Farewells, Filler & Fingers Crossed
By the time Saturday rolled around, the adventure had shifted gears once again.
The sightseeing was over. Instead, it was time to look after the people who had looked after us.
One of my favourite moments came first thing in the morning. My brother-in-law needed help repairing the windscreen washers on his vintage MG and one of the tiny hoses had to be reattached. Thanks to my unusually small hands, I was able to squeeze into the impossible space and get it connected. I was ridiculously excited to be useful! It felt especially nice because Peter has taken such wonderful care of the Blue Gnu while we've been away. It was lovely to return the favour, even in a small way.
The rest of the day was spent emptying and tidying the summer house, which came complete with some very impressive resident spiders.
We stopped for lunch and were amazed to discover that while we were taking our break, my amazing sister had somehow moved all of the very heavy oak furniture back inside by herself. We still aren't entirely sure how she managed it!
Later we made a supply run into Newark, visiting a hardware store and what felt like every grocery store in town before finally discovering the one we'd been searching for all along.
Waitrose.
Hooray!
Back at the house, we embraced a wonderfully uneventful evening and mostly did... well... not very much.
After the pace of the previous month, it was perfect.
Sunday became repair day.
We spent most of it filling what felt like hundreds of holes in the summer house with wood filler. It was surprisingly fiddly work with all the furniture already back inside, and often required teamwork to avoid making an even bigger mess.
Eventually we declared victory.
One decision turned out to be unexpectedly brilliant. I wore a face mask while filling all the holes It helped beat the heat., as it was wonderfully cool the whole time making the job much more peaceful and comfortable.
Another unexpected travel tip!
With the summer house finished, we gave the Blue Gnu one last check-over before tucking it into its temporary home. It looked happy there, and we hope we'll be back to wake it up for another adventure before too long.
Monday morning it was finally time to leave.
After breakfast we were lucky enough to get a lift into Newark station. Our train was delayed, because apparently one more travel cliché was required before the trip officially ended, but eventually we made our way into London and, after a couple more trains, arrived at our friend Bruno's beautiful home.
We spent a lovely evening with him and his wonderfully creative family, enjoyed delicious food, and had one last excellent night's sleep before flying home.
Tuesday morning was delightfully relaxed. We are now trying to hatch a brand new adventure before this one had even officially ended.
The Yukon. - we will see if it can happen as forest fires and smoke might make it not possible.
Fingers crossed we'll make that happen one day.
As I write this, we're sitting at the airport waiting to board.
If all goes well, smooth skies are ahead.
Looking back, it's hard to believe everything we managed to pack into this trip.
We drove through 14 countries, crossed countless borders, caught ferries, trains and trams, met new friends, reunited with old ones, explored castles, museums and old towns, hid from rain, hid from heat, slept in some spectacular places, and discovered that the Blue Gnu is an even better travelling companion than we'd remembered.
More than anything, though, we'll remember the people.
Everywhere we went, someone made us feel welcome.
That's what we'll carry home with us.
Until next time, Europe.
