On the Eurostar

Walking to the Gare de Nord this morning was interesting. It feels (and I'm sure LOOKS) like I'm walking like Herman Munster!

Both Neal and I woke before our alarms this morning. Paris was deserted as we walked to the station. We walked past the most delicious smelling bakery, yes you read that right - PAST it! We even passed up the Sex Shop offering "zapping". Not only could we not even IMAGINE what that would consist of, but we presumed it would either hurt or delight...or possibly both.

I'm really looking forward now to seeing my lovely family and most especially seeing Hannah my lovely wife.

Thinking back over the trip, the experience has been quite surreal. My brain has already begun the process of deleting the more unpleasant memories to make space for unrealistic nostalgic moments!

Things I would do different next time:

Pack EVEN lighter
Consider paniers
Take the D roads earlier or bring a proper GPS
Consider finding a different way to reach Dover that avoids all of Kent's hills
Learn more French
Invite a sports massuse along

A lot of the above could quite easily be replaced or struck off the list if we could have sorted a support driver. I would have liked to have been able to film more of the experience. Poor old Rich, who brought his camera along did a lot of the filming. As you may have picked up, we really only filmed or took pictures and blogged when we had the time to do so, which is a shame.

This train ride, as Neal pointed out to me earlier is making a mockery of our efforts. It's going to be stopping Calais in no time at all!!

I've asked Neal and Spencer and I'd ask Rich too once we're all home, to write more of what they remember of this tour. We hope to put up the video on YouTube for you all to see. I'll put the photos up on Flikr and once all the written accounts are complete I'll try to assemble them into chronological order.

It'd be quite nice if you had some specific questions about our trip or experience that you wanted to ask, if you could email them to me and I'll put up a Q&A post to finish this blog.

Finally from me, I wanted to thank all of you who sponsored me. Before I left, I believe I'd crossed the £1000 mark, which I'm really pleased with, so thanks for that everyone.

Adam