Back to England:

Again the boring trip home in a British Airways 767 that makes Qantas' oldest 767s look pristine and new! Again the usual standing in queues to enter the country, and then the scramble to find exactly where to get the bus to the rental car office. Travel itself is the worst part of travelling! We got the last cheap car on the block, a Skoda with a funny smell. But it was that or nothing so off we went towards the west this time.

Our B and B for the next two nights, Bow River House, was nothing less than superb. A newish house in a tiny hamlet called Leckhampstead in West Hampshire, it is fitted out beautifully and run by an Australian from Perth. We walked along narrow lanes to 'The Stag' pub for dinner past an old stone church and thatched roofed bungalows. A quintessential English village.

Next day was the Southern Motorhome and Camping Show at Newbury where we saw Scot and chatted about progress on our camper and where we bought the first of the bits and pieces we will need to kit out the vehicle for our future travels.

All is going well and it looks like we will be picking up the van around the 7th June.

Another night another pub, this time The Red Lion in another small hamlet called Chievely. If we keep this up, eating at pubs every night, we'll be ENORMOUS.

So now it's on to Norfolk and a week floating around in a boat on the Norfolk Broads.