And so it begins...The dreaded first blog post.

Those of you who know me know I'm not the most prolific facebook status updater. Generally I'm of the opinion that most of the things I get up to are either not interesting, or require too much censoring so they are left for idle chit chat. Alas, I've been strong armed by the band of followers, well-wishers, 'friends' with books open on how far I will get (you know you are...) and a enthusiastic man I met in the pub... So here it is: Post no. 1, day 1, the genesis.

The scheduled departure date was set for 4th August. Yep, last Sunday...I write this sat in my local branch of Costa without a bike in sight. The last of my visas, eBay purchases and equipment will arrive this week and after the obligatory farewell send off, I shall be setting off from my front door on Sunday morning, bleary-eyed, over-loaded and with a couple of breakfasts in me.

My first stop will be a small village near Maidstone in Kent on Sunday night, having covered my first 80 of 8,000 miles! Next it's off to Dover to catch the Pride of Cherourg to the continent with the rest of Europe in my sights.

For the techy people I will add a breakdown of my route, equipment and planning shortly. For now, I'll leave you to digest my inaugural posting and pray for me, I'm gonna need it...

Ben 'am I actually doing this?' Smith