Take stock... Gengis and Andy had left at an hour when when we were in the land of nod ! All of the remaining crew got up at a reasonable hour and had breakfast. Sadly, Pete & Lisa and John Mc & Glenn were parting company today too. We wished them luck on their journey and said our farewells. Jaffa, Pikey, Bhav, Jot, John Bell & the Kids still had one more day to spend. Bhav always has something for the unsuspecting drinker in his personal bar, so this time it was Jaffa's turn to have a hangover experience ! He was suffering the after effects of the aptly named 'Blow your head off' cranberry flavoured Vodka ! It did exactly what it said on the label ! He was in no fit state to drive let alone walk ! After a few hours deliberating (another word for 'sobering up' for Jaffa!), we decided to take 2 cars and visit somewhere not too far. John B and Bhav decided to do the chauffeuring. John was entertained by the 'girls' (Hannah, Steph and Jot, whilst Bhav had Pikey txting in the co drivers seat and the odd mumbling of direction from a hung over Jaffa in the back! Obviously some of us were glad that the last day of our stay was taking things easy and doing some sight seeing.

History Lesson... 30 min drive later and we arrived at Maastricht. The city is capital of the province of Limburg and is situated on both sides of the river Meuse. Located in the SE part of the Netherlands between Germany and Belgium. Maastricht was the first settlement in the Netherlands way back when. Apparently, Roman sources mention a Celtic settlement at the location they used for the bridge. Most people will know it as the place where the Maastricht Treaty (the Treaty on European Union) was signed on 7 February 1992. But its also known for the network of caves to the south of the city by the hill of St. Pietersberg. These caves maintain a constant temperature of 10°C and are a hibernation place for bats !!! Its true ! Just ask Bhav !

The City has over 500 shops and umpteen bars, cafes and restaurants. We built up an appetite after walking for around an hour, which incidentally cleared Jaffa's head too. So, it was time to do a spot of lunch ! Once again the cost of this mammoth meal and a few beers was pittance compared to the UK. With everyone's bellies lined, it was time to do some more window shopping and not forgetting the odd Group pic along the way !

Whilst the girls went to the 'clothes' shops, the boys were more interested in the Gadget shops and it became a momentous day for a couple of our members! Pikey finally managed to stop txting and part with a few Euros to buy a camera to replaces his old one which never seemed to work properly and Bhav finally managed to get a new pair of Ray Bans to replace his old, Genuine Ford Motor Sport endorsed and a Limited Edition set. 'Why on earth replace these?' I hear you ask ? Some of his friends have disowned him for wearing his old pair of shades because they were day-glo red !

We had only taken a 'tour' of city and its shops but there was certainly a lot more to see in Maastricht. However, time was sadly against us and it was going to be an early start tomorrow so we decided to head back to our hotel. Certainly a place worth visiting and spending a full day here.

Time to pack. We got back to our hotel early in the evening and decided that we best start to get our things together and pack. The radios were once again placed on charge and all the hardware we took got packed away. All the empty bottles were rounded up from Bhav's room and the full ones were safely placed in our luggage. The party was over and no one would be drinking themselves silly tonight ! We decided on an early meal and a few rounds at the bar where we had an opportunity to thanks Simone for looking after us during our stay at the hotel Bastion. Having settled up the room bills and the bar tabs, it was time to have an early night. This was still past midnight for some of us!

Return trip to Blighty (Tuesday 12th Sept)

How early ? You know when its early as its really dark outside and all the small sounds that normally go unheard seem to be amplified through AC-DC's pa system ! Last min packing and making room in the cars to transfer everything proved a bit tricky. But after a reshuffle, we crammed it all in ! A quick spot of breakfast and we were on the road again.

Beer and Ciggy Stop. As we were pushing for time, we did a beer and ciggy stop in Belgium rather than have another stop in Calais. Pikey certainly splashed out as he bought lots of cases of beer and at least 3 cases of wine ! Looks like he will be providing the drinks for the 'pimp my room' party at the Christmas Do ! Having loaded up, we needed to do one more stop and this time that was for everyone to fuel up. It was a race against time and we managed to get to Calais docks with 5 mins to spare. However, they were not letting any more cars board but we were first in line for the next Ferry. It worked out just fine as the 20 min break was much needed as we reminisced our last minutes in Europe.

All aboard.... as we over looked Calais Docks for the last time... it was time for another group pic ! The weather was fantastic and with the French mainland disappearing over the horizon and the channel breeze getting stronger, we went below deck to check out the Duty free shop to off load our last remaining Euros ! That done, a well deserved rest and have a cuppa was in order!

White Cliffs ? Before we knew it, an announcement was made that we would shortly be docking ! The return journey certainly seemed quicker. A look through the portholes confirmed that we were approaching Dover and a few moments later, we were on car deck and ready to drive off. Back to terra-firma and Blighty... or is that Reality ? M25, road works, traffic jams, rip off prices, work... yes we had it all to look forward to.... sigh.