At 37000 feet over Frankfurt, flying at 490mph, the captain said that we had 1130 miles to go to Athens. It felt like a very very long way to cycle back. We left Canterbury City Council at 5.45am with Ernie and Sarah driving us to Gatwick. Then the de-humanising process of being loaded on to an aeroplane. Easyjet remarkably straightforward and unpretentious. Jerome upset there’s no free sandwiches. The Alps slipped by covered in snow. We’ll be climbing those in ten days’ time.