Monday 23rd
Was 'going home' day.
After getting up (and guess what routine I did again ? :), and
some cookies for breakfast, we started to pack up. The evening
before Boris had already pre-packed most of his parts which also
were packed into the Van. After we were done we drove over to MTB
HQ to find they also were about ready to leave.
We said goodbye ('See you later' for some of us) to Andy and
Arnoud, who were going in different ways. The latter took MTB up
on their offer to bring some of his parts back home, enabling him
to actually use his caravan the rest of his stay in the UK :) The
rest of us left for Heathrow where we would be dropping off Boris
and Avi. Although we made good time; only made one stop for gas,
one to fix the exhaust under one of the MTB Mini's and only got
into a small traffic jam near Heathrow, my schedule was getting
rather tight by the time we got there. So after unpacking all of
Boris's stuff again and saying goodbye to everyone I set off for
Dover trying to catch my ferry home.
I must admit I might have broken the speedlimit a bit on the way,
but as a result I got to Dover in time to catch the ferry to
Calais.
The ferry-ride again wasn't one of great pleasure to me; I really
don't like these kind of ships, but I survived without getting to
sick nonetheless.
Just after getting off the ferry I spotted a couple of Austrian
Mini's stranded on the hard shoulder. I stopped to ask if they
needed any help and just as I was about to set off again Frank
& Saskia also stopped. After comparing usual cruisingspeeds
we decided to drive up together. Although Frank wanted to wait
with taking in gas till we were in Belgium (it's cheaper there
and we are Dutch afterall :), I had to stop at the next services
as I was getting rather low on fuel.
Turns out that there isn't a single service up on the motorway in
France and the first one in Belgium was some 20 miles after the
border. In short; I ran out :) Luckily though I always carry a
bit extra which just got us to the next service.
After that it was 'full speed ahead', and indeed Franks
cruisingspeed didn't differ much from mine.
So we made good time and before we knew it we were back home
again. The week had now really come to an end...