Astonishingly it really is nearly three months since our triumphant arrival in Rome….I know, how on earth did that happen? I had every intention of adding a short “epilogue” to the blog in the first few days after we returned home but, and no great surprise here, life simply seems to take over doesn’t it? Work, and commuting and shopping and bills and all the normal run of the mill stuff that has to happen in the real world. I cannot tell you how lucky I feel that every now and again I get to push all that aside for two and a bit weeks and instead focus on such cerebral musings as “where is my next croissant coming from”, “how much longer do I have to pummel my nethers like this” and “what the hell is Dan going to break next“ although in all honesty, the tables have a turned a little on this trip and I fear I might have stolen Dans destroyer crown……”Nick the Knackerer” anyone!

So why write this now….well a few reasons really, chief amongst which is that for the fourth day in a row Jo and I are currently relaxing on sun loungers, next to the pool (along with Larry the inflatable Llama) in a little villa on the Greek island of Paxos (where they stuff the chickens don’t you know!) …..no work, no commuting, no bills (not strictly true!) and a good deal less shopping….let’s just say I have oodles of time to spare for the first time in ages….

Three months also means there are probably a few things I should tell you about. I have read the blog myself a couple of times now (sorry for all the typos!) and it’s a really nice read (although I do say so myself) that takes me straight back to the moment it was written. It also brings to mind all the things that I didn’t have time to record or say at the time (like Marc causing a commotion when he slipped on an errant lettuce leaf in the supermarket at Vaiano whilst clutching a jar of pasta sauce and Italians far and wide running to his aid and assuming the worst when they found him in a heap in aisle three, surrounded by smashed glass and swathes of thick red gooey stuff or our very scary, and not funny at all, near miss with a 40 foot articulated lorry in the middle of France that oh so nearly cut our adventure, and indeed us, short)

It is really hard to explain the complicated mix of emotions we felt (well I felt at least!) when we finished this adventure….it really was easily the hardest one we have attempted. It’s obviously a great feeling to have reached your goal, to have endured the endless miles, near constant hunger and the eleventy billion sleepless nights and to have achieved something that actually in the back of your mind you thought just might not quite be possible. Its a combination of excitement then and disbelief and pride …there, I’ve said it out loud….I’m really proud of what we each achieved….given what I look at in the mirror every morning frankly it’s incredible! There is also though a huge sense of sadness knowing that there are no more mountains to be climbed, no more descents to fly down, no more camping, no more countryside, no more banter and friendship (admittedly we still speak occasionally!) and no more of that fantastically liberating and life affirming sense of total and utter freedom to go wherever you want whenever you want…..it’s a very heady cocktail thats hard to shake off I can assure you!

So with that sense of happiness, sadness, pride and excitement and achievement coursing through our veins what happened next I hear you ask when the turn of the handle to our hotel room door signalled the spiritual if not actual end to our London to Rome adventure?

Well perhaps unsurprisingly the first thing that happened is that within a few moments we turned the once lovely triple room into what looked and smelt like a dilapidated, downtown Delhi laundry with rancid clothes and undergarments dripping their slushy brown mess from every available hanging surface. Several pairs of my socks tried to fight the inevitable and make a bid for freedom and so they were carefully and expertly euthanised (socks, thank you for your service) although judging by the stench it seemed clear that they had “passed” on some time ago.

Laundry complete (of a fashion!) and freshly shaved and showered we headed off in search of sustenance and made it only as far as a large shopping centre at the end of the road….the collective agreement was that we should save all that sightseeing malarkey for tomorrow…so we did!

Its important to pause here and note the fact that that night I slept indoors, in a bed with a proper duvet and, oh thank the lord, a PILLOW and everything….a proper bed and a proper nights sleep. Discounting the ferry and our emergency “Jazz Gite” in the Alps (bunk beds really don’t count) it was the first time we had slept in a proper bed for 16 nights!!!

The following day, once we had deconstructed our bikes, swathed them in enough bubble wrap to call Extinction Rebellion to arms and safely boxed them up, we splashed out on a taxi (can’t explain how incredibly weird and luxurious it felt after two weeks of pedalling to be in powered transport!!!) back into the centre of Rome and which dropped us off right outside the Coliseum. When TMAAT do the tourist bit let me tell you we DO the tourist bit! We literally walked miles around Rome that day taking in just about everything there was to take in including, or so it seems, the invisible man, an extraordinary amount of alcohol and Mr Napkin Head (copyright Jude Law, The Holiday c2006)….

Nursing slightly sore heads we wake up the following day knowing that it’s time, after two and bit spectacular, never to be forgotten weeks, to go our separate ways. We are all three, as you can plainly see, fully grown adult men ( at least appearance wise) but this is the saddest moment of them all….saying goodbye to Marc and Dan as they head off in their taxi to the airport and then home. It’s a long drawn out goodbye and then, in a blink they are gone. For a full two minutes afterwards I am left standing alone in the hotel forecourt for the first time in 18 days and honestly …..I miss them….so weird, but yes I really, really miss them. Two minutes though feels like an entirely appropriate amount of time to grieve for them and now I have finally got rid of them I am immediately buoyed my the next objective for the day…..meeting Jo at the airport. (NB….yes there are two airports, yes it would have made sense if Jo was flying into the same one that Marc and Dan were flying out of and no we didn’t think of that beforehand….thanks for your input!!)

I spend the next two and a bit hours focussing solely on the not insignificant challenge of mastering Rome’s public transport system right across from its very eastern most extreme to Fiumicino airport way off to the South West. Mission accomplished I text Jo to see if she has landed and when she replies to say she has just that minute touched down I quickly move to put into action my plans for a “Love Actually” style romantic reunion….flowers, hugs, maybe a little serenading and possibly even a slow dance….first though, must find the gents! As I make my way hurriedly across the concourse to the “conveniences” I almost bump into some one who not only looks strangely familiar but also seems to know my name…”Nick, it’s me….hey Nick, it’s me….Nick what are you doing, ITS ME!”. Not the dreamy reunion I had imagined, and I even had to interrupt our first hug in forever when I suddenly remembered I still quite urgently needed to avail myself of the facilities, but it was just so indescribably good to be together again…..that was a long time apart.

Jo and I then spent a blissfully romantic few days in Rome seeing the sites together (much nicer to do this with your loved one and much more sober!) and enjoying everything that Rome could throw at us. It was just the perfect end to a perfect three weeks.

I arrived back in the office on the Monday morning to a standing ovation, ticker tape parade, fireworks and champagne…..actually none of that happened but that’s not to say there weren’t quite a few “well dones”, “congratulations” and “can’t believe you made it’s”…….its all really rather humbling to be honest and i am so grateful to everyone at work and indeed everyone else who supported us and all their kind words. Humbling yes although I am going to say it again ….I am really rather proud of us!

A few days after our return and life has already started to return to normal although “normal” might not be the right word to use. Everything certainly appears to be normal on the surface but for me, and as my amazing wife can attest, it takes a surprisingly long time to truly and property readjust back to “normal”……essentially I guess I am pining for the countryside, the freedom, the challenge, the exhilaration and the sheer joy of cycling but my pining manifests itself as ….well as being a miserable git basically!

The end of my first week back at work is marked by something that momentarily shakes me out of my self absorbed drama (in truth it is several weeks before I get it out of my system completely) and helps me put everything back into perspective. Not only do we receive a letter from Winston’s Wish congratulating us on our achievement and thanking us for our combined fund raising of nearly £13.5k (frankly, this is just astonishing….thank you to each and everyone of you that donated….you are all amazing!) but they also send a short video through from Maisy, one of the young ambassadors for Winston’s Wish…..honestly I still can’t watch it all the way through without tearing up…..

Courtesy of Winston’s Wish (thanks Kerry) on 4 August the TMAAT posse (minus the tent) came together for the final planned adventure in the diary….the Ride London 100.

I am sure you are all thinking “well you cycled to Rome so that must be an absolute cinch” well I can assure you it was not….so much so that when we finished (and yes we did finish in an adjusted time of around 5 hours 40 minutes) I was promptly sick …..it was a properly hard but utimately rewarding day and it was great to be cycling alongside my two bestest cycling buddies who I have shared so many adventures with now.

Whilst we are together I handover a couple of gifts for Marc and Dan. As you know we do like a nice medal and our personalised cycle tops but our London to Rome experience, and particularly the fact that we conquered the Alps (I feel like I might have mentioned that?) felt so special I thought we should have an additional keepsake ….although I don’t have a picture of it to hand it also has the dare I say “Iconic” TMAAT logo on the back….

I know I have already said a lot of thank yous in this blog in my own possibly slightly over earnest way but I really cannot sign off without saying it again to you, our readers and supporters and followers. You really have been inspirational and kept us going when it would have been so much easier to stop and you have donated a life changing amount of money to children who really need it and who really benefit from it. From the bottom of my heart….thank you so much!

I have already mentioned that sadly the Ride London 100 is the last adventure that we had planned together….there is nothing else in the diary for Three Men and Tent.

Will there be you ask?

Well, let’s just say “we are in talks”

N