Barry and Steph were kind enough to offer us a lift back to the UK in their camping car as they were returning for Christmas and New Year themselves. This opportunity allowed us to return a few unwanted boatie items and get our liferaft serviced far more cost effectively (€750 vs. £125 in the UK) - a no-brainer!

With an estimated travelling time of 4 hours to St Malo we had an early start - 4.30am! The journey ahead meant driving through a couple of large towns and we certainly didn't want to get caught in the morning rush hour.

Thankfully the roads were fine and we arrived in good time. Clearing customs was, shall we say, rather interesting... we must have looked dodgy and our answers to their questions not particularly clear (we'll all remember the moment won't we Barry :-)) but we were eventually cleared and allowed to board. Four full English breakfasts followed swiftly!

Originally we planned to catch the train from Portsmouth to Cheltenham however by the time we analysed all the options we actually found it more cost effective to hire a car one way to Cheltenham including a stay overnight at Premier Inn.

Making use of the Enterprise 'we'll pick you up' service, we had transport arrive early the next morning and after a brief meet with Barry & Steph to transfer our items we were on the motorway making our way back home.