The first step is to find out exactly where Lowestoft and St David's actually are. I don't think I've ever visited either place. I've also measured the distance from home to Lowestoft (124 miles on major roads) as I'm thinking of cycling to the start. If time and energy permits, I could potentially try and cycle home from St David's.
The distance in between is about 393 miles on the most direct route, which I'm sure I will not be taking. The main challenge seems to be avoiding large towns and cities, which isn't going to be very easy, though I'm sure once I sit down with a very large scale map, it will prove quite simple.
So the plan is to take a northerly loop from Kettering to Lowestoft, intially tracking the A14, possibly going to Chatteris, Ely and Lakenheath staying off A-roads is hard in fenland) taking in Thetford Forest and then hopefully on nice little white roads to Lowestoft. I reckon two days to get there.
At Lowestoft, hopefully having had an ice-cream and a paddle in the sea, I want to head south through Suffolk - not a county I'm at all familiar with - perhaps as far as Sudbury; I'd also like to visit Saffron Walden. The interesting bit comes at the outer edges of M25-land where it looks very built-up, but I think I want to aim to be south of Stevenage, Luton and Aylesbury but north of Oxford. At a quick glance, the best choice seems to be to head north from Chepstow on the B4598 to Abergavenny and B4558 to Brecon. I suspect there might be a bit of climbing to do there! There'll be a bit of wiggling on minor (and probably very steep) roads to Lampeter, then down to Newcastle Emlyn, into the Pembrokeshire coast National Park and over to St Davids.
Sounds straightforward, if you say it quickly enough. Round up the distance to 450 miles - cycling say 60 miles a day (I'm hoping to do a bit more) - so allow 8 days plus the two at the start - 10 days out of a 2-week holiday - which might even allow for a bit of sightseeing time, weather and getting lost permitting. Early thoughts as yet, but it's a start.
