Wow, it's over... 9 months, just as many thousands of kilometres, 9 US states, even more Mexican states, 284 days on the road, around two thirds of which were in the tent and more than 700 cups of tea later we made it all the way back to our old humble home in Madrid, Spain. It's been grand and we couldn't resist one final leg within our country of residency, Spain. We packed the final week with as much as we could knowing we'd have plenty of time to rest once we made it to Ruth's home town of Caudete: seeing some of the world's largest pyramids, going out for tapas, a final stomach full of Mexican street food, welcoming committees, completing pre-Brexit paperwork, catching planes, trains and driving cars. It's been a long final leg for us but our fundraising efforts are not yet over and our Just Giving page will remain open (after realising that it had been accidentally closed since September!). If anyone reading this has enjoyed following our journey and hasn't yet had the chance to contribute I'd recommend at least reading our "Charity" page, found in the navigation bar, to appreciate the amazing work that the charity Aerobility has been doing to change the lives of disabled people through the wonders of flight and adventure.

We'd just finished our relaxing thermal spring break in the mountains, but we were a long way from where we needed to be the next day in order to catch our flight. So we got up well before dawn to make a start on the day. The guy who worked at the springs had said the day before that we could knock on his door as early as we liked so he could unlock the gate, but he was having no trouble sleeping through the car horn honks and banging on the door and window we were subjecting him to... Eventually he got up and let us free only for us to head the wrong way up the road and find ourselves on dirt tracks in the middle of nowhere. We thought it best to turn around and try the other way! It took all morning to get to our destination after getting stuck in tragically fatal traffic jams and picking up the bike boxes we'd reserved over the phone a couple of days before from a shop chain called Transvison Bikes. This was a relief as it would have broken our hearts to have to abandon them in Mexico... Well, our destination was the grandiose ancient city of Teotihuacan as admired by many an ancient civilisation over the ages since it was at its peak some 2000 years ago. It didn't disappoint with its huge pyramids, some of the very largest in the world, an avenue of huge stone structures although it took its toll on us, being seriously spread out and absolutely packed with guys trying to sell you tack. Ruth overheard one of these street vendors being inducted and the conversation went something like this, "First, blow the bird or jaguar whistle. Then, when they look up at you, you have them trapped. It's time to make your move...". And that is, to the letter, exactly what each and every one of the guys did, hell it must work so good luck to them! Afterwards we tried in vain to see some nearby palaces connected with the ruins but they were all fenced and closed off so we took the car as close as we could to the airport to spend the night. This was basically within Mexico City in an area packed with stationary and lighting shops full to the brim with Christmassy-type goods, it took as a decent amount of time to wade through the jungle of jingles to find a place to have dinner. The hotel though was great, mega cheap and the room had everything we could have desired, even a radio built into the wall!

We were banging on the door of the car hire place as early as possible hoping beyond hope that it would be a smoother and cheaper process compared to the pickup. Thankfully it was and we were left to our own devices by the staff so we could dismantle the bikes and pack our bags, as later that day we'd be taking off on a direct flight to Madrid! The bikes just about fitted inside the only boxes available in the entire state of Mexico, which was a relief, and the Hertz guys crammed them, along with our boxed up panniers, into a people carrier to take us to the terminal building a fair distance away. In our hand luggage, amongst the standard bits and bobs, I’d made sure to have our bike multi-tool to hand so that if any checked bike boxes got lost along the way we'd have the means to assemble whatever bike did arrived at the other side. Well the airport process was rather stricter than we'd hoped... But before getting to that, we checked in the bikes (there are no trolleys in the airport, just fellers with their own helping people out for tips, which didn't help us as we had spent pretty much every last penny and had some scraps left for food so we reluctantly turned them down and set to pushing our enormous boxes across the baggage hall.) After getting the unwieldy boxes off our hands, which involved using up all our packaging tape only for them to be opened again 10 minutes later and inspected... We'd certainly do things differently if we had to do this again, leaving the boxes open for inspection and also coming prepared with a N-95 mask as it was obligatory on the flight. Naturally they weren't cheap in the airport itself and we were now happy to have pushed the boxes! Then what we hoped was the final piece of the puzzle, grab some street snacks from the street outside as a guy had recommended the tamales a few days before when we picked up the car. They were lovely and we got an extra one for the flight along with our final tacos de canasta. Seeing the end of our final pesos mexicanos. Now all equipped we marched triumphantly towards security only to be turned away as we had to fill out an airport 'Covid' health and safety questionnaire (on top of the Spanish health questionnaire we'd already filled... tedious). So with another QR code in hand we almost made it through security until the guys took an interest in our dangerous multi-tool... Na, not allowed to carry this in your hand luggage sir. OK first time this has happened to me, rule in Mexico city airport is no "tools" no matter how small, so Ruth went back and took full advantage of the pandemic based offer of free hand luggage allowance check in to get our beloved, and entirely necessary, tool onboard. Phew! We were glad we arrived a good 4-5 hours before the flight to sort out all this palaver and could finally rest. The guy who checked us in was a keen cyclist and we suspect he was involved in getting us some seriously good seating, tons of leg room in a row that looked like an emergency exit but wasn't; all the benefits with none of the downsides! But this privileged position didn't help us get any sleep at all on the 9 hour flight.

It was a surprisingly painless exercise leaving the airport, given the whole global pandemic situation, but it was a welcomed change to have the terminal building pretty much all to ourselves so we could assemble the bikes at our leisure, which had thankfully arrived all intact. Then we hit to road by pedal power once more with the abrupt change in temperature reminding us that we'd arrived... HOME! But it was bloody cold and the slowing increasing levels of traffic as we got closer to the centre of Madrid were far too orderly for us, being used to the more chaotic but aware style of the Mexicans, and we had a very near miss at one point as a car turned right in front of Ruth, forcing her to test her newly assembled brakes pretty thoroughly. But it felt good to be back in familiar surroundings and tucking into some tasty European fare and nice strong coffee after such a long time away from it all. We had a couple of things to pick up in the shops and wanted to “complete the circle” by visiting the street of our old flat, the place we'd cycled away from nine months previously... It was a strange feeling, not knowing if it felt like a long time or just yesterday we'd been in that same spot going on cycle rides out to the north of Madrid for the weekend to test our gear. Or if the trip had radically changed us or if we were, fundamentally, the same two people as we were all those months ago. It was far too much to think about so we enjoyed a glass of wine at a bar while we mulled it over in our heads and burnt some time before the train we had booked left for the depths of Castilla la Mancha, close to Ruth's hometown of Caudete. The train was even more spacious than usual given the lack of travellers and it was a breeze to get the bikes onboard. Well that is after we had to take them on the steep escalators down to the platform... Be careful anyone who wants to do the same! On arrival in Albacete, where we'd booked a room in a nice little hostel, there was nothing for it but to try its famous tapas and see the sights around town. But as we were knackered after being awake pretty much none stop since that early start some 48 hours beforehand to catch the flight, we went out exceedingly early. Indeed. so early that we were the only people in the first few bars we visited and by the time the atmosphere had picked up... It was our bedtime.

The morning saw me doing what I'd come back to Spain to achieve, paying some taxes at the bank so I could sort out my residency before the looming Brexit deadline that was to welcome in the New Year in a couple of weeks' time. But with that all done and dusted we set to swimming through the thick Manchegan fog on our final 111 km cycle ride to Ruth's parents in Caudete. And don’t think this was any less exciting than our North American adventure just because it was closer to home. No, no, it was really quite a stunning ride that by pure coincidence followed one of the many "Caminos de Santiago" that wind through the Spanish countryside, passing marshland, mountains, aqueducts, olive groves, vineyards, wind mills and turbines with the odd castle thrown in to the mix now and then. Someone even thought we were doing the Camino de Santiago and advised us we were heading in the opposite direction to Galicia! Ruth's parents met us part way along as they had a hospital appointment and were of course there to welcome us into town along with her brother and friend Pope (it would have been a less modest affair if it weren't for Covid) which was a lovely little surprise to close off a huge chapter in our lives and begin to enjoy some of the comforts of home once again. It was to take some time for the experience to sink in, not to mention for us to finally write this last diary entry, with now only the memories to take with us and new lives to build in some place that in the future we'll call home.