So, annual subscriptions to WordPress aside, as my travels for now are coming to an end, should the Underground Fox Club be forced to close for the season?

We were just starting to have fun 🦊 😉.

I’ve enjoyed writing – I hope you’ve enjoyed reading – and I’ve definitely learned some things along the way. Like how to tag posts 👍

Anyone who knows me won’t be surprised to learn that I’ve plenty more to say. Whether it needs to be said or anyone wants to listen are two different and mutually exclusive matters! I’ll definitely be doing more financial advice-related blogging/videos in the very near future and I do think there’s a lot more to be said about other things.

We are heading off now after a couple of relaxing nights in The Netherlands, with lovely food (including vegetables) and a swim.

Kitty the reliable mare now only has to get us a few more hundred miles and then we’ve cracked it and she can get patched up for her next adventure. After a little rest, of course. I’m not a monster.

Please help cheer us on. Not far to go now! Come on Kitty! 💖

Here she is having a rest last night:

Our last big drive was on Monday. We discovered that the vet in Lüneberg is an incredibly dog friendly place to pop in for a coffee, worming tablet, free processed sausage and a wee 😂. Seriously though, super nice people. I’ll find a way of tagging them somewhere soon.

So, ready for the trip from Germany to here, I had a choice of three routes on my Sat Nav. I chose the one with the fewest big cities, the map will show you but we went via Hannover rather than Hamburg and Bremen. WRONG! We were stuck in traffic for about 2 hours of our 5 hours of travelling which was very very dull. Scenery was very uninspiring although I did note that not all of those giant white windmills have little green doors. Intriguing.

Even with this discovery below (photo taken when we were stationary obvs) that Krone trucks – you’ll have to zoom – have special crown (Krone) brake lights 😍, we still struggled with boredom.

This did, however, take the edge off our delay for a good few minutes. I imagined Hello Kitty-shaped lights for the van 😍.

We eventually escaped from this lane and endless gear changes (good practice!) and made it through about 10 more sets of roadworks and then we were safely in The Netherlands.

I’ve commented on Instagram about the wildest driving experience but in case you missed it: A German car pulled up very close behind, making me nervous as she had plenty of room to overtake in the left-hand lane (and they do that very fast here). As we were approaching an exit and she then started to indicate, I relaxed. Until she moved early and drove for what seemed like minutes (but was most likely seconds) alongside me on the hard shoulder at 60mph before the exit so that she could smile and wave at me! 😳 Horrified (but most of my horror hidden behind my sunglasses) I waved back but not in a good way. No! No! What are you doing?!? – I was miming frantically as she grinned at me. It was terrifying. I’m now worried though that she went home complaining of the miserable non-smiling English woman in the pink camper 😂. Seriously though, thank goodness I didn’t need to take that exit 😳.

As an important aside, I have to wholeheartedly recommend an extremely windy petrol station at Grönegau-Nord, An der Europastraße.118, 49328 Melle. It’s on the way to Amsterdam from Hannover. Not only are the staff very friendly, the toilets are the most sparkling I’ve seen in a service station and the lighting was so flattering, I’m devastated I forgot to take a snap 😂.

The start of the journey had been cute but filled with traffic lights. A bizarre frequency of pink or part-pink isolated caravans on forest roads. Most mysterious.

Equally mysterious and yet not mysterious at the same time was the giant building by the side of the motorway with SPIES written on it in enormous letters. Idiots. It was massive. Hardly very discreet. 🧐

Monday evening turned into an evening of lovely sunlight after lots of cars and a hailstorm (😳) and it was a calm and contemplative mood for the last hour of driving. I think the dogs were still in a sausage-stupor.

It’s worth noting that at present although I can listen to a playlist from my phone through my old-school car radio, I can’t safely switch tracks while driving. I either have to tolerate them or turn the volume down (sophisticated hacks, I know). So I was fortunate to be blessed with a good shuffle just then.

This one feels appropriate and went down well. It’s worth a re-listen:

It was followed by this, which is a change in vibe; it choked me up a little, but only a little. You can’t drive while crying, I’ve tried. I don’t wish to over-dramatise or sound too much like a twoot (I’m trying very hard not to swear while blogging) but it does feel like I’m ready to come home to myself as well as The Nicest Village in the World®️.

This is a good thing. I can’t explain (you’ll know if you’ve been there) how far away from yourself you have to go when you get cancer, particularly when they remove part of you forever. This probably isn’t making sense. Anyway, it’s a lovely song anyway and I promise to try to explain sometime soon. It would help to understand.

So, we’ve been hidden away in the Dutch countryside at a hotel called Landgoed De Holtweijde; no, I can’t pronounce it either 😂 (nor have I tried) .

What they specialise in here apart from friendliness and good food is patience! So calm. Such a contrast to the place we stayed on Sunday and the same price. Most odd. I suppose each to their own. This feels like the perfect way to end quite a spectacular trip. We’re leaving now for the overnight ferry. We’re allowing plenty of time 👍🦊

As with all holidays, there are mixed feelings about coming home. I’ve very much enjoyed the freedom of being away and not booking medical appointments; so I just have to make sure I keep some of that once I get back.

I’ve found writing extremely cathartic and therapeutic so I must do more of that. In what format, I’m unsure. I have a few ideas. I’m keen to get back to the work (only a little for now) I love and the house I’m very much at home in. Can’t wait for a post-summer catch-up with the North Lopham Massive too 😜, especially now I can drink along with my fake prosecco 🤗 .

I’m definitely in need of more rest but my body feels stronger, which is a bonus. I think there’s a fear that when I stop, something might happen. While I’m moving, cancer can’t catch up. This is nonsense of course but that feeling of trying to out-run it really is hard to shift. I’ve discussed this in earlier posts, I know I’m not alone in thinking that by distracting myself, some of the painful feelings will go away.

It’s not necessarily about going at everything 100% every day, I’ve allowed more down time than you think and I’ve not been out at night at all. There is such a strong feeling that I need to keep experiencing things at a higher rate, without tiring myself out. I hope this will calm down a little but expect it won’t do for a while.

I feel reconnected to my pets (oh apart from Bunny the cat who’s probably setting all manner of booby traps around the house as I type 😂), myself, my career, The Moomins, Lego and those of you who’ve really helped me live and work through things on this trip and during the last months. Thank you. We can’t be alive unless we are connected.

Here’s to a fabulous Autumn. Cluedo Club is project number one.

See you in the UK kids, here’s to a smooth and uneventful crossing (I promise to try not cause trouble). x