Over Easter 2005, a group of KCL physicists will cycle from King's College, Strand, London, England, to Pete Bailey's house, near Carmarthen, Wales, comma, comma, full stop. It's called The Carnot Cycle because it's a cycle involving physicists that's almost impossible to understand. Also, it involves no cars.

Update: It didn't happen.

The Team

Pete "the Informant" Bailey (Team Captain)	Anthony "the Ginger Ninja" Smith and sidekick (Bill the pelican)
Stuart Pycock	Ray "the Stingray" Li

The Plan

Day 1. Depart King's College London to uproarious admiration from fellow students. Leave London via the Mall, Kensington, and all those posh areas (like Hammersmith). Cycle West towards Swindon. Stop at Wootton Bassett, near Swindon. Night 1: Tense, intense, in tents.

Day 2. Buy a new bike for Stu, who forgot to lock it up overnight and had it stolen. Cycle west, crossing the Severn and camping in the Brecon Beacons.

Day 3. Head for Ferryside, Carmarthen in a mad, crazy dash. Have party on beach and watch as "the Informant" Bailey runs into the sea, like he's doing here (it was Boxing Day; those in the Southern Hemisphere may not understand). The photograph to the right is of Ferryside, and apparently the gentleman on the right is related to the aforementioned Bailey. Kidnap Bailey, raid his house and escape into the Welsh mountains with the police hot on our heels.

Day 4. Wake up, groggily. Stagger out of Pete's house and into waiting car. Be driven back home to various places in England and wonder why we ever bothered. Recover from saddle sores, cycle-related masculine dysfunction and aching "legs". Vow never to cycle anywhere ever again.

Day 5. Realise that this whole trip was just so that Bailey could get back home without his parents coming to pick him up, and without him having to pay £50 for the train! Regroup with three remaining members of the Team, then set off for Ferryside packing baseball bats and furious vendetta.

The Route

This is an approximation of the 230-mile route (orange). Of course, we won't be going on ANY motorways! The most dangerous part will, of course, be leaving London, during which time we may be attacked by a number of tramps, filberts and toffs. Other than that, the only real danger lies in the pumas of Brecon, and in the Stingray suffocating us in our sleep. He's a slippery fellow.

We expect to average 15 mph (for our American readers, that's "Miles" per hour, invented controversially by the then-teenage Stuart Miles who would later go on to present Blue Peter and subsequently fade into obscurity). Averaging 6 hours, 23 minutes of cycling per day, we should therefore be able to cover 95.75 miles per day. We will, of course, be stopping infrequently to allow for the tides, and for Stuart to eat several of his myriad sandwiches.

Update 1: 09/02/05. The route will not necessarily pass so close to Brecon itself, but will probably instead go just north of Merthyr Tydfil, before progressing west through the valleys of the Beacons and bursting forth near Ferryside itself. Furthermore, the Ginger Ninja may have to tactically withdraw from the trip if he is unable to complete enough training before the trip begins. If this happens, he will seize up during the first day. This will be unpleasant for all involved, particularly pelican Bill.