Thursday was the day our 2 month journey came to an end!

We had a lie in and then went to get some food before our taxi arrived. It then took us 30 minutes to get to the airport, and we were there about 4 hours before our flight. Alison (i think that was her name), the woman who checked us in, asked us about our trip and seemed pretty amazed at what we had done. She wanted a shout-out on the blog, so here it is! She said she would check it out some time also.

We then went to the bar for a bit, why not? Eventually we boarded our plane but once on there, we were delayed for 3 hours because of queues to use the runway as one had been closed. Pretty fortunate that we had personal entertainment like on pretty much all transatlantic flights. After flying through the night, we landed in Dublin, however like many people we had missed our connecting flight due to the delay. This was quickly sorted by Aer Lingus and we were put on the next flight, about 30 minutes to Manchester. And then..... we were home! The 2 fastest months ever I think.

We are going to do one more blog post I think, with some of the classic quotes from people who didnt think we could do it, as well as listing some of the highlights of the trip. That will probably come tomorrow or the day after, and then that will wrap the blog up!

Wednesday was our last full day. We firstly went for a walk round Central Park. There was a game of softball being played o we decided to have a watch for a while. It was entertaining in a funny way, mainly due to how seriously they all took it despite the fact that it was seemingly just a mess about in a park. From there we hopped on the tube and went over to Brooklyn, then walked back over the Brooklyn Bridge. The views from the bridge were quite impressive, looking at lower Manhattan. That end of Manhattan doesnt half look bare though without the twin towers.

From here, we then went to a bike shop to pick up some boxes for our bikes, before going back to the hostel to pack up ready for leaving on Thursday. We then went out to Times Square once again for once last deserved beer! We went back to the bar that we visited on Sunday I think it was, before leaving at about 11 in time to catch the last hour of the shops being open. We both bought a couple of things before heading off to bed. Last full day over :(

Today has been a better one as the rain held off in the afternoon, after battering it down in the morning.

We made it to the aircraft carrier that we failed to see yesterday, and also had a look around a docked submarine as well as a retired concord that was on the pier too. We then walked to the Empire State Building and went up there, which was obviously great. We could even see the Pennsylvanian hills in the distance over to the west.

After that, we went for some food before going to the 'top of the rock' at the Rockefeller Centre. We heard this was best to do around evening time as it was getting dark, so we went about 7.30. It was amazing up there and actually had better views than the ESB, partially because we could see the ESB lit up...

From there we went to a bar owned by a retired professional boxer just off Times Square (can't remember his name). Quite as busy day, tomorrow is our last full day so we needed to get a good few things done today. Neither of us ever wanted to leave the rockefeller centre because the view of NYC in the evening is absolutely amazing!

Monday was another day of pure rain, it was bouncing off the pavements literally all day. This ruined everything a bit because visibility made the ESB and Rockefeller Centre pointless, and it was too wet to check Central Park out. We did end up getting to the Statue of Liberty though, although we did get a bit wet there.

We wandered round it for a while and then headed back, before walking up to the aircraft carrier that's docked on 46th street. It was closing though so we put it on Tuesday's to do list. In the evening we retreated to another Irish bar where it was $7 a pint!

On Sunday it battered it down with rain all day! We had a bit of a lie in again because we are both exhausted, then went to Times Square to check that out. It was very cold and rainy though, and we both don't really have any clothes and so were plodding round in shorts and tshirt. We ended up buying some clothes from a shop near ground zero because it was too much to bare!

Later on in the day we went to an Irish bar near Times Square, where we stayed until it was time for some sleep.

On Saturday we successfully reached New York City, approximately 3,025 miles / 7 weeks and 4 days after leaving San Diego.

We were warned that cycling the last bit of the journey would be very dangerous due to crime and traffic in the areas leading up to manhattan, particularly the Newark / Jersey City areas, and that it would be wise to get a bus or train through these areas and into Manhattan.

We looked up trains but it seemed non were running, and buses wouldn't accommodate our bikes, so we ended up getting a taxi into the City. Everyone we had spoken to said it would be virtually impossible to cycle through the area anyway due to traffic... and it turned out to be a wise decision. We waited in traffic for about an hour to get to a bridge over the river. I think New York probably has it's own private hole in the ozone layer - it is that busy.

Once in manhattan we saw loads of cyclists heading all over the place, but I still don't think we could have gotten there ourselves. We booked into a hostel in the morning, so we checked in. It's basic to say the least... a room with a bunk bed, but it will do.

We then went for a walk and ended up walking from 95th street to ground zero, 6.4 miles on google maps. Sore feet at the end of it, so we got the tube back, getting briefly lost and ending up in Queens! The London underground is so much simpler.

Friday started off with a little lie in because we were both pretty knackered after a hard day on Thursday. Tom, the guesthouse owner, took us through some maps of Pennsylvania and New Jersey so that we could find a suitable route, then we set off.

The start of the ride was quite difficult and began with some steep hills which we expected because Jim Thorpe was in a big valley by the looks of it. However it soon flattened out a bit and wasn't actually as difficult as we expected from then on. We headed towards Easton and stopped in a town called Nazareth for some food, before heading up towards Belvidere which is where we crossed into New Jersey I think, but there were no border signs again.

We then headed east and it was here that we saw our first signs for New York!!! Finding a hotel was a bit of trouble at first, and at about 7pm we came across some rundown motel, but we stopped there because it seemed like we had been riding since the beginning of time, so anything would do.... or so we thought.

Basically, at about 10.15pm, we saw a mouse run across our floor and into the bathroom, a later sighting followed so that was it... we got a refund and phoned a taxi to take us to the nearest proper hotel.... Ended up being a 5 mile drive or so to a Comfort Inn. We got there at 11/11.30 or something, but it was worth it to get away from that hellhole!

Today we have had a LONG, hard day. We set off at about 9.30, and finished at about 6.30 I think. We left shamokin dam and joined onto highway 61 for a little while. As with every day this week, we spent almost every minute of the day missioning up hills.

We connected with highway 54 and conquered even more disgraceful uphills, one in particular that deserves a special mention; it was about 2 miles long, just one continuous and steep uphill. Took us about 20 minutes of hard grafting to get to the top, only to whizz down the other side at about 40mph. The 30 second downhills don't even begin to compensate for the 10-20 minute uphills.

After 42 miles we stopped in a town called Shenandoah which was pretty rough to be honest! Ate there and then got out asap! From here we decided to head to a place called Jim Thorpe, which is a town, not a person! Fortunately the last 15-20 miles was a gentle downhill, however we deserved that completely for the 8 odd previous hours of pain. We ended up stopping at a guesthouse, a place that we stumbled across quite fortunately whilst plodding through the streets. It's run by a couple... Tom and Michelle if my memory serves. They were pretty interested in our trip and have also done some cycling themselves too.

We are now completely shattered and I'm going to drift off into a coma after finishing this. We are currently 105 miles from New York according to Google maps, so even with milage tax added to that... We hope to be there by Saturday evening!

This week has been unbelievably hard and we are both extemely excited about finishing. The legs are aching, but I'm sure mother nature will throw a few more mountains in our path before we are home and dry.