So we have been in London for three days, staying with the lovely Sarah and Jerry, in Hanwell while getting ready for the final ascent. We have been looked after really well and it has been great to have friends to ferry us around and recommend places to buy last minute essentials. The bike went to Heathrow yesterday, into the capable hands of James Cargo who have been incredibly friendly, helpful and informative over the last 18 months while we have been planning this trip. We left most of our bike gear on the bike as we are allowed to transport 20kg of luggage. We were devastated to learn that our prized miniature tin of WD40 was not allowed on and Dave is hatching a plan to smuggle it into our checked luggage as part of his toiletries. The camping gear and our clothes will be packed into lightweight holdalls to take onto the plane as obviously we are not taking any suitcases.

There was a scary moment this morning when the airline refused to check Dave in online for the Reykjavik-Boston leg of the flight as they had no record of his ESTA approval. I realised this at 7am while nursing a cider drinkers hangover and almost succumbed to panic. It turned out that I had incorrectly entered Dave’s passport number in the advanced passenger information and it did not match the ESTA. A kind Icelandic Airways employee reassured me on the phone that I was an idiot and that they would let Dave on the flight.