I woke that morning to something I really didn't want to hear - rain on the tent; the good weather had finally broken and it was now grey, wet and miserable. The first dog walk was kept short and after a breakfast of coffee and toast, and with the van parked as close to the front of the tent as I could get it, I started the packing up process. By the time I'd got everything out of the tent and into the van the rain had stopped, the clouds were breaking up and the sun was coming through, so not wanting to pack the tent away wet I towelled off most of the raindrops then took the dogs for another walk in the hope that it would be dry by the time I got back. Luckily it was, so with Sophie and Sugar out of the way in the van I dismantled it and got it back in its bag; the last thing to take down and put in the van was the tv aerial, then after a quick look round for any stray tent pegs I took the dogs to the edge of the field for a last look at the sea then drove away from the site and said goodbye to California for this year.
By the time I'd got a couple of miles down the road the clouds had almost disappeared and the sunshine and blue sky were back, which made for a very pleasant drive back home, though yet again I got stuck for several miles behind a slow moving vehicle on the A17 - a tractor and trailer this time. My one and only stop was at the Cheerio Cafe for some lunch and a dog walk along the edge of the nearby field, and with a change of route taking me straight up the A1 and across the M62 I made up the time I'd lost on the A17. Going that way added about twenty miles to the journey but it shaved about half an hour off the travelling time and I arrived home before 4pm. With plenty of time to spare before I had to go to work I downloaded all my photos onto the pc, and as I flicked through them afterwards I was already getting ideas for places to visit and revisit on my California holiday next year.
