The voyage home

The weirdest thing about the voyage home is that we reached the front door at first direct exactly 7 days and 12 hours after we'd left - we pulled up at 1900 this evening. But how did we get back? read on...

When we got up the weather was good. It was warming up, there were clouds but blue sky was visible and there was no sign of rain. We managed to get our tents away and the car packed by 0830. Some of the teams had left earlier - 2 at 0500 - and so we said our goodbyes to the only people left on the site who were awake and visible - Carol and Michelle - and trotted off back down the A9.

We had started the day with half a tank of petrol, and the idea was to basically stop for more where we ran out. Luckily, by the time we'd done the 120 miles to Perth we hadn't run out and along the way I managed to get a bit of heather, as I'd been promising myself all week.

As we came in to Perth we found a handy Asda to fill up at, and got a MacDonalds for breakfast. Unhealthy, I know, but it was my last chance and I wasn't going to let it pass...

Once fuelled, we headed through Perth. The traffic was mental - it put Carlisle to shame - but once through we headed for the Borders with the wind at our backs and a need to get back to Leeds.

Once at the borders, it rained. Well, it didn't rain much - just in between the showers, as the saying goes. But unfortunately due to the rain we couldn't enjoy the A68 as much as we wanted to.

Eventually we got past Newcastle and into Washington for a one hour rest and food (and loo) stop at Paul's Dad's house, then it was out onto the A19 down to Boroughbridge and across to Ripon, before heading back to Leeds.

Which brings us back to the introduction. We arrived at the front door, had our picture taken by a colleague, hauled Paul's stuff out of Dennis and into his car. On the way home, both of us were at the same roundabout, when Paul wound down the window of his Astra and proclaimed "it's like driving a ******* truck!"

Both of us have really enjoyed this event. Our thanks go to Terry and Linda for the organisation, and all the other LEJOGgers for giving us such a warm welcome and a fun filled week. Barry definitely stands out for "are we nearly there yet?" and of course "oo-ooh, Pat!" (as does Lotty). Officer Crabtree (you know who you are) stands out for his inability to avoid objects to the front, but I don't hold that against him. Bootlight also stands out for being a bit of a bridge at the beginning of the run between us northerners and the southerners making up the rest of the event.

Now I just have to persuade t'missus to let me come on next year's. There is going to be another next year, isn't there, Terry?