It’s four months since I pushed my cardboard luggage through Miami International Airport and checked it on to my flight home, after having cycled down the east coast of the America. Christmas is now only twenty days away, so I think it must be time for a short update on a couple of things that have happened recently.

CHARITY NEWS – A few mornings ago I found some more brown cardboard in amongst the day’s post, and assumed it was yet another online purchase that I’d forgotten I’d even ordered, but no! Look what I found inside:

WHAT NEXT? In the misty, frosty, freezing weather of the past week the extraordinary heat and humidity of the final part of my journey felt like a lifetime away, but guess what? Although it became almost intolerable to cycle in, I’m actually quite missing it. There’s just no explaining human nature. I seem to have magically forgotten about the many problems it caused, and instead just enjoy recalling the pleasure of diving into the sea or the swimming pool to cool off, or settling into a comfortable booth to drink coffee and eat a massive second breakfast (plus those unexpected stacks of pancakes), or the great people I met and talked with along the way, or the wonderful ferry rides across unfamiliar rivers and bays, or the extraordinary southern-state-sunrises after cycling in the dark for hours, or the thrill of discovering a great new city (Savannah, I’m missing you the most). My way of dealing with this is simple: I’m going to try and write another book about the experience, which will give me the chance to share with you many more of the incidents and encounters that came my way, both good and not-so-good, more than I could ever have crammed into the daily blog-post. I’ve already made a start (I’m currently just approaching the Canada/US border…) but if my last experience is anything to go by, it could take quite a while. I sincerely hope that I can manage to make it worth the wait…

In the meantime, I have a small request to make. If you’re one of the people who read my last book, Crossing Canada, (and hopefully enjoyed it!), would you consider rating it and posting a sentence on the Amazon website as a review? It’s really easy to do and makes a crazy amount of difference to how effectively the book gets promoted, especially just before Christmas. I’d be very grateful if anyone feels like doing this – don’t be shy! The photo below shows where to click, and there are also handy clickable links beneath. Many thanks.

• For the UK – click HERE.

• For the US, just scroll down to the Customer Reviews section HERE .

• For CANADA, scroll down to Customer Reviews HERE

• For all other territories just go to your country’s Amazon page for the book and scroll down to Customer Reviews.

GOING NOWHERE FAST – Some keen followers of the blog were also regular visitors to my Strava page during the summer, where my Wahoo bike computer recorded even more details and stats than were listed in the blog.* What it shows now is that I’ve not done a great deal of cycling since getting home, at least compared with the summer. This happened before on my return from Canada a few years ago; I found that normal, circular bike rides had a pointless feel to them after so much purposeful, destination-oriented rides. I do still regularly commute on a folding bike to and from to my recording work in North London, and also to my teaching once a week, both of which I really enjoy, but that’s it at present. I have now fully joined the gym I was using for preparation back in the spring, so I have ended up doing quite a lot of ‘going nowhere’ exercise after all. Almost every gym visit is conveniently followed by an extended book-writing session in a favourite nearby cafe – no second breakfasts, but many cups of coffee, and recalling many memories of the extraordinary summer of cycling.

* Unlike this blog, you’ll only see the full details on Strava if you’re signed up.

I wanted to say what a pleasure it’s been meeting up here in England with so many friends and family who followed the blog over the summer. It’s led to countless interesting conversations about the whole experience, from food to fitness to fixing bikes. And also I predict at least a couple of future cycling adventures from people who confessed to having developed itchy pedalling feet when following my ride – I think you know who you are!

THEY’RE COMING TO GET US:

You may well recall that this was an ever-present theme on the blog, perhaps only matched by the search for a used Adirondack chair.*

*In case anyone is still a little hazy about the rules, a used adirondack chair would only qualify if it’s being sat in by its owner (or close friend/relative) on their property. Empty chairs for sale outside shops don’t count (although I still took pictures of them), and neither do chairs in public places being sat in by passing tourists like me (ditto). What I’ve been searching for is a chair in someone’s own garden or on their own porch that they are actually sitting in when I pass by. In my pretty extensive experience, this chair does not exist.

HOLD THE PHONE: And lastly, here’s a never-before-seen clip of video – which is also without doubt one of my most inept – but it’s significant as it records the final seconds of the whole fifty-day ride. Just as I approached the Pavillion at Delray Beach looking for my brother, who was at this point nowhere to be seen, my phone began ringing and my bike computer started bleeping with assorted alerts, which was very distracting in my exhausted and sun-baked state. I ignored them all as I continued searching, then realised it was him trying to find out where I was. Sorry Olly.

This picture and comment below was from earlier the same morning, to give you a bit of context!