The long way home
Our final week on the road before the ninety-day clock ran out
All good things have to pause eventually. And after 5,500 miles, four ferry crossings and 12 countries, we’ve finally rolled back into Hereford - a little dishevelled, a lot wiser and with more stories than we set out with.
Forgive the cliche, but it really has been a journey in every sense. We’ve learnt how to live the three of us (plus two dogs) in a space no bigger than a bedroom. We’ve picked up scraps of vocabulary in half a dozen languages (usually ‘coffee,’ ‘three’ and ‘are you dog-friendly?’). We’ve navigated unfamiliar roads, different rules and the occasional “where even are we?” moment. And somewhere along the way, we found a new way of being together.
But Brexit’s ninety-day clock (cheers for that!) doesn’t care about road-trip magic and ours had almost run out. So we pointed Lilibet north into the cold and began the long journey home.
A whistle-stop dash back to the Channel
True to form, we didn’t take it slowly on our way back. Instead, we stayed in the warmth of La Herradura for as long as we possibly could and then pushed to northern France in three long days, covering almost the entire length of Spain in one go. Our first night on the road was spent in a car park in Aranda de Duero, which sounds bleak but turned out to be the best night’s sleep we’d had in days - just us, the dogs and the rain pattering softly on the roof.
The next morning we crossed into France and treated ourselves to a night in a hotel in Angoulême so we could drive a bit longer into the dark. After weeks of campsite showers and lukewarm van water, crisp sheets and a proper bed felt like the height of luxury.
Our final stop was the aire in Ouistreham, where we stayed for two nights right by the ferry port, while Bertie and Monty had their mandatory tapeworm treatment at a local vets. Not exactly glamorous, but those are the rules - and it was made more manageable by long beach walks in the cold wind and quite possibly the best pastries we’ve ever eaten.
Our journey wasn’t without a little drama. We were pulled over and fined just outside Madrid for not wearing our seatbelts - whoops - and met the nicest policeman in Spain. Then, in France, we somehow managed to arrive on the wrong side of a police cordon at our hotel. Nothing says ‘welcome back to civilisation’ quite like being waved through by officers who clearly thought we were lost.
The highlights of 74 days on the road
Over the past few weeks we’ve shared snippets of this adventure - the cowbells, the Slovenian lakes, the endless coffee stops, the cakes and the quiet, everyday habits that stitched our days together. If you missed any posts or want to dip back into our journey for some reason, you can find them all here:
It’s only now, sitting still for the first time in over two-and-a-half months, that I realise just how much these adventures gave us: some perspective, a hell of a lot of patience and a reminder that life expands when you step outside of your comfort zone.
A little pause
And now, as we settle back into life in Hereford for a little while, I’m going to take a short break from writing here until after Christmas. There’s some home and family stuff we need to focus on and I want to give it my full attention rather than squeezing writing into the cracks. Those of you who are paid subscribers (thank you! your support keeps me writing) will have your subscriptions paused too, of course.
Thank you so much for coming along with us on this journey. We’ll be back in a few weeks with fresh stories, clearer heads and hopefully some more adventures.
Until then - take care, stay warm and enjoy whatever small adventures find you between now and Christmas.
Louise, Mark and the gang x
I love the concept of "are you dog-friendly?" being one of the most important phrases to learn when travelling!