Day 092 > Monday 02 December

It was well into the afternoon before we stirred. We had the day to get ready for our triumphant return to the Reform Club tomorrow morning, and we had one important thing to do..say goodbye to each other.

The last supper, thankfully not another pizza was held in a Lebanese restaurant in London. We were joined by Mike Thomson, our treasurer, and Jimmy Spankie from Cramond who was going to MC part of the final event tomorrow.

As we shared our experiences and reminisced on all we had done, we knew we deserved the Champagne we were drinking. So many people had believed that Mike would get ill or injured on the trip, yet he was in better health than when he had set off. The wound on his bottom, which we had nursed all around the world, was in a better condition than it had been three months ago and, all in all, he was on top form. Only my sore ribs from the ballooning incident and my previous broken toe had let the side down. No one had been badly hurt and we had overcome every challenge that had been put our way! We actually felt pretty invincible.

Tomorrow we were going to meet our wives, husbands, children, friends and sponsors at the Reform Club and yet the thought of the adventure coming to an end still played on our minds. We would never forget each other, the things we had done and the fantastic people we had met along the way and we eventually retired, wondering just what the future would hold for the Eighty Ways team.

Day 093 > Tuesday 03 December

Well, this was it, the end of the road (for now at least).

We left the hotel and boarded the cardboard space shuttle, provided by Smurfit Europe, which was going to be our last form of transport on this journey around the world. In very little time we were at the Reform Club where it had all began. Our families were there to greet us, Sir Tom Farmer who had supported the project all the way from the very beginning, Jimmy Saville, Stan Todd from Rolls-Royce, Doris Ho from Hong Kong, Coman and Yvonnefrom the office in Ireland, Shakira the Web-mistress, along with many other friends and supporters who had stuck by us as we had been travelling. It was great to see everyone again.

After Robin proclaimed that the challenge of travelling around the world using 80 different forms of transport had been duly met we, Mike, Miles, Caroline, Mike McNamara, Robin, Mary and I, held hands and crossed the tape to the steps of the Reform Club. Ian McCartney, Minister for Pensions and Works, greeted us with a speech recognising all that we had done before we all set off to a final celebratory lunch.

We had done it and we so much want to thank everybody who believed in us, who supported us in some way and who made it possible. Thanks also all of you who have been following our journey and who have taken the time to e-mail us with encouragement and questions. You have been so important.

The future of the Eighty Ways Foundation and further work in the countries we visited is still to be confirmed. One thing is certain though, many lives and attitudes have been changed by this project all around the world not least of all those of us who had the privilege to have travelled together or been part of the project team.