[FLYING BANANA]

........................................ Once the cars were loaded onto the ferry. John said he felt a whole better, thinks he may have had a touch of food poisoning. But he insisted that he was driving and didn't need us stay with him. He would catch up with us at our stopping point in Kilmington.
Keith and Annette would be Surrey bound once off of the ferry so we wished them a safe journey, merry Xmas and a happy new year.

Once we had docked at Lymington Allen led us off, then it was the Bear followed by Nathan and the Citroen. Next off it was John followed by Paul in the Moonstone. Last car off of our group was Matt in Grovey. Not stopping at Kilmington was the Citroen or the Moonstone.
Soon we was on the A35 and the pace was hotting up. Debbie settled down for a nap, she had to go to work Tuesday morning. Her coach had to be out of the yard by 4 am.
I followed Allen with Nathan travelling close behind, the Citroen was holding on for dear life. The traffic was quite heavy in places and it was only 2pm.

Once clear of Ferndown we was able to clear the traffic, Nathan kept pulling out as to overtake but then dropped behind. Once on the Tolpuddle, and with my passenger fast asleep, I wound the elastic band up on the Bear and hurtled past Allen at Warp factor Actros and a bit. Nathan went to follow but chickened out. We left them and continued for awhile before dropping down to Warp Factor Harrisop to let them catch up but they were so far behind that I opted to pull into a layby and wait. Soon they came into view with the Citroen keeping up. Once past and it was safe to do I slotted in behind. And Debbie was still asleep.

No sign of the rest of the convoy. We pulled into the Route 35 diner at Kilmington. The Citroen whizzed past followed by the Moonstone, tooting as they went. Next in was Matt followed by John, who now was back to his proper colour.
Wee wanted then food. To save me cooking once home I went for the egg, ham and chip sandwich. Comes with side salad and some crisps plus a pot of tea. That will do me. T'others had various bits of grub.
Then it was time to carry on. We said our goodbyes and the on yo left. Matt led out with Nathan and John following. I followed Allen out but stopped to let a tanker out.

It was on the A30 the next time I saw Allen, his ZTT is quite distinctive at night as he has a reflector on the tow bar. I soon slotted in behind. We caught up with the others at the end of the M5. They split from us towards Torquay whilst we remained on the A38. Toots and flashes done with we climbed Haldon Hill with the Bear in full song. By the time we got to Trago Mills the Bear was leading. The traffic was quite heavy again, and as per norm the inside lane was moving better that the outside, which is where Allen was.
I was dropping Debbie off anyway.

Soon the Tamar bridge came into sight. Across the bridge, pulled off left and up Fore Street. Turned into the side road and reversed up the Lane to the gate and Debbie's house. Murphy's law, someone wanted to get past. So it was a quick unload, quick cuddle and a kiss and I was off again.
Allen was dropping Val off plus there stuff before coming round to me to drop my new chair plus my other bits off. So I knew I had time to reverse in and unload before Allen turned up. In fact Bear was unloaded and parked up in her space before Allen arrived.

Chair and bits unloaded and he was off home, again. Boy! Was I tired. But a quick put away of bits, read the post and poured out a wee brandy. Time to unwind, and try stay awake. I down loaded my photo's, all 198 of them.
I'll get them edited and a few posted up over the next few days.

So the Bear covered a total of 358 miles. Used no oil or water and averaged 20 to the gallon. Not bad for a 400 bhp runaround.
Many thanks for reading and the kind comments.

Next, and last, tour of the U.K. 2018 Starts on the 21st with Redfive.