All Saints Day is celebrated as a national holiday in València, so we were unsure if there’d be disruptions to schedules that could affect us. Despite this, we planned on squeezing in a last bit of tourism by visiting the Palacio del Marques de Dos Aguas (the Ceramics Museum).

After breakfast we cleaned the apartment, finished any last minute packing, and then headed out to find a luggage store close to the train station. We chose ‘Stow your luggage’ as they seemed balanced between convenience and price at €16.89 to hold the four bags for four hours. There was a bit of a queue there, but I used the QR code on the wall to find the website and book one of the lockers online to save time. Once everything was secure inside, I set a reminder for 15:03, and we left them behind.

The ceramics museum, for once, was open when we reached it. This was €3 each, so we could almost have predicted it would be something like that.

On the ground floor they had a couple of carriages and a sedan chair used by the pope who had lived in this city. Whilst photographing these I saw the battery status on my DSLR change from low, to flashing red. I'd forgotten to change my battery last night, and now couldn't do anything about it. I went round the temporary exhibition without taking any photographs, and then went upstairs to start looking around the ceramics.

There’s room after room of ceramic plates, pots, and more. One room had big wooden supports that were highly decorative. On the top floor was another temporary exhibition of modern art, before the tour then concludes back on the original floor with several rooms that are more like part of a stately home. Unfortunately my DSLR ran out of battery power for those so I had to use my iPhone for the remainder.

Our plan had been to have lunch at the Central Market again, but we hadn't realised they’d be closed today - either due to it being Saturday or All Saints’ Day. The sandwich places near the market are even more expensive than places in London so we wanted to avoid those if we could. Carmen located another, Manolo Bakes, on Google Maps, and I led us to that.

The prices there were more in line with what I'd expect to pay back home, though despite the cheaper prices it wasn't busy at 12:40. We both had Iberico sandwich and a drink, though I also ordered a Dubai chocolate cookie to eat later for a total of €23.25. Carmen thought the stirrer looked edible, so I bit into it. The result was a cut tongue, and just more uncertainty whether it was actually edible or not. I looked around, and couldn't see anyone else attempting it, so I left it.

For the final time this year, we went back to Llinares for our final ice cream of the trip. I decided I'd go for the best of the flavours I'd already had: Manjaro Blanca and rum and raisin.

Whilst we were sitting there, we could hear the beat of drums and wondered what it was. As it closer, and louder, we heard singing - both it and the drumming was repetitive. We started to think that maybe it was some sort of procession, maybe relating to it being All Saints' Day.

We got up to try and see what was happening, and could see them using djembes, but still couldn't figure it out. The one wearing what looked like a Bolga Fulani hat I was sure was, or at least resembled, someone we'd passed on either Monday or Tuesday as I recognised his distinctive clothes and hat. They crossed the road into the square in front of the Cathedral and seemed to linger there.

No wiser of what had gone on, we decided to find somewhere quieter to sit down. Turia Gardens were in mostly the wrong direction, but I remembered a small park we'd passed on our run earlier in the week, so we headed there. This was a part of the town we'd not explored already, and found it was home to a silk museum, and a library.

Although we didn't sit there long, it was nice to be away from crowds for a while. We then walked through what seemed to be a Chinatown, and made it back to the locker with under ten minutes to spare.

It was now time to walk to Xàtiva station for the final time, to take the metro to the airport. Although we got there at 15:30, people were already starting to queue, mostly families, and when we joined it I felt like we were about the last ones to check in. Security wasn’t too bad, but because I had to rescan my bag I got stuck behind one family that had medicine, and baby food to be checked.

We still had plenty of time for Carmen to last minute souvenir shopping in Duty Free, and get through passport control. There was fortunately a water fountain to refill our water bottles as well.

The plane started boarding early, which was probably a good job as with the number of young families on this flight, boarding took quite some time. At the gate I was told, “thank you, have a flight.” Have a flight? I was pretty sure I was about to have a flight; I’d be disappointed if I wasn’t. I'd rather not swim home.

Our seats were at the very back of the plane, unfortunately without a window in sight. When we were told to make sure window blinds were open for take-off I mimed opening the non-existent window blind, making Carmen laugh.

The flight left the gate at 18:15 on time, and landed at London Heathrow a little early at 19:25 to the sound of fireworks we couldn't see. There was some moderate turbulence during the flight, but nothing too bad. The landing was at least much smoother than the one in Valencia had been. I checked the prices on Uber, considering booking it for 20:25 in the hope we'd be through immigration and baggage claims in that time. The price was only £34, and gave me the option to request the price be held, but before I could accept it, the page refreshed to £41.35.

It may have taken twenty minutes from touchdown to getting off the plane with us being about the last off, but immigration was empty, and baggage claims didn't take too long.

At Terminal 3, Uber do pick-ups from level 3 of the Terminal car park, so I made our booking on the way there. It took quite some time to accept, and only did so after we'd walked up two flights of steps carrying our suitcases. Less than a minute later that Uber cancelled, and it began searching for another driver - a pain as it was peak time now.

Eventually a new driver accepted the fare, and was nearer to us than the last one had been. At 20:25, we were finally on our way back to Carmen's for the end of another adventure. If I was ever to return to Valencia myself, it would be to take a better photograph of the supposed’ Holy Grail’, and would perhaps consider visiting some of the many museums in the city, along with a couple of the monasteries on the outskirts. Getting to visit Castillo de Sagunto would be nice too, though imagined it would take some research to determine the best way. With multiple reasons to go back, it wasn’t impossible that I would in fact return one day…

When we got in we made pasta as we’d not eaten for nine hours, and would need to before racing again tomorrow.