Day 13 - Rest day Kettlewell

Yes I know what you're thinking - only 2 days riding and another bloody rest day, what's up with us!

To be truthful it was preplanned with aim to cycle without panniers around the dales but after 2 arduous days the consensus was stuff it !

It was a little hard to find much to do on this beautiful but small town with only 2 shops. We settled instead for some bike maintenance with Henley suggesting his relinquish of the yellow jersey was caused by bike not rider

The most rivetting moment for the day when kev made a huge comeback to tie our marathon scattergories match!

It was an ideal chance to dry out/ chill after the last 2 days of heavy rain and arduous riding!

Kettelwell in the Yorkshire Dales

Day 98 - Paris

Our final day and while we could have done something culturally significant we thought why the he'll start know and headed for Disneyland instead !

Kev at Disneyland !

The visit was almost over before it started as KH who'd indicated he was well versed in roller coasters having ridden the big dipper at Luna Park some 30 years ago, decided to tackle Space Mtn 2 first up. This coaster corkscrews, loops and generally hurtles around a track at breakneck speed in the dark! KH survived just, going within 5 seconds of losing his breakfast and decided that 1 ride on the aptly named "Vomitron" was 1 ride too many !

A gentler effort on Buzz Light Year, a ride where players are armed with laser guns and shoot at creatures with targets scored KH 3000 pts impressive sounding until compared with self 95,000 the 3 year old girl in front of us 4,500 and her Dad 250,000. KH has promised to get his eyes chceked when back in OZ !

It was certainly a fun way to finish up over 4 months away from home a journey that has had so many amazing moments and an abundance of incredible scenery !

Despite it's moments cycle touring is definitely thereaputic for the soul and highly recommended - roll on the next adventure !

To Kev thx mate for being great company and a great friend - this guy loves his cycling and his effort to ride over 5000 kms with a few near death experiences ( not counting tge ones where i threatened him) was amazing !

To Viv and Linton our dear friends thx guys we love you !

To sis who added to her OS resume by joining us in France love to you also!

To everyone who has communicated by blog and by email thx so much for making us feel close to home !

We head back a little wiser and certainly humble at having had this remarkable life opportunity !

Ps -

You'll know when were back in Melbourne as you'll hear 2 old dudes
singing Disney's It's a Small World After all - can't get the damned song out of our heads!!!

Best wishes to all Mike & Kev

Day 97 - Paris

This was never going to be an easy day finding boxes in Paris armed with only minimal info!

Our first effort at a shopping centre one station down the line, proved to be a time waster as we struggled to find a bike shop despite being told there was one there somewhere !

Our 2nd effort included walking almost the entire length of the Champs Élysée and despite finding numerous motorcycle shops could not find a single bicycle shop despite ageing being told there was one there

Our last contact was a place called La Republique where we finally found a small bike shop and one bike box. We spent another hour before we finally found a 2nd and then had to negotiate the Paris underground back to our hotel not an easy job with a long box numerous turnstiles, narrow train entries and heaps if steps !

With most if the day gone we had little time to explore Paris but did at least cover the brilliantly atmospheric Notre Dame and of course the Eiffel Tower where Kev put his cycling muscles to good use by walking the 600 plus steps up to the 2nd level for great views of Paris

With the lights coming in to illuminate the Tower it was a fitting time to farewell Paris and journey back to our hotel for one of our famed Supermarket dinners - dam I will miss them !

Day 96 - Paris

2 months of sun finally came to an end when a widespread Europe weather pattern brought rain and cold conditions to Paris on a pretty miserable Sunday.

Notre Dame Cathedral

With not too much to do we took advantage of the generous Buffett breakfast before cheering on the Aussies their world cup rugby game against Sth Africa - the game result almost us nerve wrecking as having KH in bed with me (claiming his bed did not allow for good TV viewing) watching it !

We journeyed out towards Disneyland and the amazing shopping pricing at Val de Europe which we found with our finely tuned directional skills walking 2kms around the block in the rain when the entrance was only 200 metres from the train station.

The shopping area was set up like a village with every designer label you could think of having their own outlet - I thanked god that I was without female company knowing that this would have been nirvana for them and costly for me !

Shopping done there was little else to do other than eat and our choice of a local Chinese buffet meal was inspired ! Where else in Paris could you eat partially warm lunch left overs and get a scolding at the same time for not following due etiquette, for me it was using the wrong spoon and for Kev it was attempting to start with a desert thinking the fried item was an entree!

A lazy Sunday in Paris with the big stress test of trying to find bike boxes due tommorrow !

The Epic Awards !

With this epic coming to an end it is opportune to acknowledge outstanding achievements over the course of the last 3 months - a sort of poor mans Academy Awards - The Epics !

.........

The best impersonation of a cycling mannequin - a lifeless KH slumped over his handlebars unable to respond to a YHA staff members questions having just arrived at Makinholes UK in the dark after a horrendous days riding!

Best dismount of a moving bike - Mega in rain near the Bodindsee having cut a 50 metre swathe through a pasture before ploughing the ground with his bike after taking on a steep downhill with hairpin and without brakes !

Honourable mention also to Mega for his on the move dismount in the Peak District UK after suffering sudden exploding diarrhoea !

Best accommodation most resembling Guantanamo Bay - The shoebox Hotel in Halbech near Germany that required sideways entry to get in the door, contained 2 beds end to end, a window that opened only 2 inches and a toilet that smelt like an open septic pit !

Best wildlife conservation award - Goes to KH for his attempt to train bats at 2 am in the morning to fly out of a hotel room - ours !

Best effort to impersonate Stevie Wonder - KH in his €3 Aldi sunglasses successfully missing important turns when in the lead !

Nb - to confirm his award KH today in Paris walked straight past the bike shop he was looking for despite the shop having 10 or more bikes on the footpath - KH indicated he did not notice them as he was looking for shop signs !

Best impersonation of a Mafia getaway driver - Linton Harris for his spectacular driving in Spain murdering freeway witches hats, driving 2 wheeled down narrow one way lanes and taking left and right turns simultaneously in Barcelona during peak hour traffic !

Best effort by a redhead to impersonate a blonde ! - Viv Sandler for arriving a day late in Paris despite having booked car and accommodation for the day prior - we love you Viv

Best attempt to not manage stress - Mega about to self implode into sub atomic particles when navigating on bike through the middle of Paris attempting to make a train deadline !

Best impersonation of a touring bike - Mega's Avanti - covered in grease and dirt and barely held together by cable ties, electrical duct tape and occy straps after 6700+ kms !

Most useless item carried for 5000 kms - KH's GPS which succeeded in one correct directional aid before failing to recognise Island and then "drowning" in a downpour in the Scottish Highlands !

Best response to a Bob Leedham quote " England's pretty flat" - KH " that is 'j£@&?€€%#}!!

Mike on the border !

Kevs World !

After close on 3 1/2 months and over 5,000kms (4 1/2 months & 6,700+ for Litchie) the epic is winding down.

The only place we haven't seen is Vladivostok, maybe next time !

Europe has been an absolute cracker starting with Germany which I thought would not be topped for scenery, that is until seeing Switzerland which had it all soaring mountains, meandeing rives, wide open lush green fields, quaint villages, roads through the Mtns and a world class railway system one line we experienced going through an amazing 20km tunnel!

The whole trip has been made so much more enjoyable with our amazing run of sunny days. In just on 2 months we've only had 4 wet days and 2 of those were when we were driving.

This is s trip I thought would never happen for me but thx to Litchi's planning and organising skills it has been the trip of a lifetime and I owe him a huge thankyou.

I cannot wait for the DVD production it will be massive!

Thanks also to Vib & Linton for the France & Spain legs cramming heaps into the short 3 weeks. Mike's sister Kim deserves a bug thankyou for her important contribution and I hope she enjoyed her extra trip to Santorini.

On such s long trip certain things can get up your nose while other things you find humorous -

- The feeling of exhilaration daily just being on the bike with magical scenery

- The view from the "top of Europe" on the Yungfrau at 3454 metres - outstanding

- The 6am version of stairway to heaven by European bell rollers - 10 mins every morning !

- Will miss the crunchy ling bread roles they call baguettes filled with yummy meats and salads

- Our accommodation always seemingly on the main street of Le Mans race track

- Mega's off road detours through farmer Fritz's paddock using the excuse he had no brakes!

- Riding 10kms out of Tubbingen and ending right back where we started - amazing !

- Perfecting hand gestures to overcome our ttl lack of understanding of the local lingo!

- The French cycling couple who guided us to our accommodation at Amboise in France and then invited us back to their cave house to share a bottle of wine!

- Surfing through 100 tv channels trying to find 1 not in Germsn, Swiss or French !

- Budting my pfoofer valve to cycle up a 20% gradient hill only to find that I'd missed the turn 300 metres earlier - don't you hate that!

- Climbing 36kms up the Swiss Alps at 7-10% grades on cobblestones - hard yakka !

- Won't miss the doonas that every hotel has supplied

- Driving on the wrong side of the road and on roads made only for cars less than a metre!

We have just arrived in Paris after catching the overnight train nut quite as big an ordeal as the first time but still bum numbing. Three days and were on our way home and none too soon as the temps have nosedived!

Thx to all at home who took an interest in our trip and sent emails and Bligh comments especially 2Bob, Jonesy, Winton and Marysia.

See you after the 14th cheers and best wishes KH

Day 95 - Paris

You'd have thought we would have learnt first time about not training or transiting through Paris with push bikes!

We arrived with little sleep but thankfully having experienced a much milder cabin temperature after the oppressive heat of our last journey!

Any Paris main railway station can be a nightmare at times, trying to find an info area, trying to find someone who speaks English and trying in our case to work out yet again how to get from one side of Paris to the other this timevby way of the Bastille!

We tried initially for a taxi but it was impossible to get anyone even willing to take our pushbikes. After a frustrating hour we rode through Paris to reach Gare de Lyon and with panniers then navigate the steep steps that took us to RER line A

30 mins later we were wandering in the cold lost just like the old days trying to find our hotel which ended up being only 50 metres away.

We slmost made the hotel before a drooling KH spotted a patissiere full of baquettes! With the French reknowned for their 4 hour lunches we decided to get in quick before the doors shut.

Relieved to finally make our hotel we can sit back and plan a few days of sightseeing providing of course that we can find some bike boxes and then work out how to get them back and to the airport !