After a wonderful final week in Beauvais and a few days with Claude & Laurence, we're home! Jet lag, riding, unpacking, and readjustment abounds.

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 many crazy things. What a trip. I'm going to try and get this all down now before I turn into a complete zombie which has been happening around 2-3pm since I've been back - fingers crossed, Sportsfans!

27th January 2026

As you can see, it's now 4 days later than the first paragraph. Yes, procrastination is rocking. Since I left you we've had visits from kids and grandkids over the weekend including water bomb and hose fights out the back, a heap of unpacking, more riding, baking (yum yum), and trying to find our feet back home. Thankfully, the jet lag is finally easing, but wow did it kick both our butts, hard. But before I get into any more musings on Aussie life, let's recap the last few weeks, for you, and for us.

Beauvais & Paris Adventures

Last time we left you we were in Beauvais, post Christmas in Paris, in the middle of a snow storm - WOOHOO! Finally, the snow subsided and thankfully the VERY SLIPPERY ice melted, and we could walk around without risking death. We hung out around Beauvais exploring more of the area, and some of the local towns, we had many excursions into Paris for museums and of course Lemon Meringue Pie at the Meunière bakery in the Galleries Lafayette foodhall - YUM FREAKING YUM (we ate in, and on another occasion took it away to eat over two days back at our little Beauvais cottage. In fact we actually made one visit to Paris just for the lemon meringue pie. We're animals).

We also went on a pilgrimage to the beautiful town of L'Aigle where Mike's uncle, his Mum's brother, was buried with his crew after their plane went down in WWII, it was a beautiful and emotional day. We took the train into Paris, then on to L'Aigle, got a taxi out to Écorcei and the beautiful church and graveyard which sits amongst gorgeous farmland, the views were incredible, and we found a peaceful, well looked after, and very touching space. We went back into town and had a soothing lunch, and were well looked after by the family who ran the little restaurant. We hopped back on the train around 5pm, and headed towards Paris, which of course then involved yes, you guessed it, lemon meringue pie (in a take-home box), and a couple of olive and cheese bread sticks to eat for dinner on the way home on the train. It was a magical and emotional day.

Our final trip into Paris was Museum Day - we split up and went our merry separate ways to check out some museums we each wanted to see. Mike to the Musee d'Orsay to see some Van Goghs, then to the M.C.Escher exhibition at the Monnaie de Paris.

I headed off to the Palais Galierra, which is a history of fashion museum, to see their current exhibition centred around florals in fashion history. It was glorious. Of course I loved the 1920s gowns the best. After a couple of hours here I headed to the Christan Dior museum, but of course the line was enormous and I hadn't booked a ticket, so I ditched that, called Mike, and we headed for lemon meringue pie! Brilliant day.

My favourite frock.

Lemon meringue pie in situ - you can hardly see the lemon with all the meringue on top! She wanted to cut it on the edge but I demanded a middle piece.

Eglise Saint-Michel is where Mike's uncle lies, with his fellow flight crew. It is in glorious countryside, and a more serene and beautiful resting place could not be imagined. The local community tends the graves and as you can see are beautifully and respectfully tended. It was an emotional, and beautiful day.

We found a lovely place for lunch, nourishing and soothing shepherd's pie and chocolate mousse for dessert. We raised our glasses of red to Mike's uncle and his mates.

And without being too insensitive, I had to include our take away lemon meringue pie - so messy, and so good, we ate this lot over 2 days. 15 Euro (about $26) for this piece - worth every cent!

Getting Ready to Go Home

It was also time to get ourselves ready to return home. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. We had to pack up our stuff, work out our baggage weight limits, plan the logistics of getting back to Claude and Laurence's to pack up our bikes and bag and say goodbye. It went pretty well - we sent off a 5kg box of stuff through the post when we realised our baggage limit was 60kg between us, and Mike was bringing back a new bike! So two bikes, plus our baggage, which really was mostly shopping for ourselves and pressies for the grandkids - we went wild in Paris! We had to go through all or camping gear and stuff we'd accumulated, ruthlessly discarding stuff, discussing what should come home, sending stuff back, renting a car to pack everything into it to get it to Claude and Laurence's (Mike the Tetris Master managed to fit three bikes - our current two plus the new one - two bike boxes, and all our stuff into a small four wheel drive). Wow. What a couple of days that was. We had to start saying goodbyes to our wonderful cosy cottage that we'd ended up spending almost one month in, the lovely lady next door, and to our favourite chocolate shop and bakery in Beauvais. We ate our last local baguette, our last cremuu (Mike's favourite), and our last Carambar. This was emotional stuff. We were saying goodbye to almost 9 months of adventure, of just us doing whatever took our fancy, 9 months of wonderment, of amazing food, of foreign languages, of warm hearted people, of personal challenges and triumphs I could never have imagined, of togetherness, of sharing the craziest moments of our lives, of tears, of so much laughter, so much joy. It was a tough time, and a beautiful time, this wrapping up and moving on. I have tears now as I type. What a journey.

Mike taking his new bike home the day before we leave Beauvais for Claude and Laurence's

Our final baguette with ham, camembert and cornichons - our staple lunch/dinner in Beauvais. Very sad.

And ironically, we had the kindest and most heart felt support from our magnificent francophile friends, Claude and Laurence, and their family, to help us through it. I say ironically, because they met us at the beginning of our journey, providing us with the enthusiasm, support, and practical help to get us on our way, and tears and fear I had as we left their home were soothed by the warmest hug from Laurence, and the kindness of Claude, and here they were again providing us with their warmth and kindness again as we prepared to say goodbye to them, to our adventure, and to the parts of us that flourished on this journey. Thank you to you wonderful people, I cannot say enough what it meant to us, and to me, to have you there as touchstones with your smiles, encouragement, amazing food, laughter, glasses of champagne, and open-hearted generosity. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And of course, I can't believe you actually made us raclette (video is attached)!

Back in Champagne - happy to be going home.

Of course the cheese and salad course at dinner. Two incredible people. Thank you.

Laurence's Tarte Tatin - how were we ever going to be ok back in Australia without this??

Lunch dessert the next day. The silkiest creme caramel I've ever eaten.

Checking out the new changes to the cave - we saw it at the beginning before we left, and it's almost done. Breathtaking.

Remi gave us a tour, and his excitement for the project, and for champagne in general, just makes you smile on the inside and outside. Incredible passion.

Remi on the new rooftop. Gorgeous views.

And that night - you could have blown me down with a feather - Laurence had out her 40 year old true blue Raclette apparatus - the top bar has an element that's heated and it melts the special raclette cheese - the Raclette Master, Claude, then scrapes the melted cheese onto your plate and you go nuts in whatever way you like! There's usually potatoes, charcuterie, and cornichons involved.

Raclette Master, Claude, cuts his all up and chucks the cheese on top - which is my style too.

Laurence keeps hers cleaner and more organised, which bizarrely, is Mike's way of eating it.

Cue the video of Raclette Master Claude....

And our final day arrived. Mike had packed up our two bikes (his touring bike was being stored back in Claude's bike storage room), and we had our bag packed. We had the most incredible lunch with our magnificent friends, and Laurence, you are chef supreme...just incredible food...thank you. We had our special lunch then hit the road for the airport hotel we'd booked into for our morning flight. I was sad, excited, tired, happy, emotional, and a few tears were shed at the table over scallop bisque, terrine made by Claude and Laurence's son, scallops in saffron, the cheese course, and plum tart. It really is like a foodie fairytale. Tears and great food. And sad goodbyes.

Thank you Claude and Laurence. For everything.

Going Home

Our airport hotel was insane - the biggest tv I've ever seen in a hotel room - almost the whole wall. INSANE. And a great distraction. We were tired, emotional, and ready to go home. But we were sad too. But we woke up early the next morning, packed up the car and drove a few kms to the airport - headed to check in, unsure if we were over our 60km limit - would we make it? Would we have to repack? Would we have to pay a fortune in excess baggage? 59.6kg!!! YEAH! WE MADE IT. BY 400g!! WE TOTALLY ROCK! So, we waved goodbye to our bikes and luggage, and began the journey home. We had a couple of hours on the plane at the gate while they sorted out a "technical issue", then had a wonderful flight to Singapore, then 12 hours in the airport hotel for sleep, showers and food, then a brilliant flight to Sydney. The worst part of the whole trip was Sydney airport arrivals. Dear lord it was total chaos with forty billion people all arriving at once. Never fear, we were patient, and our bikes arrived safe and sound, and finally so did our bag.

Liss picked me and the bikes and luggage up while Mike hopped a train home (he couldn't fit in the car!). It was so strange to be back, to hear the Aussie accents all around us, to have the blue blue sky and the warmth at our fingertips, to finally get into Georgie (my car) and drive (it had been almost 9 months since driving) to our house. We both arrived at the same time, and we unlocked and stepped inside to the strangeness that was a sense of hugeness of our home, a whole room to ourselves, giant spaces everywhere, a whole big kitchen, a dishwasher, a laundry even with our very own washing machine! Ah the luxuries of life...a big fridge that could be stocked with wonderful fruits and veggies, oh the magnificence of it all. And so we've continued really, marvelling at the conveniences at our fingertips, the ease of driving instead of cycling or walking for our food, groceries, train stations, shops, all of it, but we've also felt the sadness of all of those things too - of not having to walk or ride to places, of having so much choice because we now have a fridge and a kitchen, instead of just a great baguette with a slab of even greater cheese, the sadness of not hearing French being spoken or cardamon buns at our disposal, of not having to pack up our sleeping bags and mats, the wonders and sadness of showering in a drench shower with as much hot water as we want, and big fluffy towels to dry ourselves with, instead of putting in a euro coin into the slot for hot water, and using our chamois towels to dry off.

We are sitting with all of this as I listen to the Kookaburras laugh outside my window. We are back, we are so grateful to be home safe and sound and have the love of our family and friends and all their excitement at us being back, and we are a bit lost, and that's ok, it's all part of the adventure as we integrate our huge 5000km experience, and look ahead to see what's next. And um...there's talk of another adventure soon...so stay tuned Sportsfans, and thanks for reading.

A little apprehensive as they wheeled the bikes away precariously balanced on the oversize baggage.