Day 81

Our final day drive in our car and we will soon find ourselves back in our normal routine. Without any time-checks and without a route book to follow, the drive from England back to Germany actually seems boring and awkward. It is of course a relief to be finished with our journey - 80 days is a very, very long time on the road - but at the same time we miss passing by or being overtaken by the classic cars we have become so familiar with. And for short moments, we sometimes believe to recognize them in some other cars passing by. The last of the 80-day-cars we see is Do's white Jaguar driving to the train at the channel tunnel, probably on his way back to Belgium.
At 970 kms, it is one of our longest drives ever and as we go along we can't wait to reach our destination - more than ever before - okay, well except for that occasion where I had fever in the car and it was between 40 and 50 degrees Celsius outside. After dawn we finally arrive and there is a feeling of euphoria that we have now completed our task: Around the World in 80 Days in our Mercedes 190 from 1956.

On the way to the channel tunnel

Driving from West to East in France, revisiting the same northern route we took yesterday and at the beginning of our journey.

The Eurotunnel is very convenient and there is no need for reservation or long waits - we can only recommend it. Funnily enough though, having passed so many exotic borders without being searched, at the British border control we get checked out and searched for explosives. So much for common wisdom that terrorists would choose inconspicuous cars.

Somewhere in the Alsace, we catch a glimpse of the Black Forest. The sun has already set.