Know what? I recently began to fancy going on a training camp somewhere warm. The thought crept up on me stealthily but, once it popped into my head, could not be ignored. I haven’t been on one – a proper one – since 2002 and had thought I’d got the urge under control but there’s been something about this particular winter…

Mentioning it to young DA was the next mistake. Before I could get as far as extolling the warm air, sunny skies and steady, hairpin-laden climbs of some southern island cycling paradise, he was in a world of his own based loosely on the best bits of Lanzarote and Majorca.

Of the two I have to admit to preferring the latter. Lanzarote seems more popular with the early-season crowd, its equable January climate ideal for those wanting to get away in the depths of the British winter.

I was thinking more of late March. Early February is reliability trial season and an opportunity to have a bit of a burn up after the winter lay-off, while the “hardriders” time trial season is at its peak between late February and mid March and I like to ride a few of them. Remembering his last visit to the cycling island, Shiny Boy agreed and we looked around for a suitable offering.

Which turned out to be the Wheel in Wheels camp between 21st and 28th March. Flights booked, places arranged; all we need now is the kind of balmy weather absent last time I was there, when it rained steadily for most of the fortnight. Here’s hoping.