What a result!

It's hard to know where to start, having just finished, but driving into the heart of Paris and seeing our families was one of life's great experiences. A sudden collision of all the stuff we had been through and an overwhelming realisation that we had actually done it. All of the uncertainties, from day one, have only added to that state of wonderment and not a single day was ever taken for granted, each new destination being a milestone in itself.

Our trophy: We found out a week or so ago that our bronze medal (you just have to get to Paris to get it) had been withdrawn as we had left for Estonia a day early and this had thrown the system. Fair enough, but they then also withdrew it from our heroic friends, Hugh and Paul, who had followed the rally about two days behind for 23 days as they had had so many problems. They also were driving a Ford Pilot and had helped us (and lots of others) enormously at the beginning. They are great guys and we decided over a very enjoyable lunch in Gdansk on Monday that we weren't going to stand for this and would create our own trophy. At this point the 'Ford unstoppable car klub' was born and Hugh rang his PA and arranged for 4 trophies to be be inscribed with our names and shipped over to Paris in time for our arrival on Saturday.

When we finally arrived on the small podium in Paris a glum faced organiser (more of which later*) informed us that we didn't have a medal. I had seen Hugh in the crowd as they had arrived before us, and shouted for him to come over, at which point he handed us two enormous silver plated cups and placed them on our bonnet to huge cheers. I had the unbeatable pleasure of telling the organiser that this was our trophy and that she could keep her medals. The timing was perfect - a truly glorious moment! It later sat in the middle of our table during the black-tie awards ceremony in the evening causing much merriment.

*While all of the marshalls and mechanics have been fantastic throughout, there has been an ever increasing resentment of the two main organisers who haven't shown a shred of interest in anyone, and so a rebellious 'naughty schoolboy' culture has developed amongst many of us over the past couple of weeks or so which has been a lot of fun.

Otherwise, highlights: Mongolia will always be the outstanding memory purely because it was so tough, day in day out. Someone described it at the time as like driving across a ploughed field that had been hit by artillery fire, and while there were flatish bits when you had to avoid being grounded in soft sand, that was a pretty fair description for much of it. 10 - 12 hours non stop driving every day, having to concentrate every second, then arriving at a camp site in the evening and sitting in a stupified state of total exhaustion in this mess tent, covered from top to toe in dust eating soup like a tramp and watching these other bedraggled souls staggering in with their airline trays of food. Still lots of laughter and great spirit throughout the tent, and food has rarely tasted better.

We simply had a great time every day, one way or another, whether it was battling across the desert, insisting on getting every border guard to smile before leaving their country, being overtly cheerful to Russian policemen to the point where they would finally give up trying to give us a hard time, or just cruising along enjoying beautiful views and returning waves to endless groups of supporters along the road. We have had thousands of photos taken of us and have got rather used to being Z list celebrities. London in my Golf is going to be a rude awakening...

Final tip for anyone who may do this themselves - choose your co-pilot, or as I like to call him, sack of potatoes, very carefully. I have had the best natured superstar you could hope for and we have talked, laughed and rocked our way across the world without a bad moment. Unbeatable.