In my last journal, I described my rather unplanned ride through the nearest "proper" mountains to me - the Brecon Beacons in Wales. Although the second day was a bit of a washout, I had beautiful ride on the first and the scenery was stunning. Wild camping on the high moors was fun too, and I cannot praise the wonderful Wild County Duolite tent enough - it kept me bone dry through six hours of torrential rain on the top of a mountain. All in all I was keen to go back - when the forecast was good.

I'd been having a look at other tour journals in Wales, and came across Roughing it in Wales, which is an excellently described account of four days of largely off road cycling and wild camping, from Machynlleth near sea level of the west coast through to Birmingham. The route travels across the Cambrian mountains, crossing the intriguingly named Green Desert (Elenydd) and the sparsely populated hills on border with England. This is a great journal, and inspired me to do something similar.

One limitation I did have was lack of cooking gear (this was to change!). My usual way around this is to cook up a load of homemade pizza and take it with me - it's great eaten cold, and is sufficiently filling to feel like a proper meal. I figured I could carry enough for two nights but a third would be pushing it. I decided to attempt a modified version of the route that would make returning to Oxford easier - after crossing the English border I would ride down the lanes to Hereford, from where there are (occasional) direct trains to Oxford.