254 TOP 5: SURPRISES...

We have been home for a couple of weeks now, and it is almost time to put this part of our life behind us and focus on the future, so what better time to look back with a top 5?

Today it is the Top 5 Surprising Things On The Trip.

5. Charity Support

When we decided to use New Start as our charity of choice, I'll be honest, I was a little nervous. I want to confirm that Ellis' wife, Sarah, is okay with it, that New Start is okay with it, and that people will support a relatively small and niche charity. I needn't have worried; everyone has been amazing.

Sarah was chuffed we were doing it in Ellis' name, New Start were delighted we were raising some much-needed funds for them, and you guys, well you guys responded magnificently.

The original target was £1,000, and I worried we wouldn't reach that total. I shouldn't have given it a second thought; you smashed through the target in a few days, so we thought we would be cheeky and upped it to £2,200 - a pound for every mile we would cover. Again, by the time we got home, that was smashed too!

As I type, we are up to £3,347, a ridiculous amount to raise for a group of scalls in three shopping trollies designed to pop to the shops and back, not race across Europe, through tunnels, over mountains, along coasts. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

4. Crossing The Bay of Biscay

Chatting to some of our fellow competitors on the rally, we mentioned we were heading back to Blighty via a 32-hour ferry crossing of the Bay of Biscay.

Suddenly, they all turned into Uncle Albert from Only Fools And Horses, telling tall tales about terrifying crossings, rivers of spew and ships being taken under by the Kraken.

The reality was, it was calm all day and all night. I said afterwards, I've been on rougher coach trips than that crossing. The Atlantic was kind to us, and we all appreciated it, not least Lisa, who hates travelling on boats. The 32-hour trip passed quickly; we are all glad to confirm.

3. Namur & Freiburg

I'll be honest: before this trip, I'd never heard of Namur and was only aware of Freiburg because of its football team, but both are absolutely stunning. Both are medieval towns that are easily walkable, with a great cafe culture and lively nightlife. We all agreed that we would definitely like to visit them again and spend a bit more time in each city.

Other new places we visited were Menaggio, Séte and San Sebastian. Still, we knew a bit about these cities thanks to the wealth of online tourist information. That isn't to say they are any less worthy of a revisit, though; again, we all said we would love to go back to each and spend more time there.

2 Driving On The Right

I was having anxiety dreams about driving on the wrong side of the road, but do you know what? It is actually just as easy as driving on the left. In fact, there were times when having the steering wheel on the other side was a benefit, like navigating the twist roads that hug the shore of Como. Faced with a bus coming the other way, it is good to see just how close to the wall you can get to let it pass!

Roundabouts are tricky because muscle memory has you looking right when you should be looking left. After a couple of goes though, it becomes second nature. Same goes for junctions where the instinct is to get in the left lane instead of the right.

It felt alien driving on a British motorway after two weeks on the Continent; it took me a few minutes to refamiliarise myself with our traffic, but it did allow me to undertake a beaut on the motorway heading to Southampton and then dismiss Lisa's scolding words by saying "sorry, I'm used to overtaking on the left"! I got proper stink-eye; she knew I was taking the proverbial...

1 Our Professional Photographer

Lisa's brother-in-law was the genius who took the glamour shots of our car at Aintree Racecourse, bringing a bag of lenses and a bootful of enthusiasm. He really enjoyed taking the pictures and confessed that he was gutted he couldn't take some at the start and finish line with the other cars in our convoy and the rest of the competitors.

After he sent through the pictures, I received a message saying he was checking flights to Belgium and was trying to sort out a trip for the start. He had to run it past the lovely Carol (his wife), and it would depend on work commitments, but he was trying to make it work. He said he had about a 10% chance.

A few days later, I received a message from him that just said "50/50". He was working hard to try and make it. Finally, he confirmed he could make it! I told him I would keep it as a surprise for Lisa and the others; he loved this idea.

On the first night in Namur, while having a drink and eating our mystery meal pizza, I told them all that I'd arranged for a professional photographer to take some shots of our cars at the start of the rally. Cue endless questions about where I found him. How much did he cost? Where were we meeting him? Etc. I just said it was in hand and it was my treat. Lisa insisted she pay half of the photographer's fee. Bless her!

On the morning of the Rally start, we got the cars ready and drove in formation to the parade ground at the citadel, which was used as the start. I told them all that the photographer would be wearing a bright orange coat and that we couldn't miss him. As we pulled around the corner, Lisa spotted the photographer, and there was an audible gasp in our car as she realised it was her brother-in-law Tommy!

We got out, and all hugged; Lisa's face was an absolute picture, totally worth it.