31 January to Bristol Airport

First step on my journey was to Bristol airport where flights radiate out across Europe. My flight to Faro, in the Algarve, leaves early in the morning so I am staying the night at the Forge Guesthouse, within walking distance of the airport. Leaving is always difficult, the excitement is bounded with sadness at leaving loved ones, my joy at starting a new adventure is blended with sorrow at leaving my wife, and her sadness at leaving me for the next five weeks. It makes goodbyes difficult. This goodbye was especially miserable as the rain, darkness and fog encountered when she kindly drove me to the guesthouse made us tense, the satnav selecting a particularly obscure route through country lanes blocked by a too large bus. It must have had the same satnav.