Today is final day before I set off – needless-to-say I was promptly swamped in things needing to be done urgently online – so spent 8.45-13.15 sat at the computer… then I had to see if everything would fit onto my bike. A rough dry run a while ago had said yes, but I needed to test with both my non-biking clothes and the biking clothes in the panniers. It is a tight squeeze when everything except sunny bike clothing is put in, but as can be seen below, it does all fit. Fully loaded the bike weighs in at 35 kg – add that to my slightly overweight 95 kg and you get an idea of what needs to be propelled uphill and down dale – and what my brakes need to be able to stop!

Set off on the train tomorrow…..

I am really pleased to say that the amount of funds donated to my two chosen charities has just passed £5000. Thank you to all donors. This is both humbling and a great incentive to ride! With 24 hours to go and heavy rain at home in Scotland, such motivation is needed! Today will be spent packing and sorting out a few last minute tasks.

It is now less than a week until I start peddling in Cornwall. It has proved challenging to maintain the fitness that I achieved earlier in the year. This is mostly due to being in meetings i) working on underwater noise in European Seas, ii) helping to develop a monitoring plan for some environmental issues associated with an oil development off the Falkland Islands and iii) trying to advance albatross conservation globally. At the last of these meetings, I have been forced to take to a stationary bicycle machine that I have to say was rather boring. I guess this activity would be more fun if someone else was there to talk to, but even having music to listen to made it no less boring. So I am looking forward to getting on the road for real, but have some trepidation over how I will feel trying to cycle while being less fit than ideal. Wish me luck!

After a week of not bicycling while I continue to look for somewhere to borrow or hire a bike, I finally went on one of the hotel’s stationary bicycle machines. I have not used one of these before but figured out to set the resistance so that I was doing approximately my usual cadence, then peddled for an hour. The machine told me that I had gone 22.31 km equivalent, which is about right (and used up 582 calories!). I only added blue and white swallow to my “training” bird list though.

Yesterday I walked about 11.5 km to a place that allegedly was renting bikes, only to find it was obviously closed for the winter. Hey ho. I did see this nice gang of guira cuckoos though. These groups are always entertaining to watch.

I’m still in Florianopolis and still have not found a reasonable bike so I am still running most mornings. Running muscles are definitely different from cycling muscles and then, being sat down all day at the meeting that I’m attending, I feel rather old and stiff when I get up. Every morning there are one or two black skimmers feeding just off the beach. The flying skill of these guys is impressive.

My fund-raising passed the half-way to target this week, which is really encouraging – it is really difficult to know what the target ought to be. I chose high to try to stretch myself. Thanks to all who have been so charitably generous. I advertised in the meeting this morning – maybe some more international donations on their way!

I am staying near Florianopolis for the next couple of weeks while I represent the UK at meetings of groups working for ACAP – the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. I spent yesterday in a fruitless search for a bicycle to rent (there are yellow street bikes, but a quick check found I would be too tall for them). So this morning I went for a run on the beach – below high tide the sand is hard and good to run on. Coming back I came across this group of fishermen hauling in their beach seine (many had arrived on their bicycles!). They were catching two species of fish whose identity I have not yet established. Just offshore were two bottlenose dolphins and overhead the kelp gulls were taking quite an interest. There are obviously smaller fish here too – patrolling yellow-billed terns could not take fish of this size.

Cakes and cycling are two things that go together naturally – but this array of cakes are very special for my fund-raising effort. They are parts of a great cake sale held by my Joint Nature Conservation Committee friends and colleagues to raise funds for the charities that my bike ride is for. I am sad that I could not have been there – I was down the other end of the planet – but a fabulous £239.85 was raised. What an effort!! Thank you all.

One good feature of being on a bike is that I am much closer to nature, I can hear and see birds. Mammals are fewer and further between than birds, so I was pleased to add a small group of South American fur seals to my ‘seen while bike training’ list this week. This group was feeding in among the kelp beds in Stanley harbour – or at least I assume they were feeding as they appeared to be attacking the water rather than each other. I have also added a further 26 bird species to my ‘seen while bike training list’!

I have come to the Falkland Islands to do some work. I was concerned that this would put a large gap in my training schedule and lose fitness. Step forward my friend Neil who, although being away from the islands briefly, lent me his bike. I had to raise the seat somewhat and perhaps the frame is a bit small, but it has two wheels, handlebars, brakes, gears and pedals, so just fine. The Falklands is characterised by strong winds and it was no different today – so strong that I had to pedal to go downhill into the wind! Bicycling in the other direction was easier and I got up to 60 kph in one place (approximately the Standard Falkland Islands speed limit!). The intermittent horizontal sleet showers were not pleasant. There are just a few tarmac roads though, so I rode to the end of the hard surface in two directions and as far a Mount Longdon in the direction of Mount Pleasant airport. The scenery is fairly bleak – mostly grazed vegetation and low hills, with the occasional homestead. I’ve added quite a few new bird species to my ‘sighted while training’ list. I managed 40 km in just over two hours, and that takes me past 1000 km for my total training distance – whoop, whoop!

Today was a day of both sadness and happiness, and certainly one for memory.  My Uncle Robin died earlier in the month, and today was his funeral and interment in Suffolk. It was sad because Robin is no longer with us but on the other hand he had a full and long life (98 years) and bought happiness to many. The eulogy, written mostly by his daughter Judy, was wonderful and covered his life well.

I asked my mother what her favourite memory of him was – it went all the way back to her childhood when Robin used to play with her – he was obviously already a giving person then as he was ten years her senior – not all teenagers would play with their infant sibling.  My memory, and that of one of my brothers, is of a very kind uncle who would let us loose a bit when looking after us when we were children – in contrast to his wife who was a bit more strict – a classic good cop, bad cop I suspect.  Many of Robin’s extended family were also present and was good to hear their memories too. Detail in memories differed but the general memory was the same.

One further personal sad point: I had plotted to call in on Robin on the Down Memory Lane bicycle ride, particularly as he was a keen cyclist when a little younger – now I cannot swap tales and get his wise advice. RIP Robin.