and an SAS survival guide!. February 2004 Sponsorship forms were distributed. I had also bought more kit and with it I test packed the roof box. My brother Chris has been researching internet mobile phones / PDAs for accessing web-weather and map sites, taking photos & emailing home. Lastly I am reading a book I bought 'Slow Coast Home' by Josie Dew for reference! I recommend getting it out of the library or go to; www.josiedew.co.uk March 2004  I went to Dorchester to buy the last items of kit and discovered to my delight a motoring atlas at a much better scale than the average ones have. The Philips Navigator Britain is 1:100,000 - twice as good as normal! On the publicity front I did an article for the Corfe Valley News, the Dorset Countryside Volunteers newsletter, and I got a good plug on Wave 105. I emailed the 'Courier' ( the internal Royal Mail newspaper ) to see if they'd run an article for me - which they did later on (several in fact). There was a follow up article in the Advertiser, and I emailed Meridian TV to get them interested in doing some coverage of my send off from Corfe Castle Square on the 9th May. They didn't reply. On the 24th I did a small presentation for the 'Friends' at the Hospital. My bike trailer was finished when it had a top coat of paint and new tyres fitted. The brakes were improved and the disconnection system from the bike vastly simplified, big thanks to Steve Haw at Cameo Event hire. My Royal Mail manager, Martin, confirmed I could use my Royal Mail cycling helmet for my trip. Unfortunately in terms of funding from corporate sponsors I didn't have much luck, all the large firms I contacted turned me down. The hospital sponsorship, however, was another matter, the best results I had was going door to door, but the problem was finding the time... April 2004 In this month I had some time off work to enable me to do a full scale trial run. This was about a week long and tested every part of the equipment - and that included me! In some areas I was found wanting! Afterwards I took the trailer up to Steve's for some repair and strengthening work (after the trial run it was a little battered!) and gave it a lick of paint to finish it off. I then worked on ways of making the trailer even lighter, with a fair amount of success. At the end of the month my brother, Chris, dropped in to set me up with the internet mobile phone. The Xda II was (and still is) an incredible gadget - there isn't much it doesn't do. In the week before I set off I got signwriting put on the trailer, a gear reduction done on the bike, fixed some mudguards to the trailer wheels and improved the maps I was taking by adding detail to them from maps at Poole library.