Sometime at the start of the year my mate Nick said to me, "Will, we've done a bit of cycling, wouldn't it be nice to cycle to Paris?". "Yes" I replied "it would". "What about doing it in 24 hours?" said Nick "in time to arrive for tea on Saturday?". "Why not?" I replied.

Such conversations have led to my first marathon, riding the etape and attempts to cycle around Malaysia, Syria and Lebanon. Beer is often involved. Once the gauntlet has been laid down pulling out is unthinkable.

So in May Nick and I lined up outside the Houses of Parliament in London with four of his colleagues, a support van full of food and bike bits, and a few friends to drag us to the coast. 23 hours 20 minutes, 200 miles and one ferry journey later we were in Paris and in want of something stronger than tea.