UPDATE: You can now read the Henley Standard article referred to in this post online by following this link.

It’s not often you make it onto the front page of a newspaper for bad reasons let alone for a good one but I’m please to say that I’ve managed to do just that (for good rather than bad reasons) this week courtesy of the Henley Standard, the paper local to the school where, until the end of December, I worked as a teacher. “5,000 miles on Reggie the Bike” is the strap line that entices readers to turn to page twelve where, very clearly, the headline reads “Teacher quits to cycle 5,000 miles on bike called Reggie“. I’m sure that some of my former pupils and their parents were a little taken aback to see me beaming out of their paper but the article faithfully reports the details of my plans to cycle from southern Spain to northern Norway from just after Easter this year. I was interviewed over the phone at the start of January but wasn’t necessarily expecting to get the bulk of one page to myself. It’s a nice feeling however to have one’s plans and opinions out there for all to read. The students that I used to teach never did really understand why I had given my bicycle a name or indeed believe that I had cycled twice across Europe already so by reading the article they will perhaps have their curiosity satisfied… and even begin to believe that I didn’t just make the whole thing up!

The Henley Standard is a weekly paper and it will stay of sale until later next week should anyone be interested in reading all about my plans (if you don’t know them already by having read this section of the website). The article doesn’t appear to be available online although that may at some point change.