Day Ten : 31.08.2015

This might just be the black-sheep day of the trip. En route to the south-east, having chosen Faversham in Kent as a jumping-off point for the noon Dover-Dunkirk ferry tomorrow, the M40 traffic predictably thickened up around the two-lane section at Beaconsfield. Lots of crawling, gear-changing shunting followed, and the clutch became very spongy. Eventually, at one point, the pedal stayed on the floor. A touch alarming, with tomorrow's ferry beckoning, you will agree. After a couple of minutes it behaved again, and we got going. Miraculously, we got down the rest of the M40, M25, M26, M20, M2, A2 and local road to the hotel for tonight with only a couple more halts for the clutch to take a breather. We are currently awaiting the RAC patrol to get here, to lend advice about next steps. Maybe a hire car to take across La Manche? Watch this space.