Last Lap

With the relative costs of fuel in mind we debated whether to refill the tank in France or wait until the UK. In the end we decided on a cut-off figure and went to Auchan to check - right on the borderline! So to save time in the UK we refilled anyway and as it turned out it was a tad cheaper than the UK but not a lot. Of course we had to pop into the hypermarket for "last minute" things but we were only killing time before wandering round to Citie Europe and settling in for the rest of the day. More vans joined us later until there were about 15 overnighting.

A very early start Friday morning, we didn't bother with breakfast, instead hoping for an earlier train. A good move because once we'd got Jamie's passport checked, we went straight through check-in and direct to the train for an hour early departure - excellent! Once across we stopped at the Stop 24 service area and treated ourselves to a full English so that we wouldn't have to bother about stopping for lunch.

As it happened we had an excellent run home, pausing for a comfort stop and a snack at Grantham, in nice sunshine, it only clouding over for the last hour or so. Cuppa then unload, we'll give Bertie a quick clean and wash tomorrow, ready for next weekend when we're going to Mum's for her 90th Birthday.

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Although it's been a pleasant enough trip we haven't enjoyed it as much as we usually do, probably due to having to cut it short, a couple of disappointments and the cold weather, which of course is not unusual being in Spain/Portugal a lot earlier than previous trips. We were both glad to be home.

As usual there are a couple of minor maintenance jobs to sort out before our next big venture. At the moment the plan is Italy late March/early April but there are other factors to be considered, so as they say "watch this space".