Stella Alpina Day 8 - Cambrai to Home

After packing for the final time I set a course for home. I'd planned to follow the same route to Calasi as I'd come but lost on the Arras ring road and ended up doing a little detour to Vimy. In spite of this I arrived in the company of 4 other motorcyclists at the Chunnel terminus an hour early. The auto check-in machine gave me the option of an earlier train at no charge which I was very pleased about. This train ended up being delayed 15 minutes or so but was still an hour ahead of schedule. During the crossing I spoke with a couple who'd been on a World of BMW trip to the meeting at Garmisch on their newish R1200GS.
They'd had a good time and enjoyed the passes but like me got a little bored with the flat lowlands. Unlike me, this morning, they'd gone on the peage and done 150km in a thoroughly legal 90 minutes; it had taken me 3 hours and not on a pretty route.
In England I made good progress on the M20 and M25 with a rough ride a t70mph. My route on the Old North Road went exactly right this time and I was soon at Peterborough. However the last 100 miles home was so slow it seemed that I'd never arrive. My bum hurt, my ear hurt, I was hot and I thought I'd got an insect inside my helmet. The final 10 miles were the worst as I arrived in town at rush hour but didn't feel like dealing with the hustle of commuter traffic. Why are there speed cameras? 30mph, you'd be lucky!
It was great to be home, maybe that's the best bit of going away, even for a week?