And the sad news is that thanks to dwindling funds and the onset of wintery-ness, we are on our way home. (Rats eating a hole in our tent to steal our food may also have contributed.) Within the next week we’ll be boarding a ferry from the Hook of Holland and heading for Blighty, where we’ll brave the British roads for the ride from Harwich to Neil’s house. With a bit of luck, I’ll be showing up at Stew’s party, so if you weren’t decided on going (although I’m sure you all were) then I assume that you are going now. Here is a picture giving some indication of how happy I'll be to see you all:
We’re currently in the Netherlands, where we’ve been wandering around for the last couple of weeks. It will no doubt surprise many of you to learn that Amsterdam is a particularly good place to chill out at the end of a long journey. As is Rotterdam, for that matter. Verdict is out on Den Haag as we’ve only spent one night here, but as we treated ourselves to a hotel last night, it’s all seeming very pleasant so far.
The wintery-ness we are fleeing - although undeniably very beautiful, this field in the Netherlands where we camped for a night was also bollocking cold.
A thousand apologies for the complete lack of updates on the blog or indeed responses to emails and texts. On the mobile phone front, I seem to be locked in a battle to the death with T-Mobile who have utterly cocked up my phone account. I will quite likely be texting everyone when I get back with a new number, but for the time being I am just about keeping enough credit on my old number so please use that if you need to get in touch. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get the airport in my iBook repaired and the widgety USB thingo they flogged me in Barcelona has barely worked at all. Internet access has become increasingly expensive and difficult to find – I am not exaggerating and I am not referring to the likes of Slovakia and Hungary, where it was both reasonably priced and plentiful. Amsterdam, for example, had a number of closed down internet shops, with only a few remaining in the centre (that we could find, anyway) and wi-fi access is almost non-existent outside of pricey pay-as-you-go or subscription services. This has largely been the cause of the tail off in blog entries, although a lack of time and the cumulative discouraging effect of seeing how long it’s been since your last entry haven’t helped.
A thousand apologies for the complete lack of updates on the blog or indeed responses to emails and texts. On the mobile phone front, I seem to be locked in a battle to the death with T-Mobile who have utterly cocked up my phone account. I will quite likely be texting everyone when I get back with a new number, but for the time being I am just about keeping enough credit on my old number so please use that if you need to get in touch. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get the airport in my iBook repaired and the widgety USB thingo they flogged me in Barcelona has barely worked at all. Internet access has become increasingly expensive and difficult to find – I am not exaggerating and I am not referring to the likes of Slovakia and Hungary, where it was both reasonably priced and plentiful. Amsterdam, for example, had a number of closed down internet shops, with only a few remaining in the centre (that we could find, anyway) and wi-fi access is almost non-existent outside of pricey pay-as-you-go or subscription services. This has largely been the cause of the tail off in blog entries, although a lack of time and the cumulative discouraging effect of seeing how long it’s been since your last entry haven’t helped.
Neil joins the cows of Amsterdam in a moment of quiet reflection - note warding-off-cold outfit, including team hat.
So, in short, we’ve had a brilliant time. We’ve rivered our butts off across several countries, following the Danube, the Inn, the Rhein, the Ayr, the Moselle and others whose names I have forgotten. We’ll be ending just shy of 10,000km cycled, having toured ten countries in about 7 months. Everywhere has been great in its own way and I can’t wait to chat to y’all about millions of things. As I have allowed my blog to wither, I shall have to give everyone personal updates, which is more fun anyway. Perhaps I will invite you all to a slide night...
The sunshine and football of Stuttgart - it all seems so long ago
Anyway, I’ll be trying to put this up in the next couple of days, otherwise we could be home before anyone reads it. With great regret, we’ve accepted that we can’t really afford to do South America straight away, so special apologies to Sarah who I will now not be meeting up with in a mystical location in Peru – I pledge to spend time reflecting on my own shortcomings as a travel budgeter and experiencing physically painful envy pangs while you are having an awesome time on the trail. This same funding issue means that we’ll be back in London as soon as possible, looking for jobs and a place to live. I assume that beer will be about £9 a pint and accommodation non-existent, so that’s something to look forward to!
Does London have the feet of Chaka Khan? No. No it doesn't.
I’ll do my best to get around to emailing everyone over the next couple of weeks. The next few days will be spent saying a proper farewell to an awesome time of travel – I can’t really believe it’s over and that I won’t have to cycle every day with everything I own on the back of my bike and sleep in a tent. I’ve forgotten why anybody decided houses were such a great idea in the first place and I don’t even want to think about what having more than one change of clothes means. This has been the most satisfying, challenging, really fuck-off fun way I have ever travelled and I shall be evangelising cycle touring to all of you. Probably forever. So there’s something for you to look forward to! A few final days of hedonistic living await. Look out for us on the roads of England soon…
Best. Car. Ever. (Yes, I am randomly including this picture just because it is one of the coolest cars I've ever seen.)
Oh, and depending when this goes up: happy birthday Mum!
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