Could we have imagined a nicer finish in Paris than seeing our loved ones on the forecourt of the Eifel? Arrived after 3 weeks, 3,500 km and more than 45 km uphill. What a tour, what an experience, a great adventure.

Now with some distance and a bit recovered, I know that was one of the best and most important events of my life. High, no, only now the memories of the efforts fade and the images, impressions and feelings of these magnificent, sometimes spectacular landscapes come back. As I mentioned before, you can’t process and absorb everything that has an effect on you. I know already now, mentally I will always live on it.

Here is the big group photo in front of the Eiffel Tower. Here is everyone who arrived in Paris, the lifers and the additional riders from the last week of the tour. I would have liked to have a photo of the 36 arriving Lifers, with whom I spent the whole 3 weeks, but unfortunately that did not happen.

The Party

There was of course another huge party on a restaurant ship on the Seine, they did a fantastic job of organizing that too. All together once again in going out clothes and “civilized” we went up and down the Seine and got a dinner that exponentially exceeded the food of the last week.

Of course, we celebrated with our friends, relatives and loved ones. Then such photos of the gang with which I spent very close to the 3 weeks.

Regards from my fellowers

Here I have recorded a few more greetings on the road and packed into a video. Just asked a few participants, say hello to my friends in Germany … (I wish I had made more).

Statisitcs

This is now my final table. Compared with the official Tour de France statistics, you have to know that mine still includes the trips to the hotel and the times are simply twice as long as those of the pros.

Doctors calculate a kilo of fat with about 7,000 cal. The English food was the worst for me, if I had not taken precautions in advance and taken appropriate substitute food, I would certainly have starved to death somewhere. That was my biggest problem. But at the end with all the burned cal came out something good, my belly is gone … I lost 5.5 kilos of fat.

The Charity

I got another update, we have now raised over 388`000 pounds with donations, what a terrific contribution.

What is left to say?

Many thanks for your sympathy, encouraging mails, SMS, Whatsapps in the first (rainy) week, cheers, acknowledgements, little messages that you are there … The feedback that this blog is read and used so intensively has given me a boost even in stressful situations (it’s all in the head, Christoph once said, and I had you blog participants in mind).

…

I would do it again, yes definitely …

CU, Roland