Well, a little later than advertised (2.30pm) on Thursday, Geoff and I paddled into Portscatho Harbour, let off a couple of smoke flares, jumped out the boats and gave each other a big hug. But the biggest hugs and kisses were for Sue and Tanya.
2,318 miles, 115 days, 92 paddling days, around 2 million paddle strokes (no we didn’t count). Job done, expedition over.
We had paddled to Portloe on Wednesday night and caught a glimpse of Portscatho in the distance between Gull Rock and Nare Head. Just for a moment we discussed just pushing on and landing to surprise everyone but that was just for a moment. We were looking forward to a couple of beers on our last night in the knowledge that we only had 5 miles to go and of course seeing all our families and friends.
That night we washed, changed and slept on two benches pretty much in full view of the village. Sorry about that Portloe but we were demob happy and didn’t care! The next morning after breakie and a chat with a few residents and holiday makers we launched. To our surprise we got 3 cheers from them as we left. We were both in tears as we paddled out of the harbour.
We had plenty of time so we paddled round Gull Rock and waited for some friends who said they would meet us to paddle in the last few miles. Mike Greenslade, who was so much part of the expedition early on, Simon Osborne, from Sea Kayaking Cornwall who coached both of Geoff and I to get ready for this expedition, and his fiancé Roz Leahy. To our surprise John Shaw, Zoe and Pete Shepherd also paddled out to meet us. A couple of motor boats (sorry no names) joined too. So that was our amazing little flotilla as we made the last few miles.
As we got close to the harbour we could see the crowd that had gathered. I think we were more nervous than we had been all trip. Such an amazing welcome. Better than we had ever imagined.
Thank you all so much!!
Sorry we couldn’t get round and say hello and thanks to all of you!
It may take us both a little while to adjust and certainly a few days to clean and repair all the kit. I may just write a couple more reflective blogs as we get used to life back on land. But in the meantime thanks for following our journey. It’s great to be home!
Andy
(Photos courtesy of Mary Alice Pollard http://www.justnicephotos.co.uk/ and Simon Osborne Sea Kayaking Cornwall)
Midlifekayak 
Congratulations guys. Great trip and excellent job on writing. Hope to meet soon, Joe.
Well done!
JW
Very well done you two. Brilliant!!!
Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media
It was great to see you paddle your last strokes in to portscatho
Welcome home and catch up soon
Debs x x
Well done both – I’m going to miss reading about your progress, trials and tribulations and Tanya’s facts and updates. Outstanding achievement. Enjoy the wonder of a real home!
It was such an emotional day and we now look forward to ‘what’s next’ ?!
The movie – the book ?!
Can’t say any more than I already have – so proud of you lads, and the ladies who were such an amazing support during this venture. It will be very strange indeed to not have the daily updates from your site but so happy that you are home safely and are by now starting to get your land legs back again ! 🙂
If anyone wants to see the photos of the homecoming, for now they are posted in an album on facebook which you should be able to see via this link https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.435902693119316.99152.143554445687477&type=1
Later they will all be put into one of my featured home site albums.
Mary Alice
To repeat: a truly exceptional achievement, chaps. Hard to comprehend that level of commitment, determination, stamina, and ready-meal-consumption. And thank you for raising money for good causes too. RW
Welcome back guys!! What an adventure – can’t wait to hear more of your stories. An extraordinary feat of endurance – I agree with RW above… hard to comprehend. Truly amazing!!!
Welcome home from everyone at The West of England MS Therapy Centre! What you have done is truly inspiring! Thank you for supporting us. We cant wait to hear all about the trip.
Well done Andy and Geoff, it seems ages since we met in Portsoy, I am not sure if it was the adults or kids that have followed your trip with more enthusiasm, it has certainly been a topic of conversation all summer. We certainly all know a lot more about the geography of the UK coast now.
It was a real joy to hear that you had successfully completed your trip.