It’s 9 days until we leave. Everything still feels quite surreal. I have said goodbye to people I may not see for a few years but the meaning of what that actually means alludes me. The other night I said to Astrid  that I feel almost numb about the whole thing. Occasionally I get moments of clarity where it hits me that we are actually going away for a long time and how much I am going to miss people but most of the time I am thinking about what we have to do next; where to get boxes from and what item of clothing we still need. Things have been hectic to say the least. I have never packed up my life before and it seems that when you are not busily packing and cleaning, you are having last minute drinks with friends or seeing family. I guess things will start to sink in more once we are out of our lovely house. We have hardly looked at the bikes over the last week, which will probably mean a painful first day. Hopefully next week we will get more of a chance to go on a few rides. It feels like once we have moved out things might settle down a little. Anyway, I will aim to write more next week, including a bit about our gear as I know the outdoorsy, cycling types will be interested. 

Jude