It's Official :-)

Well that's it!
It's official!
I'm on the team!

Amsterdam here I come!

12th June 2009 is D-Day and the start of a 250 mile round trip to prove something to myself and hopefully to raise money for Marie Curie along the way!

By all accounts there should be about 60 of us so there should be plenty to blog about when I get back! The last time I was in Holland was a family holiday when I was ... much younger! I don't remember much apart from buying a souvenir beer tankard in Valkenburg - and yes I do still have it!!

I am looking forward to the challenge and I am also very much aware that I need to keep a regular cycling routine! I have been out most mornings on my bike - not very far - just about 6 miles per day, but far enough to get me into good habits!

Many moons ago (when I was 16) I cycled around North Wales with my friend as qualification for the Silver Duke of Edinburghs award - it was a fabulous two weeks and we route planned (well, Helen did!) and sorted out accommodation (well, Helen did that too!) and all in all we had a fab time! We took the train from York to Chester and then cycled a circular route over the two weeks before landing back in Chester and getting the train home again!

We had two rest days and on one of them we climbed Snowden (hence the wish to repeat the climb as part of this years wishlist!). Hopefully it will not be so foggy next time!

We met so many people and learned so much! I still cannot believe that my Mum & Dad were brave enough to let us go! There were no mobile phones then and we had only Post Office books by way of access to cash (no cashcards for us!). We rang home every couple of days from a hostel payphone and kept a diary to share with everyone when we got back!

The journey will stay with me always and so will the diary - my daughter was fascinated to read it and couldn't believe that I had been allowed to do such a trip at such a young age (I can barely believe it myself!).

Helen and I made so many friends along the way and I'm hoping that this trip to Amsterdam will earn me some more friendships along the way :-)

I have another birthday wish list trip coming up on Monday but I'll have to tell you more about that later ... I've sworn to keep 'mum' til then ;-) ... suffice to say that I'm really nervous, really excited and really scared all at the same time!!

Want to know what I'm planning...?

Better log in again soon then hadn't you?

Diane x