I spent a pleasant hour or so servicing my 13 year old MSR Dragonfly all fuel camping stove this evening. I'd dug it out a while ago and found that it leaked air when I pumped it (this test was before trying it with petrol). Initially I thought, it's 13 year old, of course it leaks. Then it occured to me that of course rubber seals perish and no one would make a £115 stove that was designed to be thrown away as soon as the seals went.

So I got on the internet and lo and behold, within seconds came up with MSR's annual service kit. It cost £15 - to get an otherwise fine, good quality, high powered and flexible stove up and running again. No brainer! In the same shop I found a compression sack for my Vango sleeping bag that dated from the same England to Singapore cycling trip in 2001. Suddenly, this too was a returned to a state in which it hadn't been for 10 years or so.

Having carefully followed the disassembly instructions (I considered just jumping in but thought I really didn't want to lose the stove at this late stage due to misplaced male bravado), I cleaned the leather pump cup, removed the old o-rings and replaced them with new ones. Then after putting it all back together again, I went outside, filled the fuel bottle with petrol and attached it to the stove. I pump primed the Dragonfly and then preheated the burner by allowing a little fuel to come through and lighting it with the valve closed.

And then came the moment of truth. A stove that hadn't been used for 10 years and had very recently been in pieces on the kitchen table mainlined to half a litre of petrol and ready to be fired up. I gingerly opened up the throttle and after a momentary spluttering, the old faithful roared - and I use the word quite deliberately - into life, sounding not unlike a jet engine with afterburners on full.

So the Dragonfly lives on. If drawing as little attention to yourself as possible is your goal, the MSR is not for you - it's loud and it's bright. But if you want to boil water quickly, in almost all weathers and have the flexibility to use a variety of liquid fuels, the Dragonfly scores highly.

We have booked ourselves in to a campsite in Bognor at the weekend so will be making the 50km trip there and back again on Sunday and Monday. 50 km is a reasonable training distance at this point - about half what we will need to cover daily in July.

In my experience and in that of others I've seen online, serious training is not 100% necessary. In the words of one expedition cyclist "The first day of training is the first day of the ride. Then you get up and do it again on day two." Although I had been building up on after work rides before I did the Stoke to Singapore trip, at 80 miles, the first day was around 50% further than I'd ever cycled before. So, you just get up in the morning, get on the bike and point the wheels in the right direction and then don't stop till the end of the day, (breaks notwithstanding).

Rosey's bike has Maxxis Overdrive tyres that inflate to 50psi. Pressure is not the be all and end all of rolling resistance but I'm considering getting her onto some much higher pressure tyres to try to rebalance things in her favour. I'm considering Schwalbe Marathon Plus or one of the Continental range. I'm sure some people will swear by the one and at the other, so it's probably going to be a matter of personal choice that swings it one way or the other.

A statement of intent.

In July 2014, shortly after qualifying on the NCTJ journalism course at City College Brighton, Toby will be setting off with his wife to cycle from John o Groats to Land's End. Rosey is Taiwanese, so it will be a great opportunity for her to see a bit more of the diverse people and landscapes of Britain and hopefully we will have some great adventures along the way.

Adventures seem to find you when you're cycle touring. People are receptive and things happen.

For the time being, we are making arrangements, sorting out our kit, route etc and getting into shape.

The flights to Scotland and the train back from Cornwall are booked so there's no getting out of it now. That, I often find is the best way to make things happen.

Watch this space.