Tuesday 21 January - Capbreton

Where's Bertie?Where's Bertie? He's in the Aire at Capbreton where he's been quite a few times before. Current cost is 8.90 including electricity, services and wifi. Weather: Cold, foggy start, then sunny and warm, ending wet and warm. After a quiet night at Villedomer, we got going not long after first light this morning. The 'is the tail light working today?' question was less important today, as we soon had fog lights on (of which Bertie has two, one each side). In an exact repeat of two years ago, the toll road was taken from just N of Tours until S of Poitiers (90c on joining the Peage; 21 on leaving). We then took to the free N10 dual carriageway, with the constant stream of HGVs in the inside lane, as they are not allowed in the outside lane - although some do ignore that rule, and they all ignore the 80km/h speed limit. Continuing the repetition, a 1km detour was taken at Reignac for me to take a trot along the Voie Verte route whilst Mick prepared lunch, travel mugs of drink and a fresh flask for the afternoon. I would say that it was for the sake of variety that I opted to head S along the Voie Verte (last time I went N), but it was purely the wind direction that informed my decision - I wanted to run outwards into the wind so I got the easier second half. It may have been windy, but it was also warm - after a minus 1 degree start this morning, it was 11 degrees as I stepped out the door for my run. As we passed Bordeaux it got up to 14 degrees and the sunshine coming through the window had us in our shirtsleeves inside. The usual toll avoidance was employed S of Bordeaux (off the motorway the junction before the toll plaza, back on the junction after), but only on the first section. A road closure in Capbreton caused us to veer away from the Peage, tackling much smaller roads (along with half of the rest of the world) on a fiddly route through multiple villages. By the time we got here (the last twenty minutes being in the rain) we wondered if we should have headed elsewhere, but it is such good value here that the difficulty getting here was probably worth it. Continuing the repetition from 2 years ago, we don't know where we're heading from here. Exactly the same as in 2023, we had fully intended to go to the area between Portugal and Tarifa, including a trip to Seville. And now we're thinking that maybe we should head over to the E coast instead. It may come down to a coin toss in the morning. In other news, we forgot to bring any Euro currency with us on this trip! Yes, 'Money' is an item on our packing checklist, and we certainly talked about picking up the cash, but I think that when we had the final run through the checklist, I read 'Money' and thought 'We've got our wallets'. As I never spend cash at home (I don't even carry any these days and cannot tell you when I last used a cashpoint in the UK), it didn't occur to me that 'money' meant 'cash'. Rather annoying, as we've worked hard to build up a bag of change, for things like laundrettes and parking, and we'll be starting from scratch. First, however, we need to find a cash point, and preferably before we leave France, as most Spanish banks charge for using their cashpoints. He's in the Aire at Capbreton where he's been quite a few times before. Current cost is €8.90 including electricity, services and wifi.

Weather: Cold, foggy start, then sunny and warm, ending wet and warm.

After a quiet night at Villedomer, we got going not long after first light this morning. The 'is the tail light working today?' question was less important today, as we soon had fog lights on (of which Bertie has two, one each side).

Murky

In an exact repeat of two years ago, the toll road was taken from just N of Tours until S of Poitiers (90c on joining the Peage; €21 on leaving). We then took to the free N10 dual carriageway, with a constant stream of HGVs in the inside lane, as they are not allowed in the outside lane - although some do ignore that rule, and they all ignore the 80km/h speed limit.

Continuing the repetition, a 1km detour was taken at Reignac for me to take a trot along a Voie Verte route whilst Mick prepared lunch, travel mugs of drink and a fresh flask for the afternoon. I would say that it was for the sake of variety that I opted to head S along the Voie Verte (last time I went N), but it was purely the wind direction that informed my decision - I wanted to run outwards into the wind so I got the easier second half.

Lunch run in the sunshine

It may have been windy, but it was also warm - after a minus one degree start this morning, it was 11 degrees as I stepped out the door for my run. As we passed Bordeaux it got up to 14 and the sunshine coming through the window had us in our shirtsleeves inside.

The usual toll avoidance was employed S of Bordeaux (off the motorway the junction before the toll plaza, back on the junction after), but only on the first section. A road closure in Capbreton caused us to then veer away from the Péage, tackling much smaller roads (along with half of the rest of the world) on a fiddly route through multiple villages. By the time we got here (the last twenty minutes being in the rain) we wondered if we should have headed elsewhere, but it is such good value here that the difficulty getting here was probably worth it.

Continuing the repetition from 2 years ago, we don't know where we're heading from here. Exactly the same as in 2023, we had fully intended to go to the area between Portugal and Tarifa, including a trip to Seville. And now we're thinking that maybe we should head over to the E coast instead.

It may come down to a coin toss in the morning.

In other news, we forgot to bring any Euro currency with us on this trip! Yes, 'Money' is an item on our packing checklist, and we certainly talked about picking up the cash, but I think that when we had the final run through the checklist, I read 'Money' and thought 'We've got our wallets'. As I never spend cash at home (I don't even carry any these days and cannot tell you when I last used a cashpoint in the UK), it didn't occur to me that 'money' meant 'cash'. Rather annoying, as we've worked hard to build up a bag of change, for things like laundrettes and parking, and we'll be starting from scratch. First, however, we need to find a cash point, and preferably before we leave France, as most Spanish banks charge for using their cashpoints.