A Long Drive North to Holland - Happy Reunion With Oma

As November arrived, the nights were getting chillier in the Haute-Alpes so it was time to start thinking about our plans for winter and consider starting to head South. As Esther also wanted to visit Oma and her family in Holland sometime before Christmas we started looking at which airports en route might offer a reasonably priced flight.  Several factors in our decision-making came together such that the next afternoon we decided to just point the motorhome North and start the 1100km drive. The driving just seemed effortless as we were happy in the moment singing and watching the scenery go by.  Leaving France, travelling through Luxembourg (opportunity for cheap fuel again!) and Belgium before just over 48 hours later we were arriving late in the night in Holland.  So after 5 months away from Holland, Esther was reunited with her Oma on 4th November.   We thought to perhaps stay maybe 10-14 days but as with the rest of this year's trip we let life guide our trip and little did we know when we arrived that we'd stay the whole month!
 
Scheduling our route to coincide with a reasonably priced flight is always somewhat difficult.  The prospect of a flight wasn't that appealing and having decided to start a water-only fast during our stay in Laragne-Monteglin, driving and taking the comfort of our own home with us (instead of packing a small cabin bag) became very appealing.  So before during any further South, we decided to pack up and head North, leaving late afternoon as the sun was setting on mountainside.

Making good progress, we stopped overnight in Bourg-en-Bresse with a beautiful monastery right by the aire:

The next day saw us appreciating the Autumn colours as we drove:

Enjoying our time in Luxembourg - benefiting from filling up the tank at 95 eurocents per litre!

Sunsets as we drive through Belgium:

Wake up in Holland and time to break the 10-day water fast with some tasty green juice before being reunited with a very surprised but happy Oma:

And relaxing after the long drive with a stroll along the beach at Kijkduin - where we quickly had to readjust to the Autumn chill:

It definitely felt like the right decision to drive back to Holland and at the right time.