So with everything settled down and international travel open again, an extended tour has surely got to me on the cards!

As usual, the biggest question is: where do I fancy? Once I've got a rough area, all the other details tend to fill themselves out organically. I've also managed to reign in some of my impulse to over-plan - if I can get away with rocking up in rural Austria with a tent in the middle of Covid, it'll be fine.

As usual my tendency is to avoid flying for tours in Europe. It seems to add a layer of hassle I could well do without. Moreover, we're now based a good long journey away from the major London airports. Ferries have always been my mode of choice for getting to the continent with a bike. Getting to the East-Anglian ports (Dover, Harwich etc) is now a much bigger undertaking (though it wasn't entirely a picnic when I lived just down the road). Fortunately, there is a great and reasonable service between Plymouth, the nearest big port, France - and northern Spain on the giant ships run by Brittany Ferries.

This seems like a natural destination. I've never ridden in Spain at all; despite visiting the country three or four times I've not really explored northern "Green" Spain; it looks pretty, mountainous, and has some great cultural interest with the Compostella heading to Santiago; and the food and drink promises to be fantastic. I can probably make use of some of the infrastructure provided for pilgrims (maybe even get a pilgrim passport) and continue on to Finisterre, and into the Duoro region of Portugal.

So that's the very rough plan - to cross to Santander, explore Cantabria, Asturias, Galicia and maybe Portugal - then to return to the north coast and take the same ferry home. I may well involve a train (or perhaps hire car if those are tricky?) to get me back to the port. I don't have anything booked yet, and need to coordinate this with work and with a non-cycling holiday - Caroline has not left the country for 5 years now. 

Maybe late July? Or will I fry?