Sunday 2nd November

I am, believe it or not finally getting used to it, the journey.  Waking at three and making up the thermos flasks of hot water, and packing sandwiches and last minute rubbish clearance and tidying up.  We set off at four, the old familiar run through Fonroque, Sigoules, Ruffinaque and via Bergerac airport the long road up to Perigeux, then motorway to Brives La Gaillard, our first stop.  My partner sleeps in the back of the car and I go for a coffee and croissant then have a sleep myself.  By this time it is about 7.30 and the sun is just coming up, lots of fog lying low in the valleys all around, the hilltops appearing like mist out of a milky sea.  Eventually morning sunshine breaks through as we pass Limoges.  On and on the long motorway to Orleans and crossing the Loire we see the twin towers of the cathedral.  A few more stops on the way and eventually we are on the outskirts of Paris and on the roads leading to the Perepherique, the various motorways snaking into each other, sometimes eight or nine lanes wide.  A glimpse of the Eiffel Tower and Montmatre up on its hill.  Our trusty sat-nav keeps us on track, bearing left then right as we cross first the railway tracks of Gare de Lyon, then the Seine, then more railway tracks of the Gare D’Est.  Eventually we are heading out of Paris and towards Charles De Gaulle Airport where planes take off and land right above your head, the runway straddling the motorway to Lille.  We get o Calais ahead of time and are re-booked onto an hour earlier train, into the Pet Reception to have our dogs microchips and passports checked.  Then Border control, the French standing around moodily but ignoring us and the Brits scowling and making us wait while they pore over our passports.  Terrorists, Isis or Immigrants – who knows, but they take their time.   Then onto the train and a chance to sleep again.  England and driving now on the Left, darkness now and we cross the Thames at Dartford and slowly come back through Dagenham and Barking and City Airport and Canary Wharf.  About 16 hours door to door, with at least three hours asleep or at various Aires walking the dogs, eating sandwiches and drinking tea.

Tired but not exhausted we unload the car and order a takeaway and make tea.  Shave and shower and bed. Home again.