Day 28 – Roma to England

So this is a catch up from yesterday. I got in quite late last night so didn’t manage to squeeze a post it.

But… that’s it I’m home. Trip done!

I made sure I made the most of the 30 degree sun and the pool yesterday. I spent at least 6 hours by the pool!

So I wanted to finish my blog with a few things I have learnt and a few interesting stats from my trip.

Things I learnt from my trip:

1. Germans were the friendliest people I met on my trip
2. Italians were the laziest people on the trip. Nothing was open even on Saturdays when they claimed they would be! Small towns were desolate.
3. Luckily Italy (and Switzerland) had lots of water fountains so I didn’t dehydrate!
4. Europe still smokes a lot! The further south I went the worse it got to the point where in Italy even police and security guards would happily light up when working!
5. A hill in Europe is very different from a hill in England. It goes up and then keeps going!!!
6. Don’t book things last minute, especially flights!
7. Baguettes are a vital and underrated life source.
8. Carbohydrate gels are amazing when you need a boost!
9. Finally something I learnt about myself, I make some funny faces when cycling! Particularly when it’s hot or hilly.

I noticed 3 faces and things I do whenever the going go tough. Number 1 and the first thing was an Andy Murray like overbite…

Number 2 was the now famous Chris Froome head down wobble, looking at the bike and pedals…

And number 3 was a Alistair Brownlee like smile/grimace of pain and determination…

It made me laugh but I couldn’t stop myself! And I am in no way comparing myself to any of those athletes haha.

Finally a few interesting stats comparing my journey to other things:

Time of journey (107 hours) = the same as listening to 1920 songs, or boiling 1152 eggs, or flying round the world twice, or typing 230,000 words, or baking 480 pizzas, or watching 192 sitcom episodes, or cleaning the dishes 288 times, or playing 70 football matches, or enough time for Neil Armstrong to reach the moon!

Calories burnt (62075kcal) = the equivalent of 3879 sticks of celery, 1232 apples, or 720 bananas, or 413 eggs, or 280 loaves of bread, or 258 baguettes, or 247 mars bars!

Metres climbed (36735m) = the equivalent of reaching the summit of Everest 4 times, or reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro 6 times, or completing the 3 peaks challenge 10 times!!!

On that note it’s maybe time to start thinking about my next challenge. The 3 peaks is an option (maybe not 10 times!), or another cycling challenge or even a triathlon challenge (ironman?). Feel free to add a suggestion as a comment on here or on Facebook.

Thanks for all the support. Keep the donations coming in and please share with anyone who might be interested.

Ciao

p.s. Dave and Sarah yesterday in Rome I tried the baguette idea you gave me (back in Zurich) and it wasn’t too bad. Baguette and fanta is a pretty good mix!