Garjenkins said:
I'm a like a newborn foal on a bike looking for directions
Blimey, I've seen newborn foals trying to walk, are they more or less steady on a bike?
I can't add much but 'go for it'. Everyone is right, you can tour on anything, with any level of gear, as long as you are sensible about it. I'm also a fan of having stops booked - B and B's or Youth Hostels for me on my couple of solo tours, and I tend to allow 40-50 miles a day - that gives time to linger over lunch, or visit stuff I happen across along the way. I've toured alone in England and in a group in France, and my big ambition is to shed the neurotic need for ready booked accommodation and go ad hoc camping in Europe.
The puncture thing. Have a practice. It's way better if the first time you have to do it, you're in a warm room with a cuppa (or even a cool shed) than at the side of the road in the rain. Get the wheel off (especially importnat to learn how to get your hub geared rear wheel off), the tyre off, the tube out, then put it all back together again. If you're doing it for real, don't forget to check the inside of the tyre for protruding stuff that might re-puncture the tube. Carry a spare tube, so that at the roadside you can just bung a new one in, and repair the hole later in your hotel room at your leisure.
OS landranger maps (1:50,000) are the ones you want - learn to read the contours and symbols (get a local map, go out and follow a few roads, find out what certain contours feel like), and you'll soon get good at planning a nice route in your head.
Kit - light is good and keep it simple. My brother in law did part of the South Downs Way with a mate, in B and B's and showed me the photos, including 'packing', and I had to not laugh at the two pairs of jeans and leather shoes. Cycling kit usually dries quickly, so you can rinse it through each evening, and choose 'evening' wear that packs up small and light. Wash kit can be minimal - decant some shampoo into a travel bottle, and sue that for shampoo and shower gel. Get a travel toothpaste etc. Make a list of what you think you'll need. Get it all out on the bed. Put half of it back...
Finally, clippy (actually, confusingly, called 'clipless') pedals, I don't use them either. I have flat 'rat trap' type pedals, with plastic moulded strapless toeclips (the ones that literally just hold your toes). I find they give me all the connection to the pedals I need (and that handy ability to hoik the pedal up to the right position for setting off).