Catch Up

It has been a while since I last blogged and a lot has happened in that time. What I hadn’t appreciated until I eventually returned from my October to November wanderings, was how much my last blog post had left things hanging in limbo; what were my decisions? how was my future going to shape up?  Now, on the eve of the blog’s resurrection, it’s time to reveal some answers.

I arrived back into Hong Kong at 5am on the 22nd of November 2017 carrying a smelly rucksack and wearing only slightly less fruity clothes. I entered the smart, modern, clean headquarters building of my employer, Cathay Pacific Airways, ignored the curious and slightly disgusted look on the face of the security guard and found myself a comfy bench, where I promptly fell asleep. The noise of leather soles on marble flooring, accompanied by the babble of early morning Cantonese, woke me just a couple of hours later as the morning flood of employees began filling the complex. I couldn’t bring myself to inflict my malodorous presence on the freshly showered and smartly dressed occupants of an elevator, so I climbed the stairs to the floor that I sought – it wasn’t exactly difficult after my recent exertions!

At 8am I walked into my manager’s office and resigned.

This lady had been monitoring and supervising my case over the last three and a half years and, bless her, in discovering that I had finally discovered where my path lay, she was delighted for me!  There followed a week’s worth of bureaucratic maze navigation as I extricated myself from the clutches of the Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong Government systems, but I finally made it back to the UK – as a fully fledged, ever-so-slightly-nervous retiree at the end of the month. I was full of anticipatory excitement for what lay ahead on my chosen path – as many years of adventure-style travel as my health and wallet could sustain .

The very next day I sat down at my slightly unfamiliar kitchen table and I booked the ferry ticket that committed me to the first of those new adventures. Now, as my day of departure is just about upon me, it is time to start blogging again. Over the next seven months and 8000+ miles I will be attempting to cycle to all four extreme cardinal points of the European mainland. I hope that, through this blog, you will accompany me on my journey.