The hills are alive with the sound of Brexit ...

PHEW! That was a long, hard slog.

I think the press gallery breathed a collective sigh of relief on Thursday night when parliament finally broke up for the summer break.

MPs were also giddy at the prospect of not having to travel back and forth to Westminster for the next month or so.

And certainly recess could not have come soon enough for the Prime Minister who has been under enormous pressure from all sides since the general election.

Theresa May joked this week that fellow Conservatives would likely be relieved she was not returning to Wales, where she made the decision to call the snap poll in April, for her holiday.

But she and Philip are going walking – in the Alps.

I believe there’s plenty of fresh air there too to clear the head and she has previously said she loved spending time in Switzerland because she could get some “peace and quiet”.

So who knows what could be on the cards upon her return?

There’s always a euphoric “school’s out for the summer” atmosphere at this time of year.

The UK goes into the silly season – as it is known in political journalism – with a lot on its plate, however.

Don’t expect the world and her husband to stop having their say, particularly on Brexit.

The press conference held by David Davis and Michel Barnier at the conclusion of the second set of talks underlined once again the uphill struggle Britain faced in the negotiations.

Things looked far from hunky-dory, with the UK and EU still at odds over citizens’ rights and the size of the so-called divorce bill.

Mr Barnier repeatedly called for “clarification” of the UK’s position on key issues, insisting this was holding up progress.

For his part, Mr Davis described the discussions as “robust but constructive” – code for heated – and said both sides needed to be flexible.

It doesn’t seem like much has been achieved, but then the process was never going to be a straightforward one.

There was also disquiet on the home front, with the influential Lords EU committee getting its tuppenny ha’penny’s worth in before the end of term.

Peers told the UK Government to “raise its game” in consulting the devolved administrations on Brexit, “take account of what they say” and “adjust its approach to accommodate their specific needs”.

Their report also said there was a strong case for Scotland having different arrangements from the rest of the UK in certain areas, such as setting its own immigration goals, although poured cold water on the idea of remaining in the single market should the rest of the UK leave.

While things will calm down a bit over the holiday, I can’t see the hullabaloo abating entirely.

At the end-of-year bash for her backbench MPs, Mrs May told them to “go away, have a proper break and come back ready for serious business”.

It will not be as easy for her to do the same, however, regardless of how many beautiful vistas she manages to take in over the next few weeks.