Last day on the road dawns in sunny Douai. We have a mid-day tunnel booking, so can afford a leisurely breakfast here, and top up with cheaper French diesel. The 'places' option on the photo app on my iPhone now shows a string of pins outlining our route over the last month.
There is even a pin near our furthest point, out above the Marina di Ravenna, where I swam in the Adriatic. We have only 25 miles to go before we hit 2500 miles for the trip. I hate to think how much we have spent at garage and supermarket forecourts, but we did manage to avoid the service pumps in Italy.
F texted giving us the choice of home cooking or an Indian for supper tonight - well torn. Other than a bit of salami we have eaten well, but the food has been quite plain so curry is very tempting, but having said that a proper home-cooked meal from a proper hob! Luxury.
I reckon I have only worn about half the clothes I brought (by volume) as I don't think I even took the fleeces out of the bag, but that's the sort of thing you have to bring in case (and I was thinking that one of the others might use them if we got very cold or wet).
I try to empty my Post Office Euro Travelcard, so walk into town to use the servicetill. It is a sunny morning, and I take a bit of time whilst the boys shower to explore and see what the towers we saw on the way in might be. One seems to be a Town Hall type of building.
Not wishing to downplay the civic aspirations of the residents and Mayor of Douai, but I'm reminded of Trumpton. I wonder if I ought to wait until the clock strikes the hour to see if a couple of figues come out near the top.
The Travelcard has been an excellent idea - being able to top it up each day with a text from my phone, and also able to check the balance. I have put as little on the card I can this morning so that I can withdraw a round number of Euros and leave the minimum amount on the card, but it doesn't work. I think I must have omitted the fee for using an ATM in my calculations. Poo.
The other tower is a large Church, and I take some photos of other buildings in the morning sunshine - the not unusual northern European mix of old fashioned and more modern attempts at futuristic (but which now look the more dated).
This one is off Thunderbirds, I think.
My stroll round means I cross and re-cross the canal.
We load up and hit the road by 10:30, and make good time to Calais, stopping only for diesel and a snack. We reach the terminal by 11:50 (avoiding the temptation of the hypermarkets) and the automated check in books us on the 12:36 crossing - an hour earlier than we had booked.
However, the Customs checks and passport control queues mean we got straight onto the train without time to see if they have any Breton Cidre in the duty free, or use the loo. We try to work out why they focus attention on swabbing door handles and window surrounds on the cars. Explosives, apparently.
Getting on the Tunnel from Howard Jameson on Vimeo.
UK-side we hit Maidstone Services, as is now a bit of a tradition, for a Costa Coffee and a sandwich. A lovely old Maserati Bora in orange circles the car park looking for a space. I stroll across to try to find it to take a photo, but as I draw near the man has got out and is changing his shirt, and I don't want to look like a perv.
The M25 proves to be very slow and we lost most of the hour we had gained on the crossing. Back at the Farm F is still out to lunch with an old friend because we are earlier than I had said we would be, so we empty the Landy of everything and sort out the bits of camping kit we would need for Soul Survivor. A gyrocopter flew over, like Little Nelly from 'You only live twice'.
T and I try to work out the last time we had a proper mug of tea. We empty the swearbox. We had hoped this would pay for a final round of ice-creams, but it fell into disuse after a day or so and only contains five 20p pieces and a 50 cents coin - I think I put all this in on behalf of my co-passengers.
We have a stonking home-made lasagne for supper, and then F and I walk the dog. The English summer seems to have come north with us.
F drives the final stretch back to Winsley. We leave around 8 so we can be up bright and early tomorrow to tow the caravan to Soul Survivor...but that's another story.
Miles today - 266.
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