So this was it. The only way to go now was forward. Turning back was no longer possible. I simply wouldn't make it home. I continued to drive along the N11, which at this stage had become single-lane traffic. I knew that travelling at 70kph might be an issue here. No matter how many people might be aggravated by my slow speed on the motorway, they could always overtake. But here, it would be challenging. However, I did my very best to facilitate easier and safer overtaking. And it seemed to pay off. Not a single driver honked their horn, flashed their lights or looked at me with eyes that tried to blow up my mind telepathically! I continued along until the road dropped speed to 80kph. Now my constant speed of 70kph seemed more reasonable. Again, there were no issues with motorists behind me.
The range-o-meter continued to fluctuate, although not as aggressively as it did on the motorway. Before I knew it I was heading back into dual-carriage way driving again. Motorists were free to over take. While observing my available range I was conscious of the gap between the distance-to-empty reading and the distance-to-destination value from the sat-nav. For the most part there was a 10-20km differential between these two values. A couple of times the values kissed - briefly. But they always separated, with the range value always being the higher one. This helped me remain calm.
Shortly before reaching exit 23 on the M11 the range had dropped and consistently remained below 90km. My distance to destination was about 58km, so I was ok with this. However, the range would drop quite a bit more by the time I exited. However, once I did exit and returned to regional roads, something wonderful happened - the range-o-meter calmed down. And so did I! The lack of the constancy of speed and straight road seemed to be the preferred option for the car. From this point on I started to relax and actually enjoy what was turning out to be a scenic drive in the country.
Shortly after this I reached Courtown, the first Waypoint (as my sat-nav kept shouting at me) on my journey. I had to add a couple of waypoints to the route to ensure that the sat-nav system kept me on the shortest, rather than the quickest route. With the continued availability of range I felt that the journey was now more than possible. But trouble lay only a few kilometres ahead. Just before reached Kilmuckridge, the second Waypoint on the journey I started to see road-works signs. A quick glance of one them said something about road closures. I hadn't planned for this. At this point the range value and destination value were pretty close together, but they we decreasing at almost exactly the same rate, so I wasn't too concerned. However, the values indicated that very little change to the route would be tolerated! I knew that the route I was on was the shortest distance. That meant any alternative would add distance and Pepé wouldn't make it. I started to feel that panic feeling kick in again.
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