Day 366

After exactly 1 year on the road - an opportune moment arises to step back and send out a huge THANKYOU to you guys. 21 000km is a long way - and the world is NOT a small place! Firstly to the team who are supporting the two of us - Tim Stocks, Dean Potter, Rich Scrivs, Nick Gray, Gary Quinn and Mum and Dad. Certainly the expedition would not have succeeded almost as well as it has to date without the humour, energy and unflagging support of each one of the Team. Secondly to the sponsors of the expedition - Qantas, Saracen, Novotel, Snugpak, Taunton Leisure, Lowe Alpine, Salomon, Carradice, Casio Protrek, P&H SeaKayaks, Lendal Paddles, Yak Equipment, Garmin, Ortlieb, Petzl, Lyon Equipment, Bloc, Terra Nova Tents, Jessops Photography. To the media who have taken such an interest in our exploits - Bill Jewitt at Adventure-Mag.com, Cycling Today, Global Adventure Magazine, Paddles, Somerset County Gazette, The World Radio Programme Boston USA. To all the myriad people who have given us a helping hand along the way - particularly on the tough stages - Michael Oram for the channel crossing, Peter Stewart at Himalayan Mountain Bikes Kathmandu, Rene Schrama of Shigatse Travels in Lhasa, and Mike Thein of Boat Explorer Melaka Malaysia. The people of the fantastic countries through which we have travelled have helped us one every day of the journey in often tiny ways - but every little helps. Finally - thanks to all of you who are continuing to follow our exploits on the World Wide Web - it often helps to know that there are people out there logging on and seeing where on earth we have got to - it helps us a lot - for when we have that thought we know that of course we can't just go home quietly for a quiet pint of John Smiths Extra Smooth - much as we might like to - we've got to get this thing licked - for once and for all! As we look back on a years journey there certainly are some most incredible, indelible and unrepeatable memories that we are carrying around with us:

- How could either of us forget the generous ripple of applause in the moments after the chiming of 1o'clock at The Royal Observatory - Greenwich. The cheers and smiles of friends and onlookers - and the realisation that at last - after all the months of preparation - the time for the hard work to begin was upon us.

- Terror would be a word maybe not strong enough for our emotion as we paddled out of Dover harbour into the ferocious seas of the English Channel. 7 to 8 foot breakers, and a cruelly confused sea threatened to end our challenge almost before it had started. The opening adventure to our journey had planned to be a 6 hour paddle. What developed was a 11 hour ordeal - of sea sickness and severe fatigue. What a feeling to step out on to French terra firma!

- The arrival in Istanbul - the stories that we had heard about this most exotic of cities all turned out to be true. Andrew, Dean and Richard wandered carefree through the covered bazaars, drank Gin and Tonics overlooking the Bosphorous and marvelled at the crossroads of Asia.

- The email message from Dad as we approached the Iranian border. 'Now boys - just remember to respect the local customs - and don't do anything silly'. We had all been programmed with the media stereotype of a fanatical, and dangerous country. What we found was an amazing, wonderful, welcoming country - ready to surprise us at every turn.

- Our first night without proper accommodation in Iran we threw ourselves at the mercy of a local restauranteur - who after feeding us with copious quantities of Persian bread, kobidee kebab and rice and yoghurt allowed us to sleep in the prayer room. This was fine until a passing busload of devout Muslims stormed our makeshift bedrooom and began their vigourous praying routine. Andrew and Richard had to bite our tongues very hard to not burst out laughing - a serious faux pas we thinks!

- The graffitti left on the streets of Tehran and the billboards proclaiming the supreme power of the Ayatolla - and the imminent demise of the United States. Still waiting!!!! -

- The fantastic turquoise blue of the Mosque domes found both in the ancient historic cities of Iran - but also from time to time in the desert in tiny villages.

- Furtive eating manoevres over the sacred Ramadan period. How could we ever forget reading through the guidebook in the section all about religious events - noticing the section on Ramadan - and realising that we would be passing through 2 of the World's most devout Islamic nations during their fasting season. How would we cope - our insatiable quest for calories to keep us pedalling? We managed!

- Machine gun laden 4 wheel drives through the Great Sandy desert - and the sound of automatic fire in the night as we shivered in our bivvy bags. The protection of the Iranian authorities was unforgettable - driving at 15mph- to ward off bandits!

- Crossing out of the deserts of southern Pakistan and into the breadbasket of Colonial British India. The change from underpopulation to the crazed world of Pakistani Punjab. The fantastic reception of the locals - and the wonderful treatment we received from the truckdrivers.

- What could have been more worrying than the War of Propaganda firing off between the 2 fledgling nuclear powers - India and Pakistan. The face off of the 2 Punjabi guards at the border as we crossed from Pak to India.

- The crazy streets of rush hour Delhi - as Andrew and Richard get terribly lost before finding their way to the backpacker street of Paharganj. There we have an uncanny chance meeting with another British cyclist - Cass Gilbert - returning home from Aus to the UK.

- How we ever managed to arrange a meeting with Helen and Dean in Nepal is well beyond either of us. To be on time - the 16th of Feb 2000 - after 5 months and 6000 miles of hard riding - illness and Iranian bureacracy. A magical meeting indeed.

- Our first sighting of the rumbling mighty Himalayas - snowcapped and threatening. This was our biggest challenge presenting itself. But we had our team here - grouping together - Dean, Tim, Nick and Rich - as well as a whole host of other people who we met out there. We arranged our entry into Tibet and prepared - physically and mentally for 'The Longest Uphill Ride in The World'.

- The high point on the trip (quite literally) was at 5220m on the Tibetan Plateau, a harsh area of hardy people struggling against the climate, altitude and Chinese communist system. We all toiled up the hills and screamed on the way down, a fascinating country, like so many that we've visited and definitely one to return to.

- China itself as well was fantastic to see, we only skimmed the surface or cut the corner taking the shortest route this still took 2 months of hard cycling and we saw what seemed close to a billion people.

- Malaysia was an unexpected shock for us; the people were very friendly and spoke first rate English, yet another country that still remembers the colonial days with happiness. Singapore was everything we were told: a real challenger to Hong Kong's throne of the most modern city in Asia or even the world. Even though we couldn't afford the 'Singapore Sling' in Raffles, it was great being surrounded by the history as well.

- Thankfully the second kayak crossing we did was in somewhat better weather than our crossing of the English Channel. The tankers and super tankers were still there but we also got the privelege of seeing flying fish (one even decided to fly into the side of Andrew's boat), dolphins from 400m, porpoises of some sort and the beautiful mangrove swamps of Rupat Island and Indonesia.

- Indonesia at first was a country under the strong arm of oil giants (the contrast between people working for the oil company and the local farmers was shocking, we were particularly embarrassed by all that we had seen after we were told of the supposed fuel crisis in Europe and N. America, if only some of that extra money went to the locals. Since we have left the oilfields of Eastern Sumatra the people have really come alive, much friendlier, kinder and also very good at making fun of the weird, white, western cyclists.

Richard and Andrew