The last day was the same as usual. Up very early, tunnel crossing, long haul up the motorway, unpack the van at home , drive it down to the unit to clean it (it was going out later that day we found out on our drive back up) and home to sort everything out, ready for work to tomorrow.
We really needed this holiday; it should have been in the summer, but with all the hassle and stress with our van conversion, we've had to delay it twice. Normally it takes us 3 or 4 days to relax into holiday mode but this time it took about 10 days, indicative of the stress we've both been under this year, perhaps without realising it. But, still, we had a lovely time. It was a mixture of weather, early wind and rain and then the odd night or day of rain. But also lots of unseasonally warm sunshine; in fact last night was so warm we had the roof lights open all night, unheard of in the past. Next year we've talked about carrying straight on when leaving the tunnel in Calais, perhaps explore some of Belgium and Germany. It'll be good to see some other countries and get to know how they treat and accept (or not) campervans.
Travelling in our own van is definitely something we still want to do and it'll be good when we can finally load him up and get away for a few small trips, adapting to the storage and living space and making him our own. Renting vans is like renting a house - it achieves the aim but it's not until you have your own and can put your stamp on it do you realise how much better it can be.
