We’re back.  We arrived at about half ten, unloaded, and went our seperate ways.  I’ll give the Espace this, it was a lot faster than DYK even if it was lacking in style.  Amazingly they seem to have constructed a large number of ‘Private Roads’ between Kent and York that certainly weren’t there on the way down.

I’m now sat in my flat having had a beer, and getting ready to put the nails in the coffin of the trip.

A big thanks again to our sponsors, and also to everyone who’s followed our progress along the way.  Keep an eye on the site as there’s more to come, and we have to start planning for next year….

We’re back on the road again in our new transport, a Renault Espace. It’s large and comfortable and is capable of going more than twice as fast as DYK. Tom is now ‘making time’.

We established what was wrong (see the post mortem here) no thanks to the RAC, who - when they heard what was wrong - decided that they wouldn’t send out a mechanic, just a recovery truck to take us to a garage. We drove there even with a knackered steering assembly, but thanks for the kind offer.

Finally DYK drove proudly onto the breaker’s van which then drove off taking our valliant steed on its final journey.

The final leg of our journey will be completed thanks to Enterprise who will be picking us up in about an hour.

That’s it.  It’s over.  DYK is no more.  The car breaker has been called, and our journey will be completed in a hire car. Enterprise Rent-A-Car are picking us up at 4pm and taking us back to Dover to complete the paperwork, and then it’ll be a leisurely trundle up the motorway to York.

If anyone at any of our workplaces is reading this, we’re likely to be a bit tired tomorrow.  Cut us some slack.  We’ve just lost a beloved friend.

Having been effectively abandoned by the RAC (cancel your policies now everyone) we are nursing the taxi to a garage to see if anything can be done.

Bang.

“What was that?”

“I don’t know but there’s more slack in the steering now.”

It seems that the last few milimeters of steel left on the penultimate bolt holding the steering rack in place had sheered. Looking at the remains it’s a stone cold miracle it hadn’t gone before.

Yes, we’re back in the country, but don’t let’s get ahead of ourselves. We’re all grubby northerners, by birth or employment, and we still have the same distance to go today as we had yesterday.

Fortunately we’re feeling considerably fresher today. We’ve greatly enjoyed the warm hospitality, Chez Saunders. It was nice to sleep indoors and not to be awoken by the sun attempting to cook us inside our tents. We will leave shortly having eaten and drunk our fill. Thanks Mr and Mrs Saunders!

Now I’ve got a wired connection I can post these two videos I took at about six in the morning. I was trying to get a sound recording of the Audis but it would have been hard convinvcing people that there was actually a car going past, so I’ve got video to prove it.  (You’ll really need to turn the sound right up to appreciate these fully.)

• Pescarolo at Tetra Rouge
• Audi at Tetra Rouge

We’re back. There were problems. Aside from the problem with wheels trying to fall off that you already know about, we were also short of time. We made the ferry with just minutes to spare, and anyone who asked for couscous or duck in a jar from the hypermarche is going to be sorely disappointed, because sadly, we had no time.

There was excitement at the end of the ferry journey when Tom managed to lose the keys. Plum. A deck hand found then and gave them to Chris, who, having not driven the taxi before, almost reversed into the poor people behind us. No harm done, though. Chris’s cat-like skills saved the day. Since then we’ve been in the pub for a couple, and now we’re at Orde’s parents’ house, enjoying a warm welcome and looking forward to the opportunity to sleep indoors.

There’s food on the go, so I’m off. Chris looked hungry, so I need to act quickly.