Touring Equipment

So, I hit the dreaded three-oh this August, and have made a silly decision to ride to Spain as some kind of a send off to my youth.

Normally, I would just build something up from a nice 531(st?) frame and bits from this here forum, but my decision happened to coincide with my work deciding to run cyclescheme for the first time, so I figure I might as well spunk a grand (it's free money if you don't have to pay it back in one go, obviously...)

I don't really want to get a full-on tourer with discs etc, as we are planning on travelling extremely light and passing out under a bivvy every night after several bottles of Bordeaux. It would probably also get used for my daily 14 mile flat commute, so I don't want a total tank. I would also like something at least a little bit cool if that is at all possible, most of the new bikes I have looked at make me want to do a sick.

Alternative is to just spend my voucher on a Dolan track and build up a tourer from bits...

tl;dr: cyclescheme voucher burning a hole, tell me what to buy

My Boardman CX team. Will do everything you want from a bike and more. It really is excellent. After some tweaking of brakes and finishing kit, it's really the perfect all rounder. It's not flashy, but it rides great. Tow paths, loaded on the back, road rides, commuting... Laps it all up.