Distance travelled: 421 miles – Time: 0845 – 1735

Whizzing past German vineyards in autumnal hues near Annweiler

A big day’s drive ahead we set off full of excitement with the prospect of seeing our much missed and beloved children in just one day’s time. Murray had not seen them since mid August when they were last in Islamabad and for me when I had deposited them at their respective schools at the beginning of September. We were feeling keenly that we would not see Zara. She was well ensconced in Edinburgh in her first term at university.

It was a national holiday in Austria and so we were expecting the roads out of Salzburg and into Germany to be clear of commuters. We had not bargained on the German authorities causing massive delays and queues on account of road works and customs checks – not the efficiency of a gross national generalisation we were expecting! Taking advantage of more national generalisations by not queuing with everyone else, Murray saw an opportunity to come off the motorway at the service station slip road next to the border control and nip back on ahead of the queue. Genius! It must have saved us at least an hour of queuing.

Through the Austrian-German border, evading a rigorous customs check, and on to the open roads.

The road works on the German autobahn were frequent and frustrating. Channelling the traffic to single lanes from three every 50 – 100 km or so made for a long day’s drive. Half way into the morning we received a call from my father to say that they had had a major plumbing disaster in the French house which meant we would probably have to abort our plans of meeting them with the children as they would have to return to the UK that afternoon. We were all utterly devastated and despondent at this news. All planning on both sides, and the driving since our stasis in Baku had been made so that we could all spend some time together at the end their half term holiday.

The next few hours were spent with us scouring booking.com and airBNB to find alternative accommodation in Le Touquet for my father and his partner, Lindy, who were desperately trying to fix the burst pipe in the kitchen. With the much appreciated help of their neighbour, and multiple trips to the local plumbers’ merchant, the pipe was eventually fixed and to our joy and relief the plans were back on track!

We reached Luxembourg just before 5p.m. Finding our hotel on the outskirts of the city we then headed into a very foggy Luxembourg centre and thence to the Palais de Chine restaurant devouring a much craved Peking duck. Bliss! Great food and delicious wine.

This is what the Golden Lady really looks like! (Courtesy of an internet derived photo)

Luxembourg on a foggy night! Armed with our basic ‘burner’ phone we managed a few atmospheric photos: the stunning Monument of Remembrance topped by the Gëlle Far – the Golden Lady; the Grand Duchesse Charlotte and ethereal spires.