Getting Home

 The catch up continues as we get closer to the return of Bekir and Halil! Let's get to it.

Maisie was so filthy by this time

I had to treat myself to a Chinese

The Whisky I bought on Islay

Professionally packed boot

Mum loves her new chair

Dad's grave

After dropping Ryan at the station I went for a quick visit to the studio and then dropped past my mate John for a cuppa and a lovely chat sat in the sun in his back garden. Soon enough however I was back on the road and heading down south towards my mum's house. The plan was to stay a few days, get Maisie repacked and just chill before continuing my trip as unfortunately I couldn't head directly home. Maisie was absolutely filthy by this time, a month on the road will do that. I pulled everything out of Maisie into my Mum's front room (she was not actually home when I arrived, so that gave me a chance to get this done before she saw the mess I made) and then I spent a while packing everything back into Maisie which went very well. I even had some spare space! One of the items I'd brought from Bulgaria and left on my way past earlier in the trip was a gift for my mum - a swinging chair that matches one we have that she loves. With my repacking done I spent some time assembling it and since then she's had it blow away, fall apart, and also has had some lovely time sat on it. Soon enough it was time to move on, however, and I headed down towards the New Forest but made time to stop at the cemetery to see my Dad's grave. I do miss him.

A New Forest Pony having a roll

Memorial to the Royal Airforce in the New Forest

A robin came to say hello

Ryan driving (piloting?) his boat

Sun sets over the marina

Probably the best playground in the world

A StuG III

Yes, it's Fury!

Pitched up at Roundhill

This is where I camped with my dad when I was 11

I had planned to camp at the campsite where I had my first ever camping experience with my Dad (Roundhill) however when I called to book they had a problem with the toilets so I booked into another campsite which was really nice, but didn't have the memories. One good thing, however, was that just round the corner was the New Forest Airfields Memorial for WW2 so I strolled across some fields and spent some time looking around before going back to the tent to cook and sleep. The next day I headed over to Ryan's boat as our plan was to go for a sail before our trip the next day. Unfortunately, even though the boat was put back in the water after its maintenance without any problems it proved completely impossible to get any fuel so we just stayed in marina and chilled out. A shame, but it was great to finally get to see the boat. The next day we drove over to Bovvington Tank Museum and had an absolute blast taking loads of time walking around slowly and seeing every tank they had. I do love that place and I took MANY more pictures than I've put here. After this day out I dropped Ryan back to his boat then went over to Roundhill - yes they had managed to fix their toilet issues so I was able to spend my last night in the UK camping where I stayed with my dad. Brilliant! I took a stroll around the campsite and found the place where we first camped and had a great time remembering happy memories.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang out for a drive

Sitting in an early car

Beautiful Mercedes

Mr Bean's Mini

This art was so creative and clever

Cooking dinner at a services

The next morning I packed up the camp and headed a few miles from the campsite to Beaulieu Motor Museum. This was also a trip down memory lane as that first ever camping trip my dad and I did, we walked from Roundhill to Beaulieu only to find that the power was out so we were let in for half price. Shortly after, the power returned. This time I didn't get in half price but I spent many hours walking around slowly until I was exhausted, looking at everything that I possibly could. Even so I didn't exhaust all there was to see there - that place is incredible and worth a trip (though the ride on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at I think it was £100 per person was a bit steep!). I had lunch of fish and chips half way through my tour and walked all around and into most of the buildings and saw every car on display. Once I had no more energy I headed out to Maisie and got on the road towards Dover, though I diverted up to near Reading as there were road works and I really needed a few supplies so I dropped into the supermarket there. I had dinner in a services and made it to the ferry in plenty of time, getting over to the mainland and driving until I got to Belgium before parking in a services and sleeping in the car.

So good to see Cis and his family again

The sun rises as I head home

Beautiful Austrian Alps

Truck crash in cloudy Bulgaria

The next morning I was up and drove over to see my mate Cis for a BBQ. I was very early so found a secluded carpark in the village near him and read for a couple of hours before finally arriving, having a shower, then a lovely BBQ with his family and some of their friends. It was a very nice afternoon indeed and great to get the opportunity to see him again. I then headed back to a hotel near my work as I was in the office on the Monday for one day only which was great as I didn't open my laptop up at all. I stayed in the hotel again that night (and had a really nice meal with Stefan, one of my colleagues) but was up super early, about 4am, to start driving home. I missed the traffic around Brussels which was my aim and then decided to take a different route home to usual, going via the Austrian Alps, Serbia, Herzegovina and a few other countries I can't remember now. It was a very fast trip home (though very expensive with tolls) and I took only a few pictures the entire way, sleeping in the car for about 4 hours total and making it back in less than 30 hours including that sleep time. It was so good to be home!

So there it is. I'll do another couple of blog posts to capture interesting things that have gone on at home since, but mainly that is me caught up I think. Thanks for reading.