bamboo, whilst I sympathise with your 'failure' the whole point is that you did not prove your competence on your X-country flight. Unauthorsied penetration of CAS (whether intentional or not) is serious business; one could question the nature of the route that your instructor authorised. Don't get bitter but take on-board the necessary lessons and, in the long run, you will become a far better aviator. I have been involved in aviation for over 20 years and one of the first lessons I was learnt was that you never stopped learning. I echo the sentiments of matspart3; enjoy it!