FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD

Darwin can’t quite believe we’ve only made it as far as the Premier Inn in Ipswich.

The below was our home for a night: great off-street parking.

Russell’s big grin has nothing to do with the pint of lager he’s just necked (thanks to my wife for making it sound as if I am capable of drinking - Russell).

An awesome building we saw in Magdeburg, plus detail of some of the columns at the base.

Wardrobe, shed, workshop, kitchen, etc, squeezed into the back of a Landcruiser. This is what a car looks like when it becomes ‘home’, apparently.

Finally, on Monday 21 April, we managed to get our bums into gear and left Shrewsbury (the late start wasn’t just our bad planning), although not without the hiccup of thinking we had plenty of time, and then our new tenants turning up at 10.30am! 3 hours later we were able to hand over our home for 12 months, with thanks to Mike, Lisa and George for letting us use their microwave to reheat the remnants of the previous night’s Chinese takeaway for our lunch. We only actually got as far as Ipswich that evening, but given our previous procrastination it was a miracle that we’d made it beyond Shropshire.

Wednesday morning saw us driving into the Netherlands at 8.00am local time (7.00am GMT) after passing a surprisingly comfortable night on an overnight Stena ferry from Harwich to the Hoek van Holland. Amsterdam was our goal for the day, and we have to say we heartily recommend it and only wish we could have stayed on longer. The people are so friendly, and the city centre is just fantastic for mooching around on foot, with the odd stop by a canal-side cafe for a (Heineken) beer and a slice of apple pie.

The only real downside to the trip so far has been the need to try and make headway each day, without leaving much time to have a look at the areas we are passing through, but, we do need to get on to Russia, as the visa is ticking ... we have promised ourselves that we will have (cheap) weekends away next year when we come back.

We are already learning new skills too, such as how to blow the whole rear light system when trying to fix a brake light (yes, my fault - Russell). I’m quite proud of the fact that I now know what car fuses looks like (Alexis).

After a night in the Youth Hostel in Osnabruck in Germany, we are now in the CityHotel in Magdeburg, Germany after failing to think ahead and book the YHA here (if you’re not a member, we’d definitely recommend it; it’s not the Ritz, obviously, but you get a good, clean bed for the night, and sometimes a good breakfast thrown in with the price too). Tomorrow we head into Berlin, and then after that it’s into the unknown as we cross the Polish border. We are very apprehensive, as you can probably imagine, but hey, you have to try these things once.