Day 101 – to Bampton Grange

I sat down to some dinner last night on the Channel coast and it was windy and wild. In a flash of inspiration I changed my crossing from 8.20 am to 4.20 am, and had an early night. There was no charge to move it to that unsociable time of the night.

I was up just after 2.30 am, at the terminal for 3. There was very few other vehicles around. Rather frustratingly, when I got to the French police for passport stamping the guy just stamped it and passed it back. I actually said to him that I had been away for longer than my allocation, to which he replied that the police weren’t interested. It’s frustrating of course, because I went to the trouble and expense of getting an add-on 90 days in Sweden, when it seems I didn’t need to. I do expect that will change next year when it becomes electronic.

There were 10 other vehicles on the train only. I left Folkestone terminal at 3.55 am, and the benefit of my early morning was the lack of traffic on the M25, though there was more than I expected. I also got through the M42 without traffic, though to my luck, I needed to take the toll road, as the M6 had a 50 minute delay.

The enjoyment of the journey was greatly assisted by a podcast, which I certainly recommend, The Coming Storm from BBC. The first 6 episodes are particularly compelling. It’s about QAnon and the plot to break reality. It begins with the presenter becoming aware of a book, a dark fantasy written in the 15th century about witches and a conspiracy with the devil. Thanks to the invention of the printing press, the book went viral, and sparked an orgy of misogynistic violence amid the social upheaval of the transition to the modern world. The question is, with the internet, is history about to repeat itself.

I was home just after 10.30 am, via the supermarket, and an hour or so before the forecast storm, which meant I could get a lap in around the suspension bridge with Roja before the rain became torrential.

I had predicted 7000 miles, but had a couple of add-ons so altered that midway through the trip to 7300, and finished 60 miles ahead of that. I shall forbid myself, to freshen my outlook, for planning the next trip for a couple of weeks. It’s always great to be home, even on such a wild, windy and wet November afternoon.