The Big Bike Year

  23rd January 2026 Yep, we're back! That's us out on the bike yesterday morning in our Europe cycling clothes to pay homage to the most amazing trip of my life.  As you can see we're in t-shirts, and the sky is blue...ahhh SUMMER.   It's nice to see you.  We arrived back on Tuesday morning - great flights home (except for the feral Sydney airport arrival process), our 59.6kg of luggage arriving safely (our limit was 60kg - go us!), including our two bikes, a relaxing 12 hour sleepover in Singapore, and now we're here unpacking slowly, going on daily rides, trying to readjust our bodies to the new timetable (I've woken up at 2am the last two nights), and integrate the incredible journey we've had.  Today, after our ride, we had our lovely neighbours visit with home made scones, a big arrangement of native Australian flowers, and loads of brilliant questions about the trip.  It was great to sit back and tell all, to relive the ups and downs, and laugh at so ...

 It's me again (Mike), and I'm sitting back in our little townhouse in Beauvais, and it's snowing outside. Yep, it is a cliche, and yep, it is beautiful. We've been away in Paris for 2 weeks, and it's been so fantastic, fun and amazing... here's the story in 4 parts! Part 1 - Family visit to Paris (Dec 19 - Dec 23) We left Beauvais early (walking to the station in the dark!) on the 19th, and headed into Paris. Our hosts let us leave our bikes and some gear in the back shed, so we were free agents with just a back pack each. We headed straight to our hotel, just off the Champs Élysées, and headed straight to a classic "on the street" reunion with our awesome visiting family. Once the appropriate hugs and "how cool is this" 's  had been finished we immediately headed off for some serious Paris action....first crepes and baguettes (which were awesome) and then a walk down the Champs to the Louvre.  The fam headed into the Louvre, while Seren...