The plan is to start cycling on Tuesday 24 June from Valença (click here) in Northern Portugal, on the border of the river with Spain. Then head south until we hit the Atlantic ocean in Faro (click here) on the southern coast.  We will be staying in reasonable quality hotels, and have a social calendar, organised by our Norwegian friends, which includes wine tasting in Porto, an international zip wire across the border, which involves going back in time as we cross the time zone, and other delights such as spa visits.

My flight is early in the morning on Monday, 23 June, so I need to get to Gatwick by about 6 AM, which is a challenge that I'm hoping is resolved by the very helpful Gary offering to give me a lift. We then have to get by various means from Porto to Valença, for which Steve seems to have come up with a very carefully planned transfer system involving rental cars, vans, and all our luggage, but knowing Steve it will go like clockwork. 

When we get to the hotel, we have to reassemble our bikes, which is not particularly difficult technically, but most of us with Parkinson's have some fine motor skill issues so as a team we're going be able to help each other using our different strengths.  I put new tires on my bike the other day and it took me one and a half hours due to the complexity of the fiddly task, and the extremely tight tyres that are very hard to get on my particular rims even if you are fit and able.