Day 46 – Time to La Manche: 0930 – 1110 – Departed Calais: 1135 (UK time) – Arrival: 1430

Final trip milage: 7,002 miles between Islamabad & Palestine (Hampshire!)

Home in Hampshire!

We had one last challenge: to repack the car in order to make space for our cherubs to return to the UK with us. Our trusty chariot needed one last push to get us all home.

Until now we had carried three 20 litre jerry cans, one of which was still full with diesel brought all the way from Pakistan. These cans had been our ‘insurance’, giving us about an 800 mile range with a full internal tank. This was essential while travelling in Central Asia where diesel was either nigh impossible to get hold of or was of such poor quality it would compromise the engine. We estimated the cans’ cumulative weight was equal to that of Max(!). Filling the car with the remaining can we left all three empties in storage and took out the food box, now pretty much devoid of food and all the Army rations that had kept us going, and replaced these with the various purchases from along the way. With a very stringent repack there was now space for Charlotte (phew!) – we hadn’t bargained on the children having quite such large bags but with a squeeze and a push everything we needed, and everyone, was on board!

Always in the back of our minds was the thought, “Are we going to make it?” We were after all travelling in a 15 year old car, the provenance of which we had no notion other than that of the past two years since I had been driving it in Islamabad (was that a good thing, or a bad thing?!). It had originally come from the UK and had some service records so in those we put our trust. We were amazed that in all the miles we had travelled, and the testing terrain that we had traversed over two thirds of the journey, we still had not had a puncture. The journey was not yet over. We had another 190 or so miles to cover, and the Channel crossing – all the opportunity for a jinx was there!

Cote d’Opal countryside

Arriving at the Tunnel check in – the last border post before home!

Murray had had the foresight to book our Channel Tunnel ticket a number of days before, mindful that it was the end of half term and deemed one of the busiest days of the year. I wondered if we would have trouble bringing the car with its Islamabad Diplomatic Plates into the UK but this hadn’t been an issue so far. Having set off in surprisingly (for a Whiteside!) good time we arrived at the check-in point with a host of other travellers. It was the busiest I had ever seen it. Nevertheless we got through the queue in good time and with only a brief set of questions from the British immigration and customs officer we were through and homeward bound!!

One last train photo . . .

Well, you can’t have everything. A grey colourless sky is comfortingly familiar

(I was coerced to add this)

Half an hour in the train, anticipating our arrival finally in the UK!

Driving back on the right hand side of the road the familiarity of it all rather subdued us but we were deeply content and tinged with relief now being safely back on UK soil after all those miles. The M25 still had enormous amounts of traffic but it was flowing. The M3 was now clear of road works – good things come to those who wait! And the car was behaving, although feeling the weight going up hill.

7,000 miles on the clock!! So nearly there.

Badges of honour! Flags of all the countries we drove through.

We watched the milometer flick over the miles as simultaneously the fuel gauge dropped. Just shy of reaching 7,000 miles, the cumulative distance we had travelled since leaving Islamabad some 46 days ago and having passed through 20 countries, we made a short detour to fill up the tank. At 7,002 miles we were home!!!

The view from our home in the setting sun. A fitting sight to end our journey.

TO CONCLUDE:

With some days now behind us since we arrived home we have slotted right back into the whirl of every day life with little time yet to reflect on the totality of our trip, from its inception, to the hours of planning and eventually to getting on the road. We are tremendously grateful to our respective employers, Simon Gordon and the MoD, for granting us this time off work.

It has been a great privilege to see so many unfamiliar lands, some truly magnificent geography and to meet some extraordinary people while experiencing cultures so different to our own. That said, we still can’t understand Cyrillic script and have a dreadful ear for unfamiliar foreign languages! (I put it that Georgian was the simply the most challenging of tongues.) We did however marvel at the continued influence of the Silk Road with the migration of cultures and trade still very much in evidence from China to Europe.

We are enormously grateful to all our family and friends who have supported this endeavour not least by caring for all our children’s needs in our absence and for all the words of encouragement sent via emails and texts. Thank you to you all for your kindness and generosity and not least for indulging us by reading the account of our travels.

With our love and best wishes,

Murray and Amanda

03/11/17