8 May 2025 – The Final Leg

Miles driven today = 134

Total Miles to date = 5,751

We’re home!  We’ll head back up to our primary abode in Yorkshire next week but for now we are back at my place in Suffolk where we started this trip and the van is safely deposited at my Mum’s a few miles up the road.  It’s her 97^th birthday tomorrow so there will naturally be plenty of time spent with her then, but for now it was great to see her in such fine fettle.  She really is an absolute marvel for her years.

We were up early in order to be packed and on the road by 8am so we pootled along the coast to Escalles at Cap Blanc Nez before heading inland to the Le Shuttle Terminal at Coquelles.  We were booked on the 9:46 train but were given the option of taking the 9:16, which we gladly accepted.  After passport control the van was checked for stowaways and to ensure the gas was turned off and despite our earlier departure we still found ourselves first in line with only a solitary coach sneaking onto the train before us.  

So we were back in Kent before 9am UK time and were soon thudding our way up the horrible concrete surface of the M20.  There was minimal delay through the Dartford Tunnel and after a quick break at Thurrock Google Maps decided the A13 / A130 was our quickest option so we sampled the delights of Basildon en-route.  Our only delay was just a few miles from home where verge trimming caused a huge tailback.

We’ll give the van a really good clean out over the next couple of days so we removed pretty much everything that doesn’t belong in there permanently before taking it over to my Mum’s.  We’re also going to have to spend a fair amount of time getting the garden in order before we head North.  We’ve missed all the Spring bulbs doing their thing but I was delighted to see that we’ve made it back in time to see our wisteria in full bloom.  Lisa was rather more interested in getting herself reacquainted with using a microwave.  Sometimes our priorities differ a little.