I had a big ah-ha moment on Friday when I realised that I was resisting blogging about coming home because I was so reluctant to come home. Then I ended up getting out of bed at 1.30am to write the darned thing… and then I left it another couple of days before I could bring myself to tackle my late night ramblings and make them a little more coherent… So here goes:
It was a bittersweet homecoming indeed. Whilst it was wonderful to see so many of our friends at the rally and to be greeted with a wealth of warmth and hugs, it was sad to know that we were nearing the premature end to this first chapter of our travels.
We were asked the first of many questions along the lines of, “Hey, it’s great to see you, but what are you doing back here? We thought you were going away for years!”.
This was something we were to get used to hearing a lot over the next few months.
The rally itself was great fun, but also not without its ups and downs. As so often happens in early October, the weather was surprisingly warm and sunny. It was also seasonably windy, very windy, which meant that the huge bonfire that was usually lit at around midnight on the Saturday could not be – the club running the rally made the sensible decision not to light it as the wind would have blown hot embers straight over the tents in the camping field, which would have been less than ideal.
It was a great shame as one of the joys of this rally in the past had been to enjoy a good old sing song around the campfire with friends. The upside was that we had a slightly earlier night than we would have had otherwise, so every windy cloud has a silver lining.
We were slow to pack up on the Sunday (that reluctance was manifesting itself again), and we ended up with the last tent still standing. The club were busy with clearing and cleaning the site, and a couple of them stopped by for a last natter.
Finally we dragged ourselves away and headed for home.
We had been away for 2 months, had ridden 3,354 miles through 5 countries and 2 principalities, enjoyed countless twisty turny roads, and more ups and downs than you can shake a stick at.
Our trip may have been temporarily delayed, but boy, what a ride so far!
Wed'n'Fled: The Longest Honeymoon 
Sarah, I’m so looking forward to Phase 2, I wonder if you’re going to share some of the planning with us or just surprise us one day with an update from your first service station en route to…?
Oh Marion, we have made so many plans that we’ve had to change over the last year that it’s become a bit of a joke… We’ve given up on the planning for now and are just enjoying throwing around ideas, so when we get back on the road we’re likely to be as surpised about where we’re en route to as you are!
Sarah
I love this phrase: “so every windy cloud has a silver lining.” Blog artistry.
Thanks Judith, that’s a lovely thing to say x
You can never plan for the unexpected can you. You’ve made different memories than the ones you expected to make. Those ones are still to come in Phase 2 x