But where to go? Well, the world was my oyster - except that

1. I still wasn't really keen on trying to get the shift on a plane
2. Wanted to avoid too long a journey out, with the accompanying dragging a fully-loaded shift on various boats and trains and
3. Remain keen on wild camping, and wanted to go somewhere I could either do it sufficiently surreptitiously or wouldn't get too badly told off when I was discovered.

Germany or France seemed to beckon. I could get to both quickly, they're both bike-mad places with varied terrain where I would have no trouble travelling around, and - if I stayed away from the flat Northern parts - have a good covering of forest in which I could surely camp for the odd night. My researches tended to indicate that the French didn't particularly care, especially if you're clearly on a bike or in state forest, while the Germans might but would generally be very nice about it if you were found camping where you shouldn't. At the very least, there were huge numbers of campsites which all seemed happy to take cyclists with tents. I even speak very bad schoolboy French (and the Germans inevitably speak excellent English).

Which one? Why not both? My first thought was the Black Forest in South-West Germany. It's an area I've never been to, a land of extensive forests and (what I assumed to be) rolling hills. A quick look at the map and I figured I would need a bit more than that. I could start in France - somewhere in Burgundy - and make my way across the Jura, which I hadn't visited since I was a kid. Then across the Rhine and over the Black Forest. From there I could make my way Northward - possibly reaching Belgium or Luxembourg. 

Since I'd cycled from the North Sea to Luxembourg on a tour 7 years ago, this would have a nice symmetry, in that I could say that I'd cycled all the way from the sea to Switzerland in two parts (this is somewhat fantastical). Apart from anything, it's really easy to get a bike on Belgian trains - frankly I think this was my real reason. Then it would be simple to get a ferry back to England.

It was only when I bought my first map that I noticed that Tübingen was temptingly on the East side of the Black Forest. "Ah, so that's where Tübingen is ... hang on, I know someone there" I thought. My good friend Ben has been teaching at the university there for the last year. I could hop over the Black Forest, pay him a visit, and then go North from there. A perfect place to break the journey!

My rough calculations made this around 700 miles, which seemed to be a more sensible target for 11 days of loaded cycling. I was determined not to destroy myself this time...