It's official. Cycling the Line: Part Deux IS ON!

Longer, tougher and generally more painful than ever, Steve and I are dusting off the paniers and the padded shorts and will be getting back on the bikes for another gentle ride across a large chunk of continental Europe in order to raise a few quid for our service men and women: past, present and future.

This time we will be following La Voie de la Liberté (The Road of Liberation) - one of many routes taken by the Allies in 1944 after the successful sea-borne landings at Normandy in the summer of that year. This particular route is the one taken by General Patton of the US Third Army. It starts just inland from the Normandy coast and winds its way through France, into Luxembourg, and then up to Belgium, taking in the Ardennes, where it finishes at Bastogne. A total of  1,145km, or, in proper distance, that is 715 miles. (As a comparison the original cycling the line trek was 550 miles).

We plan to do the cycle ride over 15 days. 12 cycle days and 3 rest days thrown in so we don't kill ourselves. That works out to be an average of 60 miles a day for every cycle day. We will also be doing this trip a little bit earlier in the year, probably the last week of September/first week of October.

As last time, the whole point of us killing ourselves for 15 days is to raise a bit of cash for our soldiers. Last time we raise nearly £3500 - which was absolutely amazing. I wonder how much we can raise this time round? I know times are tough, but if you can spare a couple of quid then we would be incredibly grateful.

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