What back so soon? I hear you cry (or perhaps groan). Yes indeedy, it may be the sea air sparking my creativity or more likely the opportunity to point out (gloat?) I am in Spain and not enduring the 100 mph guests knocking riders off bikes in the UK.

I arrived a few days ago and have so far racked up 13 hours chammy time and that wasn't all spent sat in cafés! To be honest they are the first few normal days since my accident. It isn't to say I haven't had some great days in the past 8 months but I've always had the feeling that I'd be doing something different had I not broken my neck. Pedaling out of Denia in the January sunshine feels like a return to the norm and it has been like therapy.

We’re 4 days in and already 2015 is off to a frustrating start. Things were going swimmingly (no pun intended) until a day before I was due to set off driving to Spain when it became apparent that my van had some kind of serious issue involving the power steering. I was informed that I should not kid myself that things would be fine if it went wrong – I would not be able to steer the van if the power steering failed. Considering the near-fatal accidents I’ve already suffered in the last 12 months, I thought it prudent to deal with the issue now and come to terms with a 3 day delay to my journey rather than plummeting off the edge of a pass somewhere in France when my steering failed.