Bicycle Touring The World: The Final Ride Home After Cycling 22,154 Miles
My final bicycle touring around the world update, cycling through England, on Saturday, the 24th November 2012. Gatwick to Felpham. 51 miles. It wasn’t a particularly pleasant ride home from Gatwick; it rained the whole way.
I arrived at the Fox Inn, where I had departed just over twelve months ago. And was greeted by friends and family. All standing out in the rain. Once inside the pub, there were more friends and a surprise party. The bar was decorated with flags from around the world, photos from my trip, and some of my posts from my website, all around.
Inside The Pub
There was a lovely, big cake decorated with the names of the countries I’d cycled through, kindly donated by Cake Fayre of Chichester. A local cake shop. Spirit FM, my local radio station, were also there. They were there to present me with my local hero award, and my local newspaper, the Bognor Observer, was there to interview me.
Some of my friends had paid for food, which was served on the theme of dishes from around the world. It was really nice to see everybody, and hopefully, I got around to speaking to everyone. I spent the afternoon talking to everybody and drinking, of course, and then went for a curry in the evening.
I really, really enjoyed the surprise party. A big thank you to Vicky, Julie, Russ and Putney Mick for organising the party. And Adam and Sarah for all their help on the day, and all the fundraising that they’ve done in the Fox over the past year.
Thank You All
A big thanks to Steph, who has looked after the website and posted all my blogs for the past year. Thanks also to everybody who’s sent me messages of support and encouragement. They were always nice to receive and read.
Thanks for all the donations. I’ve reached and passed my target, not sure of the final amount, but it’s nearly £11,000 plus the $2350 from Australia.
Total mileage covered 22,154.
Roll on the next tour. Getting itchy feet already.
Tour Information
It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:
- Photos: See my photos on Flickr
- The route: View my journey around the world
- Videos: Check out my YouTube videos
- Tour page: Ride overview
Follow My Bicycle Touring Adventures
Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I continue to travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always buy me a beer. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.
If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page.