Now a confession: I have done this ride before. Back in 2010, in my first flush of getting back in biking as a student, I rode from Oxford all the way back to my childhood home in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon. Being a much younger, arguably fitter (but not necessarily more foolhardy) man I resolved to do this in just two 110-mile days, with a single wild-camp in between.

I remember enjoying this, but I also remember how destroyed I was for the following week in the lab, how I essentially passed out in the nature reserve where I made makeshift camp, and how little else I recall of the ride. By the end I was in a tunnel-vision state of determination to finish, and I pretty much gave up navigating and at one point (I think) even ended up yomping across open country somewhere near Teignmouth. It was also pretty much the swansong of my clunky old Hawk Woodland, a drainpipe-like steel behemoth that came with the Cycle King's patented extremely brittle wheels, with spokes starting to fail as I neared Exeter. This was so far beyond my technical skills at the time, and I was so determined to beat the sunset, that I just rode on.

This did kickstart me learning to build wheels to replace them - but other than that happy outcome I have no desire (nor, I suspect, the ability these days) to try to do this in hundred-mile days. Taking a bit more time is the prescription this time around!

Happily, our reunion is scheduled for the Monday, so I have a whole weekend already free for the journey. Targeting 100km as a more realistic and enjoyable camping-load distance, this gives me a plan:

• Cornwall is a really long, thin county. As lovely as riding the length is, this is familiar ground to me now and is also bloody hilly. So I intend to start from Totnes, Devon where my mother (and most of the rest of my family) now reside. Hayle and Totnes are on the same, main line, so catching a train on a Thursday night will be straightforward.
• Even a fairly direct course north-east to Oxford is not far off 300km, so doing this in 3 days, rather than 2, seems prudent.
• Yes, I will be wild camping. Part of this is just for the fun of it, part of it is that I've thoroughly figured out how to do this reliably, and part is the antipathy to paying £25-30 a night in campsites just for a tent - which may be lovely, or may be full of people keeping me awake.
• On the last night I'll stay at an established campsite near Oxford, and then leisurely wheel down into town to meet the guys.
• Then afterwards I'll make the more elaborate trip home by train. There's more potential for things to go wrong here, but it doesn't matter too much.

The route I've sketched diverges quite a lot from when I attempted this 14 years ago as well. I payed much less heed to route planning and navigational skills, and that apart from some sections I was already familiar with (like the off-road segment of the Ridgeway near Swindon) I pretty much made a bee-line. This lead to some extreme hilliness, particularly around Yeovil.

This time I'm going to cleave much closer to the coast. I plan to:

• Ride up to the Exe esturary through familiar Devon landscape.
• Cross the Exe via the Starcross ferry, instead of going up through the city, cutting off ~20km.
• Cleaving close to the coast all the way up Lyme bay, almost to Lyme Regis. This avoids some of the steep and relentless hills of the interior of Devon and Dorset.
• Then I'll cut across Wiltshire, heading for the vicinity of Bath but not entering the Cotswolds.
• Instead I'll follow the valley and Kennet and Avon canal towards Devizes before cutting across to Malborough.
• From there it's in Striking distance to the Thames valley and a camp near Wantage.

I plan to camp somewhere near Beaminster, possibly in the Marshwood Vale, and Warminster. If you know Geoffrey Household's Rogue Male, the Marshwood Vale has particular resonances for a wild camp. I may have to quote extensively from this wonderful book - despite the boy's own title it's a really fine piece of work, and far from a genre exercise. I'd argue a better thriller than The thirty-nine Steps and has some genuinely striking literary qualities and unusual psychological undercurrents.

It's dear to me because an important part of the plot involves a touring bicycle (in 1939!). The denouement involves the protagonist being imprisoned in the underground den in which he is hiding out, while refusing to kill his tormentors. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Anyway, here is a sketch of my route. Subject to change as always!

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