NOTE - THIS BLOG WAS UPDATED AS I WAS ON THE ROAD. SO YOU WILL NOTICE THAT THE BLOG BEGINS AT THE END OF THE JOURNEY AND AS YOU SCROLL DOWN THROUGH IT, YOU WILL EVENTUALLY COME TO THE START OF THE JOURNEY.

WELCOME TO CANCUN

The rain poured down as I pedalled into Cancun, Mexico. It was the end of a journey that begun 17 months ago. And the previous 5 years were spent planning and saving for this venture. In two days time I had a flight to Dublin and all that was left was to pedal it down to Naas. It was a strange feeling. I'm looking forward to getting home. I'm going to miss Global Cycle Ride.
It was a busy week. My flight to Dublin goes via United States and due to recent changes in U.S. immigration procedures, I needed to leave then re enter Mexico before I could take my flight out of Cancun. I pedalled hard towards Belize. I didn't see much of Belize. Immigration stamped me in. I found a nearby lake for a wash. And then immigration stamped me out again. I was back in Mexico but those Belize stamps in my passport should ensure a smooth passage past U.S. immigration and on to Ireland.

THE REMAINS OF THE MAYA EMPIRE

UNEXPECTED WEATHER

I never would have expected the weather that I'm getting here in south east Mexico. Its just the worst rain of the journey. Maybe its preparing me for an Irish summer. I don't know, but when you're wet, you're wet, and I just pedal on down that road regardless.

BREAKFAST AT THE OFFICE

GLOBAL CYCLE RIDE - THE FINAL STAGE

Below is an extract from Flann O'Brien's book 'The Third Policeman'

'People who spent most of their natural lives riding iron bicycles over the rocky roadsteads of this parish get their personalities mixed up with the personalities of their bicycle as a result of the interchanging of the atoms of each of them and you would be surprised at the number of people in these parts who nearly are half people and half bicycle.'
I let out a gasp of astonishment that made a sound in the air like a bad puncture.
'And you would be flabbergasted at the number of bicycles that are half human almost half-man, half partaking of humanity.'

Although there is a part of me that wants to continue pedalling down that road forever, life contains much better options than that. I'm going home. The initial plan was to "cycle around the world as long as my health allows and the challenge remains exciting". That global circuit is now almost complete. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, this makes Global Cycle Ride the first cycle around the world by any Irish person.
If you keep travelling east eventually you will arrive from the west. I'm 500KM from Cancun and Mexico's roads don't go further east than that. I have a flight next week that takes me back to Ireland. I'm so excited the last stage of the trip is finally here. I've been pedalling Global Cycle Ride for 17 months. I, and all my bicycle atoms are certainly going to miss this adventure that has been my day to day life for so long.

CENTRAL MEXICO AND INTO THE TROPICS

My surroundings are gradually changing from desert back to jungle. Yesterday I crossed south over the Tropic of Cancer. Today I packed up my tent in a valley full of cactus plants. It was mostly a journey of downhill off the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains. I free wheeled past the first banana trees I'd seen since Asia. As a prepared my pasta dish in a grassy valley at sunset, I was joined by that all too familiar pest of the tropics, the mosquito. But at least I won't be getting any more punctures from those cactus plants. And by entering the tropics, natures evening tune had changed too. No more howls from the coyote but there are more birds and they are singing louder. Progress is slower through the jungle. There is more rolling hills and the meandering road rises and falls through these lush surroundings. Its a new heat too. The dry desert heat has become the hot and sticky tropical heat. The Huastac people of this region live a very simple life, but they have been very generous to me. Payment has been refused two days in a row for my lunch. Traffic has increased as I move away from the less populated desert regions and these roads don't have much in the line of a hard shoulder. I'm beginning to think the Mexican definition of safe driving is to hang the rosary beads on the rear view mirror and leave the driving to a higher power. But with 50 million Mexican drivers and so many crucifixes' by the side of the road, it should make these drivers' reconsider their belief's ability at multi-tasking.