Alex Batty left a note for his mum before vanishing

Fed-up Alex told Melanie, 43, not to worry as he was capable of looking after himself.

The 17-year-old also said in the letter that he loved her and hoped she would not be angry with him for walking out of their home in the French Pyrenees.

Alex told The Sun one final argument tipped him over the edge and he realised he had enough of the “pain in the a**” lifestyle forced on him by his mum.

He had been living in their latest accommodation only for a day before their clash on the afternoon of Monday, December 11.

The argument — which Alex said was “about nothing” — helped make up his mind to leave to fulfil his ambitions of studying computing at university.

He quietly packed a small rucksack full of clothes — leaving behind his prized sketch and reading books — and plotted his exit.

“We had a stupid argument about nothing. My mum can argue about anything so it doesn’t take much. She is very set in her views,” he told The Sun.

“I just had enough and thought, that’s it, I’m leaving.

“I wrote a note and said, ‘Hey, Mum. I want you to know I love you very much. I’m very thankful for the life that you provided for me over the past few years.

“Don’t worry about yourself. I’m sure you won’t get found. Don’t worry about me either. You know I can look after myself. I love you very much. Don’t be angry with me. Love Alex.”

The teenager, who reproduced the note for The Sun after returning to the UK, said he had endured a difficult relationship for most of his life with his mum, who split from his dad when he was just two.

He said his mother, who would leave him to go travelling for months at a time was “a good person. But she’s just not a great mum”.

“She just doesn’t do motherly things that you’re supposed to do,” he said.

“She’s not very warm and open. She doesn’t really listen much to anyone. She’s set in her ways. You can’t really change her beliefs or anything and that’s just a pain in the a** to deal with.”

Alex believes their relationship crucially shifted when he became a teenager and began working as a handyman alongside his mum and grandfather David, 64.

He said once he started earning money he stopped viewing her as an authority figure, saying “I didn’t have to listen to her.”

Alex said it dawned on him that Melanie’s unconventional way of living was offering him little future or stability.

“I’m not overly obsessed with money but from living the way we were living I want to have a decent home,” he said.

“I actually want a future because it’s no way to live.”

Alex believes his mum — who uses the pseudonym Rose — now plans to travel to Finland with friends to see the Northern Lights.

He said she had access to a car despite having no paperwork and could rely on a network of friends across France and Spain to help her evade the authorities. He said she once left him with his granddad to travel through France “for about seven months”.

Alex revealed that his mum held a strong “anti-government, anti-vax” belief system and believed most people were “slaves”.

Despite that, she owns a phone, though he does not have her number as he was not allowed one.

In contrast, Alex speaks lovingly of his grandad David to The Sun, who he says was always willing to listen to him about his concerns about their eccentric lifestyle.

“I love my grandad. I never knew my dad so my grandad and step-grandad have both raised me. Grandad Batty is a great guy. He’s just a lot more like your grandfather should be, teaching you lessons and listening to me,” he said.

But Alex wanted to ensure his mum and grandad weren’t tracked down by police as he feared they could be arrested on suspicion of child abduction.

In a bid to “protect them”, he told The Sun, he invented a story about walking for four days through the Pyrenees mountains to put French cops off the scent.

Alex told The Sun he first walked south towards the town of Quillan “to try and be clever”.

“I did that so when I talked about asking for directions in Quillan and getting lost, it was half true. I didn’t get lost. I knew exactly where I was going. I just wanted to circle back for that to be a true story.

He spent a “freezing” Monday night outside with no food and drinking from mountain springs. He slept for a few hours in a woodland area next to the road before refuelling in Quillan on a tuna baguette.

“I knew my way around the area so I knew where there were open springs so I could get water. I slept outside on the ground. It was freezing. If I needed the toilet I used leaves and grass,” he said.

Alex, who used the name Zack Edwards in France, waited until around 6pm, local time, before leaving Quillan because he was worried his mum might pass him in her car as he walked back to Chalabre.

“My plan was to get to Toulouse so that I could get as far away as possible. But I was so knackered when the delivery driver picked me up I just blurted out a story.

“I wasn’t even hitchhiking when he picked me up. I was walking across a little bridge.”

“He said he stopped because he saw I had a skateboard. It was pouring with rain and pitch-black because it was 3am.”

Alex said he told the driver his story but didn’t think he believed it. He told The Sun he helped the driver deliver parcels – “because it’s the least I could do” – and that he let him use his phone to contact his grandma.

“After that he calls the police and a squad car nearby take me to the nearest police station,” Alex said.

“I’m in f***ing bits on the floor because I’m thinking, ‘sh*t I shouldn’t have said anything’.”

Police took his fingerprints, and sent photos to his grandmother. He was taken to another police station, where he showered, and waited for an English translator to arrive.

He was moved into a foster home on Wednesday, and by Saturday he was taken to the Toulouse airport where he grandfather was waiting with a social worker and two officers from Greater Manchester Police.

“I was so happy to see him [David], I gave him a big hug,” Alex said.

He boarded a flight to Amsterdam and connecting flight to Manchester, where police drove him to his grandmother’s house for an emotional reunion.

“I was driven back to my gran’s house and I walked in the door and she’s in the living room,” Alex said.

“I started shaking and just gave her a massive hug. The house is different now but still feels the same. The biggest difference is when I left I was a boy but now I’m 6ft so I’m too big for the bed.

“It feels great to be back. I have got a lot of help from social services and the police and want to go to college.

“I understand a lot of French so I’m not going to let that go. I’m going to keep on studying.

“I want to do computer science or cyber security or blockchain development so I’m going to be very busy studying and catching up on things.”

This article originally appeared in The Sun and has been republished here with permission.