Our night in Loches turned out to be our last night in a campsite on this journey. It was a rather cool and wet night and we retreated to Brenda’s basic comfort and warmth to watch an episode of ‘True Detective’. The episode was called ‘Who Goes There’ in which the search for Reggie Ledoux leads the detectives Martin and Rust to a motorcycle gang called ‘The Iron Crusaders’, for whom Rust worked undercover in the past. As Rust manages to persuade the gang he’s bona fide and to take him deep into the heartland of a drug gang’s territory, all hell breaks loose and the noise level shoots up a few decibels. Just as we think we should perhaps turn the volume down, loud thumps on the side of the van make us jump. “Fermez ceci!” (Turn that off) says an angry voice in the dark. We open the side door to see a grey haired man a bit older than us starting to walk away. “D’accord on va baisser” (OK we’ll turn it down) we say. “Pas baisser, il faut fermer ca. Ou vous vous croyez?”. (No, you’ve got to turn it off. Where do you think you are?) We turned it off – it was nearly the end anyway and we’d seen it before but only realised half way through. But it left us feeling a bit embarrassed at being told off for anti-social behaviour after 3 months of campervanning but also slightly annoyed – surely he could have asked in a nicer way, we’re all reasonable people, and there was a touch of the ‘you can’t behave like that here, you’re not in England now you know’ in his tone.
We crossed the Pays de la Loire and arrived in the Morbihan region of Brittany in the late afternoon. The plan had been for us to house and cat-sit for Judith’s sister Lynne and brother-in-law Graham during the whole of September but there was a change of plan and Flavio took a flight back to the UK from Rennes on the 2nd September both to see his mother and to attend a wedding, and Judith followed in Brenda via St Malo on the 10th.
Back in Evas, Brenda gets a thorough valet service.
Tucking into a comforting dinner of bangers and mash.
Sasha, one of the two Afghan cats we were supposed to look after decides to camouflage itself.
While the other, Anoushka, pretends to be a hedgehog.
On our daily trips to the boulangerie..
We enjoy the agricultural landscape.
Saint-Laurent-sur-Oust, next door to Evas.
Saint-Jacques airport, Rennes.
Our friends’ Matthew and Abigail’s wedding in Burnham on the 4th September was delightful and we wish them every happiness. Matt took over from Flavio as Middle East Regional Director at Macmillan when he retired in February and Flavio was very relieved to leave the regional business in such expert hands. He was also very grateful to have had such a great send-off organised by Matt in London in April and with the Cairo team in Cairo earlier – as well as others by the Palestinians in Ramallah and by the Saudis at the London Bookfair. It was lovely to see Matt and Abi on their big day and to wish them well and a very happy honeymoon (a thoroughly deserved full month) in Italy.
Matt and Abi signing the register.
A truly joyous and fun day!
Very glad to have been there.
Abi and Matt looking like the truly perfect couple.
Flavio’s farewell at Macmillan in London in April.
And the beautiful and very thoughtful gift of an antique map of the Middle East organised by Matt.
And with the Macmillan Egypt team in Cairo in January.
The send-off by the Palestinian MoE in Ramallah in February.
And by the Saudi MoE at the London Bookfair
With ex-Macmillan colleagues in Oxford in May.
This may not be of any direct relevance to the journey but it was a prelude to it. After the decision to retire and therefore leave Cairo we discussed what we should do next and came up with the idea of a 3-month trip around Europe to act as an interlude between full-time work and retirement and to give us time to think about what to do next. Coming back to attend Matt’s wedding seemed to round things off nicely as he was such an important part of my last few months with Macmillan and indeed made my leaving so much easier and less stressful.
Travels with our van 
A truly lovely rounding-off of the journeying.
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Thanks very much Richard. There should be one more post really as I joined Judith on her arrival in Portsmouth so we could do the final leg back in Brenda together!
Went to the Lido the Sunday before last but didn’t see you there. Might see you next Sunday?
All the best. F.
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Flavio, I should be there this Sunday so, hopefully, catch up with you then.
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Hi Richard, sorry I didn’t make it last Sunday or today! We’re currently in Ireland so possibly see you next week (are you doing the Lido-Serpentine-Lido run/swim?) Best, F.
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I don’t think I’ll manage the Lido-Serpentine run/swim, but will see you at the lido sometime soon (I’m there most weeks). Meanwhile, hope Ireland goes well.
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OK, thanks Richard. Take care, F.
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So you’re back at home at long last? It’s been wonderful traveling with you, and I’m sure much less stressful for me than it has been for you! I hope you’ll keep in touch…mostly because I’m pretty sure neither of you is going to wind up in a barcolounger watching reruns of anything…even if it doesn’t disturb your English neighbors. Take care! (Don’t kill your sheep in the street this year–it’s a hefty fine if you get caught.)
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Hi Bonnie, thanks very much for your kind words as always. And thank you so much for being one of our most ardent followers! It’s really meant a lot. Yes of course we must keep in touch – there’s FB of course etc and I’m sure we’re going to come back to Cairo for a visit over the coming year. At the moment, we’re just concentrating on getting our house back in some sort of order and there’s a bit of re-decorating to do. Hope the new rules re foreign residents haven’t affected you and Debbie too much – or, as is likely, were never implemented? Yes, the sheep slaughter – not missing that this year, that’s for sure. You’ve got the nice autumn season to look forward to in Cairo, which is always nice. All the very best, F&J
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Sad that your trip has come to an end,I followed you all the way,I should have commented more,but as it was so nice,I never felt the need to do so.
I was astonished at the standard of some of the places you you went to,like campsites,restaurants and that lonely pub. Travels in Ireland are not so bad after all. Is Catherine coming to Cairo? Love to you both xx
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Thank you Maigread, it’s been a privilege to have you as a loyal follower! Judith says she replied to you separately re your other points so you’ll know that Catherine actually got a job as a teacher in Seville and she’s there now and enjoying it. As for us, we’re now in a place called Midleton, not far from Cork, where Simon and his girlfriend Lucy are both doing MA/MSc courses. You’ll have seen the photos of Killarny we posted a couple of days ago – beautiful! Such a friendly place, Ireland – we went for a quick half pint of Murphy’s last night and ended up being dragged off our seats to the dance floor. Not allowed to be just a spectator here! Some friendly jibes about Ireland beating Italy in the rugby! Hope we can get together next time you’re in the UK .. or the next time we’re in Cairo! Hope all going well with you, Fiona and Leon. Lol, xx
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