Done!

We're done. It was an adventure, but we're back in England now, resting our sore bums but missing the saddle all the same. Our last day from Essaouira to Marrakech was a testament to our fitness regime this summer. 114 miles in 40 degree heat, across what looked like the Martian desert. Rocky, yellow plain for as far as the eye can see. After more than 12 hours of being close to tears, of praying for no punctures in the last leg, of shaking off the pain in my hands, we arrived into Marrakech only to find the streets rammed with mopeds, pedestrians and cyclists waving Moroccan flags, tooting their horns and cheering. If only we could claim this welcome for us, but alas, we were to learn that Morocco was playing in the Inter-Africa semi finals against Tanzania that night, hence the excitment in the air. We arrived to the Jemah el-Fna (the main square of Marrkech's medina), relieved to have made it. We dismounted and were greeted by about a dozen tourists who started asking about our ride. Some took pictures of us, some shared their own biking stories, all of them congratulated us on arriving in one piece. The odometer did literally read 2999 miles (no joke!), but in the next 3 days we rode another 20 miles, bringing our grand total to 3019 miles. We packed up the bikes and enjoyed our last days in Morocco. It was sad to board our flight back to England, but amazing to look out the window as we passed over Morocco, Southern Spain, up the coast of Portugal, back into Northern Spain, France and then England, all in about 3 hours. We could almost make out the roads we had been riding on. A trip that took us 8.5 weeks on our bikes, so easily completed by a massive hulk of metal in the sky.

Thank you to everyone who supported us and the cause.

Zeina

It's difficult to find the words to describe how it feels to have completed the seemingly (if our friends and family were to be believed) insane challenge we set ourselves earlier this year. For me there are so many memorable moments that I will think of whenever I get on a bike or travel again. The beautiful landscapes of Europe and North Africa, the amazing al fresco picnic lunches we had, camping in a different place every single night, the friendliness, interest in what we were doing and helpfulness of complete strangers, Zeina's innate ability to have me laughing my socks off whenever I was feeling exhausted or needed a bit of motivation....it has been a once in a lifetime adventure that I'll never forget. Now we're back in the UK, seeing friends and getting ready to get back to work. Zeina leaves tomorrow to start an exciting new job in the US and I'm here for another few weeks preparing for my return to Fiji in November. I'll be seeing Dr.Cara Miller of WDCS International who has worked so hard for cetacean conservation in the South Pacific when I get back and one of the first things we'll do is travel up to Moon Reef to see the Spinner dolphins which gave Zeina and I the idea for the fundraiser in the first place. We've mentioned it before, but we are organising an online charity auction which will be featured on the WDCS International website soon as well as at the upcoming 'Whalefest' event in Brighton on the 5th and 6th of November. We managed to gather an amazing variety of things to auction off in aid of WDCS including a two week dolphin research holiday in Fiji, a learn-to-surf holiday in Portugal, a week in Morocco and loads of other great stuff you can bid on. Please help support the cause and bid on the auction and come to Whalefest in Brighton if you can and I'll show you my saddlesores (for a pound donation!) Finally I want to say thank you to all of you who have supported us these last months, to Paul, Tobey, Sophie, Rebecca and all at the SEA LIFE London Aquarium, to Steve, Danny and all at Global Vision International, to Cara, Cynthia, Stine and all at WDCS International, to my Mum & Dad for getting on the fundraising trail in Sunny Scunny, to Bruno at Baleal Surfcamp, to Maggie for the week in Morocco, to Brown for the wonderful dolphin images and everyone else who helped us on our way. Bye for now and see you all again one day down the trail! Howard x