Voilà, la fin du périple! The sun sets on this adventure and dawns on the next. Next season, next chapter...
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An idea. A daydream. That's what this trip was a year or so ago. And it evolved and grew and here I am looking back on what have been some of the most surprising and transformative few months of my life. I'm immensely grateful for this cycling adventure around France I've just completed.
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Grateful for the places explored: from Normandy to Alsace to Auvergne. Grateful for the food: from Chinese Bao buns to veggie quiches to Lyonnaise Quenelles. Grateful for the people I've met, the precious encounters: farmers and entrepreneurs, artists and musicians, evangelists and stonemasons, and plenty of fellow vagabonds! Grateful for God's hand leading me, shaping me. I've grown, and learnt so much in quite a short space of time. I don't feel quite the same as when I left these shores in August. I return to the UK with a deeper appreciation of God, of the universe, of myself and of others, of food and wine, of art and music, of herbal teas and of autumn breeze, of the natural elements and our relationship with them.
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I'm reading Marco Polo's travels at the moment. And whilst I may not have travelled across Asia to the courts of the Great Khan like Marco, this voyage has definitely been somewhat of a rite of passage for me, an initiation into the exciting world of solo travelling.
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I am not sad that this trip has come to an end. The adventure simply continues in a different form. The next few weeks I'm quarantining at my house, and I think this time will be precious to slow down, to spend time with my folks, and to process and digest the torrent of memories I've collected, half of which I haven't even photographed or posted about. And this will also give me time to plan my next escapades...where to next?!
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