Blowing in the Winds of Change

Hello World, :hello:

Yesterday was a looong day..
If Divo Four has a weakness, it must be his navigation skills. We were not two hundred miles from our destination as he'd told me, but over three hundred. Woke up to fog even thicker than the night before - as proven when CD jumped out of the van tied to her long lead for an early morning snuffle; she vanished into grey nothingness before the five metre cable had fully extended!
We waited, had breakfast, and waited some more, listening to traffic whistling past on the invisible motorway. As time passed and the sun got stronger houses emerged from the gloom around us, then a hermitage appeared on a hill just beyond..
Deciding that was a good omen we set off very cautiously; fog lamps blazing, wipers doing their best to remove all the moisture settling on van's windscreen as both DS and self peered in concentration, following the white lines marking the slow lane.
Eventually a long hill took us above the murk into a magical world; bright sun and blue sky above, solid white mist swirling below in the valleys between arid peaks, reaching for the heavens. Eagles slowly circled, riding the thermals, searching for prey on the bare mountainsides. We were amazed at the detail we could see in the clear light:
"Surely this must be Andalucia," Divo Four said, as he reached for his sketch-pad.
Clever Dog started talking; complaining it was time for a comfort break, so we pulled off onto the forecourt of a mountain lodge. DS4 went in to sample the bar's coffee while I sat outside with CD, just relaxing and enjoying the warm sunshine.
"Twenty three people died on the roads last night," Divo Four told me when he returned. "The good news - for us - is that we're out of that band of fog now, so should make better time."
We did. All too soon a road junction appeared which I recognised, where we usually keep right. But this time Snoopy-the-satnav was insistent; go left!
"Trust it," DS said. "It's given good advice so far.."
We found ourselves whizzing along a brand new motorway, passing terrain I was pretty certain I'd never seen before.. Ten minutes later we were speeding through the suburbs of a city, at which point it occurred to me to ask Four exactly what destination he'd programmed into Snoopy?
He told me. <sigh> ..Did I mention that navigation isn't one of DS4's talents? He'd just stuck an extra sixty miles onto our journey! We managed to find our way to the airport road, and then along the coast to our local sea-side town, where we stopped for a late lunch by the beach. After dipping our toes in the water we finally made our way up the familiar road to the pueblo, parking camper-van in the same spot next to the bus-stop where our journey North had begun last June.
CD sniffed the air, then set off confidently across the orchard to the Old House - she didn't put a foot wrong on the winding footpath; ancient and blind she certainly is, but there's nothing wrong with her brain or her memory!

I stayed for a cuppa, but CD was hungry and I was reeling with exhaustion so we excused ourselves from the feast Divos Three and Four were preparing but which wouldn't have been ready to eat for hours. I'd thought about that moment when doing the final grocery shop before setting out, so knew there was a 'fifteen minute meal' waiting for me in camper-van's fridge. It was delicious; fish-cakes and salad. Half an hour later both CD and self were happily tucked up in bed; grateful for our luck in avoiding the many accidents on the foggy roads, grateful to have arrived and grateful not to have to do it all again today..