Ann cooked us bacon and eggs for breakfast this morning and then we drove into Swindon to pick up the hire car that we have got for the next 2 days – we decided this was the simplest way to get to the airport. On the way into Swindon, Ann took us through the Magic Roundabout which is an intersection that consists of a big roundabout with 5 smaller roundabouts inside it. Ian has heard of it in engineering circles and was keen to see how it worked. The idea is that you go into the big roundabout from either direction but then go through each of the small roundabouts the correct way! We got through the Magic Roundabout without any mishaps and found our way to the car hire place. Our hire car is another Hyundai i800 van so once more we have done well with getting a bigger car than the one we chose and paid for and it means we have plenty of room for us and all of our bags. We drove in convoy back to Chris’s and loaded up the van. It has been so great to have the use of Chris’s car for the last week and to have the use of her home to use as a base and to also save us on accommodation costs. Tonight we are staying with Susan and Chris again in Brighton and then tomorrow we are going to visit Beryl (an old friend of Roy and Vera’s) who lives near Gatwick before we fly out. We said farewell to Ann and were on the road for Brighton by 1pm.
We got to Susan and Chris’s around 4pm after a smooth run along the motorways. It was lovely to see them again especially in a quieter household!! Chatted to them about all of our travels since we had seen them at Christmas and caught up with their news as well. Had dinner at home with them and the kids and went to bed about 11:30pm – our last night on British soil!