We have to get up early and leave shortly after 8 o’clock. First, we head to the nearest Pret a Manger to get sandwiches and then to the service station for donuts.

We arrive at the British channel tunnel terminal twenty minutes ahead of time and are even permitted to an earlier train.

Border control is easy and quick and after a relaxed train ride, we arrive in France. We again see the disguised cars I had already spotted in the waiting area and on the train. Car makers go for test rides to find and solve last problems before going into production. The cars are wrapped in a foil with wild patterns to hide the contours and, if possible, hide what car it is. Here, it’s two 2017 Jaguar sportbreak (Jaguar had no sportbreak version for two years now apart from the F-Pace SUV).

After the channel tunnel, we start into the longer part of the drive through France. The TomTom app on my iPhone suggest that it’ll take us nine hours.

After some heavy rain in Calais, the clouds clear soon and it dries up. Which is particularly nice as the speed limit in France is considerably lower when it rains, which would mean an extra hour or two to get home.

We make good progress while we listen to William Shatner (Captain Kirk) reading his biography of Leonard Nimoy (Spock). It’s quite gripping and makes time fly by. We only stop to fill up once and again twice to stretch our legs. Then, we read ‘Basel’ for the first time on the street signs.

At half past six, we cross the border into Switzerland and have only one hour to go now. Google Maps tells us that the road home is clear – which is rare for Switzerland, even at that hour.

Darkness sets more and more as we get closer to Bern. It’s almost pitch black when we arrive back home at twenty to eight in the evening.

After staying in hotels for almost three weeks, we are looking forward to our own shower and our own bed. And we’re happy that everything during our holidays went really smoothly, including the more than 4,000 kilometres on the road.