Goodbye and thanks for all the fish

So what does one write in a final blog?
We could share all our favourite photos of the amazing things we've seen: the mountainous landscapes of Patagonia, New Zealand and Tibet or the amazing wildlife of the Galapagos and Costa Rica...but have realised we don't have access to them as they're sitting safely on a hard-drive in Edinburgh, so we'll have to share them with you/ bore you with them when we next see you.
We could tire you with more accounts of the pain fun of skiing in -40C (where two runs were all we could manage between coffee stops), running the Kepler track in NZ in 9 1/2 hrs (our poor knees), being power-stretched by Shaolins way past the pain threshold, or the deep thigh pain that builds from cycling day after day over the Alps and across Europe...but those are things that are probably better felt, than written about.
We could write about all the amazing food we've eaten (and drinks we've drunk!), in particular the French Cafe in Auckland (the best food we've ever eaten) and our own culinary efforts in Gerty the wonder-bus...but you'll have to wait until you next come to dinner to see if it's influenced our cooking (or sommeliering).
We could try to impress you with some of the new skills we have learnt...kite surfing, kung fu, tai chi, photography...or our (often comic) attempts at speaking Spanish, Thai, Mandarin, Tibetan, Nepalese, Italian and French...but that's best done in person.
Or we could write about how the experience has had a deep and lasting impact on us and what we learnt from our time with the Shaolins and Tibetan Monks...but that's way too serious for this blog!
So all that's left to say is a few thank you's....
...to Brian and Jackie, for their help with all our mail & admin whilst we were away...
...to Andrew, for his help with our photos...
...for all of you who have enabled us to feel connected, despite the distances - via skypes, email, or just reading our blog...
...and to our guardian angels, who ensured a remarkedly event-free trip (except for: the occasional bout of illness, particularly in China; the destruction of one bag by a (Chinese) airport conveyor belt; one big flight delay causing us to need to buy a second set of onward flights (cheers LAN Ecuador) and at the time of writing a lost bag to the Italian postal service (but we're hopeful it will turn up soon!)).
For anybody who is tempted to follow in our footsteps - go for it: it will certainly stun, impress, sometimes disappoint, but overall, enrich your life (we're allowed one cheesy line surely?).
So that's all folks (until next time) - we can't wait to see you all and hear all your news - thanks again for watching.
And finally, in the (slightly adapted) immortal words of Frankie S:


And now, the end is near, and so we face, the final curtain,
Our friends, who we hold dear, we've missed you lots, of that we're certain,
Our trip, was full of fun, we've travelled each and every highway
We've faced it all, we've had a ball,
We did it, our way!


Goodnight x

Home sweet home

Day: 21
Route: Honfleur - Portsmouth (via Le Havre)
Distance: 21 miles (cycling)
Height: 302ft ascent
Time in saddle: 1hr 57mins

All we had left to do was get to the ferry. As we were staying at a cheap motel on the outskirts of town we treated ourselves to 'Le breakfast' at a teeny cafe in the back streets where we had delicious homemade, local & fresh bread, pastry, apple juice, coffee and cake, served with a smile:

We had enough bread to pack some up for lunch and as Sam disapproves of cake for breakfast that got packed up too!

The cycle path to the ferry port in Le Havre went over the Pont de Normandie, which is a 90kph roadbridge over the Seine and the cycle path is the not very wide at times hard shoulder. Quite terrifying.

Then the route through the ferry port was equally as scary, as the cycle path came to an abrupt end and we got unceremoniously dumped on the edge of a busy trucking lane. We reached a bridge which was up to let a tanker into a lock, and as we stood around looking perplexed a friendly French road cyclist said 'follow me' (well we think that was what he said, as it was in rapid French) and slowed down to let us tag on the back. He then led us through the container port over a different bridge until he pointed out a left turn that was marked for the car ferry and waved a cheery goodbye.

We continued to follow signs to the car ferry along the trucking road where at one point a curb started from the middle of nowhere which Sam only just managed to avoid with a swerve and a squeal, that was unfortunately not enough to alert Alistair who was tight on her wheel, who hit it, and whose back wheel fish-tailed dangerously as his front wheel scrapped the concrete curb. Luckily and we're not entirely sure how, he managed to stay upright and calamity was avoided. This reminded us that a bit like the last ski run of the day, when your legs are weary and your concentration is elsewhere, you need to be even more careful!
A picnic on the ferry, a friendly chat with the border guard, followed by the last couple of miles cycle across Portsmouth and we are finally home.
A quick totting-up shows we have covered a total of 912 miles over the last 3 weeks and the official weigh-in showed we managed to survive with just 11.5kg of luggage (thankfully there wasn't an official weigh-in of us, as Alistair is convinced his pastry and wine consumption has somehow managed to more than offset the huge number of calories we've been burning).
To say we enjoyed every mile is stretching the truth a little, but overall it has been great and was a fantastic way to end our travels: the weather was (mostly) kind, the countryside (mostly) beautiful, the people we stayed with (mostly) welcoming and the food & wine (mostly) delicious!
We can still scarcely believe we're home at last and are looking forward to waking up in one place for more than one night at time!