Mission Accomplished

On the 25^th of March 2022 somewhere above the Indian Ocean I penned the first post for Adventures with Harvey.  Today I sit here at Heathrow Airport more than 19 months and 65 blog posts later… and we’re finally at the end.  It’s rather emotional really, hard to believe it’s all over but also with a tremendous sense of anticipation at the thought of arriving home to see our friends & family, the country and home that we love so much.

How does one begin to summarise an experience as diverse and rich as this?  Almost everyone we bump into asks us what the highlight is and to be honest, it’s almost an impossible question to answer.  How does one compare staying on an old Soviet collective farm in Lithuania with visiting a magnificent cathedral in Seville?  Or weigh up being hosted, fed and watered for several days by a beautiful Italian family with cycling to the top of the hilltop fort in Dubrovnik?  On the train today from Gloucester to Paddington we tried to go through the whole alphabet as such:

From Amsterdam to Algarve

From Zagreb to Zeeland

And you know, we pretty much did the whole alphabet, and most letters with many more than 2 place names springing to mind.  And even a simple exercise like that causes us to recall such fond and lifelong memories that we will always share.  I’ll give a few more final thoughts at the end however for now, let me fill you in on the final two weeks of this epic adventure… you all know the drill by now, grab your beverage of choice and settle in for this final chapter of Adventures with Harvey.

Our last week in Paris was the chance to cross off a few items that had been missed and top of those was probably the most famous art gallery in the world – yes, we’re talking about the Louvre.  Of course everyone makes a beeline for the Mona Lisa which is a tiny little painting in a huge room full of people with their smartphones out… and we were also guilty of the same however for me it was more to record the size of the crowd than the painting itself.  The Louvre is so much more than just one painting and we Travelling Woodies enjoyed wandering the hallowed halls and perusing sculptures, paintings, crown jewels and royal collections.  In fact we almost left our run too late, the only tickets available were for the day prior to the RWC final which was match day for the 3^rd & 4^th playoff.  We had tickets to this game which came as part of a package with other tickets – Anita wasn’t too interested in another non-All Blacks game so while team pink carried on educating herself at the Louvre, your intrepid author offered the spare ticket to Joren our young South African buddy who was more than happy to join me.   Again it was more about the experience than the rugby, we started as usual at an Irish pub and this time met 2 young couples from close to Toulon, both of the lads had received a Christmas present of RWC final tickets from their partners so had caught the TGV (fast train) up to Paris for the weekend.  We’ve travelled in that part of the world so were at least a little familiar with their neighbourhood and it was great to become acquainted with yet more new friends visiting for the rugby.

The day of the final had been massively anticipated and although it was rainy and miserable, there was no way our spirits could be dampened.  We had received an e-mail from a couple we had met on the metro on the way home from the opening fixture a couple of months back – they were journalists and were interested enough in our story at that time that they asked to interview us.  Of course that was no problem but it was also a delight when they reconnected to suggest we catch up again prior to the game.  It was a lovely reconnection with this super-interesting couple who had enough local knowledge to get us a seat at a little pizza restaurant right over the road from Stade de France on the evening of the biggest game of all.

The result of the game is, by now, history however each time your author reflects on the way things transpired his mood darkens a little (although thankfully less with the passage of time).  I’m not quite sure how the best team at the tournament and on the paddock that evening conspired to lose the match.  Red cards are a scourge on the sport of rugby - with the pace these games are played at, a player often doesn’t have the reflexes to react in time when an opponent changes direction at the last minute.  Rugby is played in real time, not super-slomo and the referee, who was only a few metres away, didn’t even spot the offence until the TMO made one of his numerous interventions.  With the current rules there can be little doubt that the red was warranted, it’s just that the law has become an ass and the unintended consequences have become ruinous to the game we all love.  Despite playing with 14 men for most of the game, we still came within a whisker of lifting the silverware, in fact we were looking right down the line of Jordy’s kick and willing it to go over.  We scored the only try of the game, missed 2 kickable shots at goal, and all of that with a numerical disadvantage almost throughout…  and nearly pulled off the impossible.  I guess in the final analysis, the All Blacks exceeded expectations given that they were almost universally written off prior to the tournament.  That quarter final win against Ireland will live long in the memory and I suspect may never be topped as your author’s favourite rugby game of all time.  In the end, France for RWC2023 was a special experience- despite our stumble at the last hurdle – the friends we made, stadiums we experienced and quality rugby we saw will be a huge highlight for the rest of this author’s life!

The next hday was, as you can imagine somewhat glum within the confines of Harvey – it had been a week of huge anticipation and the resulting glumness was high on the scale of one to very!  However the day was always planned as one to recover one way or the other so we quietly and dolefully licked our wounds and made a few minor tweaks to our preparation for the week ahead.  Monday morning and we were off and heading for Pas de Calais, deciding to repose for the night at the town of Wissant which was nice and close to the ferry but away from potential security concerns around Calais.  To be honest, it was one of those days which reminded us why we are looking forward to getting home – for a start, we were in need of LPG but it took us 5 stops to actually find some, either the stations were out of gas or there was a height barrier precluding entry for poor Harvey.  Secondly, we had managed to lose the bathroom roof vent cover a couple of weeks before hitting Paris.  Fortunately it was glorious weather until we hit Paris where a temporary cover made of plastic bag and copious amounts of duct tape was bodged together.  That was fine until we drove off from Paris, discovering at our first rest break that it was gone and we again had an open air bathroom.  It poured with rain most of the day and there were a couple of other minor delays but we were delighted when, arriving well after dark, that our stopping spot still had a couple of spare spaces and one of them was large enough to accommodate Harvey’s ample frame.  Unfortunately, with the ladder still needing repair, further bodging of the bathroom was not possible, resulting in an amusing sight of Harvey’s occupants needing an umbrella when sitting on the loo.  No photos I’m sure you will be relieved to hear!  Although a wander into town was considered, we were just too tired and explored-out… and the rain/dark was also a significant deterrent.  Who knows, maybe we’ll be back another time and will get to visit Wissant properly.

Next morning it was a short hop to the ferry terminal at Dover through which we have transited several times on this trip.  There was the usual French passport control, disinterested customs officers at their checkpoint, then English passport control to negotiate before you board the ferry.  We had arrived in plenty of time and were pleased when they invited us to board an earlier 8.30am sailing – we had a drive at the other end so earlier was definitely better!  Our destination that afternoon was Emsworth to drop off a couple of e-bikes to their new owner however on the way we needed to make a short stop at a Giant bicycle shop.  Annoyingly, on your author’s last bike ride in Paris, his bicycle had developed a fault which needed to be diagnosed so it could hopefully be repaired under warranty.  The little town of Paddock Wood was on the way and had a Giant shop where the lads there were very helpful in sussing out the fault and we were soon on our way.  That afternoon it was head down & bum up with cleaning of the bikes as well as Harvey inside and out, because… the next day we would be trying to sell him!  First stop was about 100 miles up the road in the little town of Bicester not far from Oxford however he wasn’t the person to help.  Our second appointment was at Gloucester and thankfully we found an enthusiastic helper – the good folk at Freedom RV & Leisure were very impressed with Harvey and we agreed that they would sell him on our behalf.  It means we don’t receive any funds until he sells however the overall return is much higher than if they wrote us out a cheque on the spot – altogether a win/win which we Woodies were mightily relieved to have settled!

The only remaining (and by no means small) task was to get ourselves packed up and Harvey all cleaned out & ready for the dealer.  A short distance up the road is the town of Warwick which has become one of our second homes on this trip – we are practically locals at The Cape pub and our friends Sean and Gill are tremendously hospitable!  Friday afternoon and all day Saturday were spent allocating all of Harvey’s contents into one of four categories;

1.     Going home with us and hopefully fitting into the 70kg of checked baggage we were allowed on our Malaysian Airlines ticket, or the slightly augmented lot of carry on we are hoping to sneak through.

2.     Camping gear to be left with Sean & Gill for them or their caravanning friends to take advantage of.

3.     Bags for the charity shop.

4.     Bags for the skip.

By the close of play Saturday we were largely done and headed back to The Cape for another catch up with our friends there – in fact our little kiwi mascot from the trip was donated and now has pride of place behind the bar 😊.

On Sunday there were a few loose ends to tie up so after another fabulous full English breakfast generously provided by our hosts, we were back into it, getting ourselves for ready for the last drive in Harvey, back down to Gloucester.  Although we had been kindly invited to stay another night, we Woodies decided it was most appropriate that the last night of this adventure should be spent in Harvey.  We had work done on Harvey in the Cheltenham/Gloucester area last year and a favourite parking spot from the time was at the Gloucester Old Spot pub carpark.  In the UK a number of pubs offer free parking for motorhomes, you are of course encouraged to stop by for a pint or dinner however it’s great that this fraternity is so generous to motorhomers.  So the last night of this odyssey started in Harvey with our very last bottle of genuine French champagne (pre-tasted and procured earlier from the little town of Villers-sous-Châtillon) before enjoying the most delicious Sunday roast at the aforementioned establishment.  For the last week or two we Travelling Woodies have had loads of reminiscing to do:

What was your favourite castle/chateau/schloss?

How about your top 3 cathedrals?

Top Harvey parking spots?

Least favourite towns?  (FYI Rouen for a breakdown and stolen bikes and Redditch for a breakdown… and Eltz castle for being total *^&$%’s)

Best regional food?

New friends made?

Who of them is most likely to visit us in New Zealand?

Etc etc etc

This morning we drove a few miles down the road to do our final waste and rubbish dump before dropping Harvey off at the RV dealer who then kindly dropped us at Gloucester railway station.  Thankfully the train from there went straight into Paddington from whence the Heathrow Express departs – with the mountain of luggage we have, minimising train changes was high up the priority list!!!

The final outro of this blog will in fact be similar to the intro – summarising such an adventure in a paragraph or two is indeed a fool’s errand.  The story has already been told in the previous blog posts so trying to pull out highlights now would be nigh on impossible.  What I will say is that I have had the dream of a trip something like this since I was in my mid-20’s and hadn’t done any overseas travel before my children came along.  Team pink was quickly on board with the concept – a love of travel is something we’ve always shared.  We had been planning, saving and seriously scheming for the 5 years or so before we left, with a bunch of intensive planning in the year prior to departure. 

I have had the immense privilege of sharing this dream with the most amazing partner – Anita, you have been the ultimate travel buddy and deserve a gold star for putting up with me for this length of time in such a confined space.  But the payback is that we will share a multitude of the most amazing memories for the rest of our lives. 

To those of you who have followed this blog and our adventures, thanks for keeping us company and allowing us to share the journey with you.  So many of you have joined the adventure with us via this medium and a dozen or so have even tracked us down somewhere in Europe to become acquainted with Harvey himself.  Thanks to each and every one of you, it’s been amazing to have you on board with us.

So as we prepare to board the aeroplane for the final stanza of this journey… this is Adventures With Harvey signing off for the last time.

As always, much love from us both!!!

Dave & Anita

PS: for those of you in Auckland, we’ll be having a little informal gathering for anyone who would like to stop by and say gidday this Thursday evening November 9^th.  Venue is the Good Home in Mt Eden and we’ll be there from 5.30pm onwards.  To our Russell friends, we’ll see you about the town – can’t wait to become reacquainted after all this time!!!

PPS: Some of you may be wondering about how we could stay in mainland Europe for almost 11 months straight without running into visa issues.  It’s fairly well known that there is a 90 day limit to be within the Schengen area per 180 days and there are financial and other penalties (such as a future ban on entry) for those who transgress.  We did a significant amount of research on this matter before departure and learned that the Schengen restrictions basically do not apply to kiwis.  Without going into a great lot of detail, a New Zealand passport entitles the holder to stay for an unlimited amount of time within the Schengen region, provided that you don’t exceed 90 days in any individual country.  A few years ago a young NZer did a massive research project and wrote a website dedicated to the subject.  We have just proven him correct – when we exited Europe at Dover, the French border control official asked when we last left the Schengen area…  I explained to him that we were on a NZ passport so therefore our 11 months in mainland Europe had not contravened the rules.  He seemed puzzled but a few minutes and a phone call or two later our passports were returned to us with a stamp and smile.  “Right you are” he said.  “Bon voyage” 

some shopping at the fanzone at Place de la Concorde

cycling through Jardin des Tuileries

a stroll through our final famous European church - Saint-Sèverin did not disappoint!

we couldn't resist a dinner of cheese & steak fondue at the Latin Quarter

A huge part of The Louvre is underneath the square - including a couple of inverted pyramids!

she's probably the most famous painting in the world.  Impressions? Small but like the biggest tourist magnet ever!

inside the hallowed halls of the Louvre

travel kit belonging to Marie Antoinette

from inside the Louvre looking out at the main town square

it's rugby time again, catching up with Joren again but also making friends with some French youngsters

Dave & Joren at the bronze final

dinner with our French journalist friends before the RWC final

here we are at Stade de France for the the final time (see what I did there?) :-)

far from the best rugby spectacle you'll ever see and sadly the wrong result in the end

Harvey about ready to leave Paris and the European mainland - autumn has well and truly arrived!

back to Ole' Blighty and the White Cliffs of Dover to welcome us

dropping the bikes off to their new home - we couldn't have done without them but overall it's been a love/hate relationship given the trouble they've caused!

The Glouster Old Spot - one of our favourites in the UK

speaking of favourites... Sean and Gill are top human beings - amazingly hospitable and always great craic!

while we're on the theme of favourites - this is The Cape in Warwick. our little kiwi mascot was donated and now has pride of place above the bar

the last meal of Adventures with Harvey - Sunday roast at Glouster Old Spot

it's finally time to say goodbye - Harvey, you've been the most excellent companion for the last 19 months. we're going to miss you for sure!!!

one last photo with our mate Harvey and we're off to the Glouster railway station to begin our journey home 

it'll be a mission getting this lot home!!

we got to London with a few hours to spare so there was enough time for team pink to check out the Christmas lights on Oxford Street

our travels for this 66th and final blog

pre-match entertainment at RWC final 2023

steak fondue explained