As the nights draw in and the temperature drops, our minds turn inevitably to holidays. This is a special year. As we turn — or are about to turn — 70, it seems only right that we should mark the occasion with a suitably celebratory adventure.

At our advanced age, perhaps we should consider making a few modifications to our usual approach.

We turn to the excellent NHS website and its advice on exercise for the elderly. (Yes, apparently that is us). It recommends that we should do 150 minutes of moderate cycling each week. At that rate it would take us over a year to reach our destination. We are a little more ambitious than that.

We will, however, be following the advice that you should be able to sing whilst doing moderate exercise. We will sing as we cycle. We think this will be a delightful addition to our usual method of transport. Other cyclists may disagree.

To camp or not to camp?

Is it time to forego the camping experience? We could reduce the load we carry and recover in luxury after a long day cycling – and singing. But there is a problem. Alison has bought a new sleeping mat and sleeping bag and they need to be trialed.

Regular readers will know, we have a guiding principle in such matters: price per usage. It could be a few years yet before we abandon the tent.

Can we improve on our routing?

One thing is certain. We will NEVER give up on a physical map.

But we will continue to embrace modern technology — in our own particular fashion — with Bikemap (Christopher), Komoot (Kevin), Wahoo (Wendy) and Google (George).

Whether Christopher, Kevin, Wendy and George have upgraded their systems since we last used them remains to be seen. More importantly, whether we can still work out how to use them is another matter entirely.

We are at least agreed on one thing: too many opinions about the best route are confusing and counterproductive.

Do we have a favourite? No parent would ever admit to having one. We shall see…

The route

As you know, we love a pilgrimage. And as this is a special year, it seems appropriate to take on another pilgrim route.

We will be cycling the Via Francigena. Naturally, we seem incapable of simply following the normal route and the normal suggestions. We will be doing it in reverse. Of course.

And it almost goes without saying that, although we will travel via Rome, we will not be finishing in Canterbury.

Our final destination will be Venice.

And now for the big one

Have we finally converted to using electric bikes? We couldn’t possibly comment. You’ll just have to wait and see…

Seventy years old. Tent packed. Maps at the ready. Christopher, Kevin, Wendy and George hopefully pointing in roughly the same direction.

And plenty of songs to sing along the way.

Time to start the research and begin planning in earnest…