…into a Ford KA? This is a challenge that Aidan and I frequently undertake through our outings to Germany. This – the fifth trip – has been no exception.

The journey down was faultless. So much so, that we arrived two hours early for our ferry… and they let us on the one earlier! This meant we arrived in Germany two hours earlier than anticipated and that meant only one thing: more troedelmarkts to get round.

 This was done outside a little town called Peine at the end of our second to last day there. We’d finished our day’s hunting and been for a gorgeous Indian meal. Then, as it was getting a bit dark and we had a thirty minute drive back to our hotel, we decided to repack the car there ready for the next day. Aidan looks surprisingly happy to be packing!

These fellas were in some kind of petting zoo opposite one troedel:

Not sure what they were doing there, but they were fun to look at. But my word, did they smell?! Was slightly offputting; not sure I would have wanted to stand on a market stall all day smelling deer poo! Perhaps that’s why we only bought a couple of things at that one.

We really did have such a fun and successful trip this time (despite a horrendous journey home which I’ll come onto). We’ve unpacked this afternoon and we’ve counted up 270ish items. That’s the most we’ve ever had in one trip! After five days of nearly solid driving, getting strange looks and embarrassing ourselves with our terrible German, hopefully it’ll be worth it once we start selling this lot.

As I said, we had an amazing journey down. Unfortunately the trip back was a nightmare! Throughout the holiday, Tina played up. Everytime we slowed down to a halt, she would stall. The left indicator went at double time for 80% of the trip. Thankfully, she didn’t do the random hot air blowing through the fans this time! When we got off the ferry at Dover, we managed to clunk the exhaust at the front somehow… for the next ten miles, Tina the Ford KA pretended to be a bad-boy souped-up beast, growling all the way to the nearest Tesco.

Once parked, we discovered the following things:

• the exhaust had come loose at the front
• the water for the radiator and engine was complete gone
• we had no idea what to do with cars
• It was ten o’clock at night and we were in Dover. Ah.

Luckily for us, my slightly inebriated father (it was his birthday, same as mine) managed to give us some advice. Which was then corroborated by Mum – Dad had woken her to ask her what we should do! We managed to figure out how to put water into the car; a nice strange came and asked if he could help us out too. And… the piece de resistance… Aidan tied the exhaust back on with the wire out of an A4 ring binder. That’s the boy scout in him.

We managed to get home… despite an hour and a half traffic jam when we got stuck behind an accident. Though saying that, we both did get a bit of kip in that one. We arrived back in Glossop at 4.45am – a mere 6 and a half hours after arriving at Dover…

You’ll have to wait til tomorrow to see the pottery pictures. Be patient…

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