31 October 2019

We are home! That’s it! The trip is done and dusted! And so are we!!

The aftermath: I lost two hats, flushed one pair of sunglasses down the loo, left a power adaptor in France and lost a phone charging cord by putting it “somewhere special” so I wouldn’t lose it.

We mistakenly cancelled our credit card half way through, thinking we had been scammed , only to realise the small amount involved was actually of our doing!! Fortunately we had back up.

There was also one parking fine, one potential speeding fine and a very, very, very flat tyre.

Which in the big scheme of things is not too bad for 8 weeks of travel.

Despite only having a basic plan, these “accidental tourists” stumbled and bumbled our way through Spain, Portugal, Spain again, France, Belgium, England and Scotland, discovering so many wonderful places and people and things.

Grahame drove close to 7430 kilometres in 2 cars (2,430 in Scotland), we travelled some of Spain in a Taxi, we’ve crossed the English Channel in an overnight ferry, putt putted approximately 257 kms on a canal boat and sat on a train from Paris to Brussels and another from Hull to Stoke-on- Trent. And of course there were 4 long plane flights via Dubai.

Special thanks to Mithyl for a great time in Portugal and Spain. And special thanks too, to John and Jude for a great time on the canals in England. We loved having Katie and Chris meet up for the Chester leg as well.

If our “no plans” plan was to visit churches and cathedrals, take stained glass window pics, find nice pubs, climb to the top of every hill in every town we visited, drive through amazing scenery and weather, lose things, see things, have some great adventures and a few mishaps , meet some truly wonderful people and one or two not so wonderful ( yes I mean you, driver behind us in toll gates, somewhere in France) , I’m sure you’ll agree we achieved everything we set out to achieve, and more.

We’ve asked ourselves regularly and have been asked already what was the best, our absolute favourite! The only answer we can come up with is that everyday was as good as the previous day. It’s impossible to pick the best. Lucky us!

It’s great to be home, to catch up with family and friends, catch up on some sleep, unpack and put clothes in drawers and on hangers, enjoy a proper shower , and drink real coffee….. and stop! For a few days at least.

Thanks to those who enjoyed the blog and said so, and thanks to those who didn’t enjoy it but didn’t say so. Thank you for coming along on this crazy ride! Hope you enjoyed it!

Time to start “not planning” our next adventure!

• Belgium
• Canals – 4 Counties Ring
• England
• France
• Home
• Islington
• Portugal
• Scotland
• Spain