Day 7 - the long drive home

The aim was to leave at 7 to reach Calais for a 5.30 check in. We hadn't planned on the teens having a last night which went on until the not so early hours. After finally getting away half an hour later than hoped we were still, one hour after that, trying to find our way back to the Autobahn after encountering country road after country road which had been closed for maintenance work. Our contingency time diminishing rapidly we resolved, once on the Autobahn, to only stop for essential breaks; we were making good time when 3 lanes of flashing hazard lights ahead suggested that some sort of traffic halting accident had occurred and we were in for another delay. The traffic had indeed come to a complete standstill so we decided to take the opportunity to stretch our legs while we could. Fortunately the delay was relatively brief (we reckoned the Germans must be used to dealing efficiently with the inevitable consequences of enthusiastic Autobahn driving) and we made the check-in at Calais with a whole 3 minutes to spare. Phew.